Naman Shrestha
Who knew that in the already crowded world of outdoor sports, there would be room for yet another player — PaddleSmash. The collaborative effort of the inventor Joe Bingham and two entrepreneurs Tim Swindle and Scott Brown, PaddleSmash takes the best elements of Spikeball and Pickleball and turns them into a fun outdoor game. Since it has the potential to cause quite a stir in the sports market, the founders decided to scale their business. In order to do so, they presented the pitch for PaddleSmash in ‘Shark Tank‘ season 15 episode 4. All the viewers who find this product intriguing and fun can’t help but wish to know more about the company and how it’s doing at the moment. In that case, let’s dig deep into the same, shall we?
Paddlesmash: Who Are They and What Do They Do?
If you found PaddleSmash interesting, you will indeed find the story of its invention fascinating. While Tim Swindle and Scott Brown graced the stage of ‘Shark Tank’ to present the product in front of the sharks, it was Joe Bingham who actually sowed the seeds for its creation. The structural engineer from the city of Pleasant View in Weber County, Utah, is a father of seven sharp kids. With over half a dozen young kids in the household, Joe was finding it a bit tricky to come up with something that would keep his kids happy and busy together.
Though the family was a fan of Roundnet, the young ones had recently begun enjoying Pickleball. However, it posed some big challenges for the dad. It was cumbersome to drive for nearly 30 minutes to the nearest Pickleball court only to find it all packed. While it is natural to think of constructing a court in one’s own backyard to serve the purpose, it didn’t seem like a financially sound option to Joe. Thus, he began scratching his inventor brain. After spending a few years creating several prototypes in his backyard, Joe came up with a game that combines the best of Spikeball AKA Roundnet and Pickleball.
After receiving the thumbs up from his kids, Joe named the actualization of his vision PaddleSmash! The word about the game spread like wildfire and soon caught the attention of seasoned entrepreneurs Tim Swindle and Scott Brown, who were looking for something similar that would satiate the appetite of fans of outdoor sports and not burn a hole in their pockets. They took Joe’s prototype back to the drawing board, worked on it to come up with a well-rounded product, and later utilized their contacts to spread the word in the gaming and toy industry and garner the financial backing necessary to get the ball rolling for PaddleSmash.
Both Tim Swindle and Scott Brown have decades of experience in the industry. A Brigham Young University graduate, Scott Brown served as a founder of Sandbox Industries and a co-founder of Marbles: The Brain Store, following which he became the Vice President and later the Head of Inventor Relations at Spin Master. Before co-founding Glacier Games with Tim Swindle, he founded Brainmaker Games. On the other hand, Tim Swindle, after graduating from Saint Ignatius College Prep and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, worked at Marquette Partners and Trainor Glass Company before serving as Director at PointDrive and then LSS Account Executive at LinkedIn.
Tim also had a significant working tenure at Utter Nonsense, Playtacular as Co-Founder, Peanut Butter, Inc., Hubbard Street Capital Partners, Glacier Games as Co-Founder, and Cheeky Ornaments as Founder. The collaborative effort of the two entrepreneurs resulted in PaddleSmash, which is an easy-to-play outdoor game that can be played between 2-4 players who have to bump, set, and smash the ball back into the court hoping to make it difficult to reach for the opponents. Given PaddleSmash’s easy gameplay, it has a wide array of target consumers of different ages and abilities.
Paddlesmash: Where Are They Now?
PaddleSmash might have been invented earlier, but the final product was founded in the year 2021. However, before the brand launched and gained recognition across the world, the co-founders Tim Swindle and Scott Brown raised about $500,000 from nine private investors to fund the launch of PaddleSmash. Moreover, in order to manufacture the final version of the game, they enlisted the help of an industrial engineering organization.
In 2022, the renowned Chicken N Pickle bought PaddleSmash to see how it does in some markets where it operates, only to find several positive results. Since the food and entertainment destination creates a fun and friendly atmosphere, PaddleSmash was an instant hit as people of all ages and abilities indulged in some friendly competition. Those of you interested can get your hands on the sports product by purchasing it on the brand’s official website, where you can redeem the Shark Tank Special discount of 15% at the time of checking out. Moreover, you have the option to purchase it on Amazon and a few offline stores, including Dick’s Sporting Goods, Scheels, and Academy Sports + Outdoors.
Besides Shark Tank, PaddleSmash has also been featured in Today, Forbes, WSJ, The Dink, and Good Morning America. Although PaddleSmash has a relatively small follower count on Instagram and Twitter, it doesn’t change the fact that people’s demand for and interest in the sports product has been on the rise, especially since the co-founders pitched the game at Shark Tank in front of the country’s top entrepreneurs.
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