Kobe Bryant Gave Him a Challenge. He Turned It Into a Billion-Dollar Business

Anthony Katz developed the first Hyperice to soothe his aching knees aft years of hoops deterioration and tear. He ne'er imagined the homemade solution would go the instauration for a billion-dollar betterment company, backed by the world’s biggest athletes and now collaborated pinch Nike.

The Kobe co-sign 

The thought for Hyperice came successful 2009, erstwhile Katz returned from a twelvemonth successful Australia and realized his assemblage was starting to break down. An avid hooper and hoops historian, Katz looked to the pros for inspiration, turning to the aforesaid betterment ritual utilized by stars for illustration Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant: icing his knees.

“In Australia they didn’t usage integrative bags, they had a aesculapian crystal container pinch a small holder clip thing,” Katz recalls to Entrepreneur.

Instead of settling for the American standard, Katz decided to manner 1 of his own. He went to Alita Wetsuits, 1 of the past Neoprene factories near successful California arsenic the business migrated to China.

“I drew this shape of what I thought a knee sleeve would be, and past I asked them to sew connected Velcro,” Katz says. “So I virtually came successful pinch a insubstantial sketch.”

While the shop head was skeptical, he wasn’t astir to move down money, moreover for an overseas job. Katz couldn’t spend capable material, truthful he improvised pinch leftover wetsuit scraps. The prototype took only a mates of hours. Once he had the binding, Katz trim a spread successful the sleeve to fresh his crystal container inside. He wore it during play pickup runs astatine UC Irvine, and group started to notice, including his friend Ryan.

This was the summertime of 2009 successful LA, and the Lakers were coming disconnected Kobe’s first championship without Shaq. Ryan was 2 years into 1 of the astir enviable jobs successful the world: Kobe Bryant’s “handler.” One of his responsibilities was filling Kobe’s crystal bags. When he noticed Katz showing up to unfastened runs pinch an ice-equipped knee sleeve, he asked Katz to make him a pair.

“I didn’t person a business yet,” Katz says. “This was for illustration my ain creation project.”

Katz went backmost to the wetsuit shop and told the guys he needed 2 more.

“I told him what it was for, but he didn’t judge me,” Katz says pinch a laugh. Still, the shop agreed to make the braces for the aforesaid price. Katz made 2 much prototypes, this clip adding Kobe’s logo to the crystal bags for a small flair.

Katz called Ryan to opportunity the instrumentality was ready, and Ryan told him to meet him astatine UC Irvine astatine 9 p.m. to springiness it to Kobe.

Kobe wearing a Hyperice enarthrosis wrap during a Lakers game
Image Credit: John Leyba | The Denver Post via Getty Images

Katz packed the samples successful a plain cardboard container and drove to the gym. “We went into the training room, and he said, ‘Ice maine up,’” Katz shares. “I showed him really it worked, past put it connected and strapped it down bully and tight. It seemed to fresh beautiful well. He said, ‘All right. I for illustration this idea.’”

They discussed the conception further, pinch Bryant calling the existent icing implements successful the NBA “dated.” “He goes, ‘Give maine a week, and I’ll springiness you immoderate feedback,’” Katz remembers. Two weeks later, he sewage the telephone again — 9 p.m. astatine UC Irvine.

True to his word, Kobe had thoughts. He liked really snug the brace felt, but didn’t admit really pouring crystal created an aerial bubble that pushed the instrumentality down his leg. He suggested utilizing a quadrate crystal container for much coverage.

“I for illustration your idea, but you’ve still sewage a small ways to go, because I’ve sewage to usage whatever’s champion for me,” Katz recalls him saying. “But he besides said, ‘I’ll show you this: if you get it to the constituent wherever it’s amended than what I’m utilizing now, I’ll deterioration that s*** connected the chair erstwhile we’re blowing motherf****** out.’”

Mamba Mentality 

That was the first clip Katz considered pursuing the task full-time.

“I told my wife, ‘I deliberation I want to commencement a business. Kobe said he’d deterioration it if I could get it right. It was benignant of like, if you build it, he will come.’”

The thought of creating a marque pinch a built-in service of free jock promoters was enticing. Katz began reasoning beyond basketball, envisioning quarterbacks wearing his gear. He started designing devices for the shoulders and back, on pinch the knees.

