$20K/Month – Helping Basketball Players Maintain Strong Grip on Dusty Courts – Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Hey, there’re entrepreneurs. My name is Sushant and welcome to Trep Talks. This is a show where I interview successful e-commerce entrepreneurs, business executives, and holders, and ask them questions about their business story and also dive deep into some of the strategies and tactics that they have used to start and grow their businesses.

And today I’m really excited to welcome Matthew Olen to the show. Matt is the, is one of the co-founders of Grip Spritz. Grip Spritz helps players and entire basketball or volleyball teams get a game long grip, even on Dusty without having to reapply over and over. And today I’m going to ask Matt a few questions about his journey and some of the strategies tactic that he has used to start and grow his business.

So Matt, thank you so much for joining me today at Trep Talks really, really appreciate it.

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Hey, [00:01:00] excited to be here. Uh, honored to be here. So I look forward to our conversations Sushant.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Thank you so much. So very interesting product. It seems like, uh, the business is really around one main product. Can you share a little bit about what the product is and how it, uh, what is the value proposition?

What is the benefit of this product?

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Yeah, absolutely. So I grew up playing basketball and, um, you know, kind of over time as, as the sports continue to grow along with other sports, um, you know, a lot of high schools or, or community centers where these games are taking place, um, you know, they’re being used for other things.

So, you know, I think about, you know, a rec center. You have, you know, people in there every day working out, walking the trap, whatever the case may be. And, you know, unlike basketball, they’re not wearing different shoes into the gym. So a lot of that dirt, the dust debris from outsides getting, you know, tracked on the court.

Um, and then same with high schools, right? You know, you have different events in there. You have gym classes, things like that. These courts are just becoming incredibly dusty and dirty. Um, and when I grew up playing the only real. Solution out there was what we called a [00:02:00] sticky pad. You know, you’d step on an adhesive and it would take the dust off your shoe, but it wouldn’t really repel from picking up more.

And, you know, stepping on adhesive, really all you were doing then is making your shoes a little stickier for whatever was out there. Um, so what we did was we created kind of a, a two directional product that, you know, players, if they’re working, you know, with the trainers, they’re going to camps, you know, kind of something where there’s not really a coach involved or, uh, you know, kind of a, a full direction of a team.

They can spray their shoes, wipe it dry, and then, you know, have a full game of grip at least without having to worry about slipping and sliding injuries, you know, really anything like that. Um, and then for, you know, schools who have kind of grown a little bit tired of using those sticky pads, whether it be, you know, uh, you know how quick it wears off or how expensive they’ve become, uh, we kind of provide a solution for them to help save them some budget and, uh, get their athletes better grip.

Awesome.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So, I read a little bit, I, I did a little bit of research and I, I read that your [00:03:00] background, uh, I believe you did a degree in economics and something else. Finance and economics.

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Yeah. Um,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: and it seems like you’re, you’re a recent graduate. I mean, it’s not been too long. Um, so can you share a little bit about the story?

How, what made you decide to get into this kind of a business right, outta university and what really motivated you to have your own business rather than, you know, somebody doing a finance and economics kind of a degree. You know, they would want to go into the industry, you know, get into some sort of a firm, you know, get some experience and things like that.

But you decided to start your own business. Can you share a little bit about

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: your, your story? Yeah. Um, so I knew I wanted to do something in business. Um, just growing up I was always kind of, you know, I. Whatever, you know, you cut grass, you shovel snow, you eliminate sand, right? I was always just kinda interested in that side of things.

And, um, when I got to college, uh, my goal was to go to Wall Street. Um, I [00:04:00] wanted to be an investment banker. I wanted to kind of take that route. Um, and our school that I’d gone to, it’s a, it’s a smaller school in outside Cleveland, Ohio, but we had a really good track record of getting guys, um, you know, on ladies as well onto Wall Street, through our kind of our financial economics.

Our business school was just really, really well renowned. Um, so I knew that was kinda the route I wanted to take. And, you know, just joining different clubs and talking to, you know, people who had done exactly that road I was trying to, trying to get on. You know, they had kind of just preached over and over again about how long hours and everything you hear about what Wall Street, what investment banking entails.

And, um, I was like, you know, I’m all in. I’m, I, I love the idea of this. And it really took me until I was two months away from graduating and, uh, I kind of was just like, actually, I. I don’t wanna sit in an office a hundred hours a week. I don’t wanna, you know, basically just sit and do numbers and, and you know, kinda all the downsides that come with, you know, working a, a finance job.

And, [00:05:00] uh, you know, I’m thankful I did it though, cuz, you know, it taught me a whole, a whole lot. Um, but throughout college I had kind of just done little things to make money. Um, you know, I had internships that were usually unpaid and, you know, just looking for something to, to get some spending money. So, uh, I started a handful of businesses.

Uh, some I, you know, used to actually make money. Some were more just ideas that never kind of caught on. Um, you know, I, I think back, the first one I started, I was going through, um, The mall with a bunch of my buddies. It was right before Valentine’s Day, and uh, they all to buy chocolate covered strawberries for their girlfriends.

And you’re walking by these places and it’s like, you know, $40 for six of ’em, you know, $50 or 10 of ’em. Like, man, this is crazy. And I’m like, if I could just make these, I know I could make ’em, I didn’t know anything about cooking, but I could make these and just market straight to high school college kids who don’t have that budget to drop that on.

You know, their, their significant other. I was like, this is market to get into. So for like two years, three years, I did that and it was funding me [00:06:00] for, you know, if I want to go on vacation over the summer with my buddies, if it was, you know, whatever it was. I had money coming in and I kind of just loved the idea of being able to just stick my nose down work.

And immediately see the return. Um, I did that for a while. Uh, me and my buddy tried to, we actually, it was before Uber Eats, we decided that we would stay in on the weekends and deliver food to people, but instead of fast food, we were doing homemade food. And then they could Venmo us and, and we would drop it off.

The, that idea never came to fruition just because we liked going out as well. Um, so it, it didn’t work, but we, the ideas were there. So, uh, we just kept doing little things like that and like, things we enjoyed and like, kind of saw niches and markets that was like, all right, this could work. And to me that was like the most fun thing was just starting from the ground and saying, you know, let’s take this and, and run with it.

Um, so I knew I wanna do something in that. And, you know, I really wasn’t sure what angle that was gonna be post-college. Um, kind of really the only thing [00:07:00] that added up to me for a short-term fix, I was like, well, let me go into financial advisor. Right. That’s kind of, I. You know, you have a firm backing you, but you know, at the end of the day, if you put in more work and you kind of have to build your book of business from the, the ground up.

And I was like, all right, well that kind of merges the two. Um, and I thought about actually going into music as well. I was really in love with music. I couldn’t play instruments to save my life. But, you know, kind of just what music provides to people, to culture, to, you know, friend groups, whatever. It’s, whenever you’re doing something fun, you’re working out, you’re doing homework, music’s usually pretty present.

So I wasn’t sure how to, how to angle that, but I had to have the tough conversation with my mom that I wasn’t, you know, too, too enthused to go into the workforce in finance. And, uh, I, I came back home and that was the Ros get take. And, uh, you know, I had a neighbor around the way who had invented this product for golf.

And, uh, basically you could regroup your golf clubs instantaneously. And he said, you know, I want to get this into basketball. A lot of, a lot of the ladies that I’m working with are telling me basketball, volleyball, uh, Bottom my shoes. She’s like, but you be told I don’t, I just don’t know anything [00:08:00] about it.

