This told essay is based on a conversation with. craig moodyFounder and President of 360 degree shooting. Edited for length and clarity.
About 15 years ago, my son was playing a basketball video game at home. I said to him, “Why don’t you go outside and play?” I grew up shooting hoops and coaching, so I couldn’t imagine him liking playing basketball on a screen.
I left the game room thinking, “If I could build a gym that looked like a video game, I would have someone build one for me.”
The idea stuck with me. I looked into it further, and one morning I woke up and said to my wife, “I don’t know. I rented a warehouse and started building Shoot360 that night.
My father is an entrepreneur and I learned from him.
I wasn’t new to entrepreneurship. My father was a contractor who owned multiple businesses. He had an equipment rental yard that he grew into a regional chain and then sold to a national chain. I also succeeded him and ran a construction company.
When you work for yourself, there are no limits to what you can do. People say it’s the American dream, but I’ve always loved that freedom. Whether it’s construction or gaming, the ability to go out on your own and build something that you think is special is really appealing to me.
I ran both companies for 6 years.
I started Shoot 360 in 2012. Growth was slow for the first few years. I was developing a way to combine physical hoops and balls with digital tracking and gamification to appeal to a younger generation.
I hired people to help me do it, and the profits went back into the company. I continued to run my construction company to pay the bills. Doing both took time, logging 16 hours a day, seven days a week.
By 2018, Shoot 360 really started to catch on. I didn’t have time to manage the transition, so I closed down my construction company instead of selling it. Shoot 360 was rapidly expanding.
My kids understand business better than I do in some ways.
All three of my children love basketball and have been involved in the business since the beginning. I was working long hours and my kids were with me at the gym testing products. They were interested in this business and it was woven into our lives.
Shoot 360 generated approximately $20 million in revenue in 2025. Provided by Craig Moody
When they went to university and started studying business, we realized how much opportunity we had. They have a healthy respect for my past accomplishments, but they claim to understand the business better than I do.
In a sense, they’re right. Shoot 360 is a technology built around video game culture. My kids understand what makes people tick in the gaming world, so being able to get their opinions is an advantage.
I don’t want to leave my business to my children.
All three of my children, now 31, 29 and 23, work in the business. When I started working for my father, I was starting from scratch. Before helping with operations, I was high-pressure washing equipment and managing the rental counter.
I take the same approach with my children. I started them at the bottom and they worked their way up. Taking on different roles allows them to find their area of genius.
Although we are all working together, Shoot 360 is not a business that will be passed on to the next generation. Bringing in outside investors means abandoning some of the traditional family business structure.
Last year, Shoot 360 generated approximately $20 million in revenue. In order for this business to continue to grow and have the greatest impact on the basketball community, it will be much more than just a family business. Really, that’s already the case.