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Joe Lawrence, co-founder of Baton Rouge success story Marucci Sports, is now at the helm of a new sporting goods enterprise: SweetSpot.
Lawrence, who stepped away from Marucci Sports after it was sold to Compass Diversified Holdings for $200 million in 2020, serves as SweetSpot’s CEO. While Marucci Sports is known for its high-end equipment—primarily its bats, which are prevalent in Major League Baseball—SweetSpot is geared more toward “backyard” sporting goods intended for casual play.
SweetSpot was founded in 2019 by Dave Soderquist, but personal health issues coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult for him to grow the business at the time. It was not until August 2021 that Soderquist reached out to Lawrence through their mutual friend, sports agent Mike Fonseca, about relaunching the company.
Soderquist began by sending Lawrence a sampling of SweetSpot’s products. According to Lawrence, it took his son and his friends playing with the products so much that they got in trouble for damaging a local golf course for him to see the brand’s potential.
“I really didn’t take it seriously at all at first,” Lawrence says. “My son’s attraction to playing with his buddies is what piqued my interest. Those kids couldn’t get enough of [SweetSpot’s products].”
SweetSpot’s original product line had a heavy focus on baseball and softball, but once Lawrence entered the fold, he saw room to expand. With fundraising help from Elysian Park Ventures, a private investment firm affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group, the company was officially relaunched in February and now offers a wide range of backyard sporting goods, including football, pickleball and soccer gear.
Lawrence says SweetSpot’s offerings will soon grow to include golf gear and watersports products, as well.
“I wanted to build a company that took Dave’s vision of building experiences in a backyard or at a local park and expand that across multiple sports verticals,” Lawrence says.
SweetSpot’s products are currently available online and at Dick’s Sporting Goods, the brand’s exclusive launch partner. The company is headquartered in Baton Rouge and has distribution offices on both coasts, as well as warehousing in Minnesota. SweetSpot’s employee headcount currently sits at around 50.
According to Lawrence, SweetSpot’s sales are looking “really, really good” considering how recently the brand was relaunched. He attributes the company’s quick success to the leadership team that he has assembled—CFO Blair Barbier, COO Curtis Cruz and SASSO CEO Stan Levy, in particular.
As for how his role at SweetSpot will differ from his role at Marucci Sports, Lawrence says he has become much more focused on “enjoying the ride.”
“At Marucci Sports, we were so focused on growing the business and hitting a bottom line,” Lawrence says. “With SweetSpot, I have perspective. I’m really trying to enjoy the personal side a lot more this go-round.”
