Their story comes a close second to TVF’s Pitchers series. And no, it didn’t start from a discussion at a bar. Nishit Parmar, Yash Patel, Sunny Gupta, Harsh Gajera, and Rohan Shah, co-founders of the Smash Pickleball Club And Cafe. Their dream was canvassed while hanging out in cafes from time to time. Each one of them were drawn into sporting activities. Opening the pickleball club not only allowed them to carry their hobby further but also ignited the entrepreneurs inside them. The fantastic five are now on a roll to hone their entrepreneurship skills, adding more life to their startup.
Incidentally, the Smash Pickleball Club And Cafe has no hierarchy. The Delhi Public School, Vadodara alumni have designated areas to look at. Rohan Shah and Harsh Gajera handle the financial department. The marketing and strategy area is looked after by Nishit Parmar, Sunny Gupta, and Yash Patel. They also claimed that it is the only pickleball facility in Vadodara to have a cafe alongside, offering refreshments.
Initial Investment
You don’t have to be a pro or necessarily fit to play pickleball. It caters to audiences from eight-year-olds to centenarians. While the age group is not particular, the quality of the court can be a major attraction. Smash Pickleball Club And Cafe uses a Synthetic Acrylic Elitecourt 8-Layer System. One of their co-founder, Nishit Parmar, says they’re trying to expand their startup to different cities in Gujarat and Punjab.
“If you do it right as per the US standard, a good synthetic court with a minimum 8-layer, would be around 30-40 lakh. Maybe in the future, we can look at Shark Tank India. We are looking to expand it to two more cities,” Nishit Parmar told Gujpreneur in an exclusive interview.
While nothing has been served on a platter for this startup, they’re also ready for future challenges. Nishit Parmar believes that the business can diminish in monsoons. When quizzed. When quizzed if he would like to make a retractable roof, similar to the Rod Laver Arena, he laughs and says, “in another 30-40 lakh investment, we can open another similar facility”.
Improving Mental Health
The startup runs on core values. Nishit Parmar, firmly, believes that maintaining a good court can turn out to be a differentiator to other businesses. The co-founding team is also focused on improving mental health. One of their Instagram posts highlights the mental health benefits of playing pickleball, including the reduction of stress and anxiety.
“No shortcuts to court-making. Good court and good maintenance. That’s our core fundamental, we are updating our padel. We are upgrading it. It was initially a basic padel; now we’re moving towards professional,” Parmar says.
“Secondly, we have a cafe where we organize different offers to make it more fun. The idea is to think about your customers first and give them good facilities”
Scaling The Business
In the surge of the pickleball business, it becomes quite essential to find a Unique Selling Point (USP). The Smash Pickleball Club And Cafe has unveiled several offers to attract customers and build their business. So if you’re celebrating Women’s Day on Saturday, the startup will offer 30% off to each woman for a session. Not only that, you can use the court as a part of your marathon preparation, mental refreshment, recovery, work-life balance, and as an endurance-boosting exercise.
There are special membership offers available at Smash Pickleball Club And Cafe too. You’ll get premium franklin balls to play with in every session, which starts from INR 3499. To make this offer more interesting, the startup offers 4,000 credits on the 30-day plan, 15,000 credits to a recharge of 12,999 for 60 days, and 24,000 credits for a subscription of 19,999, lasting 120 days.
A first-of-many pickleball tournament is also on the cards for this startup. And one of the positives to their business is that a lot of sponsors have shown interest.
“We are coming up with a tournament in March. Currently, our focus is on nailing the operations and getting things right. We have started talking to different people and associations, along with sponsors. I think they are interested because a lot of people are learning.
However, for those who haven’t touched the padel yet, Nishit has a message. “The pickleball audience is growing. If you haven’t played yet, it is an amazing sport. It doesn’t need a pro. We provide coaching plans. Currently, we are at 5 batches, there is one kids and three women batches, then we have 30-50. We also provide personal pickleball coaching”.
It is only at Gujpreneur that we cover track stories of Gujarat-based entrepreneurs so deeply. In case you agree with us, keep us in your memories and never miss a day and bring out the entrepreneur inside you.
