Master Athletics co-owner Ben Porter on Innovation, Oxdog and… Freight Trains

Ben Porter is the co-owner of Master Athletics, a performance equipment company for racquet sports. Established as one of the leading brands in platform tennis, Master has since expanded into pickleball, tennis and squash, and is the US distributor for Swedish padel brand Oxdog. Ben is a former college tennis player with an extensive corporate career in the industry, including roles at Prince, Viking and Wilson. Among other things, we talk product innovation, challenger brands, Oxdog and why platform tennis is après-ski 2.0. 00:00 Intro 00:17 What is Master Athletics? 00:55 College tennis to a career in racquet sports 02:41 Lessons from Wilson 04:28 When a big brand enters a category 06:15 Why Master went multi-sport 09:07 How the Oxdog deal happened 13:02 The accidental grip 15:12 Why innovation never finishes 17:07 Freight trains and opportunities for challenger brands 19:29 Never forgetting your roots and growing platform tennis 22:49 The trajectories of padel and pickleball 25:00 The platform tennis tour and player opportunities 26:33 An outsider looking in 28:25 Where Master is focused now 29:53 The best time to be a racquet player? 31:38 Slow down to speed up 34:40 Thanks and close