And to me it was like, all right, this is it. This is perfect. This is, um, you know, something I’m obviously passionate about something that work-wise, I love the idea of, and combine those two, I was like, all right, well let’s, let’s see what we can do. And kinda the rest is history.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Well, I want to, I want to definitely talk more about that, but just, just want to make a comment that I think you took kinda, um, an unusual parts outta college in the sense that, you know, you, you’re, you’re trying out different ideas, you’re, you know, in terms of business and trying to see what you like, what you don’t like, and, and those kind things, which I think is a very good thing.

Um, and I, I do think that a lot of students these days probably do try this, which, which is, which is great. And cause I think, you know, right out of university there’s. You don’t really know what you like. Right. Um, and unless you try different things, unless you do different things, it’s, uh, you know, if you just go into a firm and start working and getting paid that nine to five, it’s like, [00:09:00] sure, you’re making that money, but at the end of the day, it’s not, probably not helping you grow to, to your, uh, best potential.

So I think, I think it’s, it’s such a great, great thing that, that, you know, you are trying a lot of different things.

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Um, I’m curious to know, I think on that note too, one thing I always like to say too, and I mean, I obviously people, you’ll see everyone say it, it’s just, if you’re ever gonna wanna try something, I mean, this is the age to do it, right.

It’s exactly Before you have respon like true responsibilities. You have a home, you have, you know, a, a wife or a husband, you have kids and, you know, kind of responsibilities start to add up and all of a sudden you’re saying, well, why would I leave? You know, something that’s, you know, paying the bills for something I truly love.

So I think especially right outta college, it’s the perfect age to go and kind of take those risks. Definitely, I

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: think, I think somebody out, you know, in their, between 20, 20 to 35, I think they can take as many risks as they want. Exactly. Um, now I, I’m very curious, [00:10:00] so you said that this original idea, or the original product came from a neighbor or somebody that you knew of and they pitched this idea to you and you’re kind of joined in their business venture.

Yep. Um, but you have a third, third co-founder also. Can you share a little bit about the partnerships and what are you responsible for and what are other, uh, co-founders

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: with possible? Yeah, so, um, the guy who invented it, he was in his, you know, I grew up around, I grew up around the corner from him, I should say.

And, um, he was in his mid sixties when he came to me and, um, he basically said, you know, Hey, look, I, I see. You were outside and he, he’d walk his dog around the block and he would say, you know, every, every day you were outside playing basketball. I know you played at some level, you probably have some connections.

And you know, quite frankly, you definitely know more than me. Uh, he’s like, I didn’t ever do anything in basketball. He’s like, so you can kind of talk the language. You might have some connections and, and it just give you a [00:11:00] smoother intro into what we wanna do. Um, so when he came to me, he was fully producing and he was having some success in golf.

He was doing some golf shows. The thing he was missing, um, which also kind of played to my benefit was, um, being in his late sixties, mid sixties, he just didn’t know how social media worked. And, um, you know, 2018, that was kind of the peak. Facebook, Instagram, and obviously it’s, you know, transition. Now you still, YouTube is as big as ever.

TikTok is as big as ever. And he kind of just, you know, he always credits to do that. Not everyone. I couldn’t do his job. I couldn’t produce and, and do things that he’s doing and he couldn’t do mine. And that’s what I think he realized early on was, you know, in order to take this thing to where I wanted to go, um, you know, it’s gonna take me adding on people who have specialties, um, that I don’t.

Um, and we, you know, still talk about that to this day is there’s a lot of things we do, uh, both him and I. And then our third party, um, is uh, actually a longtime friend of his name is Tom, the one who invented it for golf, a [00:12:00] longtime friend. He is a lawyer, so he does a lot of our financial stuff. Um, Which, you know, thankfully for me, obviously I was trying to get out of finance, so I’m happy not to be that guy too.

Um hmm. And then a lot of things too with, you know, really anytime you’re working with kids and doing stuff with sports, um, you gotta stay legal, right? Make sure it’s, you know, one good for the shoes, good for them, and two, you know, if injuries do happen, you know, making sure you’re on top of stuff like that.

So that’s kind of our full team. And you know, really for us it’s, we all know our role and kind of what our, what our strengths are, what our weaknesses are, and we’ve built the team in a way that, you know, weaknesses to me are, you know, strength of Tom, we’re a strength of Jeff and vice versa. So the three of us don’t really have to, you know, we’re obviously all outside of our comfort zone, but we’re not, you know, diving too deep into, you know, I’m not learning how to produce this product because, you know, he was there doing that and he’s not there trying to learn how to create a website or, or, you know, build a social media following.

So, um, for the three of us, it’s, it’s a very odd pairing. Uh, but we all kind of [00:13:00] do our own thing and it works out

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: definitely. So, Would I be correct in saying that you, you know, the product was already there. It was kind of like, you know, rebranding it to target it towards this different market. And then ultimately this business, uh, is really just a marketing exercise.

Like you already have a product, you just had to get it exposed to a new market and acquire new customers.

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: A lot of it was the rebrand. Um, and you know, like we, we kind of joke, I don’t say it’s a new company, but like, we haven’t gone back to golf. I’m sure we will one day just cuz you know, Tom is at the end of the day, that’s his love.

That’s what he embedded this for. I’m sure at some point we will get back there. Um, but yeah, it was almost a full rebrand. But the, you know, the good thing was we had a product that we knew worked and then it was just marketing it to a new group. Um, and then once we got into that group, it was kind of just listening to what players, coaches, athletic directors, what they were saying, and then kind of going there and tweaking the product or, or [00:14:00] creating something new, you know, when.

When kids were all of a sudden, Hey, I’m too lazy, or The coach doesn’t want me doing this during a timeout cause I’m not paying attention. We kind of said, all right, well how can we take our product and make it quicker, faster, and on a larger scale? So that’s when we came out with our traction mat that could just sit next to the bench.

It was one, two, you know, scrub, dry step on the court. And it was just like little things like that that, you know, we had our kind of baseline product, like you said, and then it was just rebranding and, and figuring out what the ebbs and flows of the business would create after that. Definitely.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Um, before I get into a little bit more details of how you got the business up and running and acquire, acquiring new customers, I’m really curious to know about your perspective.

So you’ve been in this business for a little bit. Um, what do you think about the fact that, you know, this business actually just consists of one product and, um, And to a certain extent, that probably [00:15:00] makes things simpler and easier because you’re promoting one product and you know exactly who your customer is and things like that.

But in terms of scalability, um, I’m assuming there’s a, there’s a certain limit to it, right? So this business, you know, can be, I’m assuming it can be like a billion dollar business because, you know, you only have one product and there’s only a certain market out there, right? So what do you, what do you think about it?

Like, just from your perspective, is it more like, okay, you’re going to work in this business a few years, get the lessons that you want to learn and then, you know, start something new, you know, or, or, you know, do you see an opportunity here to ha add more products or, you know, grow this business, uh, create like a product line and

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: things like that?

Yeah, absolutely. So, um, you know, basketball obviously is a huge sport, but you’re never gonna get everybody. So, um, you know, if you look at the basketball market, there is, um, I believe it was 20 million boys and girls played the sport. So, you know, there’s definitely a [00:16:00] market. It, it’s sizable. Um, but you know, if you look at our things with, you know, clothing or food, right?

It’s not everybody. Um, so what our kind of game plan is, especially this year, we actually just got back from an event, is we can’t really go, you can only go so deep in these markets, but the breadth of volleyball, wrestling, it was, we can go back to golf. You can go into golf, then you can get it on tennis rackets, you can get it on pickleball rackets, you can get it on baseball or softball bat raps, you can get it on goalie gloves for soccer, you can get it on receiver gloves for football.

So, you know, at that point then it’s just kind of expanding it across multiple avenues of, you know, it might, it’s not always gonna be basketball players. Um, but like what we, what we always say is, you know, we, we just did our first volleyball event and it’s replicatable in those sports. It’s just, you know, we’re learning new things, you know who the, who the big players are.

