PB & Chicken

Sarah Wang
PB & Chicken designs wrestling shoes for women, by women, providing comfort, quality, and performance—a staple in any wrestler’s arsenal.

We have been hard at work this summer, and we want to show off our awesome founders! Get a sneak peak of the startups in Class 10 of OwlSpark and Class 1 of BlueLaunch that you can meet during the Bayou Startup Showcase on August 3rd (Make sure to RSVP). Our #FounderSpotlightSeries continues with PB & Chicken from Rice University OwlSpark!

Tell me about your small business or startup.
PB & Chicken designs wrestling shoes made specifically for women, as the current wrestling shoes on the market are designed solely for men, making them ill-fitting for female wrestlers. More specifically our shoes are more stylish, tailored towards female feet, making them more comfortable, and performance enhancing through the use of our technology.

Why did you decide to start your business or launch this product or service?
As a former wrestler myself, I often found trouble finding the right shoes for my own feet. I found the ones on the market to be highly unappealing, and because they were designed for men, they did not fit correctly, which resulted in horrible blisters. Despite the shoes not being the best, I love the wrestling community and I want to encourage more girls to join the wrestling community.

What have you gotten out of this program?
OwlSpark has been amazing helping me not only to grow PB & Chicken, but to learn more about growing a start-up in general. I have learned about many things from value proposition to pretotyping to brand development and I have been able to implement all this as I’ve gone through the program.

What is your biggest accomplishment from this program?
My first accomplishment is that I conducted over 90 customer interviews just within this time of this program! It was exciting to talk to female wrestlers, coaches, parents, and get to know the community I am joining better.  My second accomplishment was designing and creating my first prototype, although hard, the process was rewarding.

Fun Fact!
You might be saying to yourself: “PB & Chicken? What a strange name? Where does it come from?” Well, PB & Chicken derives its name from peanut butter and chicken (obviously :), two staple foods that wrestlers eat when cutting weight. This name is meant to symbolize the close knit community of wrestlers that PB & Chicken hopes to foster and grow.