Today we’d like to introduce you to Shawna Wilson.
Hi Shawna, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
20 years ago, I stopped playing tennis and started SBW Tennis Academy. All on private courts on the west side. To get my first one I dropped 100 letters in the mailboxes of the courts where I wanted to run my business. Over the years, I hired more coaches got more courts and built one of the largest tennis academies in LA this way. At the peak running nine private courts with full programming with eight coaches working for me.
Yrs later my friend Pam Shriver and I had a chat about me getting of the court. We both realized there are so many private courts and the majority of them sit unused most if not all of the time. Why not scale what I had already done and create an “airbnb” for private courts where people could rent them by the hour…
It took a while to find a proper home but after tons of trial and tribulation, I linked up with Swimply. I had seen our founder and CEO Bunim on Shark Tank and thought what he was doing was brilliant. Simply started as the Airbnb of swimming pools. Just like my idea for courts Swimply was giving community access to underutilized spaces. People were able to rent pools by the hour for a family swim, birthday party or lessons. I followed the company and a few years later saw an article on tech crunch about them raising money. A light bulb went off and I realized Swimply would be the perfect home for courts. I reached out to Bunim via Linked and we connected.
I spent a year building supply, talking to everyone I knew trying to normalize this type of experience. Cut to now we just officially launched tennis and pickleball with over 300 live courts on the platform and growing every day. We are still very quality supply focused but we are creating a solution to the biggest problem in both tennis and pickleball which is court access.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
This is a new way to do things. The biggest challenge being getting homeowners to feel good about opening up their yards and to understand what we are doing. Not everyone is interested in money, some are very interested in monetizing, but everyone understands the concept of community. Normalizing this is the challenge … I always use the example of Uber, we never thought we just freely get in a car with a stranger but we do it without hesitation now. Why not let a neighbor pay to use a tennis or pickleball court when it’s not being used.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m the head of everything courts. I form supply strategies, partnerships, work with hosts, plan events and experiences. I also still run SBW Tennis Academy but am spending less and less time on the court.
I’m proud that I had an idea and a vision and have put blood, sweat and tears in to get to this point. I’m making changes that will make tennis and pickleball not only grow but accessible within communities all over the country.
I think I’ve had such a unique experience growing my own business that very few people would be able to have the right background and grit to build this. It’s amazing to watch what this has turned into and with the explosion of pickleball what it can be.
How do you define success?
Success is work that doesn’t feel like work. I love what I’m doing it’s so much fun. Watching people able to benefit from this is amazing. Being able to normalize this will be the ultimate success… that’s when I will know that I truly made a difference.
Pricing:
- Courts range from 20-100/hr based on market
Contact Info:
- Website: www.swimply.com
- Instagram: @sbwtennis @swimply
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/shawna-barasch-wilson-9a97a088
