For Thomas Fields, it was his own trials and tribulations within his journey in basketball that unearthed his deep passion for creating products that make it affordable and accessible for athletes to be great. As a high school athlete, Thomas remembers the countless hours he would put in the gym day in and day out to inch closer to his childhood dream of making it to the NBA. A dream that was unfortunately cut short after suffering four ACL injuries, but would prove to inspire an idea that helped other athletes along their journeys in the years to come. After his third or fourth ACL tear, Thomas recalls those times he would try to get in his high school gym to use the team's shooting machine but would be limited in access to this 400-pound, $10,000 equipment. Experiences which, in turn, sparked an idea within him. An idea to create a shooting machine that was affordable and could be taken anywhere. Sure enough, he did just that. At the age of 19 years old, Thomas started GRIND out of his parents' garage—teaching himself how to weld, laser cut, and 3D print—and built the first affordable basketball shooting machine in the market that folds into a duffle bag. It has only been up from there! From Shark Tank to Techstars to Forbes 30 Under 30, Thomas has been featured and recognized across several platforms since. Through it all, Thomas' mission remains clear: to create products—whether it's hardware or software—that inspire athletes to reach their highest potential and bring solutions to their training and development routines; while also being affordable and accessible to all. Incredible!
Let’s start with your journey early on! As you dove into the world of entrepreneurship, what were some challenges that you faced early on and how did you work to overcome them?
Fundraising was really hard. It was really tough to raise capital. Most entrepreneurs or tech entrepreneurs would raise a few million dollars to start their company. I didn't have the luxury of doing that, so I just kind of started making the products myself and had to prove a lot before I actually got that first capital funding. That was one of the biggest and hardest challenges, but I think once I got the product out there, I validated it, and got some traction, it started selling. We got on Shark Tank, we got on Forbes 30 Under 30, we got on Techstars. There were all these things that were really huge accomplishments that came out of that. You know, I didn't start with a lot of money but it created a great story to tell. So now, I go out and I can tell that story. It was hard, but I wouldn't trade it because it created what the story of the company was and what it is today.
You mentioned that prior to launching your own business, you played basketball and had aspirations to play in the NBA. What were some key takeaways or lessons that you learned during your time as an athlete that you carried with you as you entered the world of entrepreneurship?
Confidence is a big one. Also, hard work pays off—we said that after every practice. I took that mentality into starting a company. We had three-a-days, and when I graduated high school, I had three jobs. So I was taking that same kind of work ethic that I put into basketball into a company or into my life. You know, from two jobs to raising money for the company to working (on) my company, I did that for like three to four years. That was definitely inspired by my coach. He literally made us reach our human potential that we had as 17-, 18-, and 19-year olds. I really wanted to instill that into a brand that did that for kids around the world. So it was highly inspired by my experience playing basketball and (journey) as an athlete when I was a kid.
Let’s talk about GRIND Basketball! Could you share more with us about your company's mission and some of your goals in this venture?
Our mission is to inspire greatness with every athlete, and we want to do that through the products that we create. We want to solve problems for athletes and inspire them to be better basketball players—and great at basketball—, but also great at life. You know, how can you reach your dreams through basketball? If basketball doesn't work out, what are you doing? You have to get to more dreams. I think that's a really hard point for us as hoopers to understand, or just any athlete. You know, it’s like: “Basketball is me. That’s who I am.” But as soon as it's taken away or you're done hooping in the NBA at 30 or 40 years old—LeBron is like an exception—, what's your next goal? What's your next dream? Really honing in on stuff like that is (important) because it can come sooner than expected. In my case, I tore my ACL so I literally couldn’t play basketball and I had to switch it up. That's what we want to accomplish. We're coming out with a few more products this year, which will really focus on the messaging that we want to instill into athletes.
You also highlighted how, outside of hardware, you want to dive into the interactive world of software training and different aspects within the industry there. What inspired you to step outside the product-based realm and explore the world of software?