We’re not coming in with kind of that, that preexisting knowledge that we had with basketball. Um, [00:17:00] but what we do have now is kind of the mistakes we made, or, you know, lessons we had to learn in the basketball space. Were kinda like, all right, well we know this didn’t work. We know this didn’t work. And then it’s just kind of applying those to the new, you know, the, the next avatar, the next volleyball player, the next wrestler, the rest, the next football player, whatever the case may be.

Um, once we get in that direction, it’s kinda like, all right, we kind of streamline things now where you’re gonna catch that market a little bit quicker. So, um, that’s kind of our, our, you know, next couple year goal is really expand this, um, you know, to, to other sports. Um, but I mean, I’m sure like you alluded to, uh, The entrepreneur’s mine never, never rests.

So I’m sure that between the three of us, uh, that we’ll, we’re gonna end up finding something else that we wanna dive into and maybe a whole new market, but for the short term, you know, next five, 10 years, that’s gonna be kind of just knocking out sport by sport.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Okay, awesome. That’s really great. Um, the other thing with this kind of product [00:18:00] also is, you know, if, you know, I talk to so many entrepreneurs and there’s always like, you know, somebody creates this great product, right?

And then the next month they, they see that someone in China created a knockoff and then now they’re selling it on Amazon. Right. So I guess my question would be, what’s, what is unique about this product? Is there some sort of intellectual, proper property around like the ingredient or something? I mean, how do you, how do you make sure that somebody else does, does not create a similar product?

And you know, then you have like bunch of competition.

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Yeah, that’s one of the toughest things that we’re, we’re always kind of staying on top of is, you know, what competition’s out there, um, you know who, who’s coming. Because like I said, so before us, there was just really one product that was even in the same ballpark.

And like I said, they were using adhesive. So by removing adhesives we could get to last longer and be a lot less expensive. Um, and then also, you know, when it’s a liquid [00:19:00] form, we can put it in the bottle the way that, you know, other, other products couldn’t. Um, so obviously we took a market that we kind of knew existed and was there and then just approved upon it.

Um, so our goal now is trying to make our product, you know, as, as good as possible and just build it, you know, really out as quick as possible and building a brand around it. So if other people do come in and try and knock it off, you know, hopefully our brand will, you know, hold, hold. True. And I think. A lot of that just comes from, you know, being, being on, you know, boots on the ground, like I said, pretty much every weekend, um, of the fall and the spring, and I’m somewhere doing something and, you know, I’m in front of coaches or I’m in front of players, um, you know, or, or my co-founders are, are, you know, also there.

And it’s what the goal is, just make sure that when you go to these events, usually you’re dealing with sales reps and, and you know, I’m sure we’ll get there as growth continues, but in the short term, you know, you’re talking to the three owners when you go to something like this and you know, a lot of people like that.

It’s, you just feel like if you have a complaint [00:20:00] or if you have a concern or maybe even an idea of how you can improve upon the product, that these three guys are really, really accessible. Um, so for us, I think having that, you know, almost small feel, um, in a huge market, um, really helps us just because we want people to be, you know, like I think about it, you know, maybe that will never be this big, but I mean, if you think about like a Nike, right?

People who like Nike or people who like Apple, are there other products out there that are, you know, less expensive that do the same thing? Sure. But you know that the experience and, and the people you’re gonna deal with when you’re working with one of those two, there’s a reason you stay. So we’re hoping through, just through social media and just, you know, really being hands-on with everything we do that will build some brand loyalty and, and just, you know, really kind of keep, you know, everyone in, in, in a tight niche that, you know, they’re happy to work for us and work with us, even if it’s a few, a few, you know, dollars more expensive compared to, you know, what China could pump out.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Definitely. So this, um, this product, I’m [00:21:00] assuming based on your descriptions is mostly targeted towards, is, you know, kind a b2b, uh, play where you are. Connecting with schools, you’re connecting with, you know, stadiums, um, community centers, these kind of places where, you know, people go to play and you’re, you know, you’re kind of becoming the supplier of the product.

I’m assuming this is not too much of like an individual person. Um, I mean, I, I could be wrong, but, uh, can you share a little bit about, you know, who your target customer is and when you got started, you know, how did you get your first

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: customers? Yeah, it’s actually the absolute inverse is we’re trying to get more into b2b, um, with schools and stuff.

Um, you know, the hardest thing about that is just getting in front of decision makers. Um, you know, making sure that, you know, you’re talking to adss and kind of alluding to, you know, look, here’s the product you’re using, here’s what you’re paying for that, you know, tool and here’s how our tool is gonna be a little more effective and gonna save you some money.

So getting in front of those people, um, you almost had to [00:22:00] buy in, right? You know, we go to, you know, a lot of different states and. Basically we sit down with all the, it’s, they bring in athletic directors or basketball coaches from all over the state, and we’re getting in front of them and kind of just demoing the product and saying, you know, here’s, you know, just basically a comparison of, you know, here’s what you’re doing, here’s what you’re spending, here’s how we can help.

Um, but those are always, you have to buy in. It’s, you know, weeks on the road, our initial coming out to the market, um, was, and really our most popular still today is b2c. Um, you know, we’ll come in and basically when we first got started is I knew, you know, one or two guys that from when I had played that were running, you know, these huge, you know, tournaments of, you know, a hundred, 200, 300, you know, all the up to thousand, some team tournaments.

And basically we’d say, Hey, look, you know, here’s a product. Here’s what we’re trying to do. Uh, can we come by your event, set up a little booth and, and basically just demo this and see how kids like it. Um, so we did that for probably six months. Um, and we would just, you know, every weekend we’d go out and, you know, you’re spending 12, [00:23:00] 14 hours at a basketball tournament.

You know, third, like 12th graders. And it was, you know, in between the games, kids were hanging out in the gym, bring them over, let ’em try the product, and we’d say, Hey, you know, if you like it after the game, come back here and we’ll, we’ll tell you a little more about what we do. And, you know, we got really, really good reviews.

Um, and then it was just scaling it from there. So, you know, as you grow, you know, someone else says, oh hey, I have this tournament with, you know, it’s in Chicago and we do this many, you know, venues and you know, we’re this many courts and you’ll see a bigger, you know, target there. And really it was just growing from there.

And as you know, we kind of went through those events. Um, we realized how big the individual player market was, that, you know, everyone that plays for the high school basketball team is, you know, going to play somewhere in the spring for a different team. And then it was get it in their hands and then when they brought it back to their school coaches could see it, teammates could see it.

And it was just, you know, kind of just word of mouth marketing from there. Um, and then when Covid hit was right after we got our patent on our team thing, the traction mat, um, that’s on our site. And for us then it was like, [00:24:00] all right, well we need to market this. And you know, kind of how can we get inroads cuz this isn’t gonna be something that players are gonna buy and you know, it’s gonna be more for the whole team.

And a lot of times coaches are still parents that age and it was, you know, are they gonna drop the capital on, you know, something for a team that maybe they’re not even the coach of the next year. There’s son decides they don’t like the sport anymore, they wanna go play baseball. Um, so that was, you know, how do we get in front of high schools and the decision makers?

Um, so just through networking, through Covid, I mean, I feel like, you know, I’m preaching to the choir amongst everybody, but you know, you, you’re stuck in your house, you want to talk to somebody and we were just get on Zoom calls with people and kind of say, you know, how, how, how are you, how do basketball, how does high school basketball work?

How do you learn about new products? And people just really put us in touch with, you know, this, this conference, you gotta go here, you gotta do this coach’s clinic. And we were able to, you know, get on the road and when things opened back up and, you know, fall 21 and pretty much all of last year was every weekend we were on the road and it was just going and saying, you know, here’s the product.

