Pickleball’s rapid growth has created opportunities far beyond court construction and tournament play. It is also producing a new generation of entrepreneurs who see the sport as a platform for product innovation, content and community.

Kyle Sulkar, the Gen Z founder and CEO of Chicago-based CPX Pickleball, represents that emerging group. Sulkar did not come from the traditional sporting-goods industry. His background was in digital advertising, commercial content and e-commerce. He has now combined those disciplines to build CPX as both a paddle company and a media brand.

“I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was nine or 10 years old,” Sulkar said. “All of my learned failures in e-commerce were able to blossom into this brand.”

Finding The Middle Of The Pickleball Market

Sulkar identified the opportunity while walking through a Dick’s Sporting Goods store in 2023. He saw premium paddles priced around $300 at one end of the aisle and inexpensive entry-level products at the other—but relatively little in between.

His insight was that many consumers wanted something comparable to the $100 tennis racket purchased by an occasional player: good enough to feel like a meaningful investment without requiring a professional-level commitment.

CPX introduced its Pro Series in September 2023. According to Sulkar, it subsequently became a top-selling paddle on Amazon. The company initially operated under the name Carbon Pickle before a trademark dispute led Sulkar to rebrand it as CPX.

The timing helped. According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, 24.3 million Americans played pickleball in 2025, up from 4.2 million in 2020. Participation among core players—those playing at least eight times annually—grew from 1.4 million to 7.5 million over the same period.

That growth is creating a larger audience of consumers willing to move beyond basic equipment.

Premium Products Require More Than Premium Pricing

As pickleball matures, premiumization will depend on genuine product performance rather than simply attaching a higher price to a paddle.

Sulkar said CPX spent two years developing its Hyper Plus foam paddle and tested approximately 66 prototypes. The challenge was finding a way to make foam perform better and last longer than conventional honeycomb construction.

“I didn’t want to launch something just for the sake of marketing, even though my background is in marketing,” he said. “It was degrading too fast, it wasn’t playing better, and it was kind of all over the place.”

CPX ultimately developed a method of internally weighting the foam. Sulkar said he also took steps to protect the intellectual property before releasing the paddle, reflecting the lessons of an entrepreneur who previously favored what he calls a “guns-blazing” approach.

The Hyper Plus sold out within 24 hours when CPX offered it for preorder in March, according to Sulkar. That response suggests the market for higher-end paddles is expanding as players become more knowledgeable about materials, durability and playing characteristics.

Building A Media Company Around A Paddle

CPX’s most interesting differentiator may be its approach to media.

Sulkar previously created content with expensive cameras and commercial production crews. Today, he believes relatable smartphone content can outperform a polished traditional advertisement, particularly when the objective is sharing rather than an immediate sale.

“The big place direct-to-consumer companies can get ahead is by building shareable content that isn’t just, ‘Buy my product, buy my product,’” Sulkar said.

CPX’s organic content generates approximately seven million monthly views, according to Sulkar. Attribution can be difficult, but the content gives CPX a way to entertain existing customers while repeatedly introducing the brand to prospective ones.

Sulkar is also using colorways, seasonal releases and accessories to turn a relatively simple piece of sporting equipment into something collectible. CPX customers share collections containing multiple paddles, covers, boxes and keychains.

This is a familiar Gen Z brand-building model: products, entertainment and community are not treated as separate functions. Each reinforces the others.

A Young Founder Serving A Broad Audience

Although CPX has a young founder and a digital-first operating model, Sulkar defines its core customer as someone between 35 and 65. Partnerships with retired sports stars such as Chris Chelios and Terrell Owens are designed to connect with those consumers more effectively than endorsements from pickleball professionals they may not recognize.

The strategy reflects pickleball itself. The sport increasingly attracts younger participants, but much of its spending power remains with established adult consumers who have the income to buy premium products.

Sulkar is building CPX with a small team that includes family members; his mother runs the company’s shipping department from Chicago. That scrappy structure contrasts with his larger ambition to create what he describes as the biggest organic media platform in pickleball.

CPX’s story illustrates how young entrepreneurs can enter a fast-growing category without following the established sporting-goods playbook. Sulkar is not merely selling paddles. He is combining product innovation, direct-to-consumer commerce and entertainment to build a brand around how pickleball players increasingly see themselves: as members of a community.