Where did Moolah Kicks go?

Happy Friday! 

I get to spend my weekend packing up my home, getting ready to spend the summer on the road. Which is going to be fun!

But, giving up my weekend to pack, is not something I’m looking forward to.

Speaking of looking forward to things…

A few years ago I remember being super amped up about this new basketball shoe company made entirely for women.

Because as it turns out, men’s basketball shoes are made for a man’s foot and can cause unnecessary injuries detrimental to a women athlete’s performance!

There’s more science behind it, the founder is cool, and Mark Cuban even invested in them.

But they’re nowhere to be found.

We’re talking about Moolah Kicks today 👇️ 

TODAY’S STORY
💥MOOLAH KICKS

WHO IS NATALIE WHITE

Natalie White, a former college basketball player, founded Moolah Kicks to address the lack of footwear tailored for female basketball players.

Having experienced firsthand the discomfort and injury risks posed by ill-fitting shoes designed primarily for men, Natalie saw an opportunity to revolutionize the market.

After majoring in finance at Boston College, she was expected to go into banking, but she decided to do a quick pivot and start on this new shoe venture that would become Moolah Kicks.

WHAT IS MOOLAH KICKS

Despite initial skepticism from investors, Natalie secured funding through crowdfunding efforts coming from over 40 former teammates, netting over $30,000 in presales.

Mark Cuban and Dick's Sporting Goods also invested in Moolah Kicks, leading to partnerships and distribution deals.

When they launched, they were the new shiny object, captured everyone’s attention, got the social buzz, but then they kind of went silent.

To be completely transparent, the shoes are quite loud.

That’s something my grandmother would say about someone’s wardrobe that was actually just ugly. And that is exactly how I’m using it to describe this shoe.

But I love the ethos, I love everything behind-the-scenes of the shoe, but man, can we pour some of that venture capital money into product development?

THE GROWTH & DECLINE

The brand is firm on their stance: built for women, built for comfort, bringing inclusivity through partnerships with college and professional basketball players.

But they’re nearly 5 years into this thing, and I bet you your 25 closest friends have never heard of them or they would say “Oh ya that sounds familiar!”

If you have the backing of Mark Cuban, you’ve signed over a dozen college and professional athletes, you have a partnership with Dicks Sporting Goods and are located in ~500 stores why the heck is your shoe not being talked about?

If you look at their website, you’ll see they’ve done a pivot.

Basketball shoes have been their sole product focus, but now they’re expanding into apparel.

While I’m sure expanding into apparel aligns with their business strategy, the timing and appearance suggest it's driven by the need for immediate cash flow, while shoe development continues.

But even the clothes are confusing!!

Sorta looks like they went to Alibaba (cheap, sketchy, chinese website), picked out a couple of items, slapped a logo on there, and prayed to their basketball god that this additional revenue stream would make their investors happy.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Natalie White is a hustler.

She’s done more between the ages of 20 and 25 than most people have in their entire lifetime, and I respect the hell out of that.

Transitioning from seeking funding from various banks and hopping around startup accelerators to catching Mark Cuban's attention, it's pretty clear there's potential here.

And I’m rooting for her!

But I sure hope this isn’t a sign that they’re going under and this turns out to be another Ty Haney / Outdoor Voices situation.

If you know, you know

With the growing prominence of women’s college basketball, Moolah Kicks should have been part of pivotal season campaigns alongside athletes.

Natalie, call me, let’s strategize.

The WNBA season is coming up. A few of them wish they had a signature shoe.

One by one, teams are changing arena locations for when Caitlin Clark arrives because they’re seeing so many ticket sales.

Partner with some of those players, put those Moolah’s on their feet!

As Ray Solano said (the chiropractic sports physician for Georgetown and Howard basketball), “Just forget about the men and women aspect for a second,” he added. “Anytime something can be tailored more to a foot that more closely resembles its owner, it’s going to be advantageous.”

See you next week 👋 

🛑WAIT🛑 

One last thing

I want to tell you guys about ArenaLinq

I met the founder recently and got a demo of their product

Outside of being a really cool tool, I was shocked to learn that the reason for building something like this, is because many coaching staffs rely on messy Excel docs to manage scouting and recruiting.

Took me for quite the surprise!

So, what does ArenaLinq do?

• Simplifies player data management

• Invites you to join the rest of us in 2024

• Taking coaches off of messy and disorganized excel spreadsheets, used for scouting and recruiting, and putting those spreadsheets into a clean, simple, database that’s easily accessible and easy to navigate from a data management perspective.

If you’re a coach, spending too much time in excel, and want to set up a quick demo with the guys at ArenaLinq, just respond to this email and I’ll hook ya up