Um, This is kind of our, our, our long-term goal as [00:25:00] the high schools. Cuz you know, once, you know, once they get into a product or into a service, they’re probably gonna keep that product for a long time. And that’s something we’re trying to overcome with our competitors. But if you can get in there, you know, that’s just a, a lot less work to sell once you get in.

Um, and then it just, you know, for us now it’s, if there’s big events, you know, we’ll we’re doing a, an event in July here, it’s uh, it’s gonna be almost 2000 girls basketball teams. So we’ll go down there and do that and, you know, market our little product files. Other than that, it’s, you know, TikTok and, and you know, where the kids hang out and you run Instagram ads and you get in front of ’em, they show ’em the benefit and, you know, kind of go from there.

So definitely a B2C thing right now. And, um, each year we’re trying to get a little deeper into the B2B just because, you know, it’s, it’s higher ticket orders.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Yeah. So it almost seems like it’s gorilla marketing where you know, you are going to. Uh, the places where your target audience is and you’re, you know, mixing with them, you’re showing your product and, you know, uh, getting [00:26:00] more engagement like that.

Exactly. Have you ever,

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: and, and that’s the big thing for us too, is kind of going back to, you know, how do we worry about knockoffs is, you know, I, if you found our product through us, you know, more than likely you saw a TikTok, right? And the person with TikTok is me. And then you see us in a gym and you go, I saw you on TikTok.

And you go, oh wait, I saw you in the thing and you replied to my comment. It’s, and all of a sudden you feel like you’re friends with them. And to us, like that’s just, like I said, always the biggest thing was gorilla marketing and just like, get in front of people and essentially just be one of them.

Cause at the end of the day, I mean, they’re not all that much younger than me and just go from there.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Yeah, definitely. Have you tried any other, uh, creative marketing ideas? Like, I mean, when I look at this product, you know, I think of, you know, Being on Shark Tank or something, you know, that can give you a lot of eyeballs and visibility.

Right. Did you try

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: applying for that? Yeah, so we tried God a couple years ago. It was like right when we started [00:27:00] and uh, it was just the wait, the wait for to get green lit to go on there was, was so crazy. And, uh, my, my co-founder, like I said, he’s in his sixties and uh, he basically at that point said, you know what?

Because we’re growing enough, he goes, how would I want to give up 30% of my action, uh, for someone that we’re doing the hard work in the gyms right now, let’s just ride this thing out and use that as a last resort if things really don’t, uh, cut. And thankfully they have, so, you know, we, we got to retain a hundred percent equity.

We have no debt on it. So like we’re, we’re, we’re pretty happy with where we’re at. A

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: lot of entrepreneurs go on Shark Tank just for the visibility. Also. Like, doesn’t doesn’t mean that, you know, you have to get a deal, you know? Um, but I think I’ve heard, I’ve heard a lot of people who’ve been on Shark Tank, like it really helps drive, drive the sale.

I mean, yeah.

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Yeah. You can see people when they go, they give that little, oh, let’s check back on these guys from, you know, season three or whatever, and they’ll say, oh yeah, we sold like a hundred dollars in [00:28:00] units the day after our thing aired. So there’s definitely the commercial play of it, but you can always tell the sharks are, uh, a little peeved when guys come on there and ask for someone saying, then just say no to every deal.

Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Um, so it seems like you are the main person managing the marketing side of things. Um, can you share a little bit about. What is, um, you know, what kind of marketing is working, worked in in the past? What is working now? What is really helping you drive customer acquisition? Yeah. Besides the, besides the in-person events that you’re

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: doing.

Yeah. Yeah. So I think in the very beginning it was, you know, when you got, when you went to in-person events, we, we always joke, you know, we are very happy anytime someone uses our product, right? But there’s a huge difference in the eyes of a potential consumer, uh, when we post a video of a third grade girls basketball team.

Screaming, this is the best thing ever. Versus [00:29:00] when we go and, you know, go work with somebody who plays division one basketball saying, you know, Hey, this product’s legit. There’s just a different weight that they carry. Um, so for us early on it was just really just cold reach outs to, you know, people who had followings who, um, you know, maybe were just, you know, at a level that, you know, their word’s gonna carry a little more weight.

And it was just, you know, kind of get product in their hands. And, um, you know, to us at, at that point, it was three years ago, and it really wasn’t a terminology called U G C with u user generated Content. Content, excuse me. And for us, like we just figured, hey, this is the best way that we can get some testimonials, was give it to ’em for free and, and run, and then run those as, you know, Instagram videos or TikTok videos, wherever it may be.

Um, and then, you know, kind of through that, as we continue to grow our, our customer base, we’d have, you know, kids think it’s cool that they can send us a video and say, Hey, here’s me using the product. And we’ll go and post it to, you know, we have a pretty decent following on a lot of our stuff and you know, we can kind just be like, Hey, you [00:30:00] know, we, we jokingly say to everyone, you know, if you, if you give us a video, we’ll, uh, we’ll make you a rock star, right?

We’ll make you famous and uh hmm. Well I think a lot of kids like that. So it’s just for us then it’s, you have a huge base of, you know, great testimonials. You have, you know, players using it and, and posting it themselves cuz they feel like they’re a part of that community. And for us it’s just, then it’s just, you know, word of mouth.

Cuz being a newer product too, when people feel like they’re connected to you like that, then they can come in and say, Hey, you know, I was at a tournament last weekend and someone asked me what this was and I, you know, I told ’em to go follow you and showed you, you know, they wanna be the kind of the person that introduces it to a new market and, and be the, you know, uh, early mover, they were the first people to have it right.

So, um, there’s something cool about that for them. And you know, for that it’s the best marketing is word of mouth and, you know, it’s, it doesn’t cost a penny and, um, people are happy to listen to it. So for us it’s, you know, a lot of just. TikTok and Facebook posts and we do a lot of ads as well. Um, cool.

But you know, it’s, it’s nice when you can do that and then, you know, usually every ad will have someone [00:31:00] come back and they’ll comment who, you know, they’ve used it and whatever. They met us in person. They’re one of the first people to comment and say, Hey, this works really well. And like, you know, for us that does wonders cuz if people, it’s brand new eyes every single time come to an ad and if they can see people giving testimonies underneath it, it’s, you know, just a good way to, you know, kind of make that a little easier of a sale.

Uh, in terms of ads, are

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: you seeing people searching for this kind of an item? Um, like is there a positive ROI on the

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: ads then? Yeah, yeah. So it’s actually crazy. Like we’ve had some ads, um, you know, it’s the algorithm and things behind that can be a, a fickle beast. Some days it’s on your side. Some days it feels like you’re never gonna go that way.

But I mean, we’ve done, you know, certain ads where you can see, you know, seven times row ads and like for us it’s. You just don’t really know. And I think that’s the other thing too, is, you know, going into this, um, you know, kinda what we alluded to earlier is I didn’t have a background in marketing. So for the first year, [00:32:00] we were running ads that, you know, weren’t really converting and you just weren’t using the right keywords or, you know, whatever the case may be.

Um, but, you know, trial by error I guess, or failure, whatever you wanna call it, eventually you kind of said, all right, this ad did a little bit better. What did I change? You know, this ad okay, I changed our thing. Okay, did even better. What else can I change? And then, you know, got, it’s gotten to the point now where, you know, kind of just, you can run ads and, you know, not be fully reliant on them.

You obviously want, you know, a good returning customer base, but it’s a good way to kind of get new people in the door and know that, you know, that marketing money is, is gonna be, you’re gonna get ROI on it.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: What is your, uh, um, I mean, I see in terms of channels, you have a. I see your product is also

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: on Amazon.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Um, are you, is it, is it on any other marketplaces also and in terms of sales, like is your, you know, WIC channel works really well in terms of driving sales.

