Kurt had spent years throwing footballs at the highest level. After stepping away from professional football, he started noticing a gap between the high-maintenance game balls he knew and the recreational footballs he actually wanted to throw day to day.
The Problem
Kurt still wanted a ball he could throw anywhere — with kids in the neighborhood, during a serious training session, or on the beach near home in 30A, Florida.
But the choices tended to sit at opposite ends:
Game balls that could require plenty of prep and care before they felt right.
Recreational balls that often didn’t have the feel, weight or control he wanted.
There seemed to be a gap in the middle.
So Kurt teamed up with co-founder Matt Blakely, and we got in the Lab.
The Breakthrough
The goal wasn’t to reinvent everything.
Just improve the parts that seemed worth improving.
After dozens of prototypes, that thinking led to DimeTack™ — our proprietary surface designed for grip from day one, with a softer feel and details built around control.
🧤 Instant Grip — no mudding, break-in or prep.
🙌 Softer Feel — easier on the hands through longer throwing and catching sessions.
💧 Built for Real Conditions — designed to not to get ruined with water, with grip returning as the ball dries.
🎯 More Control Points — raised laces and stitched stripes where your hands naturally meet the ball.
Small changes on their own. A very different experience when you put them together.
SAME QUESTION. DIFFERENT PLAYGROUND.
Being from the beach, we started asking the same questions about water footballs.
Why should something made for the pool or beach have to feel like a toy?
That led to our patent-pending Water Football, with silicone grip lines placed where throwers naturally want them and materials designed to throw like an actual football.
Pool. Beach. Lake. Same obsession with the throw.
The Journey Ahead
What started with an idea and a handful of prototypes has grown into something much bigger.
Today, The Dime Lab ships footballs around the world from our home base in 30A, Florida, with products now on shelves in hundreds of retail stores nationwide.
But we’ve stayed intentionally hands-on.
Every order is still packed and shipped by our own team — not outsourced to a fulfillment center. We care about what leaves our doors and the experience people have when it arrives.
We’re also proudly self-funded. No outside investors setting the agenda or pushing us toward decisions that don’t feel right. It gives us the freedom to keep experimenting, move quickly, and build the products we genuinely think should exist.
Most importantly, we keep listening. We pay attention to what players love, what they put up with, and what they tell us could be better — then we take those ideas back to the Lab.
There’s still a lot we want to build, test and improve.
We're still in the Lab. And we’re genuinely grateful you’re along for the journey.
For the latest, follow the founders — Kurt Benkert at kurtbenkert.com and Matt Blakely on LinkedIn.