Padel is Your New Racquet Sport Obsession: Pablo Carro, co-Founder of Playtomic

00:02

Pablo Carro

Hey, this is Pablo Carro, co founder of Playtomic and Padel Evangelist. And this is the Sports Business Conversation podcast from ADC Partners.

00:25

Dave Almy

Hey, this is Dave Almy of ADC Partners, your host for the award winning Sports Business Conversations podcast. Yeah, you heard that right? Award winning. I mean, it's not a big deal. Okay, Maybe it's kind of a big deal. Okay, My mom thinks it's a big deal, but I digress. Now, I don't know if you've heard about this new racquet sport that's going like crazy. Let's see if you can figure out what it is. It's easy to learn, it's super fun to play, and it begins with the letter P. Yeah, you guessed it's paddle. Now if you live outside North America, you probably guessed right and were unsurprised at the answer. Paddle, after all, has been exploding all over Europe, Latin America, South America and elsewhere. But if you live in North America, you'll be forgiven for thinking of pickleball.

01:19

Dave Almy

Perhaps you've maybe never even heard of Padel. Well, that's about to change. And Pablo Carro, the co founder of Playtomic and a Padel evangelist, is the one behind it. A competitive tennis player, Carro fell in love with Padel the first time he played it and has been on a mission to grow the sport around the world ever since. In our conversation, we talk about the explosive growth of Padel worldwide and why the US is primed to follow. We go into the role of Playtomic in the sport's upward trajectory, the support of tennis legend Rafael Nadal, the findings of the latest global Padel report, and much more. I mean, it's not often you get to listen in on someone talking about the next big thing. So enjoy my conversation with Pablo Carro, co founder of Platomic and Padel Evangelist.

02:13

Dave Almy

Pablo, you have a deep experience playing tennis and I'm wondering if you can just as we get rolling, as we get started, can you talk a little bit about your playing days and how that shaped your love of racket sports? How did it all begin for you?

02:31

Pablo Carro

Well, I wouldn't say I was a great tennis player. I was the kind of tennis player that was practicing mainly in summertime because I was combining it with football, with soccer, European soccer. And the fact is that my dad was extremely obsessed with tennis. He was, he was an advanced and quite competitive tennis player. And, and very early he tried to convince me to persuade me to practice it a couple of days per week and Then in summertime, as.

03:03

Dave Almy

I said, and well, so this is a family thing. This dad. This is you and dad.

03:09

Pablo Carro

My dad was the kind of person that was, let's say, waking up every midnight for watching Australian Open, and, oh, he was obsessed. I mean, he was a kind of freak, a tennis freak. He was watching tennis matches all day long and he was good tennis. But. So, so that, that, exactly. That was a family thing. My brother, my, my oldest brother wasn't like very obsessed with it, but I took it. And, and to be honest, I've never been a great tennis player.

03:45

Dave Almy

I think in this conversation, though, like, if we played, I'm pretty sure you would beat me pretty handily in tennis. So in the context of this podcast, you're an excellent tennis player.

03:56

Pablo Carro

You want me, I mean, if you want to consider me as a great tennis player, I'll accept.

04:02

Dave Almy

You won't say no, exactly.

04:04

Pablo Carro

I wouldn't say. But getting back to the pad connection, Spain experienced a kind of booming with Padel at the end of the 90s. It was mainly pushed by the kind of high class, and actually the prime minister of Spain was very advanced parent player. But it all started in this kind of country clubs. And at a certain point it started to become a cool thing. Right? A cool thing. And at that point I was in high school.

04:44

Dave Almy

Okay, so that was the first time you saw it was in high school.

04:47

Pablo Carro

Yeah, that was at least: 2000

05:31

Dave Almy

All right, well, let's talk about that then, because in the US Where I'm based, it's still relatively, it's growing, but it still doesn't have a ton of familiarity to it. So for people who are hearing about paddle the first time, can you talk a little bit about what can you describe the sport and then in your, to use your words, what is that cool factor about it that drew you to it? So a little description of paddle and then hip for the kids as it.

