Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Gearbox: why their paddles are different, Pro Series Power | Building Pickleball Podcast
546 Plays1 year ago
NOTE REGARDING THIS EPISODE: the video file of this episode was too large for this platform and unfortunately is audio only. I'm looking into other methods. If you're interested in the video portion, please view it on YouTube here https://youtu.be/r85AxLgr9vY
- thank you for understanding.
Podcast interview with Rafael Filippini, founder, CEO, engineer, designer, and innovator of Gearbox Sports. Rafael discusses the release of the new Gearbox Pickleball Pro Series, an upcoming new paddle called the G2, discusses patents, and his perspective on the industry. Introducing the Gearbox Pro Series.
"The Gearbox Pro Series is redefining paddle technology and setting the new industry standard for paddle construction, power, spin, feel, control and paddle sound."
https://gearboxsports.com/
Chapters
00:00 Trailer
01:27 Beginning
02:23 Rafael’s background
09:47 What Rafael learned from his upbringing
11:51 Engineering background
13:25 Seeing the opportunity to go on his own
15:21 Principles that guide gearbox
19:44 Gearbox's early days
22:38 What makes Gearbox technology different
33:05 Pro Series
43:30 Edgeless
01:04:16 Patents
01:11:27 Dupes and the diff between the top brands right now
01:17:18 Who the pro series paddle is for
01:18:56 The Gearbox brand
01:23:14 Marketing
01:26:23 Another new paddle release
01:32:06 What's next for gearbox?
01:35:42 G16 and G14
01:36:28 Why Gearbox honeycomb is different
01:42:12 Gearbox value, warranty
01:46:14 Wrapping up
#pickleball #pickleballpaddle #pickleballhighlights #podcast
📸 Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingpickleball
📝 Subscribe to my newsletter: https://buildingpb.beehiiv.com/subscribe
🎗️SPONSOR: - Vuori discount: https://vuori.com/buildingpickleball
- Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but free shipping on any U.S. orders over $75 and free returns. Go to vuori.com/buildingpickleball and discover the versatility of Vuori Clothing
💲DISCOUNT CODES 💲 (using these helps support the channel)
• Vuori: 20% discount applied at checkout https://vuoriclothing.com/buildingpickleball
• SixZero: BD10 https://www.sixzeropickleball.com/
• Vatic Pro: BP-10 https://vaticpro.com/
• Pickleball Superstore: BrianL-104899 Use this URL: https://pickleballsuperstore.com/discount/BrianL-104899
• JOOLA: BP10 https://joolausa.com/pickleball/
• BreadNButter: BP https://www.bnbpickleball.com/
• PCKL (balls): BUILDINGPB15 https://pckl.com/
• CIVILE (apparel): BRIANLIM https://www.civileapparel.com/
Looking for a moving company in Austin? Check out https://heavenlymove.com/
Looking for art? Check out https://millennialcollectivestore.com/
📲 FOLLOW 📲 • Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5aPtDs5VOnqpbQpF12SLZN • Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/building-pickleball/id1666931896
▶ Amazon affiliate links: - Sony ZV 1: https://amzn.to/3LF65zY - Memory card: https://amzn.to/3NozkZ8 - Amazon gift card: https://amzn.to/3LOipy9 - Samsung 2TB portal SSD: https://amzn.to/3AE3aRW - Acoustic sound panel: https://amzn.to/3oIxWWU - Yonex grip: https://amzn.to/40InLiB . I use Epidemic Sound, sign up for a 30-day free trial here https://share.epidemicsound.com/iro87j .
👤 CONTACT: Sponsorship, ad space: Email: buildingpickleball1@gmail.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Gearbox Sports and Rafael Filippini
00:00:03
Speaker
We introduced carbon fiber structure core, which is our SST. There isn't a paddle that even comes close in terms of technology and design and everything. This one like nailed it on all of those aspects that can generate at eight ounces, the same velocity of a paddle that weighs nine and a half ounces.
00:00:22
Speaker
The important point here is where technology is going. I think I have maybe 19, 20 patents to date and then I just said I applied for 16. I think we'll probably get all 16. I'm pretty confident. Well, we need to do it to protect our technology because then we have the situation of
00:00:39
Speaker
What do you mean by you don't believe in thermal form? So now you have a paddle that'll play great for maybe a month or two, and then it breaks down. So you don't know what you're talking about, right? Because you don't inject foam around the perimeter. It's a whole process, right? It's a different process. So the consumer wins, but the industry loses in a way, because we're coming out with a Linus Collar G2, which is a fully molded paddle with a honeycomb core.
Rafael's Background and Personal Journey
00:01:04
Speaker
We took a technology that we introduced probably seven years ago,
00:01:07
Speaker
This is the closest to the claim of having the most power, the most control, the largest sweet spot and maneuverability in a paddle and this is definitely hands down the most advanced paddle.
00:01:27
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of building pickleball. My guest today is Rafael Filippini. He's a founder, engineer, and inventor for Gearbox Sports, a composites company specializing in pickleball, racquetball, squash, and paddle ball. Thank you to all my subscribers. Welcome to building pickleball. Thank you. Glad to be here and excited to talk about our new products and a little background of who we are and where we come from. Yeah. The second time.
00:01:55
Speaker
Yeah. Oh man. For the people listening with, I had some technical difficulties on my end and this, we're doing this a second time around. So appreciate you coming down. I was up in San Antonio and now you came down here. So appreciate you making the time, especially on Saturday. Absolutely. No, no, really appreciate the opportunity.
00:02:14
Speaker
I didn't know what you were going to come in honestly, but you came in on like your bike and I was like, damn, this is bad-ass. Like you live up to all that. I think I mentioned the first episode, you know, growing up in Southern California, we do, I mean, one of the cool things of being down there is when we used to go like skiing in the mountains, um, in the morning, like an hour and a half away and you can come back, make it that San Diego and go surf, you know, in the evening, get a little, or go dirt bike riding, um, you know, skateboarding. It's just,
00:02:44
Speaker
It was a really, really cool place to grow up because you had so many things. So, you know, this bike that I came in today, those are just things that you never grow out of, you know, as a kid. I mean, some motorcycles and all that. I mean, I really enjoy. So, it's a nice day today. I figured, you know, get out and ride and do the interview and talk about gearbox and a little bit of background for ourselves. So, I think this is sort of like figuring out who we are and so, yeah, that's part of my person. Yeah.
00:03:14
Speaker
No, I mean, that's what we're here for, right? I love that side of the platform is that people, they usually comment, they're like, oh, it's like, I didn't know this about this founder. And that's what I'm trying to show, right? We see the website, we see the products, but then we don't see who's really behind it. I feel like that's what we should be connecting to mostly is not just a product because a lot of products can be similar. It's difficult, I think, to the layman to differentiate what makes a product different.
00:03:42
Speaker
But then not just that, but each individual behind the product is very different. I think people just have different purposes. People have different intentions, different backgrounds. You have that background that goes into the first question. Something that separates you from most other founders and individuals in this space is that you've been in a racquetball since 2007. You opened up the product line for Pickleball in 2015.
00:04:09
Speaker
help me visualize what that was like back then even and like you're still a lot of people now are just coming to the sport probably in the past few years it's like you've seen that growth happening since i was a young kid uh five years old started playing baseball and so i've always been athletic you know i uh love sports i think sports are an important part of an individual or you know a person growing up it it's mind body and uh
00:04:37
Speaker
You know, health sort of a thing. So because of sports too, I mean, I was able to get a scholarship from for university from for racquetball.
Entrepreneurial and Professional Evolution
00:04:49
Speaker
I was in the military. I went into the Marine Corps very young and.
00:04:54
Speaker
through racquetball, I was able to get on the Marine Corps racquetball team and, and, um, you know, they, they also paid for college. So, you know, sports just opens up so many opportunities. I think, you know, even the Olympics politically, I mean, race, everything is almost.
00:05:17
Speaker
It becomes so neutral becomes so. You don't see you just competing against other individuals you know doesn't matter background where you come from you're just trying to show that hey this is my best against your best and.
00:05:34
Speaker
And it's a common ground where everybody comes in and becomes this great place. So, sports have a very special place for me. In those terms, all of my relationships, my best friends are because we used to travel in sports, doing everything.
00:05:57
Speaker
That connection to me, I brought that through, and because of sport, I was able to continue with school, I was able to work, and everything I do now is, I tie my sports background, my education, what I do for a living today, I mean, it's all based on what I do.
00:06:20
Speaker
you know, when I was a five year old kid playing baseball, you know, hitting a stick with it. And I think that's just such a great opportunity and very privileged, you know, and I appreciate that I've been able to live that way because, you know, most people, my parents even now is like,
00:06:41
Speaker
What the hell are you doing? Are you going to get a job at some point? I thought I'm working. This feels like work. Or it doesn't feel like work. But my parents seemed like, God, you've got to grow up at some point, right? But I disagree with that. I pay my bills and I have fun and enjoy.
00:07:03
Speaker
I pay my bills, damn it. That's right. It's like, how much more can you grow up, you know? As long as you're responsible with bills, you're okay. What were you doing before you formed Gearbox? Like, have you always been an entrepreneur? Did you work for other people at some point? Actually, I've been an entrepreneur since a young kid. I mean, at 10 years old, I used to go around the neighborhood and, you know, cut people's yards or trim their trees. I bought a lawnmower. I remember I pushed it around.
00:07:34
Speaker
At the age of 13, I got into buying, there was a store in California, it's called Mervin's and they used to sell like these watches that, there were watches that they would scratch the back of it, there were returns perhaps from customers and you'd get them for like 40 to 50% off the regular price.
00:08:02
Speaker
I used to go buy three or four and then I'd go and find customers for it. So like I would go and sell it to family members or whatever and make a little bit of money on it. And then later,
00:08:18
Speaker
Actually, I've always done something like a little side or hustle that growing up and I did. I mean, I worked at a grocery store bagging initially and then I did some other teenage sort of jobs and when the Marine Corps did that for five years and then
00:08:38
Speaker
During that time, my parents had like small restaurants and I was about 20. I was in the Marines going to school and I thought, well, I'm going to give this. I thought I wanted to do that type of a business restaurant and I did.