When he brought his ideas to his “neoprene guy,” he was told he needed thing called a “steel norm die,” fundamentally a elephantine cooky cutter.

“I had to study everything,” Katz says. “I knew thing astir this, but I put my caput down.”

He could grip the compression creation because it was 2D, but needed a shaper for much analyzable elements for illustration the aerial merchandise valve and crystal bag.

“I looked up Orange County Manufacturing connected Google,” Katz laughs. “Everyone was like, ‘Sorry, we’re successful a recession.’”

Not having a marque aliases institution yet didn’t make the outreach easier. Eventually, Katz met personification who owned a manufacturing institution successful Fullerton and convinced him to group a meeting.

“I had the knee and enarthrosis wraps on pinch the crystal bags,” Katz says. He borrowed devices from his neighbour and spent an day successful the car shed drilling a spread successful the bags and plugging them pinch a cork.

Katz arrived astatine the gathering and was greeted by a image of the Mars Rover connected the wall.

“I’m like, ‘They’re not gonna make a f****** crystal bag,’” he laughs. Still, he explained what he was moving connected — and that Kobe Bryant was involved. The man brought successful the company’s 2 owners. “They said, ‘He’d really deterioration this if we made the product?’” Katz recalls. “They told maine I’d person to tally the business, but they were interested.”

That was acold from the extremity of the story. It took a twelvemonth to create the product. The shaper decided to outsource to China. Then the Chinese task head was murdered complete a existent property dispute, forcing Katz to commencement over.

Pivoting, Katz and his partners recovered 1 of the past remaining integrative injection molding accommodation successful the U.S., conveniently located successful California. Today, Katz is 1 of the fewer entrepreneurs who tin opportunity his merchandise was developed wholly successful the U.S., and wholly successful California.

“The medical-grade worldly for the bags was made successful Pomona, the caps were injection-molded successful San Bernardino, and the neoprene was trim successful Huntington Beach,” Katz says. “I’d built the astir unsophisticated, inefficient proviso concatenation imaginable, because I was inexperienced. But it meant I could physically thrust to each spot and watch them make it.”

Petitioning The King 

With the components secured, Katz sewage to activity crafting the braces.

“I had the aesculapian crystal bag, the integrative parts and the valve. I had to hand-assemble them astatine my flat successful Laguna Beach. I had to hand-assemble and glue them together connected my room table,” he recalls. “I would make for illustration 10–15 astatine a clip pinch immoderate rate I had.” He wasn’t trading them yet; instead, he focused connected getting the merchandise into the hands of arsenic galore influential group arsenic possible.

Katz tapped his hoops connections to find retired erstwhile and wherever NBA players were moving retired successful the area, past showed up pinch a sample. By 2011, he had attracted superior attention, including a $500,000 finance from an NFL player’s family office.

“It felt crazy to maine that I raised a half a cardinal dollars disconnected of conscionable prototypes, pinch nary sales,” he says.

By then, Katz had raised astir $750,000 without a existent brand. He sewage backmost successful touch pinch Kobe and showed him the merchandise changes, giving him a caller sample to usage passim the season.

“I wanted to make Kobe for illustration the look of the company,” Katz says. Bryant’s business head had different ideas, blocking Katz from making existent inroads. Frustrated, he pivoted to the subordinate he viewed arsenic the adjacent biggest star: LeBron James.

James first wore the Hyperice connected the autobus aft a kindness crippled successful 2012. His trainer, Mike Mancias, told Katz that James loved the merchandise and wanted to bring much connected an upcoming Nike travel to China pinch Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul and different NBA stars.

Katz whipped up a batch and dropped them disconnected pinch Mancias, who promised to fto him cognize what the players thought.

Three weeks later, Katz sewage a text: “The leader wants to meet you. 4 p.m., Peninsula Hotel, Beverly Hills.”

Surprised but wished not to squander the opportunity, Katz headed to the hotel, wherever he met Mancias by the pool.

LeBron’s array included his accustomed crew: Rich Paul, Maverick Carter and Randy Mims. But Katz didn’t meet LeBron correct away. First, he debriefed pinch Mancias, who told him the players loved the product. Then a astonishment visitant interrupted them: Nike’s Global Vice President of Sports Marketing and Basketball, and sports manufacture powerfulness broker, Lynn Merritt, who has since go a friend and mentor to Katz.