06:05

Pablo Carro

Were in my end that tennis and squash had a baby, but the kind of baby that grew up wanting to be the life of the party, let's say. Right. I mean, this kind of social baby in which it's all around, it's all surrounded by social elements. I mean, you need four people.

06:29

Dave Almy

Yep.

06:30

Pablo Carro

But you don't need to be physically great for practicing it. You don't need tons of hours to get a decent, let's say, level.

06:42

Dave Almy

Your skill set can kind of come along quickly.

06:45

Pablo Carro

Exactly. Easy, extremely easy to learn.

06:48

Dave Almy

Okay.

06:48

Pablo Carro

It's very inclusive, as I said. And, and it's, I don't like the word, but it's ridiculously, ridiculously addictive. Right. It's like, and the social element makes it even better because as I said, it's not a particularly big space. So it's like 200 square meters in which the dynamic of the game is quite fast, but not extremely fast, in which you have the opportunity to talk to your partner, but also to talk to your opponents. And one thing that makes it very interesting is that it facilitates a lot the aftermath. Right. I mean, after the match, it's like you tend to have a new conversation with your partner or with your opponents. And, and it happens a lot that they have a drink afterwards or they, I mean, or they plan a new match for the next day, etc.

07:51

Pablo Carro

So it's this social company, it was, is becoming extremely important. And answering your question about, I mean, the US Is not a huge thing yet, but I mean, we're getting there.

08:03

Dave Almy

Yeah, it's growing.

08:04

Pablo Carro

I mean, it's growing fast. To be honest, having founded this company, I've never seen a market in which the velocity of the supply, the clubs, the infrastructure needed for developing the sport has grown so fast. I mean, we had something like 80 clubs in August last year. Now we have 120. But I'm absolutely sure that we're going to at least double it in the next conversation we're going to have next year in August.

08:35

Dave Almy

In my vacations, I'm making a note on my calendar. We'll check back in August when you're back on vacation. I'll call you in the middle of your vacation and you'll be like, gosh darn it.

08:46

Pablo Carro

If I was right or not. But, but it's, I mean, it's grown. We're getting there. And, and more importantly, the players of, are behaving in the same way that they behave in Europe or in UAE or in South Africa. I mean, they are also getting engaged. They, they play what we call open matches, in which, I mean, you play with people that you don't know at your same level. So it's like, it's, it's happening. It's happening.

09:18

Dave Almy

It's very social. And so can you also, because I, I've watched some video of paddle being played, and it's not dissimilar from pickleball in that you have four people on the court. The court's generally about the same size, but there's one very significant, critical difference between the two. Can you describe that succinctly, please?

09:39

Pablo Carro

Then it comes speakable. It always comes up in the conversation when you talk about padding. I mean, the US has experienced the same growth in the pickleball side that Europeans experience with pal. It's not something that is going to compete with pickleball. It's something that. It's a new type of entertainment that is going to help racket sports overall to transform their dynamic and become more successful. Right. And pickleball is perfectly combined with pilot. I mean, we've already seen many facilities in the US in which you combine pickleball. Yeah, you do both. And the main difference, I would say that if we think about pickleball, it's. It's easier. It's. It's easier than paddle. You get it faster. You. In both sports, you don't need a great physical condition, but thank goodness, that.

10:40

Dave Almy

Means I can pick it up pretty quickly.

10:42

Pablo Carro

Then what. I mean, it's something that everyone has played in the U.S. i mean, you, you can be extreme. I mean, you can be in a really bad condition, physical condition, but you can play pickleball.

10:55

Dave Almy

Well, even better. I mean, it's. Because battle. You have walls. You don't have to run and chase the ball after you miss it. I mean, that's a lovely thing.