00:08:54
Speaker
I opened a couple small restaurants, like very small Mexican food and broiled chicken kind of a thing. And I found out early that that just wasn't for me.
00:09:10
Speaker
You know, I love the business side of it, but not how the hours were just… Were you like innovating the… Yeah, right, innovating. No, but I was doing systems because my father, you know, he was very distrusting of people. He's all you need to have, you know, managers and he couldn't just give up control. So, it was
00:09:34
Speaker
And I could see that. I think he had eight restaurants or so, small restaurants, and he couldn't grow beyond that because he just wanted the control. He was very distrusting with people. And I saw that and then he had a small distribution center where they created, he had this secret recipe for the chicken.
00:10:01
Speaker
and he ended up like he started selling some restaurants to try to franchise and so it ended up where people would get the chickens that he marinated and then they would buy their own and then they'd kind of blend them and rub them together try to and so you could see some of those things that were not in control and I was fairly young back then
00:10:22
Speaker
So, I did try to write down procedures and things too and that's why I thought, wow, you know, I want to go to school, I want to figure out how to create procedures where it was, you can do things time after time and I remember I had dad complaining about one cook or another that they would tweak the recipe based on what they liked, you know. So, anyway, I wasn't inventing anything particular but I did want to
00:10:52
Speaker
Create structure and things like that. So when I I came in and I opened my place or a couple of them I tried that and but it's just I was way too young.
Innovations in Pickleball Paddle Technology
00:11:03
Speaker
I was 20 years old and you know and and I wasn't ready to work that that type of Those types of hours and I was still in the Marine Corps and all that so I was trying to manage from the outside and and
00:11:16
Speaker
And I quickly realized that that business, it was very enslaving almost. Yeah, yeah. You just, it's, you go in early and you, I mean, it's nonstop. And then the reward maybe wasn't there, right? Now I'm so far beyond the food industry. I'm just like, no, I really enjoy the composites and the structures and all the things that I do today.
00:11:39
Speaker
you know, that. But I think those were very good roots, I guess you'd say to get started. Business in itself, I think it's all the same or very similar. But so, I mean, for a young kid like myself to be able to do those things, yeah, it was very, very good for me to learn. And then
00:12:00
Speaker
I did work for another company as an engineer. I was building product and because of the racquetball side, I was playing on the Pro Tour and I was the engineer for this brand for about 13, 14 years and that really
00:12:21
Speaker
opened up my eyes from, you know, coming from a family business sort of mentality to more corporate and seeing more things. And that, you know, I was like, yeah, this is the direction that I want to go. And I worked for the company. We had an awesome relationship with the owner. I got to do and create and build a lot of things. I left only because that particular owner,
00:12:46
Speaker
was hesitant. He wanted perfection, right? He's kind of an individual that he wanted everything lined up perfectly before we launched a product or it's like, oh no, the market has to be right. This has to be right. And I just like I would develop a product. It took three or four years before I went into market. He was always waiting for like for the right timing. And for me, I was building a lot of things. I was like, ah, we build the product and we're like, okay, let's go, you know, take it to market.
00:13:14
Speaker
No no no it's not quite ready yet you know we have to do this or we have to do more we gotta investigate that.
00:13:23
Speaker
market a little more and years would go by. And we're like, oh man, I think we're losing the opportunity. Well, even I found that later. I mean, he could have entered pickleball easily a long time ago. He's like, no, while looking at this pickleball thing, I don't think it's going to be a viable business. All the research that I did and all that.
00:13:44
Speaker
And sometimes I think if you get caught up too much into the details of, you know, your business plan and all this, yeah, you can lose the opportunity. I mean, I'm a little more of a risk taker, so I jump in and once I'm in, I'm just like, you figure it out. Yeah. I tell you, you came here on like a dirt bike basically.
00:14:07
Speaker
That's super interesting though, because your experience of working for your dad, that was definitely a formative year. The way you're talking about it, you question the way things are, and you can see that in the way that gearbox is now. You're not following the same blueprint as everyone else. We'll get into that, but when you show me the materials, the composites, and then you also show me just
00:14:30
Speaker
how the paddles are just made differently. Everyone kind of claims that, right? But it's really, it might be something on the exterior. It might be some like, some like technology, like I guess in the past year or two, it's been like thermoform. But when I actually look inside and like look at the core and I look at the patents of Gearbox, it's great to see that, okay, when I introduced you as engineer, innovator, like inventor, like those are all true titles, right?
00:15:00
Speaker
Um, but it's also very interesting that like two things that really stood out to me was like a lesson you learned from your dad. It's probably like control. And then also lesson that you learned from working for that other individual was like this idea of perfection. And you're just like, not just a risk taker, just like go and put it out there and just let things unfold rather than trying to predict the right time. Are those two things, something that kind of guides how gearbox is now and the way you treat the company?
00:15:29
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. And I have my sister actually works with me and she's operations manager and does this and she's also very, very structured. And I say also not because of me, but more like my old boss, right? I'm more of a risk taker. I see things and I was like, no, we have to do things now kind of a thing. So
00:15:55
Speaker
There is a balance. I think if I was just on my own and you have to have somebody to maybe balance you out a little bit. A lot of times I see things and you have this gut feeling like it's the right time and you go.
00:16:16
Speaker
And quite honestly too, I feel that if you don't do it and you don't just put yourself out there, you won't learn. We learn from making mistakes. I think those... Yeah, you want to be cautious, you want to do a little bit of research or a lot of it and understand what you're getting into.
00:16:38
Speaker
fear, I think, will prevent most people or a lot of people from moving forward. The unknown, right? What if this happens? What if that happens? Well, you're never going to really know until you actually dive in and you're in it. And once you are in it, you figure ways to
00:16:59
Speaker
get through it, right? And you persevere, you kind of push. And then if you fail at that, whatever thing you're doing, you learn from it and you try it again. And I think that's what makes a difference of why some people
00:17:16
Speaker
We do certain things and others don't, you know, a lot of times, I mean, with gearbox and everything that we do is like, you know, we're in a difficult situation, whatever it may be. I gotta be easier to just work for somebody and come home at five and just chill, right? And forget about it.
00:17:35
Speaker
I mean, I like the thrill. I like the challenge. I like the... Unpredictability. Yeah, unpredictability. Solving problems, doing, and exposing myself to... I just feel it makes me better. I grow. I grow from it.
00:17:52
Speaker
I like just learning and putting myself out there and I like being in uncomfortable places. People are much smarter than me. Just throw yourself in that group. Learn. You're going to learn. Yeah, you're intimidated, but whatever. I'll pick up a tip or two and then move on and you put that in your
00:18:15
Speaker
in your bag of knowledge sort of a thing. So yeah, I mean, it's fun. And it's worked for me, I think. I've got a very nice business. We enjoy, like I said earlier, I'm doing the things I love to do. And yeah, it's challenging at times, but it's very rewarding.
00:18:43
Speaker
Overall. Yeah, man. I agree 100% on just being the kid in the sandbox rather than being the kid that's watching other kids play. There's definitely truth to that. You're going to fail more times than they are, but you're also going to be a lot closer to that one small win that you're eventually going to achieve.
00:19:02
Speaker
I have plenty of people in my friend's circle and my family who are much smarter than me, much more talented, but I just pull the trigger all the time. I even quote that from my coach. I just ask him stuff like that. I asked him about advice, right? I'm just like, what do you usually take advice from? He's like, man, unless these people aren't doing what I'm doing, then I usually don't take advice from most people. I just keep pulling the trigger. I was like, yeah, that's true. I just try to look at everything as an experiment, just constant output.
00:19:31
Speaker
And if you do that, then there's always like a lesson that you're receiving from it, like kind of like what you're saying.
00:19:38
Speaker
and going into like Gearbox, it's like you guys, did you guys first put out the product line in 2015? Yeah, it was around 2015 and started developing around 2000, early or late 2014. I, you know, I was exposed to pickleball around 2008, the first time there was some wood paddles. They had a little bit of honeycomb and
00:20:05
Speaker
I looked at the structures and I thought wow you know especially coming from composites and the way we build there's composites you either you press them from the outside in or the inside out like if you're blowing up a balloon kind of a thing right so and you you put in a cavity mold so
00:20:23
Speaker
My expertise are more blowing things up from the inside out and pushing the material to the walls of, you know, a cavity mold. I do, you know, obviously press as well, but in both of those, they work in a similar manner, but just different techniques. So I looked at pickleball, particularly the wood, and then even the honeycomb structures, and back then they're breaking all the time.
00:20:48
Speaker
So our focus was like, boy, I could create a much stronger structure initially. And then pickleball back then, yeah, they had a lot of finesse and different shots, but the game was very basic, right? The strategy was you get into the kitchen and then you dink and then you wait for an opportunity. It wasn't as aggressive. You were trying to win the rally and the dinking and then maybe with an aggressive or a little more aggressive shot, you finished.
00:21:16
Speaker
the game but and then as it progressed I remember players is and then now this is probably 2018 or so there was a gentleman uh Marson I think his name I forget his last name but
00:21:32
Speaker
Very good tennis player, he came in and they were a little more aggressive and I don't think Ben Johns or maybe he might have just been coming into the scene. So all these guys, I mean, you watch the game go from a very easy dinking sort of control game into what the game is today. And the equipment, if you really look at it,
00:21:58
Speaker
hasn't really changed that much from like 2000. Well, some of the earlier honeycombs, I mean, they were using the same honeycomb paddles up until probably three years ago when they started playing around with more materials, the thermal form sort of structure. But even beyond that, it's still the same. You have a plastic honeycomb core or maybe a aramid or aramid is the same as Kevlar, so it's just a different trade name.
00:22:26
Speaker
or they might use an aluminum core. But now aluminum core, the Kevlar or aramid cores are phasing out because they were loud, they were tingy. So polypropylene is sort of what stayed, right? Or probably the most popular.
00:22:44
Speaker
We introduced the carbon fiber structure core which is our SST around
Understanding Player Needs and Market Adaptation
00:22:50
Speaker
2015 and we've been tweaking that you know since day one and and by tweaking I mean
00:23:00
Speaker
We've changed. All right. It's October. So that means it's about that time to start Christmas shopping. And Viore let me know some of the best selling products so I can make that easier for you. If you're looking for something for your partner and they're female, these are some good recommendations.
