Share to twitterChris Meade used to wake up on Monday mornings dreading his job as an account executive for a rideshare service in New York City.
Suddenly, they hit on their idea a four-way volleyball game that merged traditional volleyball with the ball game four square. By dividing the court into four quadrants, rather than in half, they envisioned a game that would be"insane," in a good way, says Meade. The number of these firms that are reaching $1 million to $2.49 million a year in revenue was 36,984 in 2017, up 2% from 36,161 in 2016, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That tally increased by 38% from 26,744 in 2011. Most non-employer firms are solo businesses, but some are partnerships and family businesses, like CROSSNET.
After testing their idea among themselves, they found a manufacturer in China on the giant ecommerce marketplace Alibaba to make a real prototype, which cost them $250. They also patented and trademarked the idea.To measure interest in the marketplace, the trio began advertising the product on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, taking pre-orders for the product through a simple e-commerce site they set up. “We got some good interest right away,” says Meade.
The buyer picked up the product in two stores. Soon they heard back from him. “It sold out overnight,” the buyer told Meade. “I don’t know what happened.” CROSSNET has also branched out to selling to schools and teams that want to teach volleyball. It has already sold its nets to 1,500 schools. Many would-be entrepreneurs never bring their ideas to fruition because they are reluctant to risk any of their own money on their ideas.
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