11:04

Pablo Carro

But if they slice, when they hit the ball, if they get a slice, I mean, it's. You need to get down and take the ball. Yeah. So it's nice. Yeah, it's. It could be very low and very fast. But I would say that from a velocity perspective, it's, it's slower. Pickleball, you don't need to have even a. I mean, with a very low physical condition, you can play it with pilots. Not exactly, like, for absolutely everyone, but it's been inclusive as well. The players that are coming from tennis. It's pretty soon to. To analyze and to. And to get insights from the community that has migrated from pickable to 10 to padel. But I would say that the good tennis players that have tried pickle that have started to play piccolo and they try Padel, they love paddle.

11:57

Dave Almy

Right. It's fascinating.

11:59

Pablo Carro

Yeah. But the ones that have adopted pickleball as the first rocket sport they try normally they stay playing pickle one day and they don't need to try Padel for getting a new thing. Right.

12:09

Dave Almy

But if you love if racket sports and you've tried several of them because as I've watched paddle, it looks a little bit almost like pickleball and racquetball had a baby or squash had a baby and you know, you're playing off the walls. The play is continuously in motion. It's you know, people going outside the glass to hit shots and things like that. It is a, it's a really fast moving, fun watching to fun to watch sport. And I'm assuming that if you have, if you love racket sports in general, this is the kind of person who's going to really fall in love with paddle.

12:44

Pablo Carro

And 90% of the elements that have made peekable successful apply to Padel as well.

12:53

Dave Almy

Yeah. Okay.

12:54

Pablo Carro

They are very similar in that sense in which the inclusivity is important. The fact that they are easy to learn, the. The dynamic of the game itself, the velocity. So it's a kind of. Pavel is a kind of European version of what you've seen in pickable. But the thing with pickleball, if you compare the industry with paddle is that in pickleball, I mean you can set up a court in a.

13:25

Dave Almy

I mean in a parking lot, in.

13:27

Pablo Carro

A park, in a parking lot. Yeah. In a restaurant, whatever. So it's a bit more. I mean we've seen great examples like chicken and pickleball etc. It's like. So it's extremely informal in that sense. Pavel demands an infrastructure, a certain investment which is not like huge, but I mean it's a construction. Yeah.

13:51

Dave Almy

You do have to create the cord and the walls and the things associated.

13:54

Pablo Carro

You need the permits.

13:55

Dave Almy

Right.

13:55

Pablo Carro

You need. I mean, so it's more demanding in terms of infrastructure, let's say. But I also see pickable getting in that space. I mean with big warehouses, with great pickleball courts, the best in class, with air conditioning with parking for the players. I Mean, but it all started in a more informal way, you know what I mean?

14:20

Dave Almy

Yeah, yeah. And then people picked up on it, they saw the growth of it and they wanted to find new business opportunities attached to it. Now paddle has been very popular in Europe. It has been growing for years in other countries in Latin America and South America and things like that. What made you think that the United States is potentially the next great market for paddle? When did the light bulb go off in your head saying we need to approach the United States more aggressively and growing paddle?

14:53

Pablo Carro

Well, I perfectly remember a conversation with my board members in which they were all telling me that paddle was not going to succeed in the UK because the Chinese tradition and the kind of country club model and kind of private environments were not allowed Padel to grow. And I told them I don't see a difference in between a player from the UAE or from Sweden or from Spain, Italy or South Africa at that time. So I don't see why it's not gonna break those barriers. And, and it's going to be successful in the UK and in today's world, we have in play to make more than 200 clubs active in the UK and in total, I think around 250 clubs in the UK purely padel.

15:49

Pablo Carro

reat Congress called Racketex: 2024

16:49

Dave Almy

Okay, so you moved to this event and you started to try to engage people to determine what it kind of looked and felt like. And you kind of took a step back. It was more than you had anticipated.

17:02

Pablo Carro

And then I thought, this is going to happen. This is the same thing I, I, I felt when I was thinking about the UK and there, there you had pickleball exploding in the U.S. but I said, okay, but why is not going to succeed? At that time it was like 20 clubs, 30 clubs, 40 clubs. But the number of people interested in building their own facilities was starting to get very interesting. And well, I went to my colleagues. And I said, I think we need to invest seriously on the US Market because it's going to happen as well. And were not wrong. I tell you, we're getting there. We're getting there. It's not pickable yet. The COVID it's obviously in the number of courts are not massive yet, but it's happening. And listen, next year you will call me.