00:23:17
Speaker
And if your partner is male, these are also some good recommendations. And since it's that time of season, things are getting a little bit colder and you may be looking for something maybe just for yourself and you're looking for something warmer. This is my personal recommendation. This is the ponto crew neck.
00:23:32
Speaker
The entire ponto line is super soft. I have that crew neck. I don't have any of the other items, but I really, really like that crew neck. It's really lightweight. When I recently went to Seattle, that was actually my favorite piece of clothing that I brought with me because it was just super lightweight and it was just enough to keep me warm in the airport.
00:23:51
Speaker
or on the airplanes where they're typically a little bit colder, but not too much where it felt too heavy and almost like it would be too big to stuff into my bag. Go to viore.com slash building pickleball. Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but you'll also receive free shipping on any orders of $75 or more as well as free returns. Enjoy the rest of the show.
00:24:14
Speaker
the materials, the fiber angles, trying to make it a little softer, a little more stiffer, depending to get more flex and absorb more energy or return more energy. And we've, our challenge has been sinking our core. And what I mean by sinking is like we sink the playability, its response with the paddle, with the players, right? You have such a wide range of players that there's players
00:24:44
Speaker
looking for power, finesse, and then there's just like some that I don't want any power and generate, I just want to be able to dink. So we were trying to make one or two paddles that would suffice that range, right? Or kind of cover that entire range. And we started finding out, well, we really can't cater to everybody. So let's focus on a group. And luckily for us, when we first came out in 2015,
00:25:13
Speaker
Our paddles were pretty hot and the pro players It was too fast for that style of game back then but we had we found a customer base that Was a 70 plus year old customer You know females and males who
00:25:35
Speaker
Couldn't really when with a honeycomb paddle when they went to return the ball They couldn't get it passed over the net like so they were having a hard time Getting their return like they would serve to them and they would hit the ball and it wouldn't go very far past The net so they couldn't get it to the back court But because our paddles had so much more pop they're like
00:26:00
Speaker
Well now I can instantly they're like I can play pickleball now I don't have to struggle and swing really hard so we we were able to create this and it was by accident wasn't by design so that was one of those thing they just get in the game and see where it goes right and.
00:26:18
Speaker
So we had this group of people, particularly Florida, like South Florida, Naples area, Utah, I recall. So a lot of these markets where a lot of the snowbirds would go to, you know, retired older players, they loved our paddle because
00:26:38
Speaker
it gave them that much more pop. It made them more competitive. Level that playing field now. Yeah, level that playing field for them. All of a sudden, we're noticing like, boy, we're sending a lot of gearbox paddles to the older community. We're like, okay, that works. We found this market that really worked.
00:27:00
Speaker
And yeah, we weren't in that mainstream market where, you know, the tournament players and all that because it wasn't sort of the right paddle for them. There's a few who got into it. And because there were more tennis players were coming in. So then as we grew, okay, now we were looking to slow the paddle down and more feel. So it took us about two years to get
00:27:24
Speaker
the next sort of generation, we slowed it down, put a little bit more feel. And that was our GX5. And where we missed that is it had this funny sound. Some people loved it and others hated it, right? So we're like very divided. It's like this paddle, you know, you had people who are like, oh man, this is wonderful. And you could see their opponents are like,
00:27:52
Speaker
God, I hate that paddle, the sound or whatever, but others were like, we loved it. So that was another sort of lesson we learned. Well, people relate the sound to the performance of the paddle, right? So it was like,
00:28:08
Speaker
A higher pitch generally tends to be more power. A lower pitch people... And what I'm saying is that we've tested the ball. So I tested the ball coming off the face, the velocity coming off the face of the paddle. I can have two that are exactly the same but I changed the pitch to a higher pitch
00:28:31
Speaker
versus the lower pitch and I'll give the paddle the same person immediately. Oh no, this one's more powerful. Oh no, this one's for control. But the ball's really coming off the same. And I can tell them, it's like, oh no, the ball's coming off the same speed. Oh no, it's not. I could see it and I can feel it. But it doesn't. You know, it's exactly the same.
00:28:52
Speaker
Rather than sit there and trying to convince somebody, he's like, no, you're wrong. It's not coming off. And look, here's the measurements. You say, okay, you're right.
00:29:03
Speaker
Because that's your perception. I can't change it, right? So we have to adapt to that perception or what that is. And here I'm sitting in a lab, I have measurements and I'm like, no, this ball's faster, this one's slower, these are the same, now this pitch or that pitch. How do you create a video or a document? Nobody's gonna read all this stuff. They're like, no, I don't care what you're saying, dude. You're kind of nuts.
00:29:32
Speaker
I feel the ball. I can see it. You know, this one has more power and this one's more control. I don't care how the sausage is made like they just want. Yeah. It tastes like this, right? And you can't tell me that that's what it tastes like to me. And so that was a lesson that and I kind of knew that because from racquetball and other sports that when we develop and I'm working with athletes to get that feedback.
00:29:58
Speaker
Racquetball would say it was much easier because sound was really coming into play as much as it does in pickleball. The sound and how it does when you get into very high tensions, like string tensions and string types.
00:30:14
Speaker
but not as much as it's pickleball. So that took a little while for us to adjust and so now we can do things to okay if the perception is of certain frequency that you know the ball has more control then
00:30:31
Speaker
let's put that into our matrix of developing a paddle. We didn't have that in. So now there's, okay, the perception of vibration, the feel when you hit the ball coming into your hand, how does that translate into your, the audible, you know, the coming into your ear, what you feel, what you see, and how that ball reacts, right? So,
00:30:58
Speaker
We kind of got a good handle of that and then spin came in, right? So we're like, Oh, now spin texture. We had a fairly smooth surface. We used to coat the paddle with a, um, it had a softer durometer on the coating itself. So the urethane that we use was a little softer. So it actually,
00:31:20
Speaker
grab the ball. I thought the GX five and the GX six, like that was my first paddle after my Amazon paddle. I thought it was pretty gritty. I had like the green one. Oh yeah. Well, we asked it. We started doing a chemical process to kind of roughen the, um, you know, the texture a little bit, but because prior to that, yeah. So, uh, our first paddles,
00:31:43
Speaker
the surface we didn't have the grit and in the way that a customer and this is probably I don't know what 2019 the first thing they do they come up to our booth they go is just this and if you don't have a certain like texture or feel they just bypass the paddle so we're like oh whoa so even though we had a like a softer
00:32:11
Speaker
finish and our spin rates, if you go back, our spin rates have always been very, very good and high. I mean, more than a lot of the paddles and even when they were slick and smooth, but it didn't matter. If the consumer did this and there was no grid on it,
00:32:32
Speaker
They're like, I don't care if we talk about our, you know, bite technology, all the ribs come through and they push and they do that. They're like, I don't care. It's smooth and it doesn't have spin. So we're like, okay, now we got to fix that. You know, so it, and I'm talking about a period of seven years that we're learning and we're still learning. Um,
00:32:51
Speaker
because now you've got players coming in from all kinds of different sports backgrounds some without and they're being very creative and all that so kind of keeping up and learning from all that it has been a challenge but I think we have enough knowledge now and I think for the very first time well it's not that I think I know now
00:33:09
Speaker
we are able to put all the different things that the glares are looking for. So they're looking for a textured surface and one that doesn't wear out after a couple of months. The sprayed on ones tend to wear out very quick.
00:33:25
Speaker
They want the texture to last a long time and perform. And then they want durable paddles. They want the feel. They want the sound and all of these things to be incorporated into their paddle.
Advanced Paddle Construction Techniques
00:33:42
Speaker
But they also want tons of power, tons of control, huge sweet spots, and the ability to shape the ball beyond physics, right? So we're like, okay.
00:33:54
Speaker
So we're like, okay, that's our goal, right? So started working on it. We've created a, this is a textured cure ply now. So this is actually cured. So we can now make the surfaces, you know, a certain way to texture it, not texture it. And then we created a method to bond this to a soft core, which is our rib structure before going into the mold. And then we use
00:34:22
Speaker
pre-cured and soft plies to bond, to create, give you a little sneak peek into our paddle, but we're able to now put that textured surface right onto a molded paddle. So now that that textured surface goes into it, we're able to mold it and create this just
00:34:45
Speaker
Awesome and to be quite honest now so we said okay people want a fast paddle so we created a power and a control so they have a choice but in addition to that they're saying well I want to be able to really shape the ball so what we did with the core on both of these is we made the core so it actually absorbs and it the the ball sort of sinks into the
00:35:12
Speaker
the face but also the the paddle flexes back and it shapes around the ball and it and then it slings it or like a almost like a slingshot or a trampoline you know trampoline i think that's probably the most common word being used today but it's occurring with the entire structure so it's flexing from the throat area it's bending back it's it's sort of cupping around and then it throws the ball back and we're doing that
00:35:40
Speaker
And we also lowered the frequency. So now there's the control aspect is in there. So you have very easy dinking. We've increased the size of the sweet spot on on the paddle. So I mean, literally, you can bounce a ball almost all the way to the edge of the frame. And it's you have that that forgiveness or that, you know, that dwell time that goes into the ball.
00:36:05
Speaker
So expanding the sweet spot makes a very forgiving paddle. It's at eight ounces and people generally when you have a light paddle and you hit the ball off center, it tends to twist very easy. But because this one absorbs the ball, it doesn't twist in your hands. So we can keep a very neutral eight ounce paddle with a very light rotational weight.
00:36:32
Speaker
and gives you very quick hands and tons of stability. That's caused by what you were talking about with that carbon fiber, like it more pliable like this, like front and back, but it's not like twisty, right? Yes, correct. And then the actual face is more forgiving, so the ball travels deeper.
00:36:51
Speaker
One of the things you know people notice when you hit a ball there's a ball mark that's left on the. You're going to notice what these paddles the ballmark diameter is actually going to be larger and it's not that you're compressing the ball more you're not flattening the ball.
