I've done a few things.I've learned a few more.
Entrepreneur. Brand builder. Competitive athlete. Professional questioner of bad ideas.
I like building things.
I'm Josh Whitaker.
I've spent more than 20 years building businesses, launching brands, and figuring out what makes people buy things.
Along the way, I've helped launch more than 50 brands, served as a fractional CMO, built million-dollar e-commerce businesses, and experienced two successful business exits.
I've also made mistakes. Plenty of them.
The difference is that I learned from most of them. The expensive ones tend to stick.
Give me an interesting idea, an underserved market, or a problem nobody's figured out how to solve, and you've got my attention.
I've worked across branding, product development, marketing, e-commerce, retail distribution, and business strategy.
But the part I enjoy most isn't running ads or building websites.
It's taking something that doesn't exist and figuring out how to turn it into a real business.
Happy Mind
Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer
A consumer wellness brand I'm helping build from the ground up, from branding and product to online sales and national retail.
NutraProducts Inc.
Executive Board Member | OTC: NTPR
A publicly traded nutraceutical manufacturer that helps brands develop, make, and launch their products.
Your idea might suck. That's okay.
Here's something I've learned after two decades of entrepreneurship:
Most people don't need more encouragement. They need better information.
Your friends will tell you your startup idea is amazing. Your family will tell you to follow your dreams.
I'll ask who's going to buy it, why they'd choose you, how much it'll cost to acquire a customer, and whether the business actually makes sense.
Sometimes the answer is that you've got something special.
Sometimes the best advice I can give you is to stop before you spend another dollar.
Either way, I'd rather tell you the truth.
- 01Honest feedback
- 02Customer validation
- 03Execution
Then there's pickleball.
I spent roughly 40 years playing soccer before discovering pickleball.
And, like most things I get interested in, I couldn't just play it casually.
I wanted to understand it. The strategy. The positioning. The decisions that separate winning from losing.
Today, I'm a competitive pickleball player, team captain, and coach.
I also created Pickleball is Chess, a playbook and training philosophy built around one simple concept:
There's a right play for every situation.
You don't always win by hitting harder.
You win by understanding what's happening, anticipating what comes next, and making better decisions.
Sound familiar?
Two worlds.
Same philosophy.
Whether I'm looking at a startup or standing on a pickleball court, I'm usually thinking about the same things.
- What's the objective?
- What's the smartest move?
- What am I missing?
- And how do we get better?
That's what this website is about.
Business. Pickleball. Strategy. A little sarcasm.
And hopefully, helping a few people make better decisions along the way.
I am Josh.
I make you better.
Or at least, that's the plan.