DENVER — A Denver-based product described as a portable, more versatile “love child” of pickleball and ping pong is in the national spotlight on ABC's "Shark Tank" startup pitch contest airing this Friday.
Pepper Pong, a product brought to market last year, aims to reduce skill gaps between players and allow users to set up the game on any flat surface from the top of a cooler to a large table. It could receive an investment from a "shark" — one of the celebrity venture capitalists on the shot.
On a deeper level, its founder, Tom Filippini, said Pepper Pong is meant to reduce what he calls an “isolation epidemic” due to cell phone usage, encouraging others to connect and play with each other in the same way he used ping pong years ago to help overcome alcoholism.
“Shark Tank, for me, was of course an opportunity from a marketing perspective to get some PR and drive sales,” he said. “But that’s not really what attracted me. I hoped people would watch this show and think, ‘Am I on my phone too much?’ ‘Am I connecting with others?’
“I wanted people to see the game and see it as a mechanism to connect with each other,” he continued.