18:01

Pablo Carro

You're my vacation back on vacation. You will double check. You will double check if we've doubled the number of courts. But I'm quite sure about that.

18:08

Dave Almy

So you're not alone in thinking this. Right. Your company, Playtomic, which is basically a company that's bringing the infrastructure that lies underneath the growth of paddle. So I want you to talk a little bit about the founding of Playtomic and its role in the sport. But you just received $70 million in funding from Michael Santander to grow the sport in the US So when you talk about, okay, I think this is something going to happen, and clearly there's money that's now coming in to support that growth and anticipating that growth. So can you talk both about platonic and how that investment opens up new sports?

18:46

Pablo Carro

You're never going to succeed in the US if you do not allocate the resources needed for making an industry that is not yet there, something big. Right?

19:00

Dave Almy

Right. So knock down as many hurdles as you can.

19:04

Pablo Carro

Getting back to play Tomic. Basically, our aim as a tech company is to facilitate to absolutely everyone the social joy of racket sports. Right? So as a tech company, we develop a product that in one hand you have this amazing management software for clubs for helping them to run the facility. I mean, the schedule, the payments, the customers, the academy, the nuts and bolts, all what they need as a tech platform for running their facility. And on the other hand, you have the state of the art app for the players. And after eight years, we've become the world's largest community of both clubs and players, with more than 6,000 clubs around the world and 1.5 million active users using the app on a monthly basis. Right. And behind community. Exactly.

20:06

Pablo Carro

Because the community is driven by the social elements that we've built inside the product. Everything that is built in the app, it has this social component. Right. I mean, for instance, I mean, I can make a booking right now, I have a club 300 meters from my house here in Formentera and I can book a court, but I can immediately split the payment with my three friends. I can tell between them, I can see their Rating, I can upload the score afterwards, I can post the picture of the match so it goes beyond the book in itself. And more importantly, if I can't find the three players that I need for, I mean, for closing the match, I can join an open match or I can publish the booking in the community someone else can join the match.

21:03

Dave Almy

It's kind of interesting too from the standpoint that the app does what it needs to do from as far as like building the infrastructure for the sport. But more importantly, it feels like it's connecting people to the joy of the game and the community with which you're helping build. Those like, those are not inseparable. They are not things that should be treated differently.

21:25

Pablo Carro

The thing is that we are a tech company. We build this product that facilitates the social joy as a tech company, as a management software and an amazing app for the players. But in the US specifically, trying to match both worlds, we decided to bet seriously on the market. And one of the key things that we decided was to allocate important resources for helping the clubs to grow faster. You know what I mean? So we've decided to help the industry to grow by helping guys building clubs.

22:03

Dave Almy

Right. So they don't have to do it all on their own.

22:06

Pablo Carro

Exactly. We support them, we financially support them in that sense. So we help them to grow faster. It doesn't matter if it is a new club in Texas or if it is a big part. Saying that has recently opened two clubs, but they had appetite for two more and we helped them to grow. So we felt the responsibility to help the industry to grow. And in that sense, we are also betting on financing the club investors with the infrastructure that is needed for developing the industry and therefore developing our own company, our tech company.

22:45

Dave Almy

So one of the things that's obviously a huge advantage, it's sitting at the middle of all the infrastructure, the clubs, the players, the technology is that you then can collect a lot of information about what's happening in the sport. And you just released the Global Paddle report recently and I'm wondering what findings in the report really stood out to you as far as saying, boy, this is amazing, or didn't expect to see that. What were some of the things that really stood out to you as far as the results of the report?

23:21

Pablo Carro

Well, it's not easy to find a global industry growing at 22% year on year, this podcast.

23:30

Dave Almy

22% a year, this podcast.

23:33

Pablo Carro

, it's very relevant. Only in: 2024

24:46

Dave Almy

Yeah.

