Hyperice’s Anthony Katz Accidentally Became an Entrepreneur

Jamie Williams
­Jamie Williams is the host of the “PCH Driven” podcast, a show about Southern California entrepreneurs, innovators and its driven leaders on their road to success. The series celebrates and reveals the wonders of the human spirit and explores the motivations behind what drives us.
Hyperice’s Anthony Katz Accidentally Became an Entrepreneur
Courtesy of Anthony Katz

Anthony Katz didn’t mean to become an entrepreneur. But a chance meeting with Kobe Bryant in 2011 turned his “art project” into a game-changer for his career and the world of sports tech.

On this episode of PCH Driven, Katz talks about his journey from high school history teacher and basketball coach to founding Hyperice.


Katz says he loves being on the court himself, but as he aged, he found recovering from aches and pains took longer than what he was used to.

Not wanting to let go of his love for playing basketball, Katz researched what professionals used to recover and soon began to ice his joints in the same way as pro-players— with bags of ice saran-wrapped to his legs.

But Katz found the method pro-players’ used was too messy. Instead, he cut neoprene and put medical bags of ice inside. His interesting approach caught the eye of Kobe Bryant’s trainer — and a friend of Katz’s — who told him that Bryant wanted to see his “ice project.”

“The first time I met him, it was just like, ‘Whoa’. I didn’t really feel I had anything worthy really showing him. It was just this thing I was trying to do,” Katz says. But Bryant saw promise in Katz’s ice project.

“Let me use it for a while and I’ll give you some feedback,” Bryant suggested.

And so, Katz became, in his words, an “accidental adventurer entrepreneur.” With a laundry list of feedback on how to improve the product from Bryant, Katz moved the ball forward.

“I have to make this product perfect for [Bryant], because I knew if I made it for him, that’d be good enough for everybody else. Because his standards were super high, and his focus on what he would use was really high,” Katz says. “He’s like, ‘Well it took you a while, but, you know, you actually got here'.”

Bryant was all in. Meanwhile, Katz “literally hustled” to get the product to big-time athletes like LeBron James.

Eventually, Katz began to research medical devices used for recovery, and says they were “big, expensive devices you would never want in your home.” With this in mind, he turned his attention to designing another Hyperice product that was portable, modern-looking, and provided quick relief during recovery. He took elements from these “super outdated” machines like their use of vibrational frequencies and implemented them into foam rollers.

“I think I'm an opportunist in that I got a window into an industry that was outdated, that wasn't speaking to the athlete. It was medical device companies making rehabilitation products when athletes really wanted recovery products,” says Katz. “And so I just listened and was able to put a team around me that figured out how to make some really great products that [are] now just table stakes in every training room in the world.”

Today, Hyperice can be found on top-tier athletes including Naomi Osaka, Patrick Mahomes and Amanda Nunes.

Subscribe to PCH Driven on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart, Google or wherever you get your podcasts.

dot.LA Engagement & Production Intern Jojo Macaluso contributed to this post.

LA Startups Supercharging Cars and Dating 🚗⚡💑

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Happy Friday Los Angeles!

EVgo Inc., a leading Electric Vehicle (EV) charging company based in West Los Angeles, has seen substantial growth under CEO Badar Khan. The company now operates over 3,400 fast chargers across 1,000 sites nationwide, strategically placed in high-traffic urban and suburban areas to enhance convenience for EV users. EVgo’s model focuses on owning and managing its charging stations to ensure a seamless experience, reflecting its commitment to supporting the mass adoption of electric vehicles and facilitating the transition to cleaner transportation.

In a different electrifying market, Joe Feminella, inspired by his own successful dating journey, launched the dating app, First Round’s On Me in El Segundo with $5 million in funding. This app differentiates itself by requiring users to schedule a date within 24 hours of matching, and after a soft launch in select markets, it expanded nationwide in 2024. As the dating app market faces criticism over algorithmic practices and premium features, First Round’s On Me aims to offer a more genuine and immediate dating experience. Both EVgo and First Round’s On Me exemplify how companies in different industries are addressing their respective market challenges with innovative approaches to improve user experience and engagement.


🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

  • 3DEO, a startup that specializes in 3D printing small, high-volume metal parts, raised a $3.5M Strategic Investment Round from Mizuhio Bank. - learn more
  • Spotter, a startup that underwrites creators and offers AI tools, raised a $7.4M Funding Round. - learn more
  • Cashmere, a lead generation startup for wealth managers, raised a $3.6M Seed Round. Canapi Ventures led, and was joined by Benchstrength, Plug and Play, The House Fund, and Courtyard Ventures. - learn more

LA Venture Funds

  • Crosscut Ventures participated in an $8.9M Series A Extension for Nostra AI, a startup that helps e-commerce businesses improve their website performance by speeding up load times. - learn more
  • Fika Ventures, an eight-year-old Los Angeles venture capital firm, has raised a fourth fund in the amount of $160 million to invest in early-stage B2B startups. - learn more

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      🍵☕️Top 6 Coffee Alternatives for Enhanced Productivity

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      Matcha

      Image Source: Jade Leaf Matcha

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      Dandelion Root Coffee

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      Adaptogenic Drinks

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      Golden Milk (Turmeric Latte)

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      Chicory Root Coffee

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      Yerba Mate

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      Yerba mate is a traditional South American herbal tea made from the leaves of the Ilex paraguariensis plant. It contains about 40-80 mg of caffeine per serving, which is less than a standard cup of coffee but enough to provide a gentle energy boost. Yerba mate is rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, and users often report feeling energized without the jitters or crashes associated with coffee. It has a unique, slightly bitter flavor and can be enjoyed in various forms, including loose-leaf tea and pre-brewed options.

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      LA’s Data Center Supply Crunch

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      Happy Friday Los Angeles!

      The Los Angeles data center market is experiencing a significant supply crunch, ranking 12th in growth among top markets since 2020 with only 265 megawatts of colocation inventory (data centers where businesses rent space to store their computing hardware and servers). Despite this, demand is surging, driven by AI, cloud, and hyperscaler needs, with AI accounting for 20% of new data center demand nationally. This scarcity is creating a highly competitive environment, with vacancy rates at a record low 3% and asking rents rising 13-37% year-over-year. For Los Angeles, this presents both challenges and opportunities in the big picture. The city's strategic position as a global entertainment hub and its connectivity to international markets through subsea cables make it an attractive location for data centers. However, the limited inventory and rising costs could potentially hinder growth and innovation in the tech sector. To maintain its competitive edge, Los Angeles will need to address these constraints through new developments, such as GI Partners' 16 MW addition at One Wilshire, and by focusing on high-connectivity, high-power capacity submarkets. The city's tech community should prepare for a landscape of increased competition for quality data center space, higher costs, and the need for innovative solutions to meet growing demand, particularly in AI and cloud services. While Los Angeles faces a challenging data center supply crunch, its strategic advantages and ongoing developments offer a promising path forward.


      🤝 Venture Deals

      LA Companies

      • Daisy, a one-year-old startup that designs and installs smart home and office technology systems, raised a $7M Series B co-led by Goldcrest and Bungalow, with previous investors Bullish and Burst Capital also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $13.3 million. - learn more

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        ✨ Featured Event ✨

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