Meet Slinger – the perfect, portable tennis partner in a bag

In a nutshell, Slinger founder Joe Kalfa, an avid tennis participant, had a loopy concept that rapidly grew to become a core mission for him: that everybody ought to be capable of personal a tennis-ball launcher. He liked the idea of tennis-ball launchers, and at all times used them when he was on the membership they usually had been obtainable. The issue was that they weren’t at all times obtainable, or simple to make use of, and even good for that matter.

Kalfa knew that to make a tennis-ball launcher for everybody, moreover being easy and unimaginable, it must be each moveable and inexpensive. So he developed a group and set to work.

“All the best concepts present an answer to an issue,” Honickman instructed the Put up. “The Slinger Bag is not any exception.

“Slinger Bag is the reply to an age-old drawback in tennis, enabling gamers to go to the courts, hit high quality balls with out the necessity of a accomplice, wherever, at any time when. Similar to the best way that golfers head to the driving vary, this was the primary time ever that one thing related was obtainable to the common tennis participant.”

The Slinger Bag bag can be a singular answer for many individuals to the worldwide lockdown and restrictions on sports activities exercise on account of the coronavirus pandemic. For the reason that pandemic has begun, the corporate has seen an enormous spike in curiosity by way of its web site and social media platforms as Slinger gives an answer to the quarantine and social distancing drawback, giving any participant of any ability degree the flexibility to exit by themselves and play a sport that historically wants two folks.

Born out of an on-court expertise, Kalfa wrestled with numerous tennis golf equipment’ ball machines – battling via the laborious and troublesome job of dragging them from clubhouse to the court docket, untangling the ability wire, discovering an extension lead after which looking for an influence outlet, earlier than loading it with balls after which lastly determining find out how to program the machine. All of this taking on his worthwhile court docket time. As he was in the midst of attempting to arrange a ball machine, he observed a girl strolling to the clubhouse pulling a typical tennis trolley bag behind her.

“This was the light-bulb second that gave delivery to Slinger Bag, the world’s most moveable tennis-ball launcher,” defined Honickman.

The Slinger Bag is a modular tennis bag that comes with a fully-functional tennis ball launcher that holds as much as 144 balls, in addition to providing gamers house to retailer their tools together with rackets, bottles and towels.

With the idea that everybody ought to be capable of personal a tennis-ball launcher, in early 2017 Kalfa channeled his ardour for the game and set about making a product that was each inexpensive and superior in equal measure – one which tennis gamers might buy on-line throughout the globe.

Understanding that there was an actual alternative to disrupt the tennis market, he shaped Slinger and onboarded a proficient group he was positive might take the idea to a world viewers –  this included his brother, Nick Kalfa (COO), Honickman (CMO) and Arik Yuval (head of R&D).

The group rapidly set to work constructing a prototype and unveiled the primary iteration of its patented Slinger Bag in June 2017. The creation was highly-portable, cordless and managed by a remote-control – thus bringing a brand new era of ball launcher to life. What’s extra, the ball launcher doubled as a bag and cellphone charger, enabling gamers to hold their rackets, balls and private belongings onto the court docket simply and conveniently.

After a number of prototypes had been put via the wringer by a discerning group of Joe’s native gamers, the product launched to the broader tennis group by way of a Kickstarter marketing campaign in February 2018.

The group’s resolution to launch via a crowd-funding marketing campaign was instantly validated. The Slinger Bag was an immediate hit – surpassing its goal of $25,000 in simply 45 minutes! Within the following 37 days, and after including an Indiegogo viewers, the corporate offered in extra of $1 million price of Slinger Baggage throughout each platforms.

The unprecedented reception was eye-opening for the group – they had been sitting on a product that had the ability to revolutionize the tennis market.

It was at this level the corporate enlisted the assistance of tennis trade heavyweight, Mike Ballardie.

