Influencers, Community Drive Batting Glove Maker

Bruce Bolt is a direct-to-consumer baseball batting glove company in Austin, Texas. The business launched in 2017 when its founder was a 16-year-old player. He needed a better batting glove and a job. Making and selling his own gloves solved both needs.

Chris Hall is Bruce Bolt’s head of marketing. He and I recently spoke, addressing acquisition tactics, ad performance, and more. The entire audio of our conversation is embedded below. The transcript is edited for clarity and length.

Eric Bandholz: Tell us what you do.

Chris Hall: I head up marketing for a company called Bruce Bolt. We make batting gloves for baseball and softball players — from 8-year-olds to MLB All-Stars. I like getting together with other folks in the direct-to-consumer community, especially in Austin, Texas — a great place to live.

I like selling stuff on the internet. As an ’80s and ’90s kid, there’s still something magical about turning on the computer and making a dollar online. Still something magical about it. I’ve done it with coffee, trucker hats, shirts, and now with Bruce Bolt. We’ve got an incredible product and audience, and it’s wonderful to bring something unique into the world and find community around it.

Bandholz: Is that a growing sport, baseball?

Hall: Baseball has gotten less popular in terms of live television, and they’re trying to address some things that will hopefully change that trajectory. But the number of kids playing and entering baseball and becoming serious about it, and their parents spending thousands of hours to drive them all around the country and to thrive in the sport, that’s only grown.

You’ll see people like Max Clark. He’s a high school baseball player and insanely popular because of the advent of social media. And he’s outstanding. He’ll probably be drafted in the first round, top of the first round. Many folks tell us, “I know you guys because I saw Max Clark wearing your glove.”

We have…