How we Got Started: The Power of Friendship
So how did Cuzina come together in the middle of a pandemic? Well, by a series of seemingly random relationships and activities that somehow merged at just the right time. Flashback 12 years to 2010 when a very talented software engineer reached out to me at my Technology Commercialization company and wanted to see if we could help commercialize his semantic search technology. At the time it wasn’t in a commercially viable stage, but Mark and I hit it off and I hired him to work on a couple projects that we were building at the time. In the background Mark continued to refine the search technology and after about 2 years we decided to spin the technology out into a new company. So Mark and I launched Enlyton to offer this unique search technology to App Developers to embed into their software applications.
Mark and his wife as it turns out also have a unique skill in creating amazing children with a wide variety of talents. Through another story of serendipity Mark and his family were at their home in Estero, FL when they were introduced to the sport of Pickleball. One of their Son’s Ben was just 16 and bit bored so he decided to give it a try. Even when his older brother, a professional tennis player scoffed at the idea. Well, fast forward 6 years and Ben Johns has become the #1 Pickleball Player in the world. When he was schooling me in ping-pong years prior who would have ever dreamed of such a path.
So I had an early introduction to the game of Pickleball but honestly never really gave it a try until near the end of 2019 where the gym I belong to started setting up nets on the basketball courts and letting members play some pickleball. I gave it a try and began to enjoy the unique characteristics of competition, exercise and particularly the social element that makes Pickleball such a perfect combination of sport & relationship. As the Covid-19 Pandemic took hold I needed to find new ways to get exercise since the gyms were closed and it was getting boring working out in my backyard alone. So, I added Pickleball to my routine and fell in love with the game. But that still was no reason to start a Pickleball company.
As 2021 rolled in, things began to get back to normal and my gym facility was fully open, and we returned to our organized indoor soccer league with friends that have been playing together for close to a decade. It was after a Monday evening match while having a beer with other players that I joked to one of my friends that had started a batting glove company with his son 2 years prior that he should share his designer and manufacturer with me, and I would create a world class pickleball glove. He said sure, here you go and good luck. Well, even as I fired of an email halfway around the world to inquire about glove design, I didn’t really think launching a Pickleball brand was in my future. But the response from the designer and factory was so great and the process of researching and designing the glove was so fun and natural that the next thing I knew I was placing an order for our first shipment of Pickleball Gloves.
Well, that was August 1st 2021 and we officially launched Cuzina Pickleball’s online store (www.cuzina.us) on November 23rd 2021. Through a series of other relationships with friends we were also able to quickly add top quality compression arm sleeves, a line of performance socks as well as design some great t-shirts utilizing high quality tri-blend fabric. Another unexpected development is that during this process, my kids became interested in the project and are now involved in different aspects of the company. This process has become one of the most educational and rewarding of my life and together we can’t wait to see where this takes us in the years to come.