Trust Is Everything When Leading a Team: Interview with Giovanni Marcantoni, Founder and CEO of Volo Sport

I recently went one-on-one with Giovanni Marcantoni, founder and CEO of Volo Sport.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Giovanni: Sports have always been a huge part of my life, from playing growing up to still playing today, along with being a dedicated fan. Throughout my life, the community around sport has been there for me through the good and bad times – from growing up with parents who went through a pretty tough divorce, to finding my wife in a bocce league, to building countless friendships. I started a 16-person bocce league in Baltimore (Baltimore Bocce League) in 2010, and that has since grown into Volo, a national platform focused on building community through sport.

Adam: How did you come up with your business idea? What advice do you have for others on how to come up with great ideas?

Giovanni: My original idea was to start a bocce league so that I could one day open a bar with bocce courts and already have the community built in. The world has changed a lot since 2010, when I made that plan, and today I see Volo as a company fighting the epidemic of loneliness and promoting genuine human interaction.

It all started as a 16-person Baltimore Bocce League on top of Federal Hill Park in Baltimore, MD. We have always focused on making it as accessible as possible to play and become part of the Volo community. When we started, people had to fill out paper forms and write checks to sign up for leagues. We saw an opportunity to create something easier – where people could click a button, show up, and play, with everything figured out for them – from the team to the shirt to where to go after the game.

My advice for others:

1. Make sure you know how the money works.  This is how you determine whether an idea should be a business or something else. We had the idea to offer free kids’ sports, but the numbers didn’t work as a business, so we built it as a nonprofit. 
2. Does your idea give you energy and does it have legs? Do you talk about it constantly? Are your friends, significant others, and family tired of hearing about it? That’s usually a good sign. 
3. Very few people truly understand what it’s like to be an entrepreneur – find those people in your community and learn from them. 

Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea?

Giovanni: Once we were in New York City, and the NYC skeeball league took off, we had over 120 people per night playing, paying $75, and generating additional revenue through bar partnerships. We had multiple leagues running each week, and it became clear that I either needed to fully pursue this or walk away.

Advice: Listen to your customers. When we roll out new leagues, products, or venues, it’s based on what our members want or what the data shows they want. I think it’s important to have a strategy, but then start executing as soon as possible. There are always tweaks you’ll only see once you begin. If you wait for something to be perfect, you’ll delay both success and failure and waste time and energy.

Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level?

Giovanni: I’ve always tried to look at the business from all perspectives – as a customer, employee, referee, investor, competitor, and partner. Putting myself in those positions has helped guide decisions and growth. If you understand what success looks like for each of those groups, you can build something that works for everyone involved.

Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips?

Giovanni: Know what business you’re actually in and what phase you’re in. At Volo, we are in the people business. People come to Volo to be part of a community, make friends, meet a significant other, or connect professionally. Once we realized we were truly a human connection company, it became much more powerful than simply selling a volleyball league.

Nationally, we are a growth company working toward becoming a household name for 21–35-year-olds. Locally, we define each city as a seed, growth, or mature market and tailor our strategy accordingly. Also, once you have a brand, keep it simple and consistent.

Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Giovanni: Authenticity is something I always strive for. I want the real version of what’s happening, both in good times and bad. Do you do what you say you’re going to do. Trust is everything when leading a team. Be early and stay late. Your team depends on you, and often the moments that matter most don’t happen during standard business hours. 

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading, and managing teams?

Giovanni: Hire people with a high floor – people you know will show up and deliver. Especially in the early days, reliability and belief in what you’re building make a huge difference. Make sure expectations for success are clear. People will go far with you, but they need to understand what they’re signing up for.

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?

Giovanni: 

• Be clear on the problem you’re trying to solve and make sure others understand it. This often means repeating yourself consistently. 
• Know your business. Study it constantly. To make big decisions, you need to deeply understand your industry and where opportunities exist. 
• Think about whether your 8th-grade self, your college self, and your 80-year-old self would be proud of what you’re doing. If not, it may not be worth your time. 

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Giovanni: Pick up the phone and call people.

Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?

Giovanni: Volo has been a crazy ride – from a small Baltimore bocce league to a national brand with nearly 1,000,000 player registrations to date. But what I’m most proud of is what we’ve built with the Volo Kids Foundation. We applied an entrepreneurial mindset to youth sports, originally starting in response to the Freddie Gray tragedy in Baltimore. Over time, we evolved into a mission-driven company and even rebranded to Volo in 2017. Our model uses adult sports to fund free youth sports programming – with an estimated 30,000 kids to be served in 2026 – and our long-term goal is to help 1 million kids play sports for free each year. That’s what drives me today.