Groovy Grips is brainchild of Menlo Park native Andrew Klein

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Groovy Grips is a new durable pickleball grip that comes in unique styles and colors.

It’s the brainchild of Andrew Klein (pictured), who grew up in Menlo Park. He graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School in 2008 before heading to Sacramento State University where he majored in marketing and public relations.

Sports played a huge role in Andrew’s life. At M-A, he was a star baseball player. “There is a growing trend in the baseball world for people to customize their bats with different styles of grips,” he said.

A few years ago, he started playing pickleball with his family and friends. “I thought it would be really fun to bring a product that was cool, funky, and a form of self-expression into the pickleball space,” he said.

Andrew started creating designs for his idea before he found a manufacturing company overseas. “I work with a designer where I take the design from concept and put it into an actual design that can be printed on the product,” he said.

Groovy Grips stand out from typical solid-colored grip brands due to their bold colors and eye-catching patterns. “It was really important for us to have vibrant colors that last for an extended period of time,” Andrew said.

Groovy Grips are also very versatile. His customers have used the grips for canes, lawn mowers, and baseball bats. “People are using it for anything that needs a grip and that they want to stylize.”

Andrew comes from an entrepreneurial background. His father and brothers also own their own businesses. Nine years ago, he created Fog Coast Productions, a video production company where he specializes in creating promotional videos for brands.

When it came to creating Groovy Grips, it was not difficult for Klein to build a digital presence given his prior business experience. “I had never sold a physical product in my life, so to me, I viewed it as a fun challenge and something I could do with my wife.”

However, he was new to the e-commerce space and the retail world. Andrew sells his products on Amazon. One of his biggest challenges  was when Amazon lost half his shipment — about $5000 worth of product. “I was absolutely devastated. I had to really fight for them to reimburse me,” he said.

In the future, Klein plans to sell the grips in local sport shops and at local trade shows. Eventually, he hopes to create an e-commerce platform for Groovy Grips.

Klein’s advice to people who want to start their own business in Menlo Park is to just take the first step. “Start with something, even if it is just a fun name or a fun design, run it by some friends, build the momentum, build some excitement. There are no rules to any of this,” he said.

“A lot of times, people see something online and they just see a product and they don’t always know that there are real people behind it who have a vision and a purpose. I want people to understand the soul and the personality within the product, and I want them to feel good when they are using it.”

For more information, check out the Groovy Grips website. The company is also on Instagram.

Use the code INMENLO15 for 15% off on Amazon at checkout. The code is valid until Sunday, August 3rd.

Author Jenna Lee will be a senior at Menlo-Atherton High School.