00:37:07
Speaker
What's actually happening the boss going traveling deeper into this paddle so you have more surface-to-surface contact with the ball So the paddle is sort of wrapping around the ball and then it releases so by having more of that surface-to-surface contact
00:37:22
Speaker
you're able to keep the ball a little longer on your paddle. Because you have more of the ball going in, it grabs it, and then you can actually spin it more. So that's the shaping of the ball. And the energy that it returns, we did it in two ways. So one, we have the power, and then we have the control. With the control, the energy coming in for the ball and then the impact,
00:37:51
Speaker
we keep more of that in the paddle. It doesn't go back into the ball. We're on the control or on the power, we push more of that energy back into the ball. So then you'll see this as the ball exits our power paddle, it's coming off hot versus the other one. The other one, you're going to have to generate more of the power yourself where this one you could keep actually a shorter stroke and generate
00:38:20
Speaker
plenty of power with it. What's behind the technology? Uh, it's the way we built the core. So, um, yeah, you talked a little bit about that rib structure before, if you could kind of explain it like an, I don't know if your camera would pick some of this up, but there's some writing on, on these. So this one says 30 degrees. So this is, um,
00:38:39
Speaker
This is a 30 degree ply FAW is the fiber aerial weight or the density for a certain area for a square meter. This is zero degree or 19 degree. This 19 degree is fairly stiff. You see that where a 30 degree, same, same material, just different angles, very soft. And then we have zero degree.
00:39:03
Speaker
Well, I kind of broke this one up, but this is very stiff. I mean, so you, this, this guy will, but it's all the same and it's, you know, T 700 at zero degrees, 19 degrees and 30 degrees. And I think I even have a, well, I had a 45.
00:39:23
Speaker
So by changing the fiber angle you can change how stiff the bending or you can make it more flexible or you can make it stiffer so there's more resistance. But also if we change if this one's 30 degrees is softer but when I go to twist it it's going to be stiffer on the when I twist it because you have a positive and negative so it's going to take more force to twist.
00:39:49
Speaker
where the zero I can twist and essentially just there's no fiber in between. This is just being held by resin. So most of this structure, its strength is at zero degrees this way. So this is very very stiff. That is one way by changing our rib structure inside. So we have ribs that run the length
00:40:12
Speaker
That is how we begin to either absorb energy and keep it in the paddle or return it. One of the cool things that we did with this, and you'll see some drawings or graphics, we actually, so our rib structure runs from the top down to the bottom of the paddle.
00:40:30
Speaker
Well, on this particular one, we broke it up into seven sections. So rather than being one single core, we have seven micro cores within the core of the panel. So what that does is
00:40:47
Speaker
by creating these sections, now there's no structure in between the sections. So that makes, that allows for more movement and it allows for more reaction, but the compression is still there. So we allowed the whole structure to move back and flex and sort of shape. And that's where, that is how these cores are much different. And that's what's really cool about carbon fiber
00:41:15
Speaker
you cannot do that with polypropylene. Plastic is just the piece of plastic. I mean, it's like a straw, right? There's very little structure to it. It's heavy. This thing is just, I mean, it's super light and but it's extremely strong. Like you can hang a semi-truck off of this piece and the tensile strength of it is just
00:41:36
Speaker
tremendous carbon fiber and utilized in the right way i mean you can make just some amazing structures and that's really my specialty right so that's where we can get into these really cool structures and and create these systems that
00:41:52
Speaker
are very efficient in absorbing energy or returning energy and feel. And then we created some dampening materials in there that help us with that perception of feel, right? So that's connected to sound, it's connected to the vibration in your hand and how the ball sort of jumps off
00:42:13
Speaker
the face. So, for the very first time and I think in pickleball in general and there isn't a paddle that even comes close in terms of technology and design and everything and this one like nailed it on all of those aspects and I think this is the beginning of a new generation of pickleball paddles that will be
00:42:39
Speaker
For sure, I think Gearbox will lead that because we have patents on all this so not anybody can just come in and copy. So we have a patent now that's been our solid span technology patent.
00:42:56
Speaker
I think it was issued probably three, four years ago. It took about two years to get it through the examiner and all that. And now I just applied for like 16 new patents. This particular paddle has three of the new ones and then some new proprietary things that we did. So you're gonna see, I think the evolution of a feel and performance and shape and all that.
00:43:23
Speaker
That is just going to get better from here forward. Yeah. Something before we get into patents, because I think that's definitely a very interesting aspect, especially given if you look at a lot of the top paddles, you start to see that they're somewhat redundant. The only thing that's changing is probably branding and marketing. Before we get into that, a popular question that you probably get with any paddle, especially these days is like edgeless. Is that edgeless?
00:43:52
Speaker
Yes. Um, and the majority of our paddles are edgeless and what edgeless really means that it goes into a mold, uh, which is a cavity mold. So we, we, we, and then we blow it up internally, like a balloon, like you would push all the material to the edges of the mold. What is that material? So it might make more sense to other people. Like I saw that, like you have the rib structures and you have that it's not hollow, but there's like that material that we like. Yeah. There's different, um,
00:44:20
Speaker
Well, some of it we can use for dampening. We can use a rubber type material for expansion. There's actually this right here. I won't tell you exactly what it is, but it's a
00:44:39
Speaker
It's a chemical process that expands when it reaches a certain temperature. So at about a hundred degrees Fahrenheit, it will begin to expand. So this actually, this piece, I'll show it a little closer here.
00:44:58
Speaker
is the handle of our but this isn't the outside I mean this this is a pre-shape of our handle so then what we do with this is we begin to wrap the carbon fiber around this and then this piece when we
00:45:16
Speaker
We shape this at a lower temperature and then once we're ready to mold it we fire it up at a much higher temperature and then this will expand again. So this could expand maybe two or three times and it'll expand probably depending on the material up to 30 times its original shape. So
00:45:41
Speaker
And by doing that, we can create tremendous pressure internally and that helps push the material. That is one way. So this is what we call doing it through a chemical process. We could also use a gas. So once we, if we had like a bladder and we wanted a sealed system, so then I would put a gas in here. And then when we put that in the mold, the gas would just expand, right? And push everything to the sides.
00:46:11
Speaker
or we could put a like an air nozzle in the mold and then with a bladder as well then with a compressor or just external air pressure we can pressurize the inside of the paddle. So there's several ways to create this internal pressure. This is one of them. This material here it's not structural so you know we could there's no structure to this. This is
00:46:39
Speaker
Yeah, so this, you know, you can see it's not structural but this helps us shape. You know, it gives us what we call a pre-shape so we can form the carbon fiber around it. Our goal is to form this paddle
00:46:59
Speaker
almost to the perfect dimension to fit inside the cavity mold because you don't want it to be small and then expand and stretch or too big and then you compress it because you get wrinkles and all that.
Gearbox's Future Plans and Market Strategies
00:47:12
Speaker
Wrinkles and carbon fiber are a no-no and then if you don't have enough... So the mold or the part going into the mold
00:47:22
Speaker
has to match almost perfectly. Otherwise you get air bubbles, you get areas that don't blow up properly and anytime you do that you compromise your structure a little. So there's a trick to doing what we call the pre-shape to match it almost perfect to go into the mold. You want to just be able to put this piece into the mold
00:47:43
Speaker
and just fire it up and and just pressurize the heck out of it so so your part once it's cured it's you know it's perfect and so we do that again with air we can do it with you know this expanding foams we can add other materials in there so i can actually embed
00:48:04
Speaker
dampening materials within this piece. I can do all kinds of stuff. And that's what's really cool. So with the combination and it's also feel the weight of that. It's yeah, it's ridiculous. There's no weight. It's like a piece of popcorn. Yeah, it's like popcorn, but it creates tremendous pressure. So, you know, you take that compared to, um,
00:48:30
Speaker
polypropylene, which is a plastic that's extremely heavy. I mean, it's structurally, we're in two different worlds. And again, polypropylene and honeycomb paddles have their place. But now that we've actually matched the sound, the feel, the things with carbon fiber and some of these other techniques,
00:48:55
Speaker
we're going to push pickleball to other, you know, and pickleball paddle technology to other realms. And then you get an athlete that can really maximize the performance of this. So now I, this paddle right now is at eight ounces, but I can literally make this paddle extremely strong. Probably six ounces. Yeah.
00:49:19
Speaker
Is the six ounce paddle something viable today? Probably not because you know it's not somebody needs to learn how to use a six ounce paddle and then how do we you know do things I don't know where the game but we have that capability we can obviously make a six maybe even lighter paddle we can make a heavier paddle
00:49:40
Speaker
with the same strength and have just these tremendous. So I don't know where the industry will go in terms of the athlete, but we have quite a huge range to build a lot of things. So now we have this paddle, the pro paddle, the pro power that can generate at eight ounces the same velocity
00:50:09
Speaker
of a paddle that weighs nine and a half ounces. So now you've got the maneuverability of this very light paddle, super quick.
00:50:19
Speaker
with power at your hands, you know, when you need it and just tons of control. You don't need a lot of mass behind it. The paddle is not going to twist on you. It's not going to get pushed back because somebody hit the ball hard. It'll actually return the energy. So now how does that change somebody's game? So one of my goals with this was if you needed more power, you don't need to go for a large swing. So you can just come here
00:50:44
Speaker
And now you're ready. You just pop that ball back to your opponent pretty hard and you didn't really move. So you're in the ready position to receive their shot, you know, if they returned it. Right. But so how do we shorten the stroke? How do we keep you in a more
00:51:03
Speaker
ready position most of the time. And that's, that's really what we're all of these things are going into the design of this paddle. And that's what's fun. And that's what's really cool. It is cool, man. Cause like, dude, you've been a racket player for God knows how long it's probably over like 20 years at this point, but you came up with gearbox in like 2015 with your team and everyone involved.
00:51:27
Speaker
But then like we've talked about in the past before where like the timing wasn't always kind of right. Like you're right that the game and the products do kind of align with what the customer and like the players need or want or seeking. And that's always going to be difficult to catch up to. But I think like the timing of this paddle and based on the reviews I've read or heard about to like, Oh gosh, I'm gonna have to mention this guy again.
