As we know, pickleball has been the fastest-growing sport in America for three years straight, according to the 2024 Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) Topline Participation Report. It now boasts 13.6 million players and shows no sign of slowing down.
Ample Opportunity
In the realm of entrepreneurship, it’s also widely acknowledged that where there’s a significant amount of passion, there’s also ample opportunity. Across various pickleball sectors, from apparel to training camps to equipment, the industry is witnessing a surge in products and services aimed at enhancing the sport.
The Californian paddle innovation company Veloz is among the frontrunners. Thanks to its distinctive edgeless design and emphasis on the sweet spot, Veloz has captured a dedicated customer base of novice enthusiasts and seasoned professionals.
Mitch Junkins, Veloz’s founder, president, and CEO, talked to Entrepreneur about his company and inventive process and offered advice to fellow inventors and tinkerers.
An Interesting And Varied Career
Reflecting on his journey into the world of pickleball, Junkins recounted, “My career has been interesting and varied. When I was young, I started at Mattel as a toy tester and worked in the mail room. I was a pro skateboarder on the side on top of all that. Using my experience skateboarding experience, we launched Mattel Athletic Group, and I became the competition manager.
I would go around the country and show kids how to wear safety equipment. We’d put on little demos in the Toys ‘R’ Us parking lots and do all these fun things. I was very lucky because I was exposed to a lot of really, really great minds at Mattel. I worked closely with Steve Kimmel, the senior lead industrial designer.
That guy taught me how to do perspective drawing and taught me a ton about materials. So that kind of started this weird little fire inside me to make stuff that grew over time.”
“Noodling And Playing”
Moving on from his role at Mattel, Junkins founded The CDM Company in 1990, specializing in promotional marketing with a focus on the design and production of physical products for various campaigns. “Now, am I designing those toys? Not exactly, but I like to say that I am an industrial designer creator trapped in a marketing guy’s body.
“So, I do spend a lot of time noodling and playing. And that love of tinkering with products and materials was a perfect match when I got introduced to pickleball,” he remarked.
Junkins’ enthusiasm for pickleball was sparked during the COVID-19 pandemic when his wife enrolled him in a tournament. Despite suffering a defeat, he found himself captivated by the sport. Engaging with the community through events like LevelUp Pickleball camps, he befriended Wayne and Lisa Dollard, founders of Pickleball Magazine, who expressed frustration at the lack of innovation in paddle design.
A “Sandwich Paddle”
“Wayne explained to me that every paddle made is like what they call a ‘sandwich paddle’, which has a layer on the top and a layer on the bottom with polypropylene in the middle, with a kind of edging holding it all together. My mind immediately started racing with ideas.”
“I decided to try to make a paddle with the same principles as an aircraft propeller blade. I would wrap the carbon fiber around it so you don’t have a rim around the edge like a sandwich-style one has. It’s more like a drum head with a very consistent sweet spot.
“In about 24 hours, I had the raw materials together, put on the HAZMAT suit, and made it. I sent it to Wayne, and he had his pros try it. He reported back, ‘I think you’re really onto something.’ We then deployed our resources on the CDM side and perfected our proprietary way of layering the paddle materials. In about a year, I went from running a marketing company to running a marketing company and a pickleball company.”
Quiet Paddles
Looking ahead, Junkins revealed ongoing efforts to address noise concerns associated with pickleball through the development of ‘quiet paddles,’ aligning with regulatory requirements set by organizations like the USAP.
Drawing from his experience, Junkins offered advice to aspiring inventors, emphasizing the importance of not only conceptualizing ‘the big idea’ but also the necessity of swiftly establishing distribution channels and conducting thorough market research before venturing into entrepreneurship.
“Before you go out on your own, work for a big company in the same industry. See how it works, what problems it encounters, and how it solves them.
Get paid to learn the industry inside and out, then when the time is right, strike with the product that you know is different and better than the rest.”
