Chris Meade turned a simple backyard frustration into CROSSNET, the four-way volleyball net game now sold in thousands of stores. He joined Sean Kelly on the Digital Social Hour to walk through how that idea became a company — and then became a lot more than one.
The conversation moves quickly from the mechanics of building a physical product from scratch to the harder parts of running a company: fighting off knockoffs, protecting a patent, and figuring out when to say yes to a new venture.
About Chris Meade
Chris Meade is the co-inventor of CROSSNET, the first four-way volleyball game, which grew from frustration with cheap imitations into a product carried by roughly 5,000 retailers nationwide. He left a conventional corporate path to build the company from the ground up.
Since CROSSNET's early success, Meade has expanded into new ventures, including GoodSport, applying the same instincts for product design and brand-building to new categories. His path from corporate employee to founder of a category-defining backyard game has made him a go-to voice on turning a simple idea into a real business.
What Chris Meade and Sean Kelly Talked About
- How Chris Meade turned frustration with knockoff products into the idea behind CROSSNET
- What it took to get CROSSNET carried by roughly 5,000 retailers nationwide
- Why patents and strategic partnerships mattered once competitors tried to copy the product
- The realities of managing cash flow while scaling a fast-growing physical product company
- Why Meade launched GoodSport as a new venture built on the same core values
- How boldness, creativity, and integrity guide the way he approaches new business decisions
- Why finding balance between work and personal life became a priority as the company grew
Why This Conversation Matters
CROSSNET is the kind of idea that looks obvious in hindsight and nearly impossible to build in practice, and Chris Meade's account of doing it — knockoffs, cash flow crunches, and all — is a useful blueprint for anyone trying to turn a simple idea into a real company.
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube
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About Sean Kelly & the Digital Social Hour
Sean Kelly is an entrepreneur and the host of the Digital Social Hour, one of the fastest-growing interview podcasts in the world, where he sits down with entrepreneurs, athletes, creators, and cultural voices for candid, long-form conversations. The show draws over 100 million views a month across platforms. Explore more guest features on SeanKelly.io.
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