00:51:53
Speaker
Chris Olsen, Chris Olsen at Pickleball studio. Like he didn't divulge any information that he wasn't supposed to, but he was just like, he kept it pretty short. He's like, this is a game changer. He didn't really use any other words except that. And like to hear that, because over the past like year, year and a half, you know, the, I think the Hyperion was like a great paddle that like changed things and then everyone kind of followed suit. But then what is the next evolution, right? Like what's the next thing that people are looking for? What's great about this paddle is like,
00:52:23
Speaker
I think people know what they're looking for, but also like as Steve Jobs had said, and like Henry Ford, right? Like if we gave people what they wanted, we would have like, we still have like people riding the horse-drawn carriages. You kind of like have to give force a little bit. Yeah. Be able to predict that in a way, but you're taking a risk on it too by providing this. But like,
00:52:46
Speaker
Man, like I'm excited to see what people think because I think I talked about with will to say like I think in the next year or I don't know how ever long more but like I think power is going to be a huge emphasis now and like even the way you talked about because you come from a player background and you understand the different like dynamics of playing and like body movement and all that. You're talking about having a shorter swing.
00:53:12
Speaker
Like that makes a lot of difference, right? Like milliseconds, like fractions of a second of time to like change your body position, changing your like a paddle face position. If you can minimize that using like a paddle, uh, uh, using a, yeah, like an instrument, that's going to make a huge difference. So like now you have people moving a little bit less, so there's less like variability in the way their body is moving. Um, that that's going to be like super, super interesting.
00:53:40
Speaker
Yeah, well, you know, right now here's how pickle ball is broken down, right? You want control, 16, 18 millimeter paddle, right? A thick paddle. You want power, a thin paddle. Also you want more power, heavier paddle. You want a more stable paddle way out at the, you know, three and nine o'clock.
00:54:04
Speaker
to get the stability from a white paddle, increase the size of the sweet spot, weigh it out at the, you know, add lead tape to three and nine o'clock or somewhere around there. You want spin, well then you add more texture.
00:54:19
Speaker
All those are great, but they're very basic ways to manipulate your paddle. Here, we're giving you an eight ounce paddle. You don't have to put lead tape on the sides. It's very stable. At eight ounces, it's extremely maneuverable. It's gonna give you the power. I actually saw some numbers, so this paddle's coming in.
00:54:41
Speaker
I mean, they have some EVA foam paddles right now that, you know, aren't legal or whatever. I'm just going to say a number, but this is pretty close to it. You know, they're hitting the ball at 60 miles an hour, right? A traditional honeycomb paddle is hitting the ball around 52 miles an hour.
00:55:00
Speaker
Our paddles, the pro power came in at 55, 56. And then the pro control hits just as hard as a current power, legal power paddle, as they call it. So we're giving you a little bit more power than
00:55:21
Speaker
Then the most powerful paddle that's out there, that's legal, not a thermal formed or a delaminated or broken core thermal form or the EVA paddles. So you've got that power right below that number
00:55:39
Speaker
But the control that's in here is tremendous. And it's all in one standard eight-ounce paddle. That is like your base. Now, if you want to customize it, say, well, I'm used to a heavier weight, then go ahead. But before you do that, I would challenge you to
00:55:59
Speaker
Maybe speed up your hands a little too, you know, because as soon as you start adding a lot of weight to the paddle, you're giving up maneuverability, right? There's always a cause and effect, right? So you add weight, you slow it down. You remove weight, you speed it up, but then you don't have enough weight.
00:56:21
Speaker
power behind the paddle or stability. What I'm saying is, we kept this at eight ounces, you have the stability of a nine and a half ounce paddle, you have the power of a nine and a half ounce paddle, you have the control of a nine and a half ounce paddle, but the maneuverability of an eight ounce paddle, the swing weight, some of the guys that are reviewing the paddles, they're going to give you the actual numbers of the rotational weight and they're going to give you the swing weight.
00:56:49
Speaker
Have you gotten those numbers this way? I do, but I'll wait for some of the guys too. That way it's not coming for me. You'll hear it and then they'll tell you they're independent individuals who are...
00:57:01
Speaker
And the equipment that some individuals use is different from ours. So swing weight is not like weight that there's a law or there's, you know, a standard that one gram is one gram. So swing weight, there's different swing weight machines. So one machine could be 122. Another, you know, company's machine is like 115. We use a Rossignol machine that we really like. So our swing weight measures in the like
00:57:32
Speaker
78 when some of these other machines were weighing 120. So there's no law of, okay, this is what swing weight is. This is more of a measurement. I try to tell that to people cause people wanted that in a review. They're like, Oh, well you are not talking about like the swing weight. I was like, dude, cause that's not objective. And like, if you're looking for like an objective measurement, like, well, for starters, the paddle someone gets can become,
00:57:56
Speaker
not completely different, but there is going to be variability between like what I receive and what someone else receives. And then like you just said, like the instrument to measure that. And I was like, so just like you feel it for yourself is what I like try to tell people. It's like, there's like certain things like weight. I think the weight of the paddle does make sense. The like length and all that. I think that makes sense too, because just based on the player. But when I talk about like swing weight and like RPMs, I'm like,
00:58:23
Speaker
those numbers don't really matter. Like I've seen multiple reviewers have different RPMs for the same paddle and for the reasons you just discussed. Yeah. I mean, geez, they're sort of crude methods being used, you know, measuring RPM and things. There's, you know, there's obviously some equipment out there, but there's, we don't have standards right now. I mean, the only standards that USAP, I mean, obviously we have weight. I mean, that, that you can't argue with that.
00:58:52
Speaker
Um, even spin rate, you know, even if you had a robot, I would, I would question the spin rate because for example, our handle is very rigid, but then you have some honeycomb core paddles that.
00:59:07
Speaker
there's companies that still use the wood, which is the balsa wood, which is very soft. So when you go to clamp that down, the balsa wood is going to be soft and sort of squishy. Some have like a rubberized or EVA foam handle that they create the larger handle with. So how do you account for the variance or the variable of the material squeezing down?
00:59:31
Speaker
And actually right now they're trying to develop some tests that measure the speed off the face of the paddle. And all those variables are going to be a factor. It's like, well, wait a minute. Our handle's very rigid. How do you account for your clamp that holds the paddle in place? Oh, we're going to use a robot to swing the same way. I said, well, that's all great. But your clamping system, you're going to have to
00:59:59
Speaker
use the exact same clamping system and the materials in the handle have to be kind of the same. At the end, I think
01:00:14
Speaker
We are going to, or we created a paddle that is very neutral. And I'm going to, I totally encourage people to experiment with it. Like, um, I want to encourage people to see just what you can do. So our player, our player base, we have some that are experimenting with, you know, the power one because they're shaping the ball. They're doing new, I mean, they're, they're, they're just adding new shots to their, you know, their, their tool bag.
01:00:43
Speaker
And you have others that are more traditional, they're like, oh no, I've been working so hard and for such a long time on my stroke that I don't want to change anything. So, perfect, you know, we've got the control one that's going to
01:00:58
Speaker
give you that base you don't need to you you do it as you want and then um you know just continue your the stroke that you've been working really hard with and then use this to uh get you to that feel give you more spin and give you a ton of feel and and um and just so you know the i did get out and
01:01:23
Speaker
So this this paddle here like I said is about 55 to 57 miles an hour you know right around that range. This one is coming in right at 54. So about three mile an hour difference on using the same you know sort of testing but the feel very different. Some people are oh my god I
01:01:46
Speaker
I just not generating as much speed, but it's a perception too. But in terms of measuring the bulk coming off the paddle, it's going to be very close overall. But the important point here is where technology is going and that's the exciting part for me. I mean, this is only
01:02:07
Speaker
The first step, I mean, actually for us, the first step was getting rid of the polypropylene core. I mean, even before us, they went from wood and somebody, you know, created the polypropylene core with the honeycomb structure and that was awesome. I mean, it's still a viable technology today. I think they're referring to those as first generation paddles now and now you have thermal form that are second generation.
01:02:34
Speaker
So, we created this SST core 2015 or so or, you know, late 14. And now, what is that, seven, eight years later, you know, we're dialing it in now. So now, I think people are going to appreciate what we were trying to do back then in what we're doing in today's paddle.
01:02:56
Speaker
I mean, and it took eight years to really develop, understand and sort of hone in on the player and the technology and sort of marry them or you know, bring it together. So yeah, we're excited about the future. I'm super excited about this new release and
01:03:15
Speaker
Yeah, so that's kind of what has brought us to this moment at this point. It's cool man I mean like like I mentioned before the gearbox was my first like aftermarket like that was when I was like I need a new like I need to step up now and like It's cool to see because that was in 2020 with the company's been around since or the pickleball side has been around since 2015 so I still consider I consider Gearbox to be somewhat of a legacy brand so to see you guys like
01:03:42
Speaker
You always had the technology, but now to see it actually coming out, being exposed, getting eyes on it and getting the traction, and then to see the technology is actually being advanced is super, super cool. Yeah, like you said, there's first and second generation paddles.
01:04:01
Speaker
possibly could this be third generation? So like that's cool that even have that in the history of pickleball, the advancement of pickleball. Um, and you kind of touched on it a little bit, but like that's a C core. We mentioned a little bit about like patents. What is your perspective on patents? How do you, I think we hear about it a lot. If you go on like Reddit and you hear just in like the community forums of like people copying different things like,
01:04:29
Speaker
someone had a photo of a rhombus paddle that had the six-year-old plastic wrap around the grip, like a brand new paddle, and someone received a ship like that. And you're like, okay, at what point do we draw the line? Because as a customer, that can get kind of annoying, right? You're like, oh, I thought I was buying something different. But I think people are starting to understand,
01:04:49
Speaker
mostly paddles that a lot of people are that are being passed around now. The variance is minimal and just curious to see and understand like how patents, how do you keep people from infringing on patent? How do you go about creating a patent? Like when do you know when to patent some
01:05:11
Speaker
Yeah, well, first of all, the patent, you just don't create it and you just don't say, well, I'm going to patent that. In order to receive a patent, it has to be an original idea. It has to be unique and it has to have not been done in the past or there's some variance of something that has been done in the past.
01:05:33
Speaker
And you have to present that to the examiner of the United States or examiner of whatever country you're trying to patent to say, hey, this has never been done. This is a unique idea. And there is, well, let me just say this. There's a couple of types of patents. One, you have a utility patent and then you have a design patent. Design means that
01:06:00
Speaker
Well, I'm going to patent the way the shape of this cup is. And, you know, I've and it's a very basic patent. So, you know, for example, we have this cup and I'm going to patent that this curve comes here and, you know, you do some design to it. But you're only getting that patent to that specific design. If I come through and I say, well, I'm going to make this square or rectangular.
