- Utah's Outdoor Business Incubator showcases local brands at the Outdoor Retailer event.
- Six local businesses hope to benefit from the incubator's exposure to new retail partners.
- The initiative aims to help emerging local brands expand.
SALT LAKE CITY — PaddleSmash's origin dates back to the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic five years ago.
Joe Bingham, of Mount Pleasant, enjoyed playing backyard games with his children, but he struggled to keep up with their athleticism when it came to games like Spikeball. He wanted a game in which he could keep up with them, which led them to pickleball — only to find all the public courts packed all the time.
One thing led to another, and the industrial designer crafted a mix of the two sports, leading to what would become PaddleSmash. It's like roundnet but with pickleball paddles, which formally hit the market in late 2022 after Bingham met up with Scott Brown to turn it into an official product.
The Alpine-based business has since landed on shelves at sporting goods stores like Dick's, Scheels and Academy Sports, and it was featured on the TV show "Shark Tank." Despite its growth, Brown, co-founder of PaddleSmash, said the company is still too small to be able to afford a space at Outdoor Retailer — the largest outdoor product trade show in North America — on its own.
That's why he's thrilled that his company was selected to be part of a new showcase featured at this year's Outdoor Retailer at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
"You never know who you're going to meet," he told KSL.com, noting that he had already met with potential new manufacturers and retailers a few hours into this year's show. "I think I just like this theory of spreading out your surface area of luck. Being at a show like this, you just don't know what's going to happen, but ... I'm confident something will happen to help grow my business."
That's essentially why the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation chose to purchase a spot at Outdoor Retailer this year. PaddleSmash is one of six Utah businesses featured in its first-ever Utah Outdoor Business Incubator booth at the trade show.
The booth also includes products from rising Utah-based clothing apparel companies like Nebu, Timpanogoos Hiking Company and Coalatree, as well as products from local companies like the first-aid kit brand Duct-Aid and the ski/bike rack manufacturer Chuck. Having the space allows them to be Utah's next big brand as they find potential new retail partners, said Jason Curry, the division's director, who stopped by the booth to check it out on Wednesday.
"This is the place where that happens," he said. "For us and Utah, where we have the most accessible and diverse proving grounds for outdoor recreation products, it makes sense to have it here, and it makes sense to have companies like these just able to branch out and spread their wings."
The idea is a few years in the making, Curry explains. The division found inspiration from other states with something similar. And while many companies have chosen to come to Utah because of its outdoors, state outdoor recreation officials were also aware that many up-and-coming Utah brands can't afford a space at a trade show just yet.
The division invited some to join the incubator, while others were selected after an outreach effort.
Being one of the first brands highlighted in the incubator is an honor, said David Nelson, CEO of Chuck.
He was there to demonstrate the Chuck Bucket, a product that debuted as a Kickstarter project in 2022 to help skiers haul their skis by attaching to the back of their vehicles. The Orem-based company also manufactures a bike rack to meet the rising interest in both skiing and mountain biking in the state.
Both products are available online, but Outdoor Retailer is where he can find help expanding his business's footprint.
"We're looking to get in front of a lot of retailers," he said.
The incubator likely won't be a one-year thing, either. Curry said the state plans to plans to bring it back next year, giving more growing Utah companies a shot at expansion.