24:48

Pablo Carro

And, and more interestingly, the countries that have been developing pile in the last 10 years, like Spain or Italy or the Nordics, have proven a kind of sustainable maturity. I mean the players, it's not like a trend.

25:02

Dave Almy

I mean, yeah, it's not like they try it and then drop off. They try it and it's sticky in that people want to come back and enjoy it again and again.

25:12

Pablo Carro

Absolutely, absolutely. So, I mean, and becoming the world's, let's say largest tech platform serving this industry, it's, I mean, it's a, I mean, good place to because we are, I mean we are trying to help the US market to grow now because the best is yet to come. The US has not yet achieved 10% of their capacity in Asia. If you think about Asia, it's not yet there because in the US we are getting there. But in Asia it's just maybe Indonesia in which we're growing quite nicely. The industry is growing quite nicely. But what about India? What about China? What about Australia? It's like it's, I mean the best is yet to come, so it can be vast. Absolutely, absolutely.

26:17

Dave Almy

And you also have now the advantage of Rafael Nadal, one of the true greats of the sports of tennis. Now he's now both an investor in Platomic and a spokesperson. So I think we've seen athletes understand the power of who they are and what they bring to the table in terms of their own personal brand to help businesses grow. So can you speak a little bit to the importance of having Nadal associated with paddle and backing the initiative? What does that bring to the table for you and what's working with him in that kind of capacity? Like.

26:58

Pablo Carro

I mean, there's no doubt that Rafael is one of the most respected athletes in the world, especially in the racket sports field. But it's not only that they do respect him, it's. It's the fact that, I mean, he's been extremely. How to say, he's been an example for all of us in the way that he's been a professional in his whole career. Right. And for us, as Spaniards, you can imagine that we are trying to export Padel because in the. Padel has been, I mean, it was created in Mexico, then it was very successful developing Argentina, but very soon came to Spain and Spain really exploded and it was migrated to the rest of Europe. So as Spaniards, no matter, we are a global company and just only a small portion of the 200 people team that we have are still Spanish.

27:57

Pablo Carro

The thing is that for us, Rafa is. It's like it's the athlete. It's not one of the most respected is the athlete. And his passion about tennis has been also expanded to the other racket sports. And very soon we'll see things that will contribute things and materials and marketing tools that would help the world to understand what is pal. Because Rafael is getting into pal. He has opened not only his tennis academies, but also his pilot clubs, et cetera. He's trying to practice from time to time, and that will help a lot. The PAL industry, what do you think.

28:40

Dave Almy

Will be, as you look ahead towards adoption in the U.S. right. It's so hard to get people's attention sometimes. This moment in time is often referred to as the attention economy. So with so many things competing for our very limited attention, what do you see? Are some of the keys for you and paddle to break through to that? Is it just consistency? Is it more people like Rafa coming on and supporting what you're doing? What are some of the other things that you really feel are critical to getting that growth to where it is now, to where you want it to be?

29:20

Pablo Carro

That's a good question. Rafa and any other super important sports athletes that are getting into paddle are helping a lot the industry to grow and getting. Attracting that attention for sure. And we are partnering with Rapha because we believe that Rafa would help others to grow in other geographies for. But more importantly, I would say that the essence of Padel that social element that we spoke about, that driving force of Padel based on the social component is very authentic. It's like, it's not artificial, it's, it's real. It's. I mean, it's not something that you can scroll in. I mean, it's not like you can scroll the smartphone and check and then go to a different thing. I mean the Pavel experience of it all is very authentic. It's very authentic. It's very social.

30:17

Pablo Carro

It connects you to people so that it makes it very different in that sense. Very, very real.

30:24

Dave Almy

Yeah.