01:06:26
Speaker
I patent that, but I still have a cup and I still have a handle. In a utility patent using this same example is you can say, well, I have a cup, but every time I put really hot coffee, this cup is burning my hand, right? So what I did is I patented this ear that comes out and now I can hold my hot coffee without me burning my hand.
01:06:54
Speaker
And that is more of a utility pattern. That means there's an actual function and there's a benefit to that. It's not just a design because it looks a certain way. This actually has a function. So now I can drink coffee at
01:07:09
Speaker
you know, I don't know, 180 degrees if you want. And without burning my hand, I can hold the cup all day long and the coffee's gonna stay hot and my hand's not gonna burn. So that would be what we consider a utility patent. And that's where I see a lot. And if you look patent pending, patent pending, patent pending, and yeah, they may have patent pending means that they've submitted a patent to the United States Patent Office.
01:07:37
Speaker
But that doesn't mean that they're going to get a patent. You have to prove to the examiner, it's like, hey, this is an original idea. It has this function. I'm claiming that this paddle is going to have this performance. And you have to prove it. You can't just say it. It's like, okay, well, show me your data. Show me what it's doing.
01:08:01
Speaker
Most of the time, and there's a section of a patent that has the claim section in in there, you have to say, OK, I made a paddle that does this. It's made of these materials is doing that and that. And you make that, you know, you make 100 claims. The examiner is going to come back and probably knock off.
01:08:21
Speaker
70% of them. So a utility patent is really what you're after. A design patent is, you know, it's cute, right? It's got a different shape, a color, very basic. So a utility patent, and what we do, I mean, that's our focus is we protect not only its function and like our SST, but if you go read and read through the patent,
01:08:46
Speaker
It's the process too of how we're manufacturing. So it's the process of this material is used, that material, we apply heat at this moment and the ribs expand or this expand. So it's very specific steps on how we create this structure.
01:09:08
Speaker
And the more we do that, the more protection that you have. So in a patent, a utility patent, you want to write it as broad as possible to prevent others from coming in and going around it, you know, in a way. So you'll see a lot of patent pending stuff, but actually patented
01:09:29
Speaker
very different and that's you know I've I don't know I think I have maybe 19-20 patents to date and then I just said I applied for 16 I think we'll probably get all 16 I'm pretty confident we already have some already now and when you apply for a patent you're not only applying in the United States because we're manufacturing in other countries so you have to
01:09:52
Speaker
patent in the countries where you manufacture and in the countries where you're gonna sell your product otherwise, you know, somebody can go around it and that process can get very expensive. It's not a cheap, you know, not only what it costs to build it or to get the patents, you have to maintain it and then you have to patent in all the multiple countries that you wanna sell the product in.
01:10:16
Speaker
If you have a patent, can you sell rights to it or something? Can you commercialize it? Yeah, you can commercialize. I mean, I could choose to say, okay, well,
01:10:26
Speaker
A patent is this technology where I created this product. You can license it out, right? So yeah, you can license the patent or you receive royalties. You say I'm going to, you license it to another brand and let's say, you know, Nike approached Gearbox or a large brand like that approached Gearbox said, look, we're interested in entering the pickleball space and we see that you have this patent. Obviously have a lot more money than you do. You can take it to market and do a better job. You say, well, yeah.
01:10:56
Speaker
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. I show you, I'll let you utilize the technology. Maybe I build it for you so I can make some money on building it or if they say no, we'll build it. Well, then you just pay me a royalty from that. So yeah, I mean, patents are a good way to, a lot of people make money that way without having to work.
01:11:18
Speaker
For me, I like to do it, well, we need to do it to protect our technology because then we have the situation of thermal form and everything else and then it's kind of touching back on that subject. There's probably only a handful of factories in Asia and it could be Taiwan, it could be China, Vietnam that are manufacturing these thermal form paddles and I know most of the factories, I know the people there.
01:11:47
Speaker
And yes, I mean, a lot of the paddles are coming out from the same factories. And people are making it their own by saying, well, I want this shape. And by people, I mean brands, right? So I want to start a brand. It's like, wow, I contact that company that makes the paddle.
01:12:10
Speaker
I really want to make this paddle and I want this weight. I want that balance. And you know, they get a few R and D paddles to test once they get to the one they like, because they shared it with their friends or test team like, okay, this one's going to be good. And I've heard it. You know, I think you've interviewed a couple of people as, Oh yeah, I created this paddle. I wouldn't say you created the paddle. You requested a certain weight, shape, and feel, I guess.
01:12:40
Speaker
but you really didn't create anything. You're buying something that somebody already created and then just made it more specific to what you're looking for or what your test team deemed acceptable and then you order those and then you buy them. And even in listening to a lot of the people that own these brands and stuff,
01:13:03
Speaker
It's great. I mean, they're in the business. When they say, yeah, this is an injected foam paddle, okay, you don't know what you're talking about, right? Because you don't inject foam around the perimeter. I mean, it's a whole process, right? It's a different process. Or they talk about, oh, this has T700 in it.
01:13:23
Speaker
These buzzwords are cute, you know, and they're utilizing these things but without really understanding what is T-700 right and what is, oh, a Toure, you gotta use Toure.
01:13:34
Speaker
No, you don't. T700, mid-modulus carbon fiber certified and it has to have a certain performance whether it's made by Toray. Yeah, there's different qualities but they're going to have the same specifications. Anyway, you hear things like that and you're like, okay, they're in the business, they're just getting into it.
01:13:55
Speaker
they're gonna, you know, they have a lot of things to learn from design. So, they take a product and sort of make it their own. So, that is, I think you gave an example of somebody ordering a paddle from one brand and then they had the wrapping of another, you know, mixed into one. I can totally see how that happens. You know, you got a production line all of a sudden like, oh, here's
01:14:20
Speaker
you know, we just finished this brand's paddle. Oh, this is the new paddle. And you know, somebody in the line, they're like, oh, I had an extra wrapper. Maybe this one goes to, they're not looking, they don't know what brand is what. They're just putting wrapping material on a handle that, you know, it's coming through their, you know, their line. So yeah, you can see things like that happening. But hey, they're all good, right? I mean, the paddles are good. They're starting to, the consumer, I think in some ways,
01:14:48
Speaker
winning because they're getting really good paddles at a lower price, right? I mean, you see now thermal form paddles. I saw somebody review one and there was like $99, but you put my code in it's $89, right? You're like, boy, you know, that's, but there is,
01:15:12
Speaker
The consumer wins, but the industry loses in a way because the consumer may be getting the same product because in this person who's selling it is willing to give up margin, but they're really not sponsoring pro players. They're not sponsoring the pro tours. They're not putting money back into the sport. They could be operating
01:15:35
Speaker
In fact, I know some of them are operating out of their garage. They're shipping, they're answering the phone calls, they're answering the emails. So you have one or two people operating the whole thing. So their overhead is very low and then they're okay with making $20 a paddle.
01:15:53
Speaker
It's okay if you want to scale your business to that size, but eventually if you want to grow it, you need more investment. If you want to be part of the tour, PPA, you got to spend 100 grand just to have a name up there at the starting point.
01:16:11
Speaker
So, you know, you want to sponsor tournaments, you want to sponsor players. I mean, that cost comes from the high-end paddle. So that's where it's not that, you know, some people, oh, you know, the paddles only cost $30. Yeah, but that's only the cost of the product. I mean, but there's cost of marketing and players and all this. So that burden is carried by particularly the higher-end paddles, you know, and that's why the prices
01:16:37
Speaker
You know go up so some paddle you know some paddle companies do try to. Obviously make more margin and they get away with it which is fine you know we spend obviously a lot of money and a lot of time in rnd and we don't have big budgets to sponsor the best pro.
01:16:57
Speaker
players out there. I personally believe our company is going to lead and grow based on our technology. So once we, you know, you have solid technology and even our paddles in the past, we've, like I mentioned, we hit this niche market where we cater to older players and then I would say the last probably six years we've catered to a market with that
01:17:25
Speaker
People got tired of their paddles breaking or falling apart. The bumper guards every two months and they're returning and exchanging. They're like, man, I want a solid paddle that I could just use for a long time and not have to worry about it. So we on the consumer side, you know, not necessarily the tournament player.
01:17:43
Speaker
We have a tremendous amount of paddles that we sell because these people don't want to bother exchanging their paddle every couple of months. And they're like, man, I just want a stable paddle that I can play with. So we built a very loyal customer base with that. So now we're like, okay, well now let's go in and create a product that you want this product. If you're not playing with it,
01:18:07
Speaker
you're at a disadvantage and that's what the pro line is all about. It's like if you're not playing with this, you're coming into a gunfight with a knife, you know, kind of things like, you know, that's really what we're trying to do here is like I want to elevate. It's like I want to
01:18:23
Speaker
set that bar so much higher. It's like, so buddy, this is the paddle you need to come in to play against me, you know, because I'm playing with this paddle and I have an advantage. So to equalize that playing field, you better have this paddle. And that's sort of, that's my goal with that, you know, and we're going to keep pushing every year, you know, come out with that new and I hope to, you know, be
01:18:49
Speaker
Ninety percent right in terms of the field play and everything else that we do and yeah, we'll push some technologies You know even further in the future and that's really what our brand is about you know exploration going out there putting ourselves out on the limb and and
01:19:06
Speaker
You know, be judged, you know, it's like, okay, you know, the market will say and we're getting better at marketing too. So, you know, that's always, it's a lot of money. Marketing takes a lot of money and we've been very solid. So, you know, with our technologies, we're very happy with the growth that we have and the pace that we're on. I'm in it for the long-term.
