Meet Amanda Nguyen | Co-Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amanda Nguyen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amanda, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important factor behind our success is the introduction of an exciting new brand that solves a problem for the volleyball community with a simple product. We grew up playing volleyball, but it has not been easy to stay connected to the game due to the setup required – you need access to a traditional net, full size court, and a large group of people. Boardball helps to eliminate these barriers by reducing the extensive setup required so that you can play anytime and anywhere. All that is needed to play Boardball is a board, a volleyball, and 4 people. The game takes a fun twist on volleyball but remains competitive, dynamic, and provides a more accessible way for people to use their bump-set-spike skills.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
It all started while on a trip with some friends. We grew up playing a lot of volleyball, so we were looking for a net and court where we could get a good game in. There were no nets around, but there was something else — a wooden bridge going across a pool we had access to. We ended up playing a game where instead of hitting the ball over the net, we hit the ball against the bridge to the other team. We had a surprisingly awesome time doing this, and once we got back to Toronto, we realized we wanted to continue playing this version of volleyball. Luckily, we had access to an old squash court, which is really where the magic happened. Playing 2 vs 2, we played around with makeshift boards, and experimented with different rules and ideas. We played with friends and family members over most weekends, but as soon as the pandemic hit our squash court was no longer open — it was time to create a board more portable for the great outdoors!

At the time, we hadn’t realized we were basically creating a prototype. We thought we were just building an apparatus for our needs to play outside. When we brought the board outside for the first time ever in downtown Toronto, another group playing roundnet approached us and asked to join in on the fun. The new players picked it up quickly and suddenly we had a lively game going for the rest of the afternoon. A video of our rally ended up going viral on theScore, a sports media outlet, and we instantly saw an influx of questions coming our way inquiring about boardball and where they could buy a boardball set. It was that night that we incorporated, as we knew we had a great idea in our hands.

We were fortunate to have started the business organically, purely out of interest from our own hobby. Seeing the instant demand helped validate our idea earlier on and gave us the confidence to launch a kickstarter campaign and ultimately take that leap of faith to start mass producing our new creation. And while getting started and incorporating felt like a natural step for us, the journey since has not been easy. As new founders, we were challenged with the many complications of starting a business during a global pandemic. From rising raw material costs, to all-time high freight costs, and general supply chain and logistics constraints, we quickly learnt it was not an ideal time to be a startup. After a year in product development and production, we finally received our first batch in September 2021 and within 2 months, we were already shipping boards to over 40 U.S. states and 10 CA provinces. We were able to sell out and started production run #2, gearing up for our first official Boardball summer this year.

We’ve still got a long way to go in our startup journey, but we’re so grateful for the experience so far and cannot wait for more people to fall in love with Boardball!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Our shoutout goes to our OG Boardballers and our growing community. Starting a new sport requires true believers who are willing to try something new and advocate for you in every way. Without our first few players and now growing global community, this sport would not be where it is today. The support and excitement to grow the game together continues to be the #1 motivation to level up Boardball.

Website: www.boardballsport.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boardballsport/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/boardball-inc/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/boardballsport

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boardballsport/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbcwz8qK7NqjADeUvm201pA

Other: TikTok (our best channel) : https://www.tiktok.com/@boardballsport