30:24

Pablo Carro

And this is why it's becoming so successful. And to be honest, we've built a tech company but in Platomic, we are so proud of having built something that drives people to the court. It's not like we've built a tech company that just wants to generate a huge audience. Clicking on my app, spending time on my app, my job is to drive in people to the court. So at the end of the day I'm making them play more and hopefully making them renouncing to other kind of bad thing in practicing sports. Right. So it's not the kind of tech company that, okay, I might be creating some dangerous thing for the teenage years. It's the opposite. I mean I'm building. We are as a team building at tech that is helping others to practice more force.

31:22

Dave Almy

You are the rare tech company that is driving people are creating opportunities to leave your app to get outside and play, knowing that's going to be the thing that draws them back.

31:35

Pablo Carro

See, the more they open the app, the more quality we have that they will play again. Because as we've built this social thing, the social layer, so they chatting between players, they upload the score, they post a picture, they split the payment, they check the rating of someone else. With that you are increasing the probability that they book again or they join an open match or they sign up for a tournament. Because the more they open the app, the more possibilities we have that they get back again to the court.

32:06

Dave Almy

I'm with Pablo Carro, he is the co founder of Playtomic and clearly an evangelist for the sport of Padel. Pablo, thanks so much for spending time with me today. But before I let you go, I'm going to put you into the lightning round. This is a dangerous part of the conversation, a series of questions that you do not know what argument what's coming. So are you ready? If you.

32:29

Pablo Carro

I am.

32:29

Dave Almy

If you finish this successfully, you can get back to vacation and I know that is important right now. So.

32:35

Pablo Carro

Yeah, take that into consideration.

32:36

Dave Almy

I will take that into consideration. Okay, here we go. First one. How many different ways have you heard paddle pronounced? That's it. Just the two?

32:50

Pablo Carro

Yeah.

32:50

Dave Almy

Okay.

32:52

Pablo Carro

Because. Because I can't imagine any other. It's Like Padel. Padel. I don't know. I mean, two.

32:58

Dave Almy

I like that. We're gonna throw that one into the mix. Okay. If you were to play Rafael Nadal in a set of tennis, how many points would you win off of him?

33:11

Pablo Carro

I mean, if he takes it seriously in a set. A few points. Because he. He. Yeah, because he makes a mistake. Not because he double falls. Not. Not a single winner. Yeah. Double fold. Or he. I mean, he can. You can always miss a ball, but.

33:28

Dave Almy

All right, well, let's modify it. How many points would you win off of Nadal if he had a poodle dog tied to one leg?

33:37

Pablo Carro

Wow, man. The same. A few.

33:42

Dave Almy

The same. Even with the poodle dog handicap. Very good.

33:46

Pablo Carro

It doesn't matter.

33:47

Dave Almy

All right. You are famously from Spain. Does the Hamon earn the hype? Is it that good?

33:56

Pablo Carro

I mean, well, I live in Miami.

33:58

Dave Almy

I live in Miami now, but like, as a Spaniard. Defend, defend.

34:01

Pablo Carro

But I'm. Sometimes I'm desperately trying to find a good Spanish ham. But Harmony Berico, I mean, it's one of the. It's. It's one of the. Not only one of the, let's say, greatest thing on earth, it's extremely healthy.

34:18

Dave Almy

Okay.

34:18

Pablo Carro

Because if you eat. If you eat the good one, you need to realize that the animal has only eaten the corks. So the fat that you see is not real fat, bad fat. It's coming from the fruit, those trees.

34:34

Dave Almy

It is going right. Very good. All right, good defense.

34:37

Pablo Carro

It's not only. It's not only great, it's healthy.

34:42

Dave Almy

All right, very good. Last. Really well defended. I mean, we could. It felt like that could have gone on for a long time. We might have. We might have more interrupted your vacation. All right, last one. I just need you to close out this episode in Spanish by saying the following. This was the best podcast episode I've done today.

35:04

Pablo Carro

Casino El Mejor podcast. By far, by far, all the vacations you've ever taken.

35:16

Dave Almy

This is the best one.

35:18

Pablo Carro

Exactly.

35:18

Dave Almy

Paulo Carro, thanks very much for the time.

35:21

Pablo Carro

Thank you, David. Gracias, Gracias. Por emitarme.