“He comes up to maine and says, ‘So this is the Ice Man,’” Katz recalls. “It was funny because Kobe utilized to telephone maine Ice Man, too.” Merritt past pointed retired that Nike athletes were wearing Katz’s merchandise pinch personification else’s logo.

“At Nike, they want their guys caput to toe. They don’t want to spot different logo connected their bodies,” Katz says. “I told him, ‘Maybe there’ll beryllium a Swoosh connected it someday.’ He said, ‘I don’t cognize astir that. That’d beryllium really costly for you.’”

Finally, it was clip to meet James. Katz sat down astatine the table, and LeBron thanked him for the samples, saying he’d been utilizing them each summer. Then Maverick Carter told Katz astir a kindness crippled they were having successful Miami during the NBA lockout. Carter liked the thought of gifting each subordinate a Hyperice knee brace. He offered to pay, but Katz said he would do it for free. Then Carter invited him to the event. So Katz flew to Miami.

After the game, Katz helped crystal the players. He had 1 feline near erstwhile Wade called a players-only gathering successful the locker room to talk the lockout. “I heard Wade commencement talking: ‘All right, look, the players’ national is saying this to the owners: We’ve sewage to enactment strong’—and I booked it retired the door,” Katz recalls. “But correct earlier I left, I looked up, and each azygous feline had connected Hyperice. I retrieve thinking, ‘That image would beryllium worthy truthful overmuch if you were raising money.’ But that was their space. I respected it. I didn’t return a picture. I conscionable played it cool, walked retired and thought, ‘Take the W.’”

Full circle moments

From there, things started rolling. Katz launched a website and named the marque Hyperice, inspired by Kobe Bryant’s Hyper Dunks. In its first year, he estimates the institution did astir $350,000 successful sales, chiefly pinch pro and assemblage teams.

Emboldened by early success, Katz began exploring different inventions, starting pinch a vibrating foam roller that became the Vyper, which launched successful 2014. That aforesaid year, CEO Jim Huether joined the institution arsenic 1 of its earliest employees.

“Back successful 2013, the much precocious athletes were reasoning astir longevity, but it was very early, truthful betterment kept coming up,” Huether says. “Nobody really knew what it was astatine the time.” This aligned pinch Katz, who felt betterment was an untapped market. “No 1 utilized the connection betterment backmost then,” the laminitis recalls. “When I Googled what do athletes do for recovery, a bunch of athletes that had gone to intoxicant rehab came up.”

Eventually, the 2 sat down for lunch. There was nary general schedule — Huether had really accepted different occupation astatine a institution successful Silicon Valley. But the 2 deed it off.

“We really aligned connected the imagination of transforming Hyperice,” Huether says.

Huether saw the imaginable for Hyperice to go the Apple of betterment — an industry-leading innovator focused connected branding and the user experience.

“Apple doesn’t motorboat 30 products a year,” Huether explains. “They’re not chasing trends. We consciousness akin astir that. We want things to beryllium intuitive. We want things to beryllium functional. We want things to beryllium very design-driven, truthful they look and consciousness premium, and they’re easy to use.”

With a caller CEO moving the business, Katz could attraction connected innovation. He created the Venom, a wearable heating wrap that became a staple connected sports sidelines. Then came the Hypervolt, a portable massage weapon that helped return the institution from $10 cardinal to $65 cardinal successful gross successful a azygous year.

Most recently, Hyperice collaborated pinch Nike connected a caller betterment descent that combines Air Zoom cushioning pinch built-in power and vibration technology. For Katz, it’s a full-circle moment: Years earlier, he had been told a Nike woody was retired of the question.

The different full-circle infinitesimal came successful 2019, erstwhile Katz sent samples of the Hypervolt to 100 marque influencers — “people that really unrecorded successful culture, not the jerk-offs connected societal media that should beryllium moving astatine Walmart,” he clarifies.

One was Kobe, whom Katz had stayed successful touch pinch complete the years while occasionally discussing the anticipation of Bryant investing successful the company.

Katz brought the Hypervolt to Kobe’s office, having not seen him for a while.

“I’m like, ‘Hey, I want you to unfastened it,’” Katz recalls. Kobe pressed the button, revealing a sleek position inside. He looked astatine Katz. “Man, you’ve travel a agelong measurement since that s***** cardboard box.”