080: Growing a Kickball League Nationwide with Johnny LeHane of ClubWAKA

Background on Johnny LeHane of Club Waka:

Johnny LeHane is the Co-Founder of ClubWAKA – Kickball & Social Sports, which has made the Inc 5000 for 3 consecutive years. He is also the managing member and lead investor in the Hudson Valley Startup Fund (HVSF), a $1 million member managed seed capital (angel investment) fund for high growth startups in the Hudson Valley, launched in 2015.

ClubWAKA promotes and provides recreational and social sports leagues, activities and events across the U.S. with 60,000+ participants, 400+ leagues, and dozens of tournaments events and vacations nationwide throughout the year. ClubWaka specializes in providing kickball, bowling, volleyball, giant jenga, and other nostalgic and ridiculously fun activities and the best social events that create life changing experience and lifelong relationships.

Johnny excels at understanding and developing business solutions, helping technical and non technical people understand each other, advocating ideas, and bringing people of diverse backgrounds and philosophies together to achieve common goals.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[1:01] Johnny LeHane is a co-owner and Director of Sales and Operations of ClubWAKA.
[3:01] Johnny and his friends were in a bar when they talked about forming a kickball league. The idea was born and they proceeded to make a business plan out of it.
[6:30] Johnny explains the revenue stream of their business. Majority of the Waka Kickball revenues come from the individual league registrations, while other revenues come from bar sponsorships.
[11:30] Waka Kickball grew and became more established, with more people getting interested. The co-founders focused more on Waka until it became their full-time work.
[16:06] One of the challenges that Johnny and his business partners faced is how to keep people interested in Waka, but not give them too much information so they won’t start their own kickball.
[22:07] Waka focuses on getting the non-athletes, or those people who does not play sports, involved in kickball and make it a social activity. Johnny also emphasizes on the fun-first mindset.
[24:53] It is a challenge to draw out the younger generation and get them involved in Waka Kickball because they spend most of their time at home, in front of a screen online.
[27:20] It is important for Johnny to keep up with the latest marketing trend in social media.
[28:33] Johnny explains how the Net Promoter Score works. He runs a net promoter survey and uses this tool to get more insight on their business.
[36:19] Johnny joined the startup community in Hudson Valley. He mentored other entrepreneurs and helped other startups get their business going.
[41:19] Club Waka acquired a company one year ago, and the integration and merging of 2 companies was a great learning experience for Johnny and the whole company.
[44:20] Johnny emphasizes on the importance of planning and willingness to adjust during acquisitions and mergers of businesses. He also says that it is essential to plan for a capital buffer.
[45:55] Johnny uses CrystalKnows as an effective tool to know a particular person that he is going to meet, call, or write an email. This particular tool gave his business a competitive advantage.
[48:13] His plan for the future of Waka is to continue to grow and still provide more fun and enjoyment to different people.
[52:52] “Join a startup before you launch a startup.” It is helpful to get a lot of ideas before launching a startup.

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖📚 Favorite Book(s)? Predictable Success by Les McKeon, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton – SciFi
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Motorola TurboCharger for moto X pure (and all the tablets in my house).
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Crystalknows.com – it makes you seem like a mind reader with people you just met.
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Managing the dynamics and balance of three equal partners over 20 years.

Key Point from the Interview:

“Join a startup before you launch a startup.“

Resources Mentioned:

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