Ballardie, a former Prince CEO and Wilson government – two of the preeminent names in tennis tools – was employed for his in depth market data and model management expertise within the world tennis trade. Having invested within the firm, Ballardie has been showcasing the corporate to his in depth worldwide contacts of tennis coaches, gamers and sellers, constructing a worldwide distribution community and driving funding. He’s presently placing collectively a extremely skilled administration group consisting of different tennis executives for the corporate.

“Mike has a deep data of, and passionate dedication to, each the tennis trade and the tennis group,” stated Slinger founder Joe Kalfa. “He’s a confirmed enterprise chief who has efficiently introduced a number of high-performance improvements to marketplace for main world manufacturers. We’re excited that Mike has acknowledged the market potential of Slinger Bag and are trying ahead to working along with Mike to construct Slinger Bag into a worldwide tennis model over the approaching years.”

In December 2019, Slinger reached a landmark within the firm’s journey by going public within the US by way of reverse acquisition – launching on the OTC Markets, an American monetary market offering worth and liquidity info for nearly 10,000 over-the-counter securities. Slinger’s ticker image is OTC:SLBG.

Scorching off the heels of going public, Slinger introduced in January 2020 it had commenced cargo of the inaugural 5,000 items of its extremely anticipated product. The tennis aficionados who pre-ordered the Slinger Bag, together with those that supported the model’s profitable crowd-funding marketing campaign, have already begun to obtain the product, with the preliminary shipments going out in early 2020.

The Slinger Bag is about to revolutionize the tennis trade and capitalize on this chance. It has partnered with tennis legends akin to Nick Bollettieri – a pioneer of the game, having created the tennis academy coaching mannequin, the biggest and most prestigious sports activities coaching academy on this planet, and having coached and nurtured the skills of 10 former world No. 1 gamers throughout his 60 years within the trade, together with Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Monica Seles and Serena Williams.

The Bryan Brothers, Mike and Bob, two of probably the most adorned doubles gamers within the historical past of the game, have additionally began endorsing the product this yr.

“Essentially the most rewarding second of this whole endeavor has been seeing the concept bounce into life,” stated Honickman. “Like all startup or product launch, it requires blood, sweat and tears – and it’s usually a time of excessive danger. So seeing all the laborious work come to fruition and now watching tennis gamers the world over use the Slinger Bag on court docket for observe and drill, it’s actually the second when all of it turns into worthwhile.”

Like all new idea, success comes from managing all of the small particulars. It’s via getting the smallest of particulars right that the product turns into extra readily accepted by the group of customers it was focused to serve – the common tennis participant. It is a product that has been designed and engineered by tennis gamers for tennis gamers.

The preliminary problem was to determine potential vendor companions and clarify to them what it was that Slinger was attempting to realize.

“That’s the place the worth of Mike Ballardie main this enterprise involves the forefront,” famous Honickman.

By way of Ballardie’s huge expertise in sourcing tennis merchandise and his base of contacts across the globe, Slinger was capable of determine the all-important Vendor Administration and QC group to behave as its day by day liaison with the distributors it had recognized and to supply new companions as vital.

“With these relationships in place, we had been capable of embark on the event of the product, assured that nothing would slip between the cracks,” stated Honickman. “After a complete of seven product iterations, 1000’s of hours of lab and on-court testing, in November 2019 we lastly reached the purpose the place all distributors had been producing constituent elements to the extent that we required, all QA and QC processes had been in place and the merchandise themselves had been signed off for manufacturing.”

The response from each the worldwide tennis group and potential buyers has been overwhelmingly constructive.

“This progressive idea has captured the creativeness of the tennis participant market with many gamers telling us that Slinger is a product that tennis has been crying out for for a few years,” stated Honickman. “It gives a possibility for tennis periods to be drastically elevated in each market and it’ll assist different efforts to cease the drain of gamers away from the sport.”

Many lapsed gamers cite their motive for stopping enjoying tennis as being as a result of they didn’t have a daily accomplice to play with. Slinger eradicates this obstacle by merely being a 24/7 Tennis accomplice. There actually is not any motive that each common tennis participant on the planet wouldn’t be fascinated about having a Slinger as a part of his or her tennis tools.

