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Ask An Operator: Club Pickleball CEO Devan Egan

Friday, August 4th, 2023

AuthorAuthor

Ryan Dawidjan & Braxton Greco
August 04, 2023

Weekend Reading

Every so often, there are topics that we’ve been thinking about, researching, and discussing with people in the industry that we want to put out in a longer form medium than our usual Tuesday / Thursday newsletters.

Today we are excited to debut a new series of conversations with operators in pickleball. These candid and detailed conversations take place with those founders, directors, and leaders driving the industry forward. Expect a variety of text-based and video recaps in the coming months. 

Ask An Operator: Club Pickleball CEO Devan Egan

Ask An Operator kicks off with Club Pickleball CEO, Devan Egan. The man has his hands full.

  • Club Pickleball is a force in Utah. They have 1,200 annual paying members with thousands more guests playing on 27 courts between two indoor facilities. When club owners talk about building community, tournaments, and programming, they mean doing it like Club Pickleball.

  • Husband and father of four. Day-to-day also works at Canopy Mortgage. Time for actually playing pickleball is definitely hard to find.

  • Club Mastermind is a curated learning and networking group from Devan and CourtReserve with multiple conferences for pickleball club owners each year. Their next session takes place in August.

In this issue, we discuss:

  • The origin story of Club Pickleball

    • 2020 founding with his father

  • His personal approach to brand building and marketing

    • Face of the brand, out there in the community

  • The financial risks and considerations of starting a club

    • 30,000sq ft leases are no joke, competing with free

  • What sparks a club needs to get going with momentum

    • Pre-sold memberships, immediate value prop

  • Ideal skills and mentality a prospective owner can have

    • think sales and marketing vs passion

  • Hiring and culture strategies for club managers

    • Performance-oriented vs day 1 structure + title

  • The real work and execution that goes into building a club beyond getting courts set up in a box

    • Programming, tournaments, training, teaching

We came away with an increased appreciation for just how much sweat and energy needs to be paired with operational skills around sales and marketing. Despite the wild buzz around pickleball, build it and they will come is probably the most pervasive myth in the ecosystem. Devan breaks down just how much goes into creating real consistent value for everyday people and groups.

Enjoy.

Ask An Operator: Devan Egan

Club Pickleball USA CEO

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Feedback and comments, we’re all ears. [email protected]

- Ryan & Braxton