How 11SIX24 went from an under-the-radar brand to major player in the paddle market
Last Edited
May 13 2026
Category
News
David Groechel’s first experience with a “real” pickleball paddle wasn’t a good one.
After playing for a few months and becoming hooked on the sport, he upgraded from his cheap beginner paddle to a $225 premium paddle from one of the big brands. It wasn’t long before it snapped at the neck. So he got another one, and that one broke, too.
“Eventually I was like, ‘You know what, I’m just gonna make my own,’” he said.
He soon started selling his custom-made paddles out of his 600-square-foot apartment in Washington, D.C., with boxes of paddles and mailers and test models basically taking up the whole unit.
He sold his first 100 paddles fairly quickly in the spring/summer of 2023, and the fledgling paddle brand called 11SIX24 was off and running.
By now you might be wondering where the name came from. It’s a simple story: Groechel once participated in a contest to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar. He guessed it exactly: 11,624.
So he named his company after the lucky guess – keeping it fun and personal, a theme that would continue when it came time to put a name on his future paddles (one model is called the Jelly Bean).
“The name had nothing to do with pickleball, but I thought it sounded cool and it was personal to me,” Groechel said. “Everything in the company is unique to my DNA. The paddle names, the model names and numbers – those are all related to things in my life or things I like.”
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11SIX24’s big break
Eventually in late 2023 Groechel got connected with another manufacturer in China that allowed him to make a paddle with a unique shape, rather than a pre-existing mold from a catalog. It was an elongated model he called the Hurache-X, featuring a curved top and extra-long handle.
With the Hurache-X, 11SIX24 was on the front end of a new trend – more and more companies soon started making a similar shape with longer handles as the two-handed backhand became more prevalent in pickleball.
The paddle got great reviews, and Groechel was also transparent about how the paddle was constructed and what materials were used. That endeared his brand to a growing number of pickleball paddle enthusiasts who were interested in the tech side of paddle manufacturing.
Today, most paddle brands lean into the tech in their latest models through marketing, but at the time 11SIX24 was one of the only brands going into that kind of detail.
“It was the shape and the feel that made the Hurache stand out at the time,” Groechel said. “And I made myself available on pickleball Discords and talked about it a lot, and people loved that they were getting a more detailed look into the tech. They still love that about our brand and others who are open about that process.”
By the middle of 2024, Groechel had made the decision to quit his job in order to put all his focus into the company.
“The pipes were bursting at that point, and I knew I had to pick one or the other,” he said. “And as soon as I quit my job and went full-time into running the business, it started growing very quickly. So it was clear that I was holding myself back up until that point.”
Finding the sweet spot between price and quality
11SIX24 has always been a brand that offered premium paddles at a mid-tier price. The company’s latest paddle – the Power 2 Series – was released earlier this year and sells for $209.99, compared to most brands that sell their top-tier paddles for $250 or more.
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Groechel has also put an emphasis on durability, so not only are players getting a high-performing paddle at a reasonable price, but they’re also getting something that is going to last.
The Power 2 Series introduced a new grit technology called "HexGrit." The paddle face is very gritty to the touch and various tests have confirmed that the grit is more durable than raw carbon fiber and other grit technologies on the market – meaning players won’t see a drop-off in spin even after heavy use.
“With so many brands and paddles on the market, it’s getting tougher and tougher to stand out, so quality and durability are huge for us,” Groechel said. “We do a ton of QC testing before we go to production just to make sure that our paddles are going to last, because people are starting to expect that. If you pay $200 or more for a paddle, you don’t want it to break in a couple months … that’s what I founded the company on, and I’m sticking to it.”
Groechel pointed out that with the governing bodies now limiting power and spin, companies are forced to find other ways to stand out in a crowded market. That has also meant putting more of a focus on design and coming out with limited-release colorways. Last month 11SIX24 released a peach edition of the Power 2 Series to coincide with the Atlanta Pickleball Championships.
“We have some awesome colors coming out later this year, and that stuff is all starting to matter because now we’re all confined to this box as far as power and spin,” Groechel said. “So now it’s all about branding, durability and customer service, which we are very focused on right now.”
Read next: The Kitchen's top 13 pickleball paddles on the market right now + in-depth reviews for each one
Investing in the pro game
With the launch of the Power 2 Series, Groechel did something he’d never done before: Got the paddle approved by the United Pickleball Association of America – the governing body of the PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball – and put it in the hands of several pro players.
He signed Dekel Bar and Augie Ge, who are both ranked in the Top 20 on the PPA Tour, as well as rising young pro Will MacKinnon. That has led to more pros and amateurs wanting to learn more about the brand and try the paddles, Groechel said.
“We wanted to get our name out there more, and I think having pro players gives you more legitimacy,” he said. “Right after we signed Dekel, we noticed more people wanting to try our paddles. The paddle is the same as before, but when people see pros playing with them, they want to try it out themselves. We also think being involved with the pro game is a good way to help sponsor and grow the game, because pickleball is definitely not going anywhere and we want to be a part of the sport in that way.”
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