Max Ade

Founder of @pickleheads_, the #1 app for pickleball players. Find a nearby court, game or group! Now available on web, iOS & Android 🤘

[Max Ade @adesome]

Today, @Pickleheads_ became @USAPickleball’s official court and game finder! 🇺🇸

We’re teaming up to provide ONE platform where players can always find the most accurate court and schedule information.

After 2 years of grind, it’s surreal to be endorsed by the national governing body of the sport. I could not be more excited for what’s to come!

[Pickleheads @Pickleheads_]

📣 HUGE news… @Pickleheads_ is now 🇺🇸 @USAPickleball's Official Court and Game Finder!

Together, we’re working to offer players the most accurate source of court and schedule information ever created.

Read the full release 👇
https://t.co/W1VCgdQcVX

[Max Ade @adesome]

@felixrieseberg When is this coming to team plans?

Kind of a bummer that teams don't get access to this stuff first

[Max Ade @adesome]

@toddsaunders Are you setting this up on an always-on Mac or keeping your laptop running 24/7?

[Max Ade @adesome]

@toddsaunders They have a connector in Claude now. Were you using the API for something else?

[Max Ade @adesome]

@julianweisser Tech companies of all sizes need eng, product, sales and marketing.

IMO best move for recent grads is to go deep in one of these at a company of any size.

You have to be mid-senior at something important to add value to a startup

[Max Ade @adesome]

@aphysicist Tesla’s approach is essentially an LLM 😂

[Max Ade @adesome]

Today, we're launching RateMyGame, the easiest way to get a @DUPRpb rating!

Upload 5 minutes of game footage and a top coach will give you a verified DUPR rating in 48 hours.

Thrilled to be partnering with @mypballcoach on this

[Pickleheads @Pickleheads_]

Most players are still guessing their skill level.

We just fixed that.

With RateMyGame, you can now get a verified @DUPR rating in <48 hours — just by uploading match footage.

No logging. No clinics. Just better games.

Live now → 🔗 Link in thread.

[Max Ade @adesome]

Just in time for the holiday weekend, you can now create a mini pickleball tournament right from your phone!

They only take a couple of hours, and you can run them at your local courts with your regular crew.

[Pickleheads @Pickleheads_]

This might be the coolest thing we’ve built...

Meet Shuffle – Our new fixed partner round robin format!

You can now create a real mini-tournament — with a partner, a bracket, and bragging rights — all from your phone.

Download the @Pickleheads_ app to try it out!

[Clint Jarvis @clinjar]

You can turn any iPhone into a "dumb phone".

Strip out distractions. Keep what matters. And switch back whenever you need.

Here’s how to do it using Focus Mode + Shortcuts (in under 5 minutes):

[Max Ade @adesome]

@davempayne NOT US!!

[Max Ade @adesome]

🚀 Big news: We just raised $2.5M for Pickleheads!

Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport for a reason—it brings people together in the real world. That’s why we’re all-in on accelerating its growth.

📈 9M players used Pickleheads last year
🏆 #1 pickleball app in both app stores
🤯 358,000 players (4x YoY)
🌍 Endorsed by USA Pickleball & Global Pickleball Federation

We’re hiring! Work on pickleball every day: https://t.co/CPAAHstE9D

[Max Ade @adesome]

Someone is finally asking the right question!

[Zane Navratil @ZaneNavratil]

Pretty cool: Pickleheads raised a 2.5 million dollar seed round. Are they the next @nvidia ?!

https://t.co/MXinlIvjsk

[Max Ade @adesome]

@toddsaunders @Techstars What a gem

[Max Ade @adesome]

@garrytan Woah! They are even impersonating my real friend Sean Maraz from Google…

[Max Ade @adesome]

@davidcummings It’s also a great way to break free of traditional employment. One step closer to going all in on the right idea…

[Max Ade @adesome]

As you can see by the responses, influencers have figured out that overseas talent arb is the most lucrative way to monetize their audience

It’s pretty wild how high the markups are. A $3-$4k/month VA is only getting paid ~$1k/month.

If you want to hire overseas talent, your best bet is to use Upwork and pay the reasonable 10% fee.

If you really want to hire direct, you can hire an in-market recruiter on Upwork.

[Sophia Amoruso 3.0 @sophiaamoruso]

A lot of my founders are hiring virtual assistants or thinking about it.

Best agencies out there? Resources? Thank you!

[Max Ade @adesome]

@Trace_Cohen You have to shop around. Some insurance companies hate Teslas. I had to switch from Geico to USAA.

[Max Ade @adesome]

@julianweisser How are we doing? 😂

@Pickleheads_

[Max Ade @adesome]

@bentossell If you recruit the talent directly, it’s 75% cheaper and you can afford someone full-time…

[Max Ade @adesome]

It’s hard to understand this unless you’ve been an early startup employee.

Founders take more risk and stress, but it’s not nearly proportional to the equity disparity.

Lawyers and VCs make the problem worse with benchmarks.

Big fan of more equity, longer vesting, and a 10 yr exercise window!