For PickleGO’s founders, a ‘calculated risk’ that’s now a thriving seven-figure business

[SINGAPORE] When entrepreneurs Shawn Lim and Charlotte Ang first picked up pickleball about four years ago after being introduced to it by their friend Gina Tan, they were quickly drawn to how “addictive, social and incredibly inclusive” the sport was.

But as Lim and Ang, who are married, spent more time on the court, they realised there was a dearth of information available locally about where to play or how to even get started.

That led them, together with Tan, to found a company called PickleGO, which began more as an “information hub” for the pickleball community rather than a business.

“(At the beginning), we did what came naturally to us, which is to start creating content to answer those very questions,” said Ang in a recent interview with The Business Times.

What began as a passion project of sorts has since evolved into a seven-figure business spanning retail, coaching, tournaments, corporate programmes and content creation, engaging more than 6,000 players to date.

“As the community grew, we started noticing more gaps. People wanted a trusted place to buy pickleball gear. They wanted more opportunities to play and compete. Brands also started becoming interested in reaching this emerging community,” said Ang.

Ang and Lim, 34 and 39, respectively, have been running a digital marketing agency together for about 10 years, helping brands get discovered online through search engines and, increasingly, AI platforms.

The nature of their work meant they spent a lot of time each day looking at online search behaviour and spotting emerging trends. It was in 2022 that pickleball first appeared on their radar as a fast-growing search trend in the US.

“What started as the three of us exploring an opportunity eventually became PickleGO,” said Ang.

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“Instead of trying to build everything from day one, we kept listening and filling the gaps one by one. Content eventually expanded into retail, tournaments, events and partnerships.”

Enough conviction to go all-in

Like with most new ventures, Ang knew that starting a new company from scratch would not be easy, but it was a “calculated risk” that they were willing to take.

“The biggest investment at the beginning was our time and resources. We already had an established marketing team, and we decided to put significant manpower behind building PickleGO. If it didn’t work out, that would have been a substantial investment for us,” said Ang.

“One advantage was that this wasn’t our first business. After more than 10 years of entrepreneurship, including ventures that didn’t work out, we have become much better at recognising opportunities, choosing the right partners and importantly, knowing what not to do,” she added.

“Our failed ventures probably taught us as much as our successful ones. We have learned that you cannot build something simply because there’s an opportunity to make money. You need to genuinely understand the market, be intentional about who you work with, and be willing to stay focused long enough for the business to grow,” said Ang.

“With PickleGO, we saw several signals lining up at the same time: search interest was growing, more people were picking up the sport, and there were obvious gaps in the Singapore market. That gave us enough conviction to go all in.”

Building an ecosystem

In the couple’s view, PickleGO is more than just a pickleball distributor or retailer. Rather, they want to build an ecosystem around the sport, with four pillars comprising content, tournaments, retail and events.

“Content is where everything started and remains an important part of our growth. It allows us to educate new players, grow the community and introduce brands to a highly engaged pickleball audience,” said Ang.

The company also organises one of Singapore’s earliest large-scale outdoor pickleball tournaments and is currently one of the largest one-stop shops for pickleball.

“What excites us is that these four pillars reinforce one another. Someone might discover pickleball through our content, buy their first paddle from us, join one of our events and eventually compete in a tournament,” said Ang.

She described the growth of the sport over the last four years as “quite remarkable”, as there are significantly more courts, communities, tournaments and businesses being built around the sport.

She said the sport’s next phase of growth will largely depend on how pickleball develops around the world and, in Singapore’s case, whether there are enough available courts to meet the demand.

“We are optimistic about the sport’s future. The initial wave was about getting people to discover pickleball. The next phase will be about building the infrastructure, competitive pathways and ecosystem that can support that interest for the long term,” she said.

One of the big events coming up for PickleGO is the OCBC Great Eastern Pickleball Open, with the company on board as the content partner for the Oct 23-25 tournament.

Around 1,600 players will compete in four categories on 16 air-conditioned indoor courts at the OCBC Arena.

Ang and Tan will be competing together in the Bank of Singapore Corporate Challenge category, which is currently open for public registration. To take part, both players in a doubles pair must be employees of the same company, with no limit on the number of teams each company may register.

“We hope events like this will encourage more people to experience pickleball, whether they are competing, supporting their friends and family, or simply discovering the sport for the first time,” said Ang.

“The more organisations that are willing to invest in creating these opportunities for players, the stronger the overall pickleball ecosystem in Singapore becomes.”

Registration for the Bank of Singapore Corporate Challenge is open until Oct 5 and details can be found on the event website. The Novice and Open categories are sold out. A fourth category, the Bank of Singapore Invitational Championship, is a by-invitation-only category.