I'm completely exhausted from playing, it was amazing!
Mission report // M-02 · Sport & lifestyle
Boulder Box Saigon
Designed, built, and (virtually) manage a top-rated bouldering gym in Saigon, Vietnam.
1. The TL;DR (Executive Summary)
The Purpose
Vietnam's first boutique bouldering concept — bringing sport climbing into the urban home and lifestyle space.
Role & Responsibilities
Founder and CEO. Worked closely with Saigon’s leading route setters and joined the climbing foundation supported by the Sports Authority of Vietnam.
The Problem
Vietnam had no accessible, high-quality bouldering facilities and no local business model to reference. Building one from scratch required market education, supply chain problem-solving, and full cultural adaptation.
The Solution
A home-scale boutique bouldering gym designed around community, quality coaching, and a digital-physical growth strategy under the Boulder Box brand.
The Impact
300% year-over-year sales growth from launch, 100% PT program retention rate, competitions and events with 150+ participants, and approximately 2,300 unique customers in year three of operations.
2. Strategy & Discovery
Insight
Vietnam's fitness market lacked accessible indoor climbing. Positioning as “climbing meets lifestyle” unlocked a new demographic beyond hardcore sport climbers, making the concept approachable to urban young professionals.
Stakeholders
Self-led initiative. Coordinated with local contractors, climbing coaches, and community fitness influencers across Ho Chi Minh City.
Constraint
No local market data, a near-nonexistent climbing gear supply chain in Vietnam, and no comparable business model to benchmark — everything had to be built from first principles.
3. Execution (The “How”)
Key Decision
Positioned as a home-scale boutique rather than a large competition-style gym. This prioritized intimacy and quality coaching over scale, aligning with the urban lifestyle audience and keeping construction costs manageable.
Design Leadership
Led end-to-end construction design, brand identity, coaching program structure, digital presence (boulderbox.rocks), community events, and business development — all without a team playbook.
4. Google Reviews Highlight
Really good setting and super friendly well worth the visit!
Good variety of problems, solid grading that'll humble casuals (me). Rentals were solid too, not the typical glassy ones. Great customer service
Had an amazing session at Boulder Box! The routes are fun and challenging, the staff are so nice, helpful and uplifting and the price is very good.
small gym but very well equipped! the routes are technical which makes it challenging and different than other gyms, it’s a great space and the staff are extremely kind and helpful
some of the holds are also very interesting and unique like a heart hold or wooden holds, overall very fun!
The climbing route was interesting, the guides were enthusiastic, and the room was equipped with a large vacuum cleaner, so the air was quite good.
5. Visual Highlights
Gallery
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6. Outcome & Lessons
KPIs
300% year-over-year sales growth from launch. 100% PT program retention rate. Competitions and events with 150+ participants. Approximately 2,300 unique customers in year three of operations.
Next Steps
Expand to a second facility, deepen digital community engagement via boulderbox.rocks, and develop a route-setting curriculum for coach training.