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Yeah, so we’re, we’re trying to get some more channels, um, and just kinda see which ones [00:33:00] work best. So we’re on, like, at C and eBay and, you know, we don’t do a ton of volume there, but, you know, it’s a new way that, you know, if you search for, if you’re going through the keywords, it’s, you’re gonna see we’re listed a couple places and just catch your eye a few more times.

Um, so we were, uh, this kind of speaks to, uh, mistakes we made, um, before I was involved. And it was strictly a golf product. Um, it was listed in gardening on Facebook. Um hmm. Which isn’t gonna drive you a lot of sales looking for your golf clubs, right. So, uh, one of the things that when I got involved, uh, we wanna do was change that to get it listed correctly.

Um, and, and was it

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: really because, because your partner was, you know, he wasn’t familiar with like all these digital things and

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: I’m not sure what happened. It was, like I said before me, I was still in college time. I came out and like, yeah, we tried Amazon before we were in gardening. Uh, like I said, I consumed cuz I, I don’t know if you ever sold anything on Amazon.

Um, it is, the back end of that can be very tricky. Um, and that was, you know, learning curve for me too. [00:34:00] Um, so by the time we finally got that down, you know, we had done. We were just strictly through our site, uh, for about, just about until, uh, the fourth quarter of last year. Um, and then, you know, it was one of those things I had some free time and I’m like, all right, you know, I’ve been, I’ve been studying this Amazon stuff, let me dive into there.

And, um, you know, thankfully one of my buddies works, um, for a company in Cleveland that, you know, basically helps people list their products on Amazon, you know, what type of content to include, keyword and stuff like that. And New Con just gave me some guidance and said, you know, if I were you, here’s what I would look for.

Here’s what I would do. And he was really, really helpful. And we got it listed in, uh, October of, of 2022. And that fourth quarter of, you know, holidays and, you know, everything, basketball seasons kind of kicking off there in the winter. We saw our product jump to the number one product in all basketball.

Um, and we just absolutely skyrocketed overnight. So, as we said, it was kind of just a culmination of, you know, probably a lot of people, cuz if you, we looked at a lot of the keywords that people were searching [00:35:00] for on, on, and if you looked for, you know, basketball shoe grip, um, of all like, I think 25 keywords that drove results.

Grip Spritz was the third most searched for Uh hmm. You know, a searched result. So for us it was like our customers were already on there looking for us, we just weren’t there to deliver. Um, so, you know, how many of those people actually came to our website and converted, you know, maybe not a ton. So we were leaving money on the table, so we finally got around to it and it was just the perfect storm of holiday shopping of basketball season.

And that we had kind of, you know, gorilla marketed this thing to a point where people were actively searching for it. It just caught, and, you know, we were doing whatever we’re doing on our site in the fourth quarter. We were almost three times in it on Amazon. Um, just because of the way that algorithm worked.

And, you know, people may not have been looking for us. They may have been looking for. A competitor and they say, oh, actually this, instead of buying it for the whole team, I can skip this for my son. This is way easier. And, and yeah, Amazon [00:36:00] really did, uh, some great things for us. So yeah, it’s, uh, I think that’s, uh, probably the biggest thing that has really helped us grow.

Do

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: you use, uh, fulfillment by Amazon? Can you share a little bit about how you fulfill where you warehouse?

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Um, yeah, so, and, and that

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: part operations

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: side of the business a little bit. Yeah, so I said it’s the three of us and uh, you know, I was mainly in charge of going on the road. And then my, the guy who came to me, Tom, he was in charge of fulfillment, he was producing and, and shipping orders.

And, uh, we had gone through, you know, I think we did like 28 states last year of, um, you know, they’re clinics where they’re basketball coaches and we were doing a lot of our traction mats. So he’s producing those in house. And at that point we were, we were filling bottles manually. We basically had our solution that we were buying from our chemist and we were filling them in our two ounce bottles, labeling them ourselves, capping them, you know, like I said, it was a real, real grassroots kind of way of doing things.

And we, um, [00:37:00] caught this Amazon wave and it was right as basketball season was starting. So he was in charge making these pads we’re getting backed up on that. And he’s like, Hey, I need you to help me do, fill the bottles. And it was to the point, I think we were doing a hundred bottles a day for about 60 days, about pretty much November to the end of the year.

And it was to the point where like, we couldn’t keep up. We were filling everything by hand. You’re, as soon as it’s filled, it’s going right in an envelope. We’re taking, I’m making three trips a day to the post office. Um, and it was like really, really overwhelming for us. And we, at that point, we didn’t have the time because, you know, when you ship to do the F B A, it kind of holds you for a sec.

And we weren’t producing them fast enough, or if we would’ve sent them 500 bottles, those were gonna be gone in three days and they would’ve just paused our listing because there’s no product to ship out. So like we were kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place and at that point, like we were all working probably like [00:38:00] 14, 15 hour days of filling, shipping and everything.

And then you go to sleep, wake up and do it again the next day. Um, you know, we joked kind of after pretty much February we went back down to a, a manageable pace. So we, we joked, you don’t wanna ever see sales slow down, but it gave us a chance to catch our breath. Yeah. Um, so that’s what we said. Now that we’re a little deeper into that, we have time, we can get into it.

Um, kind of our goal for the summer is get, do the F B A, um, cuz there’s a lot of like little just tricks that Amazon makes a little difficult on you. So, like I said, we were listed in gardening and we had, um, you know, a U P C code of our code on our bottles. That was tying it to gardening. So when we tried to list it in basketball, it kept willing to reroute us back to gardening.

So we had to redo our labels, remove a barcode, and basically say our product had no barcode. The issue that arises with that is then Amazon says you have no barcode. So then to fill by Amazon, they need a barcode to track their system [00:39:00] and we can’t retroactively add a barcode. We have their Amazon FNS K numbers.

So now we’re just working through that and kind of what the best, you know, model of that is. Is it, cause I mean, the other thing too is like at that point your options are, you know, d-list and re-list, and then you’re losing all of your reviews, all of the, you know, keyword growth you’ve had. Um, or go through and order their little labels and then put them on every single bottle.

So, um, and then until you run out of inventory, then change over. Our, you know, our labels on there. So there’s little stuff like that, um, that we’re definitely gonna get into the F B A, you know, by summertime. Um, just cause that opens up so much time to do other things, right. Um, if you’re constantly felt like you’re in quicksand doing, you know, shipping, production, um, you know, there’s not a lot of room for growth, um, because then one, you don’t have the time, and two, then you’re just, you know, piling on top of the hours you’re doing things.

So that’s kind of our next thing to be prepared for, you know, basketball season and the holiday season.[00:40:00]

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: In terms of, so you mentioned that you purchased the solution through a chemist, so it, it seems like, you know, there’s a wholesale way that you purchase the solution and you repackage it and you sell it. Um, And I think a product like this would probably make good financial sense, sense in terms of like profit margins and things like that.

I’m assuming the, the product itself, like the solution itself probably doesn’t cost that much. Do you know, like in terms of, of the financial of your business, like what is your biggest cost? Is it really the marketing component of it or is it kinda the fulfillment component of it? Um, and, and is the economics of this business, like, is that really great?

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Yeah, so, uh, you know, margin wise, uh, three of us are very happy with it. Um, you know, the biggest thing that we deal with is, um, surprisingly is shipping, right? Um, it is expensive to ship a [00:41:00] liquid and that’s even just domestically. Um, we do a lot, not a lot overseas. We do a decent amount overseas. Um, you know, both through Australia, you know, the game’s huge over there, Europe.