01:19:34
Speaker
you know, and every sport that we get into, we're in it for the long run. I mean, I want to build a solid brand, quality brand that people say Gearbox, it's, man, that's quality. You know, they have a certain feel, a certain aspect to the brand that you want to be part of it as, you know, as a player. And, you know, and that's really what
01:20:00
Speaker
building a brand to me signifies, right? It's where people accept it because you have technology, you have a certain look and culture within that brand. Yeah, it's cool, man. Yeah, that's true. When you're talking about like marketing and also like how you differentiate yourself, like there's some brands
01:20:22
Speaker
Vatic Pro, I think they did a great job like differentiating themselves. Like, yeah, they put out a good paddle that people enjoy, but also price. I think price, they did like, and that could also speak to what you were saying before about like the overhead costs and all that. But without getting into those details, I think like, what is a company's value proposition? And Vatic was price. Um, and like some people have a story. Some people have different marketing. Some people have like certain personality that they bring out with their company, but
01:20:52
Speaker
When you talk about marketing being expensive, it's interesting because I think you're hitting tubers with one stone with this product and just innovation in general and just focusing on the product. The point that Pickleball is at right now is that the quality of a product can market for a company
01:21:16
Speaker
without having to have a big spending budget. Again, I use Vatic Pro as an example quite often because they've really stood out in this past year. They don't sponsor a lot of players. They have Spencer Smith, right? And then one female player. And I think like Brandon Lane, that's neither here nor there. They don't spend a lot on marketing.
01:21:36
Speaker
have. Yeah, I don't think they put any ads out on like social media platforms. So as long as you have a product that is standout at the point that pick walls out right now, if you get panel reviewers who rave about that product,
01:21:52
Speaker
man that it'll blow up and i totally agree so somebody you know our company like vatic pro they have a good balance they have a good balance of obviously a quality product because the word of mouth and you mentioned the influencers who give good reviews the price is right so you know and he's found
01:22:16
Speaker
A group of customers that are more price conscious performance you know they're looking for that performance.
01:22:26
Speaker
Yeah, but when things like that happen is, if you're not developing your own product and you're relying on, in this case, a factory in China to build product for you, then you're at the mercy. I feel you don't have as much control over your future of the brand because you're giving that up to a factory in China, somebody creating a product for you,
01:22:56
Speaker
and you hope that they build the next thing and you can buy it from them, right? And I personally don't like to be there, that's why I'm more product driven. I mentioned the marketing, right now the game seems to be spending a lot of money on e-commerce, doing ad spending, ad spend for,
01:23:20
Speaker
Whether it's google whether it's social media or you know amazon right now a lot of people are making money with their brands by they know the metrics and how to manipulate add words on amazon and so you create.
01:23:37
Speaker
The product isn't as important there because you're just putting it in front of so many people that just by percentage and they're going to buy it. You reach them first but that's expensive. That's going to be very, very expensive. So we have to find the way I feel is if we have a good product,
01:23:59
Speaker
Well, we have the word of mouth. We have influencers who are going to speak well about it. And then if we do the ad spend as well and then you got a good balance. You got a solid company and it's not, you know, what I would call kind of a one hit wonder, you know, that you knock it out of the park with this one product, but what's your follow up, right? Yeah.
01:24:24
Speaker
We're more consistent, we're working, we're finding right now for us and even the market is you have the high performance, you've got a larger group in the mid tier of the pyramid I guess and then you've got that entry level which is a wide base. I mean you talk about you hear all these numbers of 50 million people participated in Pickleball at some point last year.
01:24:50
Speaker
or the number of times people participated and then you have the core which is eight million and then you have your really hardcore which is your tournament players. I don't know what that number is now but whatever number of people are playing tournaments is probably maybe a million or two.
01:25:11
Speaker
So there's all these different market segments and for us as a brand now, we identify the different ones and you learn to treat each one almost as a separate business within Gearbox because to reach that tournament player, you need very specific marketing for that versus that newbie that's just heard about Pickleball from their buddies. They went to Chicken and Pickle and they had so much fun
01:25:39
Speaker
Where do I get a paddle? In today's generation, you just get online and do an Amazon search or there's a chain store, Walmart or something near you. Depending on your budget, you go and you buy it quick.
01:25:58
Speaker
I think mostly people, before you go into a store, you just get on the phone. You search it, oh, I heard about this. Or you type in pickleball, pickleball paddles. That's where all the brands are competing to be first when that person does the search. And in order to do that, you gotta spend a lot of money to be first.
01:26:21
Speaker
When you're talking about the different market segments, like in the first time we attempted this, you had brought a different paddle that hit on that lower price range. Did you bring that paddle with you? I'm not sure if I did. I don't believe so.
01:26:38
Speaker
Yeah. So now what we're doing to, yeah, I mean, now you're touching upon, and I just mentioned that I believe is that we're dividing your box into different market segments and treating each market differently. So, you know, we're, um, you can't just brand it as one. You have to identify,
01:27:02
Speaker
the type of player that's your tournament player, you have your frequent player, you have your recreational player, you have the fun, youthful teenage or college kids that just wanna go have, be cool and you know, they can care less about technology, it's all about how cute my paddle looks and can I match it with my shoes and outfit.
01:27:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's got to perform to a certain, but the price has to be right. So there's a consumer or a player that's attracted to different types of paddles for various reasons, whether it's performance, whether it's look or price. We're now very
01:27:48
Speaker
conscious of those things and we're building product lines not to cover 100% of everybody that's too crazy but at least a large market segment so we're solid in you know a few different areas and and I think that creates longevity for for the brand and then it's also fun because you get to do the performance you get to do the
01:28:12
Speaker
artsy sort of side of things and then you know we work on bringing value for the price conscience but value and performance you know that different price point so we are identifying those areas and and.
01:28:29
Speaker
You're going to be pretty aggressive in how we reach those segments too. Makes sense though. That's a market segment that's not necessarily being like... There's not a whole lot of attention being put on them. It's like their first paddle doesn't have to be a new people or like an Amazon paddle, right? No. It should be like a higher end paddle, but just like maybe like a lower price point. They shouldn't have to build a set. They shouldn't have to sacrifice like performance quality or reality. Quality, yeah.
01:28:58
Speaker
No, and that's what we want to bring as a brand is to say, look, we can build a good quality paddle at an entry level price and we do want to separate ourselves. Yeah, if you look at the stats and they're talking about like, oh, 50 million people are participating, then like,
01:29:14
Speaker
Why do we keep, not that there's anything wrong with focusing attention on the pros and the competition scene, but it's like, okay, well, hey, we should probably be putting a significant amount of attention to those groups of people who like just participated.
01:29:29
Speaker
How do we could change it from they just participated to I want to play more regularly now? We don't want the people who just pick up a paddle and then that's the last time they play. How do we create an experience?
Community Engagement and Sport Longevity
01:29:41
Speaker
How do we create this memory that they can look back on and forge more and make friends? We've made tons of friends in people. How do we get them into that? How do we let them
01:29:54
Speaker
like experience that aspect of community, not just, hey, I hit a ball. It was super fun. It was cool. I understand why people were really addicted to it. And then that's just like the last time they play, right?
01:30:04
Speaker
I think that is one of the missions or goals as a company is to ensure that the longevity of the sport continues in the future. And the way you do that is you take somebody brand new that heard about pickleball or either through the news, through a friend or the hype that's being out there through a TV program or whatever it is. And they see it, they're like, oh, I want to try it. And then once they're engaged in it,
01:30:32
Speaker
Well, I think product or the experience of buying the product, playing for the very first time is important because once they're in, we were successful to bring them into the court and they're playing. Well, that's when we want to guide these new players and see how far they go, right? They may just stay in the recreational
01:30:59
Speaker
side and have fun with their friends and, you know, it's their social, I'm going to get a little exercise, it's fun and we're social and we're hanging out with our buddies and that's it, you know, they don't want anymore. But then out of that group there's going to be, it's like, I want to compete, I want to go to a tournament and then you're going to have the people that stay in the 3.0 to 4.5 level and compete in tournaments all the time, they're improving and they have fun, that's
01:31:27
Speaker
There's a challenge for them and then out of that group you're gonna have the ones that want to continue further and pursue the How good can I be can I become a pro can I do you know and as they go through these different steps?
01:31:44
Speaker
we want to be there as a brand and welcome them into every section that they get into and build the products that they're going to enjoy in those different categories or steps in their pickleball life as we go through. What's next for Gearbox?
01:32:07
Speaker
I think a lot of that, well, number one is really because we're a technology brand and technology driven, we're definitely going to push that space and I think it's the high-end player or the very competitive player who's looking to really excel or improve their game as much as possible.
01:32:32
Speaker
focus and continue driving hard, you know, the technology side. So that is, you know, that's gearbox, right? But also taking what we learned from our high end products and bringing some of those technologies down to more affordable price points. So rather than gearbox competing,
01:33:02
Speaker
um, in just lowering the price of honeycomb paddles and, you know, getting, yeah, I could, I mean, I have relationships in Asia and you know, we have a factory out there and we have, you know, a lot of friends of mine have the factories and I can certainly just go buy a product off the shelf, but that's not who we are. I mean, so I'm going to take a technology that we've created already that we spend a lot of money on and I'm going to find a way to make that more affordable and then bring it into the,
01:33:32
Speaker
the next group of players. So we're coming out with a Linus color G2, which is a fully molded paddle with a honeycomb core. We took a technology that we introduced probably seven years ago. A couple of brands are using that as their high end today.
01:33:47
Speaker
That's gonna be our second tier product and we're gonna, there's some brands that are charging $300 to $250 for that technology. We're gonna bring it in between $100 to $139 and awesome performing paddles. They look beautiful and they're fun and, you know, we're gonna go...
01:34:12
Speaker
The way i picture it is just these youthful players that are excited to go to the court they have their little sound box that they take to the court they turn it on.
01:34:27
Speaker
Um, you know, they take snacks and they're sharing with their friends and having a good time. That's where we picture that line. And, you know, it's like, it's just this fun, you know, uh, group of people using our paddles and they're matching their outfits are doing this whole thing. And, you know, so we're looking for there and, and that's, we're differentiating ourselves by introducing this technology that it has the performance of very good performance, high performance.
01:34:57
Speaker
At a different value and we're not competing in the space of just trying to Go cheaper in price, you know, it's just we're bringing you a Durable very elegant fun paddle and we do that. We're also introducing our g16 or g12 g14
01:35:17
Speaker
And those are more traditional honeycomb. First generation, I'm not going to build thermal form because I don't fully believe in it. We can get the same benefits without having to do thermal form because we do it the gearbox way. So we have our GBX line in there. We have the GBX. We have a G16 and G14.
