Today we’d like to introduce you to Bo Boundjia.
Bo, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born in Cameroon and moved to France as a teenager with my family. Growing up, I played every sport: soccer, handball, volleyball, golf, judo, rugby, badminton, tennis, equitation, and water polo. I even tried to skate, but I was terrible at it. I just loved competing and being challenged. Ultimately, I fell in love with basketball and it has been my passion since 7th Grade. In 2007, I earned a scholarship to study and play basketball at Stoneridge Prep in Simi Valley, CA. When I was 18, I decided to leave France and move to the States alone to chase my hoop dreams. From Stoneridge Prep I ended up playing at a NCAA division II school called Salem University in West Virginia where I graduated in 2012 with a BS in Business/International Business.
After graduating, I didn’t go on to become a pro but my love for basketball never faded; I started to train and coach young players in the Ventura County area. This is when I started my first business, Grind 2 Shine, a basketball skills development program. In two years, I went from driving around with cones and balls in my trunk to owning a 5,000 sq. ft. Basketball training facility in Simi Valley. One day in the summer of 2016, I was at the beach and I saw people throwing a football, playing volleyball, and some people kicking a soccer ball. I was kind of jealous of them, and I couldn’t just walk up to them and say, “hey can you lend me your ball?” or “can I play with you guys?”. I found myself wishing I had a ball. I knew I couldn’t be the only person who experienced that feeling and at that moment Recball was born.
I first got in contact with an Industrial Design company based out of Santa Monica called T2 Design & Prototype. They helped me with the patent search for my idea and initial research to see if my idea was doable. From there, I did my own research and I found a manufacturer in China that could build what I wanted, and I hired an app development company in India. It was definitely a process. I was stepping into the tech world, so I had a lot of learning to do; it was like learning a new language (no easy task as English is not my first language). Then you have the time difference and the language barriers. Skype meetings at 4:00 am, things not getting done the way you want. It was frustrating at first, but I realized there was no point in getting aggravated because I knew it would all get done. Patience is a major key.
In summer of 2018, we got our first machine ready and our first live app available on both Android and iOS platforms. Once we got the first machine, we started sending emails to multiple cities trying to get meetings with someone, anyone, for us to present my startup too and share my vision. I wasn’t getting any replies, but we kept sending them because I always believed that all it takes is one city to believe in you. One day I got a reply from Tracy Engel, Director of Recreation for the Rancho Simi Park & Recreation District, and she agreed to meet. From the first time we met, she loved Recball and believed in my vision. I will always remember when she said, “every park should have it…let’s do it.” Almost two years later after our first meeting with Tracy, we made it happen. We placed our first machine in Simi Valley at Lemon Park at the beginning of the month of July.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It was definitely not a smooth road, but I think that my life experience with basketball helped me develop the kind of mindset you need in order to be a successful entrepreneur. It takes thousands of hours of practice and training to become a NBA player. You are going to spend a lot of time alone, tired, and in pain but you still have to get up and get your shots up, do your conditioning, and play pickup games every day, etc. It is a full-time commitment. If it was easy, every kid who loved a sport would get a college scholarship or become a pro. So, I essentially took that same approach and mindset and adapted it to entrepreneurship: don’t complain about the situation you are in, just keep pushing every day, don’t put your head down and keep a positive mindset.
I don’t like the word “struggle” because I rather look at the bumps in the road as part of life. Raising capital was a challenge like for most startup companies. They say your network is net worth, so when you are young, alone, and not from the US, that can be tough. And it was. Another challenging part was/is getting meetings with people that work for cities to present my idea. My small team and I sent hundreds of emails to many city’s park and rec departments, city council offices, and mayor offices and we heard nothing back. It never bothered me because I always knew that all it takes is one city to believe in my vision and the rest will follow.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Recball – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
My company is Recball and we aim to bring people/communities together and encourage an active lifestyle through the Power of Sport. We provide a ball rental service where park-goers (and hopefully soon beachgoers) rent a ball, access lockers, charge their phone and store their items for $3/hour via our free app. Our machines come with phone charger cables, so users don’t need bring theirs. I feel like we live in an era where the next generation is becoming more and more isolated; they are always on their phones and basically losing out on learning some of the formative social skills that I learned from being at the park with my friends just playing for hours. With Recball, we are using technology to pretty much inspire people put their phones down. We want to make the parks cool again. We want to make playing outside trendy.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are very excited to have an agreement with Rancho Simi Park and Recreation Department. We placed our first machine this month, at Lemon Park in Simi Valley. We are working closely with them and are looking into more locations by the end of summer. We are also in discussion with a few other cities in SoCal and are actively looking to create more relationships with other cities in California to provide our services. Right now, our service is an hourly based model, but we will be implementing a subscription-based model that I believe will greatly improve our user experience.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.recballbox.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: recballbox
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