Um, a lot of Asia and then, you know, south America, some Africa we’re starting to grow in as well. Um, but for us it’s just once you’re shipping a liquid, you’re then proving, especially with chemicals in it, we have to go through the process of clearing it, that it’s non-flammable, non-toxic, um, you know, just little things like that.

Um, so it’s it, and not that it weighs a ton, but you know, it shocks you how much, you know, a couple ounces here or there will add up. Um, so, you know, once you get into a little higher volume, you do see that come down. Um, but then the other thing that we’re, you know, constantly battling with is, you know, being, you know, a, a spray bottle is, uh, the U P s and U S P S workers aren’t exactly, uh, always careful with packages.

Mm-hmm. Um, so you do see some, you know, crack the caps crack and it leaks in the package [00:42:00] or you know, it, it gets crushed by, you know, someone just throws something else on top of it. Cause we’re using the bubble mailers. Um, And just little things like that that, you know, they add up over time as you’re trying to, you know, kind of fix some things that are really outta your control.

Like, we can’t, you know, ensure that every post office worker isn’t gonna just throw this thing on their front porch and it, it cracks and then we’re setting out replacements and then Hmm. Um, you know, obviously at no charge to the customer. So then for us it’s, you’re kind of redoing things. So for us it’s, it’s really shipping.

Um, it’s just, and there’s really no way around it. Right. So do you, do you charge the

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: customer or is it Uh, no, it’s

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: free shipping.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Wow. So, so that’s really, I mean, I’m assuming even with the product like this, I mean, it probably does cost at least five, $6 to ship.

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: No. Yeah. So our most expensive, if you go internationally, it’ll go, you know, it can go as high as, you know, 18, $19.

Um, if we’re doing it in terms of [00:43:00] domestically, um, our farther zone will be about $4 and 50 cents to $5. Um, you know, and obviously being in the Midwest, we we’re kind of at an advantage out of Cleveland. Um, you know, the farthest we really go is, you know, that far is California, Hawaii, Alaska. Um, but other than that, you’re, you’re pretty close, essentially located.

So we do get some, some discounts there. But yeah, just the biggest thing for us is, is, you know, things are out of our control essentially. Like we can’t, we’re never gonna be able to go in and make them lower the price of shipping, and we’re never gonna make them, you know, handle packages a little more carefully, so.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Hmm. Do you, like, in your, in your packaging, like, do you, do you, given that now you’ve learned that, you know, the way it has shipped it, prone to damage, um, like have you made any changes in your packaging itself? Like have some sort of a cushion or something even, you know, if somebody throws at it?

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Yeah.

Yeah, we’re trying to, it’s just, it’s, it’s trial and error, right? And then you’re kind of, you know, having to make note of, you know, art. In, in June and July we started, uh, Because, you know, [00:44:00] we use the bubble wrap, the bubble mailers, like I say, so, you know, pretty much vanilla envelope with the, the padding inside.

Um, so we did that for a while and we’re like, all right, here’s obviously the issue. We’re we’re getting some broken bottles. So then it became, you know, uh, let’s put an extra layer of bubble wrap around the bottle. All right? And then it’s, you know, you’re marking, when did we start that? How much did damage product, you know, change?

What was the, the variation there? Um, and then if, you know, it went down, if, but if there’s still some braking, right? You’re not gonna catch a hundred percent of ’em. But if it’s still a decent amount, we’re worth thinking we need to change something. All right, well then what’s next? Um, so it could be, you know, there are those cylinder tubes that, like posters are sold in.

Could we do something like that? Or, you know, could you put it in, you know, like packing peanuts in there? And then, but then again, then you’re raising the weight of the package. So then there’s like little stuff like that where it, it almost is trial and error. Um, and, and the other thing too is, so up until we did our, our second run, we did one, you know, way back when, where we had [00:45:00] our, we had a high speed filling line fill our bottles so we weren’t filling them by hand.

Um, there’s a huge difference between us, you know, tightening the cap with our hand and kind of what can leak through those, the threads and, you know, at the top of a water bottle. Um, versus when a machine is tightening them off a production line, there’s a pr a machine’s gonna tighten it a whole lot tighter than we can.

So then that plays a role where, you know, it’s not seeping through, uh, things like that. And then, you know, kind of last thing that you know, is unfortunate that we’ll never really be able to alleviate fully is in the winter it can freeze. Wow. Okay. It’s very, very, very few times that happens. But when it freezes, then it expands and it contracts, that cap has loosened and now it’s gonna leak.

Hmm. So little things like that where we’re, you know, we’re definitely working on it and that’s kind of, You know, cause that’s the other thing too, is when you know we’re gonna replace it, we’re gonna send you an R one for free and it’s not gonna happen again. But if that’s your first [00:46:00] interaction with the company, you know, it’s first impression, everything.

So for us it’s, you know, kind of trying to cut down on those things that we can. And you know, hopefully in the short term that, you know, even in the long term, cause I said we’re never gonna get rid, a hundred percent of it is, you know, people are, you know, understanding that that’s really out of our control.

Um, but that’s really the big thing for us, that it’s just annoying too, you know? So.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Exactly. Um, I mean, listening to you, I can, I can say that, you know, given that you’re so passionate about this business, I mean, it to me seems like you’re just passionate about business in general.

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Um,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: and just being involved, I mean, you know, the kind of things that you are learning, any student like wouldn’t have this kind of an understanding doing like an MBA program or something like that.

Um, what. You know, being in this business, what, what have you learned about business, uh, your own business that has surprised you or, [00:47:00]

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: um,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: what, what, what is the biggest challenge that you see right now in your business that you think, you know, if you solve that challenge, it can really help you grow or, you know, bring it to the next level or something like that?

Yeah,

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: so I think, um, you know, the big thing for, for that surprised me about business is, um, you know, first I like school doesn’t really, I. Prepare you to be an entrepreneur. Um, and they prepare you to, you know, like you said, go work at a firm nine to five and, um, just really learning on the fly. I mean, I think that’s the best thing is, you know, I always look back and in our early days when you’re kind of questioning, is this gonna work?

Is this a viable product? You know, is this business scalable? Things like that. Um, you know, you do it for a few years and, and you kind of think in the back of your mind, you know, when I, if I were to have to go back into, you know, a formal work setting, a lot of the things I learned are gonna put me [00:48:00] way light years ahead of people the same age as me, because you had to be hands on.

You know, you had to be in these meetings that you know, you normally wouldn’t be in when you’re an entry level position or, you know, even a, a junior, an associate. And so I think it, it really gave me a grasp of like, business in, in the macro because it made me, you know, look at, I look at finances and economics, which, you know, my side of the things, but then it made me dive into marketing.

It made me dive into, you know, prototyping patents, just different, you know, things that normally I wouldn’t have to, you know, be well-versed in. Um, and it kind of made me more well-rounded in terms of business. So I think, you know, even if it’s just, if you know, you still, you’re not an entrepreneur at heart.

If you want to do, you know, still the formal career path it’s going in and, and doing maybe a variety of internships and just doing different things to learn every nook and corner and cranny of what business is because, you know, it’s, it’s something I wish I had done more of is, so when I got into these positions, you weren’t learning, you know, on your own dime, you were learning when [00:49:00] you really weren’t trying to form a company.

Um, and your second question was, um, hmm.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: The same question was, uh, what is the, do you see, like, what is the biggest challenge that you see that, that you think if you, if you were able to solve it, can really help this business

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: growth? Yeah, so I think for us it’s, you know, it’s so brand awareness, right?

We’re only three years in and, um, you know, when we go to events now, um, I would say maybe one out of 10 people that come up are familiar with us or have seen us before. Um, you know, I think social media helps and, you know, I think, uh, you know, ads help and, and things like that. Um, but in a market that is as big as basketball is, that means there are still so many people out there that aren’t familiar with us, that have no idea we even exist.