01:35:44
Speaker
That they're also going to be More affordable and and they're gonna have the performance so they have the textured surface they have you know, the raw carbon fiber peel ply These are different terms that use for the same sort of technology and they're gonna have the honeycomb core and we're making those very competitive in terms of price but the difference there you're gonna get the quality of
Quality and Durability in Paddle Manufacturing
01:36:09
Speaker
what gearbox is known for I mean
01:36:11
Speaker
Yeah, we're going to produce the product. We don't produce it the same way as everybody else or even our honeycomb paddles. Most of the companies will build like a large sheet and route out as many paddles out of it and see how many they can yield. We don't. We build each product individually. We reinforce areas that are known to break and things and then we reinforce the honeycomb and
01:36:37
Speaker
and actually created some new technologies in those paddles that I think are going to be very interesting for performance and durability and all that. What do you mean by you don't believe in Thermoform?
01:36:53
Speaker
Thermoform, I don't believe in it. It has its purpose in terms of I don't believe in it from the manufacturing and what you get out of it. Yes, the paddle does perform well overall. However, they break down and what happens is you're taking structure away from the core or from the face plies and
01:37:19
Speaker
If you're trying to build an eight ounce paddle, you have eight ounces to play with, right? So if you all of a sudden take 20 grams or 30 grams and you're taking it from someplace in the paddle so you can create this perimeter frame around the edge,
01:37:38
Speaker
Well, that's got to come off the center of the paddle somewhere, right? So it's either coming off a couple of face plies or the polypropylene core, the thickness of the wall or the honeycomb size. So generally, they go for a larger size so you have less vertical walls.
01:37:57
Speaker
So then you, so what happens by removing some of that weight and putting it in a perimeter. Yeah, you make a stiffer paddle, but now you, you compromise the core because you've spaced out the cells a little larger or you've thinned out the walls. So you're taking that structural.
01:38:15
Speaker
material and weight away from it to put it in the perimeter and so now you have a paddle that'll play great for maybe a month or two and then it breaks down so hence you know what are the paddle gate or whatever it was called I don't know where
01:38:35
Speaker
the cores are breaking down and now PPA and MLP and all these guys have, they're sending people to test the cores for crushed cores and all this stuff. It's this unintended consequence of
01:38:53
Speaker
a product that yeah it's not a bad product to R&D and maybe do testing with but I don't believe it's a viable product for an industry over the long run unless you know you're willing to buy a paddle every month yeah that's totally cool do it right but
01:39:13
Speaker
your average consumer that wants to buy a paddle is they're gonna be replacing it and I can totally see where it's even affecting the manufacturers because manufacturers used to have warranties that were at least a year and now they're six months, three months, two months, they can't sustain the return rates and you know that.
01:39:37
Speaker
that they have and so you have to do two things you drop the price you you know you shun the warranty essentially and are you make it to. You as a brand you're saying hey i'm gonna sell this paddle this thermal for me at place great but i'm not really gonna warranty it.
01:39:56
Speaker
I'm going to charge you less because for every paddle you sell, you probably have to replace three or four. All of a sudden, whatever small margin you made, it's gone because you just spend it on shipping replacing three paddles and you can't sustain a business that way.
01:40:14
Speaker
When I say I don't believe in thermal form, it's not just the paddle itself. It's everything that it encompasses. And so when we build our honeycomb paddles, we are, I don't want to return. So our return rate on the GBX, for example, this
01:40:35
Speaker
Um, it's not thermal form, but it has the, the texture, the peel ply. It's got all those technologies. Um, you have guys like, uh, players, uh, white stone, uh, why it local, local guy here, right. Um, and then you've got, um, Michelle Esquivel.
01:40:53
Speaker
got Mario. Well, no, Mario's now hitting the new one, the new pro. Oh, okay. And so Wyatt and all these guys eventually will too. But I'm just saying, you know, the last year and the sales of this paddle have been tremendous. And it just, they pick up more and more and more because I think people are realizing the value of these paddles. And then the more you play with it,
01:41:15
Speaker
They they sort of break in right and they feel right and they they kind of hit their sweet spot and they're gonna play like that for a long time, so Even on our honeycomb line. We are really spending a lot of time and money and energy and
01:41:31
Speaker
creating a very, very high performing paddle and not just for a couple of months, but over a long time. So that is where, yeah, we can make a thermal form paddle, but
01:41:48
Speaker
you're giving up too much structure and too much for the benefit that you get. So, I'd rather stay out of that particular... Will we have a combination of? Yes. Yeah, we can definitely... We're doing some cool technologies that will come out in the future but not the traditional thermal formed structure that's there. Yeah. It's cool.
01:42:13
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Again, we're doing it in a way... When I look at a product too, it's the value of it, right? It's not just selling it, but long-term too. Well, long-term because, I mean, especially in California, our customer service is in San Diego, right? So, a 30-minute phone call all of a sudden turns into a warranty call by the time the process is done, it's almost a $60 process. Yeah.
01:42:41
Speaker
So you can spend it on the warranty and customer service side where you say, wait a minute, let me take that money and put it into the R&D, put it into the quality of the build and my production line and let me revamp so we can create a quality product upfront to avoid the phone call. And that's what we prefer to do.
01:43:03
Speaker
And because it's not only the phone call, it's the reputation of your company, right? And if you really look at Gearbox and you talk to people about Gearbox, I believe we've created a very good reputation when it comes to quality, durability, and all of that. And we're trying to perfect that on the playability and everything else, and that's gonna be something we chase probably for the rest of our lives. But when people know right now, it's like, you want a good,
01:43:33
Speaker
durable, quality, long lasting paddle, you can count on Gearbox to have that quality. And that's important because we're spending, like I said, that time and money and energy upfront to avoid, you know, will we have some warranty? Absolutely. Humans are making these things and people and, you know, we have equipment that, you know, fails sometimes, but yeah.
01:43:57
Speaker
Overall, I mean, our warranty rate is less than half a percent. I mean, which is crazy. So it's almost non-existent, to be honest. But in any time, your specifications are very narrow. So, for example, even our honeycomb line, you know, if we say it's eight ounces, it's eight ounces plus or minus. On our honeycomb, I think it's two-tenths of an ounce, right? So
01:44:26
Speaker
That's very narrow. Most companies, oh yeah, we've got a new line out. It's eight ounces plus or minus an ounce. Boy, that's really not having control of your production. It's just, let's see what comes out. And again, we don't worry. And you see that because companies will sell like a heavy pad. We have a heavy. OK, you can order this one. You want a heavyweight, mid-weight, or lightweight?
01:44:54
Speaker
Well, they didn't really design it that way. That's just what's coming out of production. So it's not like, oh, we're designing this. It's like, no, we bought this panel and for some reason, this part of the panel was very light. This one was heavy and that was kind of medium. So that's what...
01:45:11
Speaker
that's what's kind of coming out of that panel, you know. So, you know, you have a problem, so they're smart about now, well, let's feature the problem. So, oh, hey, do you want lightweight or heavy weight? It's like, well, that's how you manage it, you know. Hopefully you can get rid of them all evenly. But we try to avoid that by
01:45:30
Speaker
just narrowing the margin and keeping. So the tighter the spec, the more expensive a product is always going to be. You're going to spend a lot more money in your production line because each process, your specs have to be very tight from the beginning all the way to the end and that's how you know. If you're hitting your specs in every part of production, your end product is going to be right on point.
01:45:58
Speaker
but that's not cheap. Yeah. And it takes a lot of work to be able to manage that and, and, uh, be able to do it. But we do that with gearbox and, and, and that's where it really helps make our brand. It's awesome. Um, I want to wrap this
Reflections on Innovation and Personal Connection
01:46:13
Speaker
up, but yeah, it's been like an awesome conversation. It's probably the most, most technical,
01:46:18
Speaker
that I've had so far, which has been great, but also just happy to be able to like share the story. Like again, the gearbox, like I had an experience because that was like one of my first powers I got. Then we also met in PPA Rockwall, which is really cool. I remember seeing, I was like, that is Raphael. I need to go talk to that guy right now as I have the opportunity. And then, yeah, just being able to share why Gearbox truly is different.
01:46:44
Speaker
Um, because there's a lot of that going around of like, what makes it a different, a company really different as far as the products goes. So that's cool. But also just be able to share this passion with someone who's like a innovator, like an engineer. And you have that very technical background, but you obviously have, you're obviously very passionate about making products and like constantly elevating that experience. But, um, yeah, anything, any last things you want to include and how can more people find out more about gearbox?
01:47:12
Speaker
Yeah. Well, first of all, I want to thank you for, you know, the opportunity to tell our story a little bit, you know, and, and, uh, of who we are and why we're in the business of we're gearbox is a composites company, you know, um, focused in the sports world, right? Um, pickleball, I fell in love with it just like everybody else at first, you know, we got our butts kicked. Uh, remember, uh, going through Utah and, and, um,
01:47:42
Speaker
There's something to be said about, you know, losing to somebody and that you think you should win against and there's, you know, creates a certain drive. And so, you know, and I'm an athlete so, you know, I'm in that
01:48:00
Speaker
pursuit of you know of how good can I be with the amount of time I spend you know practicing or whatever but you know I consider myself a decent enough athlete that I can get good fairly quick in a lot of the sports that I participate so you know the other thing too is the sports that we build are generally sports that I've played or play or even you know that I want to be in so
01:48:26
Speaker
There there is that passion that I do rely on our test team, but I also I'm learning and I'm looking for things to make me a better player as well. So yeah, that that's that's the
01:48:41
Speaker
who Gearbox is, what we're about and you can find us at GearboxSports.com. We have two new models coming out on the 16th. So then this paddle would have come out a couple days prior to the airing of this video and we have our pro control models and our pro power models.
01:49:03
Speaker
And no joke here and not marketing, but this is the closest to the claim of having the most power, the most control, the largest sweet spot and maneuverability in a paddle. And this is definitely hands down the most advanced paddle when it comes to manufacturing the paddle,
01:49:28
Speaker
the performance and output that you get with this paddle and Hopefully you guys get to try one out there and and you fall in love with it and you know You share the same with all your your friends and it makes you a better player is that ultimately that's that is what we want Yeah, cool. Appreciate it, man. Well, thank you so much Brian. All right