Badminton Famly has grown big and has become world famous, but where did the whole adventure begin, what is the visions for the future and who created Badminton Famly?
Where did it all begin?
It all started just over a year ago when the then only owner Thomas Laybourn found the fun idea to create Badminton Famly. The vision was to create a worldwide badminton site that could gather all badminton fans around the world. This was in good correlation with Thomas himself and his great passion for badminton that he would like to share with the whole world. Thomas himself thought he lacked an online platform in his everyday life where he could search for more badminton knowledge and get sparring from professional coaches and players. In addition, there was also missing a platform that was not connected to a federation, so that in this way one had loose frames in the distribution of news and angles that one could use in communicating stories. The focus with Badminton Famly was not to earn a lot of money but to create a family and share knowledge, opinions, and tips with each other. The cost was as low as could be and Thomas used his gigantic network he has managed to get through his professional career to spread the message of Badminton Famly.
As time went by Thomas could see that he needed more innovated people on board the project to grow bigger. He managed to find a new partner in who had the perfect profile. A semi-prof player/coach, and a marketing manager, that match could not have been better.
One of the current owners (Rasmus Tran) of Badminton Famly had his project of his own called Badminton System. When Badminton Famly began making Youtube tutorial videos, Thomas saw a very big potential in making a fusion also because he shared the same vision as Rasmus from Badminton System. Badminton Famly contacted Rasmus of Badminton System because we wanted to create one big project together. After exciting meetings, we are now 3 owners of Badminton Famly.
“I think it is a very exciting process with two very competent gentlemen by my side. I am sure that it will be a success, but we will continuously work hard in order for it to succeed!”
Thomas Laybourn, Co-owner of Badminton Famly and former World Champion
But why “Badminton Famly”?
In addition to the aforementioned vision the site should also be a platform that over time would create a large international family that all had one thing in common: the love for badminton. Thomas himself explains that the name itself was inspired by many of the benefit clubs that exist around the world. But who is the founder, Thomas Laybourn, exactly?
Professional player, coach and entrepreneur
Laybourn is a former professional badminton player and has also been active on the Danish national team for 10 years before he stopped in 2012 after the London Olympics. To stop his career was planned due to family (not Badminton Famly :-)) priorities and more and more injuries.
Through his professional career in badminton, he wanted to share his experience and knowledge with the world through Badminton Famly.
He has played internationally, which was also the reason why the platform should have an international angle. In addition, there are about 220 million around the world playing badminton and these have a huge fan base, which really emphasizes the potential market for a platform like this.
Helping the young talent
In addition, Thomas has also been a full-time coach and under 15 coach national coach in Denmark. One would think the whole world was about badminton, but no Thomas is also a qualified graphic designer and has a number of start-up companies. Thomas has always been innovative, creative and energetic, which can also be clearly seen in relation to Badminton Famly. Creativity is a buzz word for Laybourn and he loves to stand out from the crowd.
The Power Couple
It was not before he was in his late 20’s that he made his international breakthrough. Having won the Danish National Championships together with Kamilla Rytter Juhl for the first time just a few weeks earlier, the two managed to finish as runners-up at the All England in March 2005, losing to Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms.
In the following seven and a half years he and Kamilla Rytter Juhl were one of the most respected mixed doubles pairs in the world.
In 2009 the duo achieved their greatest win ever, when they won the World Championships.
With Rytter Juhl, Laybourn also managed to win the Yonex Copenhagen Masters twice, first in 2006 and later in 2009. They also became European Champions, won the Super Series Finals and also the Yonex Denmark Open tournament has the two Danes listed as winners for two years. Those years were 2005 and 2010.
A Growing Famly
On the platform, the focus is on our training videos and our distribution of relevant content. By hiring our very own journalist we are now able to give updates on tournaments and create player profiles. Furthermore, the wish is also to create debate in relation to relevant subjects in the badminton society and in this way differentiate ourselves from other platforms. The website has gotten a new layout because we believe in optimizing as much as we can.
In relation to our Youtube videos these has gotten a lot of attention and positive response.
Over 50 countries are watching our videos where the top 5 countries are seen to be: India, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam/USA and we are constantly growing worldwide.
Followers on social media (April 2019):
Youtube: 80.200 followers
Instagram: 24.800 followers
Facebook: 19.000 followers
All channels are growing with thousands of followers every month!
What will the future bring for Badminton Famly?
What the future will bring is always uncertain, but the whole team behind Badminton Famly has clear visions.
Present, the team behind Badminton Famly consists of 4 people. 3 owners and a journalist/social media manager. 2 of the owners are professional coaches and the last head of sales and marketing manager. All in love with the sport and are all investing a lot of time in Badminton Famly in order for it to grow bigger and better.
“I am really happy to be a part of a team who are dedicated and hardworking with a project like Badminton Famly!”
Journalist & Social media manager
Good quality must continue to be created through the distribution of news while at the same time being expanded in all areas of the platform. The Youtube channel has become extremely popular and in the future, it will be made commercial in the form of product placement or possible collaborations with brands within the badminton society, as you had the possibility to see in our video with LiiteGuard.
As written earlier, the family is constantly growing, which has also opened up new opportunities for the platform. We have only received positive feedback on our content, which only makes us happy. There are a lot of new exciting ideas on the drawing board that will soon be revealed!
“We are only getting started, the Famly is growing quickly, and I can´t wait to share our vision and the magic of badminton even more than we do today!”
Thomas Laybourn