Um, so I think for us it’s, it’s continuing that brand awareness and that can be a lot of different things. So it can be, you [00:50:00] know, just like I said, we’re posting two videos on every platform you can think of. And probably ones you can’t even think of every single day. But try and just, you know, even if it’s just 200 views, that’s 200 more people that saw us today than I did yesterday.

Mm-hmm. Um, you know, maybe you go viral and you catch, like I said, we have videos that have done like, you know, 14, 15 million views. Um, and just getting people more familiar with us. And then, um, so that’s on the individual player side in terms of, you know, kind of the B2B side, um, you know, there are things out there that are essentially, you know, if you’re an athletic director, you get this magazine every single year that says, you know, we are, they already have an account together, you know, their tax exempt, everything’s set up for them, and then they go through the magazine and say, oh, my basketball team needs, uh, you know, we, we could use a few new balls this year.

We could use, uh, practice jerseys, wherever the case may be. Um, and, you know, our competitor’s been around for 35, 40 years at this point. So they’re, they’re pretty indoctrinated into the business and, you know, people that have been using them, um, you know, no matter what the experience has been, even if [00:51:00] they think it’s expensive, as far as they’re concerned, that’s the only product out there that’s doing.

What they need affixed to. Um, so for us is it, it’s getting in those magazines so when people are, you know, cycling through and, you know, looking to order their same old stuff, they can stop for a second and say, Hey, this is new. Oh, here’s how it’s different. Oh, and here’s how you know, it, it can save us some money.

Um, so it’s that. And just, you know, getting in front of those huge national magazines that are going out to every single state, um, is kind of our next big things in term of scaling. Just because, uh, I sent a phone call before the side joke that I can only be so many places at once. Tom can only be so many places at once.

And, you know, just alone, you know, being out here in Southern California right now, there are probably 8, 9, 10 huge AAU tournaments taking place in Los Angeles. And there’s another 15 taking place in Las Vegas right now. And that’s just, you know, a three and a half hour radius where, you know, that’s all over the country every single weekend.

So, [00:52:00] If you could do something where people are becoming more familiar with your product without having to physically be there, um mm-hmm. You know, does that kind of take away from what I said earlier about, you know, having it like they feel they know us? Yeah. But it’s getting it to go out there and do that and then, you know, hopefully they reach out and say, Hey, you know, look, I found you guys I’m interested.

And then, you know, when they get emailed back that says, you know, co-founder, you know, managing number or whatever it says, they’re like, oh, you know, I feel like I know these guys. You can kind of cultivate a relationship. So the big thing for us will always be brand awareness. Yeah. I think, I think,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: uh, it’s not exclusive, right?

You want, I think in terms of distribution, of course you want, but at the same time you also want have other distribution, mass distribution. So I, I think you want be as many places as possible. And I guess that would also include I was about chain stores or like sports store. Do you, do you think about that

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: distribution?

Yep. So we have, and it’s um, you know, they’re, they’re the big ones. Um, you know, they’re Dick’s Sporting Goods and [00:53:00] there’s some in Canada that we had talked to, um, cuz anything, like I had said earlier with the shipping, um, and there’s customs declarations and just little like, kind of hoops that international customers have to jump through.

Um, for us, the first kind of play on that was, well, let’s, let’s go to these countries and everyone’s gonna have their sporting good store, um, and kind of get in touch with them cuz then, you know, if you’re ordering straight from them, you’re not having to pay our shipping. Um, and, and it’s, it’s saving both parties cuz internationally we cover about 70% of the shipping.

Um, you know, but if we covered it all, like I said, one of our bottles is $15 and shipping to the UK can go as high as 18. Right. So we’re taking a loss then. Just to get there. So, um, for us it’s been, you know, how can we kind of cut that cost down and still have margin for ourselves? And that was kind of one of our, you know, routes that we had spoken about.

Um, the big thing with those is just, you know, making sure you get in front of people who do the purchasing or who do new, new, uh, product integration. Um, we did get our first, um, it’s a mom and pop. It’s, [00:54:00] uh, it’s actually out of Utah. So, uh, we had never actually done anything in Utah before. I mean, we obviously had sales go there, but we were never, you know, feet on the ground.

And they had come across, uh, you know, I think a, a Facebook post and, and emailed us and said, Hey, we’re interested in carrying this for the high schools in the area. And, uh, yeah, we’re in our second month now with them and, you know, trying to be as supportive as them as possible. Cuz you know, it’s, it’s a new product for them as well.

Right. They’re educating as much as we are if people aren’t familiar with us. So, um, it’s kind of twofold, right? It’s, it’s making sure that it is accessible to people, um, and that it’s easier to get and, but when they do find it, we’re making sure that. You know, we’ve kind of given up control of how the brand is portrayed then, you know, when you put it in someone else’s hands.

So for us it’s, you know, making sure that we’re partnering with the right stores that are gonna promote the right way and, and make sure it’s kind of like just an extension of us. Um, so you’re not going back and trying to create, you know, a new culture around it that someone else tainted. So the guys out there are doing a great job and, uh, we hope that’s kind of the first one of, of many.

We can use that [00:55:00] and just take that and, you know, go to other stores and say, Hey, look, here’s how they’re doing. And there’s a market for it.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. So now we’re gonna move on our rapid fire segment. And in this segment I’m gonna ask you a few quick questions and you a couple words or a sentence or so.

Uh, one book recommendation for entrepreneurs and why.

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Ooh. Um, let me think. Okay. I think, uh, It’s gonna sound cliche, but it actually helped me a ton. Um, the old book, how to Win Friends Influence People. Right, okay. It’s a classic and it’s a classic for a reason. Um, you know, for me not having a background in sales, um, it’s, I had to learn how to influence people and how to say, you know, you wanna try this, you need this, whatever the case is gonna be.

Um, and, and at the same time, I mean, a lot of it just becomes just being approachable and being, you know, friendly with people and, you know, even if they don’t wanna buy your products, they’ll just, you know, talk to ’em and, you know, feeling like [00:56:00] you weren’t there just to sell them on, you know, what you’re doing.

Um, so I think a lot of that helped. And then it also paired with, you know, when I was going to these events, um, you know, like I talked about high school athletic directors or, or basketball coaches, um, you know, these guys are in their forties and fifties and it’s. It’s tough to go in there when you’re in your early mid twenties and try and tell them they are doing some, they, they’re using the wrong product, right?

This thing you’ve been using your entire career actually isn’t doing that much, that much good for the shoes and you’re wasting money on it. Um, and then, you know, kind of have that credibility and, you know, have the ability to articulate yourself with them. So I think that book was really, really helpful for me, um, in kind of making sure that I could, you know, tow that line.

Well,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: I mean, it’s so interesting. I read that book maybe 25 years ago, and it’s interesting that the day of, uh, you know, Instagram and, and you know, the young gen generation is still reading it. It’s, it’s so interesting, um, [00:57:00] an innovative product or idea in the current e-commerce retail or tech landscape that,

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: um, I mean, I guess yeah, in terms of kind of going back to our main things, just top of mind, what we’re trying to solve right now is the, um, you know, B2B and brand awareness.

And I think, um, you know, I see a lot of people, you know, not, I mean high level guys, you know, you see your Gary Vs or whoever are gonna talk about it. But the one thing that has been really beneficial for us in terms of B2B has been LinkedIn. And I just don’t think enough people are kind of realizing right now, kind of just, uh, the overall reach you can get on that platform just because of how many eyeballs are on it.

But so few people are creating content there. So, um, I think it’s a great place if you’re trying to b2b. Um, I know it’s been around for a while, but that is the place to be right now in my mind.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So you’re talking about organic content, not like advertising.

