From the Dugout to the Boardroom: Samuel Taylor’s Startup Story 

When Samuel Taylor’s baseball career ended after eight years with the Cincinnati Reds, he faced a question many former athletes wrestle with: what comes next? For Samuel, the answer was entrepreneurship.

He didn’t start with a business degree or a perfect plan. Instead, he relied on the same grit and discipline he brought to the field. Over the years, Samuel has built a sports tech brand from scratch, participated in a Growth Factory program to grow his business, and is now leading a wearable tech startup that merges performance, purpose, and innovation.

At a recent Startup Story session with Sactown Makers, Samuel shared the unfiltered truth about building companies, raising capital, and learning from failure. His journey offers a powerful example of what it takes to reinvent yourself and build something that lasts.

This is a story about ownership, resilience, and making bold moves even when the path isn’t clear.

Life After Baseball: A New Chapter 

Samuel spent eight years playing professional baseball with the California Angels and Cincinnati Reds. But at just 29, his time in the league ended. Like many athletes, he was left wondering, “What’s next?”

Instead of walking away from the sport entirely, he returned to school (University of San Francisco) to study exercise and sports science with an emphasis on Kinesiology. That’s when he discovered electromyography (EMG)—technology that reads muscle activation. It sparked an idea: what if you could embed these sensors into athletic wear to give athletes real-time feedback on their movements?

It wasn’t just a cool idea. It was a calling.

A Pivot Into Fashion and Manufacturing 

Before launching a tech company, Samuel pursued another passion: fashion. He enrolled at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and worked his way up in the apparel industry. He held leadership roles at brands like PacSun, Old Navy, and Levi’s, eventually managing a $30 million product line.

This gave him a front-row seat to the mechanics of product development, sourcing, manufacturing, and scaling. It was the perfect training ground for his next move.

His First Venture: TESH Sports 

In 2012, Samuel launched TESH Sports with just $500. With no prior entrepreneurial experience, he was betting on his ability to build from scratch. He succeeded—growing the company to a $12 million valuation, raising $2 million, and distributing products in over 250 stores.

TESH partnered with 11 professional athletes and grew to a 25-person team across Oakland and Singapore.

But like many founders, Samuel learned the hard way that growth isn’t always smooth. He made hiring mistakes. He struggled with burnout. He lost precious time with his family.

That experience shaped the next chapter of his career.

“Entrepreneurship is trial and error. You’re going to make mistakes. You just need to learn from them,” said Samuel.

Core Impact: Fusing Innovation with Purpose 

Samuel eventually stepped away from TESH to pursue the idea that started it all: wearable tech that helps athletes improve performance and prevent injuries.

Core Impact is a sports technology company that develops advanced compression gear embedded with EMG sensors. The gear connects via Bluetooth to a mobile app, providing athletes with real-time, color-coded feedback that shows which muscles are activating during movement. Beyond muscle activity, the system also delivers key performance metrics, including heart rate, respiratory data, heat map analysis, and GPS tracking for accelerometer monitoring. This integrated approach gives users a comprehensive view of their performance and recovery, helping them train smarter and more effectively.

Athletes can see if they’re overusing certain muscles or if an injury is likely. It’s data-driven, intuitive, and built with user ownership in mind. The athlete keeps the data, not the league, not the coach, and not the brand.

This mission-driven approach sets Core Impact apart in a crowded wearable market. Support From Growth Factory

In 2022, Core Impact was selected for the Growth Factory business incubator in Rocklin, where Samuel refined his go-to-market strategy, connected with advisors, and started raising a pre-seed round of $500,000.

One of those advisors was Brian Gladden, CEO of the Strategy and Innovation Institute and a Growth Factory mentor. He evaluated Core Impact through the lens of investor-readiness and saw the company’s unique potential.

According to Gladden, Core Impact hit the mark on three critical startup questions:

  • Is there a big enough market with the problem?
  • Does this solution solve it better than existing alternatives?
  • Is this the right team to make it successful?

Partnering with Mookie Betts 

One of Samuel’s biggest moves was partnering with Major League Baseball star Mookie Betts. Mookie isn’t just a spokesperson—he’s a co-owner. Together, they’re working to scale the technology to athletes across sports and levels.

The partnership highlights the shift happening in entrepreneurship: founders are looking for mission-aligned partners, not just capital.

Lessons for Founders, Startups, and Small Business Owners 

Samuel didn’t sugarcoat the entrepreneurial path. His insights are deeply relevant to those who are building right now:

  • Start with faith: If you don’t believe in your idea, you can’t expect others to.
  • Sacrifice is real: Nights, weekends, relationships, and comfort are often on the line.
  • Craft your story: Your narrative is part of your product. Own it.
  • Do the research: Provide a real solution for a bigger problem.
  • Build with purpose: Chasing money isn’t enough. Solve a real problem for a real person.

For small business owners, Samuel’s journey also reinforces the importance of iteration. He didn’t start with perfect tools or a full team, he started with a belief and made small moves every day.

For startup founders, his story is proof that your first company might not be your last, but it could be the launchpad for something even greater.

And for anyone in the trenches, it’s a reminder that it’s okay to pivot, start over, or pause as long as you keep moving forward.

Wrap-Up 

Core Impact is now scaling its beta testing with collegiate teams and high-endurance athletes across the Sacramento region. With the global wearables market continuing to grow, Samuel is positioning his company at the intersection of sports science, technology, and design.

His vision goes beyond performance. It’s about giving athletes ownership of their data, protecting their bodies, and giving them the tools he wishes he had as a player.

“My goal is simple,” Samuel says. “To help athletes be better than I was.”

Interested in more Startup Stories? Check them out here.