Jared Paul: The Origin Story of The Kitchen and How It Became Pickleball's Biggest Community | S4 E5

Jared Paul is the co-host of Pickleballers and the founder of The Kitchen Pickleball — the largest and most engaged pickleball community and media company in the world, with over two million cumulative members, followers, and email subscribers across platforms. In this episode, Roscoe flips the script and puts Jared in the guest seat for the first time, joined by Dane Illif, Jared's longtime co-founder and right-hand man at The Kitchen. Together, they trace the full origin story — from a broke music startup in Oakland to building the brand that helped define modern pickleball culture. Jared opens up about the winding road that led him to Austin: surviving 9/11 in New York, playing in a funk band called Frontline Theory, running a nonprofit in San Francisco, and finally landing at a digital agency where he realized he was unemployable and couldn't work on someone else's dream. The Kitchen didn't start as a business plan — it started as a Facebook group for Austin pickleball players during COVID, born out of a failed music company and a chance invite to play at a bar called Bolden Acres. Jared and Dane also get into the behind-the-scenes of how The Kitchen actually became a business — from a $1,000/month deal with an Amazon paddle brand, to producing an $8,000 Electrum commercial in Vegas, to landing an early partnership with Connor Pardus and the PPA before anyone else believed in them. They break down why they never bought a single follower, what made the kitchen impossible to replicate, and why Jared believes singles pickleball is the format that takes the sport to TV. 🧢 Pickleballers Hat: https://shop.thekitchenpickle.com/products/pickleballer-snapback?variant=58191198781521 Add us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/pickleballers https://instagram.com/thekitchenpickleball https://instagram.com/roscoebellamy https://instagram.com/jpaulthechef Timestamps: 1:09 — Jared in the Hot Seat 2:17 — Dane Joins the Story 4:29 — The Broke Oakland Music Startup 9:38 — Growing Up & Early Life in Atlanta 10:10 — Bombing the Interview, Then Getting the Job 12:34 — Seeing 9/11 from NYC Rooftop 14:19 — Playing in a Band Called Frontline Theory 16:07 — Quitting Sales & The Power of Now 17:18 — Building a Nonprofit in San Francisco 19:29 — Working at Salesforce & a Digital Agency 21:06 — Why the Early Companies Failed 22:18 — Community First vs. Product First 27:08 — How Pickleball Found Them During COVID 28:02 — The Kitchen Is Born 29:07 — Dane Create the Logo 32:23 — When It Became a Real Business 34:03 — Trying to Make a Pickleball (and Failing) 36:28 — The $8K Electrum Commercial in Vegas 38:21 — The Early PPA Partnership 39:44 — The Kitchen by the Numbers Today 43:51 — Never Buying a Single Follower 45:14 — Top Tips for Creators 48:10 — Most Viral Post of All Time 49:24 — Is the Pickleball Boom Over? 50:44 — Favorite Pickleball Events 54:24 — What Pickleball Has Given Them 57:33 — The Future of Pickleball & The Kitchen