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Uh, we’ve done a little bit of advertising there, but for us it’s organic.

Right now it’s, the reach has just been, yeah, I think a lot of businesses can take advantage of, of LinkedIn right now.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Okay. A business productivity [00:58:00] tool or software that you would recommend or a productivity tip?

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Uh, productivity tip I got, I’m not sure where I got this from, but I know someone said it.

And, uh, basically what I do is, you know, when you’re an entrepreneur, a million things happen throughout your day. Um, so I’ve made a habit out of, you know, before I go to bed every night, I write down a sticky note or, or whatever, a notepad. The first three things I have do the next day. Three most pressing things.

So whether it be, you know, there’s someone that I meant to email back today that, you know, slipped the mind or you know, this person’s waiting to get this, you know, teaming agreement or whatever it’s gonna be, or whatever, you know, whatever it could be, it’s just knock those three things out right away because I’m talking.

Brush your teeth. Don’t even look at your phone. Knock those three out because it’s gonna, one, just feel like you already started the day on a high note. Have some momentum going of, you know, I’m already accomplishing tasks that need to be done, and two, you’re not, you know, cuz it can go and that can snowball real quick, oh, I forgot to email this guy back.

Let me get tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. And then all of a sudden it’s been a week and now [00:59:00] you’re. Apologizing. Right. Just knock it out and get it done first thing in the morning and keep going with your day.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. A startup or business, uh, in e-commerce, retail or tech that you think is currently doing great things?

Um,

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: I’ll give one. So it’s, it’s a little ni niche to basketball. Um, we’re, we’re not affiliated with ’em at all. I just see ’em a lot on social media. Um, they’re called shoot 360. Really cool idea. Basically think of a driving range for golf, um, except for it’s basketball. So basically half courts, they have gyms that you can shoot.

There’s a machine that automatically kicks the ball back to you. It tracks your shooting percentage so you can see how you’re improving. And it’s a really good way for players to get better. And the cool thing they do that, um, you know, I think a lot of, uh, uh, it’s just really helpful to a lot of communities is they stay open 24 7 if you have one of their gym memberships.

Um, they give you a code to the building and you can come in and work on your game. And, you know, I just think a lot of the kids that I, you know, interact with at these tournaments, um, and parents to them as well, there’s just so many things kids [01:00:00] can kind of fall into today that aren’t the best. Um, and I think the ability that if you love something like a sport, To be able to 24 7, go in there and just work and work and work and keep yourself from, you know, maybe going down the wrong path.

Um, it’s giving kids and communities a great outlet to, you know, do something productive and, and try and just better themselves in whatever realm they’re at that point of life. Sounds very

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: interesting. Uh, peer entrepreneur or business person whom you look up to or someone who inspires you? Um,

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: it’s so, it’s big time level.

It’s, uh, Damon John, I, uh, speaking of Shark Tank earlier. Okay. And it just, I, if you listen to a story, it’s just in a lot of the same things that we’re going through. You’re, we, we actually, this three months ago got our first shop. We’re not making out of our garage anymore. And if you look, listen to him talk about his early days, it’s, he’s in the garage and his mom’s helping him.

And like, that’s verbatim what I did. So it’s just like being able to take little [01:01:00] things from his early days and be like, all right, look, this isn’t uncommon that. You’re overwhelmed and you’re sitting in your garage and you need help from your mom who’s not on payroll, like it happens, and just kind of learning from mistakes he made and lessons he’s learned.

I, I consume his content every single day. Awesome.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Final question, best business advice you ever receive or received or you, you would give to other entrepreneurs?

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Yeah, so this one’s actually, uh, my favorite little story. Um, it’s a little longer than two sentences, but, uh, I heard it from Scooter Braun, who obviously is Justin Beaver’s manager and, and everything.

And he had talked about his early days, um, and kind of how he got through, which I think the biggest, the biggest attribute to an entrepreneur’s patience. Um, you need to be patient and, and, you know, know that you, the work you’re putting in isn’t going to waste. So what he said is, you know, let’s say you’re in New York City and you are, you, you open up a New York Post, wall Street Journal, whatever, and there’s a on the front page that says, Hey, there’s a contest.

You come down to Yankee Stadium and our all-star [01:02:00] pitcher’s gonna pitch to everybody. And if you win, if you hit a home run off of him, you win the prize. You know, the prize can be whatever, it can be fame, it can be money, it can be, you know, a good family, whatever, um, whatever your prize is. He said millions of people are gonna show up, right?

And the first person to step in is gonna get thrown a hundred mile hour fastball, and they’re gonna swing and they’re gonna look really, really foolish. Everyone in the stands is gonna laugh. People are, are gonna say, what are you even doing? And they’re gonna get embarrassed. They’re gonna put the bat down and that’s it.

Once you put it down, you’re done. You gotta go home. So that’s gonna happen. And when that happens to the first guy of those million people, a whole lot are gonna be afraid to get laughed at. And they’re never even gonna pick the bat up. They’re gonna go on home. And what he said was, I got in that batter’s box and I swung and I looked foolish and everyone laughed and I was the only person to swing a second time.

When that happened, people laughed again and he goes, I got in again and again and again and again. And eventually people started to boo. They said, what are you doing? You’re never gonna hit this. Give someone else a chance. And he goes, I just blocked that all out. And you know, maybe the [01:03:00] guy got tired, he wasn’t throwing a hundred miles per hour anymore.

Maybe I got lucky and I hit that home run and I won the prize. And that didn’t happen to our people cuz they got embarrassed or they got tired of trying or whatever it’s gonna be. And they put the bat down. He said, the next day that New York Post is gonna post. Here’s the winner, he won the prize. And he said, everyone in the stands that booed you, that laughed at you, that told you to give up is gonna be the one that swears they were the one that said, you can do it.

They cheered you on the entire time, whatever. And too many people put the bath down and give up when things get a little harder when people judge ’em a little bit. So I think it’s just keep in there, keep going. If you know what you’re doing and you believe in the product, and you believe in the business, um, just work and you’ll come out on the other side a hundred percent fine.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Yeah. And, and I guess, uh, there’s another lesson to that also is like, the more times you bet, right? Even if you’re failing, it’s like you are accruing that experience and Exactly. And I think there’s, there’s also, um, uh, a chance, you know, uh, [01:04:00] uh, a chance of luck, right? So, right. It’s like, it’s like if you keep on bating, you can just be lucky by chance.

So, so it’s like, yeah.

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Yeah, but you’re probably not gonna be lucky on that first swing. So luck. I exactly think for opportunity and experience just happened to meet and something goes well for you. So that’s something I always try to remember. I mean, especially in the early days, you know, to any business when you’re trying to grow it and you know, money’s not coming in and you know, it’s tight and it’s tough.

And I just try to think about that. Patience, perseverance, and, and just keep going.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Definitely. Well, well, those were all the questions that I, I had Matt, um, really, really appreciate speaking with you. Thanks for bringing all the energy and, and your story to the show. Uh, if anybody wants to, uh, look into your product by your product, what is the best way they can do that?

Matthew Olen of Grip Spritz: Yeah, so just grip spritz, G R i p s P R I T Z. I know we joked, uh, It’s kind of a tongue twister, so I like to spell it out for people. But yeah, you can check it out there. Amazon, um, all the social medias were just at [01:05:00] Grip Spritz and uh, like I said earlier, if you, if you are on a social media, if it’s well known or not, you’ll, uh, you’ll find us cause we’re there.

So, um, I do appreciate you, Sushant. You’ve been awesome. So, very pla, very pleased to be here and honored overall.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Thank you Matt. Really, really appreciate your time today. Thank you again for sharing your story, for sharing your business advice. So yeah, thanks.

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