We recently connected with Kady Pooler and have shared our conversation below.
Kady, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
I was a tennis player for most of my life and retired in my late 20s where many years later I was introduced to pickleball and really loved the game.I started playing frequently, but as a mother of two young kids, I was not able to travel to the tournaments and frankly didn’t want to live that lifestyle on the road again.My wife could see that I was really into the game and challenged me to come up with a business idea that would allow me to stay involved. I went through thoughts of a paddle or apparel, but both markets are super saturated and tough to compete in. Ultimately, I wanted to solve for the infrastructure problem in which there are not enough courts to meet the demand of players.At Pickle Athletics, we’re doing things a little bit different than other facilities across the country in that we really believe we are firstly a social club and that pickleball is an amenity.We have taken great pride in our design and aesthetic and are working hard to create a community space with events that our members and locals will enjoy coming to.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I was a former professional tennis player, so pickleball was kind of a natural adjustment for me, but I immediately fell in love with the game and had made so many close friends in a short period of time.Our brand is a bit elevated, dare I say bougie, but also warm and inviting to create a space that should hopefully have everybody who comes in feeling the vibe.Unlike other facilities, we have really invested in our interior design and creating the space to feel like a social club where people will not only play, but also stay.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I think it’s really in just getting the business started and up and running. We live in the Bay Area where real estate is really expensive, so finding a space in itself that would work took us over a year. For us, we need a place with high ceilings, so that eliminated a lot of buildings out of the gate, and we also need a very large open space that’s unobstructed from any pillars or columns.There were definitely moments where I thought this wasn’t going to happen because we weren’t going to find the right spot.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
I love the knowledge project podcast and the best book ive read for my business is “Unreasonable hospitality”. It got me to understand that we are in the service business. And got me bought into providing the best hospitality to our members and guests.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pickleathletics.com
- Instagram: pickleathletics