Greg Rudolph, MBA
Leadership Coach & Entrepreneurship Strategist
A Bright Idea:
After spotting a student who had duct-taped Christmas lights to his skateboard riding around the Arizona State University campus one night in 2011, Greg was inspired with the idea for Board Blazers LED Underglow Skateboard Lights. Risking most of his personal savings, he started the company as a college student in March 2012.
Since then, the company has been a surprising success. Board Blazers has been featured by USA Today, Inc., GQ, Forbes, CBS, FOX, KTLA, the Orange County Register, the Arizona Republic, AZ Tech Beat, and the Phoenix Business Journal, among others. Board Blazers has become the #1 selling skateboard hardware on Amazon.com, with U.S. sales in all 50 states and internationally in 52 countries. In March 2013, they were featured by rapper Lil Wayne's TRUKFIT brand at the renowned SXSW festival, sparking a viral YouTube video. Greg has been named one of Arizona's "Top 35 Entrepreneurs Under 35," and in 2014 was profiled by the national FOX TV show Live Life & Win! In 2015, Board Blazers was highlighted in the April issue of Entrepreneur magazine and, more recently, a video by celebrity film director Casey Neistat with over 3.5 million views.
To keep the momentum rolling, Greg and his team began running contests to promote the brand. However, he noticed the winners often weren’t just lucky – they were avid “contesters,” who knew the insider secrets to win as many prizes as possible. After a private investor acquired Board Blazers early in 2020, the idea for Contest Champ took hold. The weekly email digest of curated contests quickly emerged as the easiest way to win online sweepstakes and merged with Referral Champ in July 2021.
A passionate mentor, he founded the Beyond Business Institute in 2014 to teach college students and young professionals entrepreneurship and leadership secrets. To give back to the community and the world, Greg launched the Skate 2 Donate campaign in 2017 to support several charities, including Pipeline Worldwide, which provides essential services in remote East African villages.
An MBA alum with a marketing emphasis from the W.P. Carey School of Business, he previously graduated summa cum laude from the Barrett Honors College at ASU with a double-major in Marketing and Supply Chain Management. Whether conducting as Drum Major of the 400+ member ASU Sun Devil Marching Band, coaching new employees, or on a philanthropic expedition to Africa, he leads by example with infectious enthusiasm. An Eagle Scout, he believes "character is what you do when no one else is watching," and approaches new challenges with an upbeat attitude of "I don't have to, I get to!"
Contact us to talk with Greg about travel, business, or baseball.