Potential buyers have been actually inspired by the chance that the Slinger group is working to capitalize on.

The prevailing world marketplace for conventional tennis ball machines is comparatively small worldwide and is predominantly targeted on the nation membership, professional store and institutional markets. Slinger is disrupting this conventional market by interesting on to the tennis gamers themselves, and in doing so has already offered 1 / 4 of this conventional world market whole in a crowd-funding marketing campaign.

The Slinger Bag market alternative is even higher, as there’s an estimated world inhabitants of 1.2 billion folks both enjoying tennis or being common followers of tennis, and the worldwide tennis market is valued at over $10 billion. These numbers recommend that the sky’s the restrict for the Slinger Bag and, as such, it represents a beautiful proposition for buyers.

“Slinger Bag was initially funded via a crowd-funding marketing campaign – each on Kickstarter and Indiegogo,” defined Honickman. This marketing campaign offered over $1 million price of Slinger Baggage and has enabled us to carry the product to market. The response to our crowd-funding marketing campaign was unimaginable, one that basically surpassed all our expectations, however went a great distance in validating our proof-of-concept and offered us with a platform to vary the sport.”

Since that point the corporate has acquired $4 million in further investments, permitting it to construct a extremely skilled administration group, on-board world strategic companions for logistics and business-enterprise techniques, on-board endorsees akin to Bollettieri and the Bryan brothers and put money into the required stock to start out the worldwide enterprise.

Slinger could have been the brainchild of Israelis, however is headquartered within the US, with subsidiary firms in Israel, UK and Canada. It is rather a lot a worldwide operation. The administration group splits its time between Israel, US, UK and China. It’s now nicely into the method of constructing a worldwide community of extremely revered tennis distribution companions with presently 55 markets and companions concerned on this course of.

Over the course of the subsequent two or three years, Slinger might be targeted on dominating the worldwide marketplace for tennis-ball throwing units, together with getting into the rising markets of Pickleball (USA), Mushy tennis (Japan) and Padel Tennis (Spain and South America). The longer-term goal for Slinger is to change into acknowledged as a worldwide tennis model and for the Slinger Bag to change into a staple piece of tennis tools alongside rackets, balls, and comfortable bag merchandise.

“As soon as we’re established as a reputable tennis firm, we are going to have a look at pure Slinger product extensions via each natural and license choices to cowl soft-goods, equipment and different product classes,” stated Honickman.

In his position as CEO, Ballardie couldn’t be extra excited with the route Slinger is heading.

“I’ve been concerned in tennis for the reason that age of 4 as a participant, coach and enterprise chief,” stated Ballardie. “I constructed a profession from the underside up at Wilson within the Nineties that culminated in me main their EMEA Tennis enterprise. On this interval I performed an vital position in introducing a collection of merchandise that grew to become world market leaders in tennis. After Wilson I joined VF Company and labored for his or her JanSport model. I established JanSport as a model and a enterprise in all Worldwide markets outdoors of the US, together with very efficiently right here in Israel, the place JanSport stays wanted at this time. Within the early 2000s I moved again into tennis and joined the Prince firm. Over the subsequent 9 years, I helped rework the Prince model and enterprise into a worldwide chief in tennis. I see the identical potential with Slinger.”

Certainly, everybody on the Slinger group sees the transformative potential of the product within the sports activities world.

“The product is a game-changer, for game-changers,” exclaimed Ballardie. “It’s so simple as that. The Slinger Bag is a 24/7 enjoying accomplice that can allow tennis gamers, from grassroots to professional excursions, to hit extra high quality balls on court docket at any time when they need and with out the necessity for having to always discover enjoying companions. It would assist develop the sport of tennis and improve play events.

“All the best merchandise present an answer to an issue – Slinger Bag is not any exception. Slinger Bag is the reply to an age-old drawback in tennis, enabling gamers to hit high quality balls with out the necessity of a accomplice, wherever, at any time when.”