Who is Tom Filippini?
Tom Filippini is a Denver investor and serial entrepreneur who created Pepper Pong, a portable paddle game pitched as the pickleball of ping-pong. He grew up near Chicago playing table tennis in the basement with his brothers and father, attended college in Pennsylvania and moved to Denver in 1997, where he worked in mergers and acquisitions. In 2002 he co-founded the luxury vacation club Exclusive Resorts with Brent and Brad Handler and sold his stake in 2004. He returned to investing in 2010 and in 2016 formed Aviation Innovation Holdings, which backs niche aviation companies. Pepper Pong grew from his frustration with fragile, oversized ping-pong tables.
The set turns most tables into a court and uses hybrid paddles and foam balls of different densities, named after hot peppers. In 2021 he set up a public 'Pong Island' in Denver to let neighbors play. He had invested about $500,000 and reached roughly $350,000 in sales before Season 16 of Shark Tank, where he asked for $150,000 for 10%. Todd Graves offered $150,000 for 25%, and they settled at 19%, the company's first outside money.
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