CROSSNET

In 2017, two brothers and their close childhood friend sat around a fireplace reminiscing about the good ol’ days.

The topic of discussion? Four square, a game they used to love playing during recess.

But this wasn’t just any night of retelling tales of youth. This was an evening that changed the course of Chris Meade, Greg Meade, and Mike Delpapa’s lives forever.

Because the trio had a revolutionary idea that night — a volleyball court divided into four quadrants, merging traditional volleyball with their favorite childhood game.

And so CROSSNET was born.

What started as a trip down memory lane has transformed into what ESPN has called “America’s fastest-growing backyard game.” But the road to scalable growth wasn’t always easy.

To learn more about how CROSSNET overcame its challenges to reach annualized revenues averaging around $10 million and become a household name in sports, we sat down with its very own CFO, Chris Koop.

About CROSSNET

Today, CROSSNET is a formidable player in the sports equipment niche, with a team of over 20 talented e-commerce pros helping to manage its thriving wholesale and online retail operation.

But as with any successful retail brand, keeping pace with the speed of sales wasn’t always easy. As the orders kept coming, CROSSNET’s leadership team quickly realized the delicate balance between managing inventory and cash flow.

“As the business was starting to scale, we started working with large retailers that were putting in large purchase orders. On our end, that was fantastic. But the question was, how can we go and build the inventory when we didn’t have an adequate capital structure?” says Chris.

Little did Chris know, an even bigger purchase order was on the horizon.

The Challenge: Not Enough Capital To Fill The Largest Order In Company History

At the end of 2021, CROSSNET faced a make-or-break challenge: Find a way to fill the largest order yet or risk losing a major deal to one of its competitors. The client in question? Sam’s Club, the famous chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs valued at approximately $11 billion.

“We had the biggest order in company history come in from Sam’s Club during Q4 of last year for tens of thousands of units. We immediately thought there’s no way we’re going to have the working capital to be able to pay our vendor to produce this inventory.”

With no clear sign that large orders from major retailers would be stopping any time soon, this historical order made it clear that CROSSNET needed a reliable funding solution. And they needed it fast. The solution: Success! Flexible working capital from SellersFunding. After meeting with and feeling out a few of the top working capital providers, Chris and his team came across SellersFunding via a quick Google search.

Impressed with our breadth of products (Chris’s words, not ours 😉), including working capital, PO financing, AR factoring advances, and more — Chris and the team knew they had finally found the partner they’d been looking for.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen down the road. And for us, we love having the flexibility of saying to our financing partner, ‘Here’s, what’s happening, how can you help?’”

How did they know they had found the best funding option?

Simple. It was all due to SellersFunding’s:

1. Highly competitive rates
2. Fantastic team that’s flexible and willing to make anything work
3. Technology, including a one-stop funding portal with critical financial insights

“We came to SellersFunding with this issue months ago and they said, ‘No problem.’ Being able to have a partner like that, where you get a curveball thrown at you and they’re able to just say, ‘We’ll figure out something to make it work’ is phenomenal.”

With SellersFunding, CROSSNET was able to set up invoice factoring to help secure the inventory it needed upfront.

As CROSSNET fulfilled its Sam’s Club orders, it also used SellersFunding to factor accounts receivable. Instead of waiting two to three months to get cash from retailers on 60 to 90-day payment terms, CROSSNET worked with SellersFunding to set up an ongoing invoice factoring relationship.

“We were able to set up an easy process with SellersFunding to reduce our leverage and lower interest payments. And at the same time, get a huge influx of cash from the factor to improve our own working capital status.”

The Result: Millions in Revenue Rescued 🙌🏼

As soon as the CROSSNET team received capital from SellersFunding to fulfill their Sam’s Club order, they realized their dream of selling to large retailers was no longer out of reach.

“To be honest with you, there’s no way we would’ve been able to fulfill our Sam’s Club order without SellersFunding. Without the working capital on hand, we would’ve lost out on millions of dollars in revenue. Partnering with SellersFunding was a game changer for us.”

Without a flexible funding partner like SellersFunding, CROSSNET would’ve had to turn wholesale buyers like Sam’s Club away.

“We would’ve had to admit that we couldn’t fulfill this order and that would’ve taken a huge hit to our revenue growth and our profitability this year.”

Not only was CROSSNET over the moon with the last-minute order rescue, Chris also said the days ahead are looking bright:

“We’ll be with SellersFunding for the long term — for years and years ahead. Honestly, as long as CROSSNET is in business. We’d absolutely recommend SellersFunding to any company out there that needs financing options that are cost-efficient and flexible. In the e-commerce and consumer goods space, SellersFunding has been a tremendous partner.”

At SellersFunding, our customers always come first. With our all-in-one e-commerce funding solutions, we support brands worldwide to grow sustainably and at speed. Get in touch today to learn how we can help your store win.