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“Ten years ago, I was the guy people made fun of for playing pickleball,” says Jorge Barragan, CEO of The Picklr, a nationwide franchise of indoor courts. “My own coworkers thought it was a joke.”
No one is laughing now as pickleball has become the fastest-growing sport in the country. About 24.3 million Americans played last year. “In 2020, that number was around four million,” Barragan says. “You don’t see growth like that in sports.”
Barragan says he is a big proponent of chasing your dream business despite doubters. “I keep a picture of Steve Jobs on my office wall with the quote: ‘Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.’” Here, he breaks down how he aced his vision of a business that makes courts more accessible to players clamoring to dink their way to victory.
What was the moment that made you want to start this company?
Honestly, it started with me being annoyed. I found the game in 2015 and got hooked fast. One winter, I drove with a group to a rec center for a lunch game and about 50 people were waiting for a court. I stood there thinking: I wouldn’t wait in this line for anything else. Why am I doing it for this?
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That stuck with me. The demand was there, but the places to put it weren’t. By the end of 2020, the idea clicked: build a place that’s just pickleball. Make it indoor so the weather doesn’t matter. Reserve a court, no waiting. Leagues, clinics, tournaments. Create the place I couldn’t find. I called my best friend, Austin Wood, to pitch it, and he was in before I finished talking.
When did you know you were onto something?
We opened our first club in April 2021, which included seven courts in a small town in Northern Utah. The community showed up right away. That felt great, but that wasn’t the moment.
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