Playing the long game
After 16 years of professional basketball, Alex Acker knew he wanted to build something that could last beyond the game. The former NBA player, who played for the Detroit Pistons, the Los Angeles Clippers, and teams across Europe, had spent most of his life focused on basketball. But transitioning into entrepreneurship meant learning an entirely new playbook.
Today, Alex is the founder of AckRight Hands, a basketball training product designed to simulate a defender’s hand in a player’s face and help athletes develop confidence under pressure. As a participant in Stackwell’s Visionary Ventures Program, a partnership with Social Change Fund United and the National Basketball Players Association designed to support small business owners, Alex is also building something bigger: long-term financial wellness, ownership, and generational wealth for his family.
For Alex, the idea behind AckRight Hands started years before the business itself.
Growing up in Compton, California, basketball was everything. But access to gyms wasn’t always easy. Sometimes, Alex says, getting shots up meant sneaking into dark gyms late at night just for the chance to practice.
“It was pitch black,” he recalls. “The only thing you could really see was the silhouette of the rim.”
Over time, those experiences sharpened his hand-eye coordination and changed the way he trained. Years later, they inspired the idea for AckRight Hands: a wearable training tool that recreates the pressure of shooting with a defender in your face.
“The imagination is yours,” Alex says. “It’s about preparing for game situations so you’re not timid when there’s a defender there.”
At first, though, Alex wasn’t thinking about entrepreneurship at all.
“It wasn’t even a business mindset at first,” he explains. “It was really just a product.”
But as the idea developed, so did his vision for what it could become.
“There will always be basketball players,” Alex says. “And they will always want to develop their game.”
That long-term mindset pushed him deeper into the business world. Alex began researching patents, working with lawyers, building an LLC, developing a website, and learning the realities of manufacturing and distribution. He intentionally kept the idea private while building the legal and business foundation around it.
Like many entrepreneurs, he quickly learned that having a strong idea doesn’t guarantee immediate support.
“As I actually started going into the manufacturing side, it was crickets,” Alex says. “People weren’t responding the way I thought they would.”
Still, he never lost belief in the product. Or in himself.
Today, AckRight Hands is largely a one-man operation, with Alex handling everything from product demos and social media to marketing videos and international travel.
“I’m literally boots on the ground,” he says.
That grind has taken him across Europe, where he’s introduced AckRight Hands to basketball communities in Germany, France, Italy, and beyond. For Alex, expanding internationally was about understanding where the product resonated most naturally and staying open to new opportunities as a founder.
At the same time, participating in the Visionary Ventures Program has helped him think differently about the future of both his business and his finances.
“It starts with somebody believing in you,” Alex says. “What you guys are doing is believing in us and seeing the value of what we’re building.”
At Stackwell, we know that building a business and building wealth often go hand in hand. Through the Visionary Ventures Program and the Stackwell app, entrepreneurs like Alex have access to investment tools, financial education, and long-term strategies designed to help founders grow beyond survival mode.
For Alex, that support has changed the way he approaches money.
“A lot of people look at capital and think about what they can do with it right now,” he says. “But the long-term goal is longevity.”
Rather than treating financial support as short-term spending money, Alex says he regularly reinvests earnings from his business into his investment account, focused on growth over time.
“I’ll sell products and put money back into it because I know what it can become,” he explains.
That future-focused mindset is deeply personal. Alex and his wife — whom he met while playing basketball in Italy — are raising two daughters, and building generational wealth for their family is a major part of what motivates him as an entrepreneur.
“I’m big on family,” Alex says. “Building generational wealth for them is important to me.”
As he continues growing AckRight Hands, Alex also hopes younger athletes start thinking beyond the limits of how other people may define them.
“When I transitioned from basketball, people only knew me as a basketball player,” he says. “But you have to believe in yourself and stay true to what grounds you.”
His advice for young athletes is simple: ask for help, stay consistent, and think long term.
“Map out your goals,” Alex says. “Map out your dreams into a plan. Don’t just think things are magically going to happen.”
For Stackwell, Alex’s story reflects what small business ownership really looks like: taking an idea seriously, betting on yourself, and building patiently, even when you’re doing it one step at a time.
Through Visionary Ventures, we’re proud to support founders like Alex as they turn passion into ownership, and ownership into lasting opportunity.
This unpaid client testimonial was of an actual Stackwell client. This testimonial may not be representative of the experience of other clients. No testimonial is indicative of future performance or success. This testimonial may not represent all interactions or relationships with Stackwell.