Our Story


Although Noah products have evolved and changed over time, the passion and vision behind the system never will. From the beginning, with what started as a rake and a ladder in a driveway while Alan Marty and his daughter were playing basketball, the birth and success of Noah has centered on the love for the game and desire to make basketball better. The name Noah was adopted from the story of Noah's Arc in the Bible because the company's original focus was on the arc of the shot and Noah built the perfect arc. The values that were integral in the creation of Noah then are still of utmost importance to the employees and board members today.

Noah CEO, John Carter, first heard about Noah Basketball when reading an article and became instantly intrigued as a consumer. 19 patents later, he found himself leaving his successful job to take on the top leadership position with Noah because he was so passionate about the product and believed in the scientific approach. John's children served as the initial testers of the product, and now systems are used across the country to collect 100,000 shots a day. Noah seeks to be used at every basketball court across the nation and to assist every player in reaching his or her potential.

John Carter

John Carter

CEO, Board Member

Mr. Carter is the Chief Executive Officer for Pillar Vision, Inc. and leads all aspects of the company. He has worked with thousands of players at all levels of the game, and has become an authority on how to improve shooting percentages. He speaks at numerous coaching clinics each year sharing significant unknown facts about shooting. He also served as an AAU basketball coach for many years. Prior to Noah Basketball, John had a distinguished business career. He spend eight years leading a corporate division that grew to $85 million in annual revenue. He founded a software company that was later merged with FullScope, Inc. where he served as Chairman of the Board until the company was acquired by publicly traded, Edgewater, Inc. John holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Auburn University.

Alan Marty

Alan Marty

Founder, Chairman

Mr. Marty is currently Managing Director at Legacy Venture in Palo Alto, California. For the past 24 years, he has been a venture capitalist and has held executive and general manager positions at Applied Materials, Hewlett-Packard, and Agilent Technologies. Prior to his business career, Alan was an Associate Professor of physics at Silliman University. Alan received his undergraduate degree in Materials Science from Iowa State University and an MBA and Masters in Education from Stanford University. Alan played college basketball and has been an AAU coach for many years. He has 22 issued patents in optical systems, computer vision and machine learning.

Dr. Thomas A. Edwards

Dr. Thomas A. Edwards

System Scientist

Edwards recently retired from NASA Ames Research Center where as Deputy Center Director he oversaw Advanced Computing & IT Systems, Intelligent/Adaptive Systems and Aerosciences along with other core areas of expertise. He earned his B.S.E. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University and holds a Ph.D. and M.S.E. degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University. He earned an M.S. from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University as a Sloan Fellow. Tom has au-thored over 40 technical publications on the application of computational methods to the analysis of flight vehicles. He has consulted on the aerodynamic design of flight objects such as the Aerobie™ flying ring, which holds the world record for flight of a hand-thrown object.

William

William "Bill" Hooper

Board Member

Mr. Hooper has over 25 years of experience in business investing, management, and ownership of assets in excess of $500 million. Currently he is a founder and principal of Trinitas Partners, a private investment partnership. From 1982 to 1985 he was an associate at McKinsey and Company where he provided business strategy and operations turn-around services to McKinsey clients. From 1985 to 1993 he served as EVP and President of Woodside Hotels, where he managed the ownership and operations of six hotels and five restaurants, 1,000 employees and also evaluated numerous hotel and real estate investments. He is former Chairman and Director of Borland Software, an advisor to Acuity Ventures, a board member of Joie de Vivre Hotels, and a Trustee of Azusa Pacific University. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College where he was awarded the Barrett All-Around Achievement Cup and was co-captain of the varsity basketball team. He received an MBA from Stanford University.

Coach Nick Nurse

Coach Nick Nurse

Board Member

Nick Nurse is currently the head coach for NBA Philadelphia 76s and the Canadian Senior Men’s National team. He won the 2019 NBA championship with Toronto Raptors. During his 30+ years of coaching experience, Nurse has earned numerous championships around the world at the professional level and a reputation as one of the most innovative coaches.

Nurse was named the ninth head coach in Raptors history in June 2018 following five seasons as an assistant. In his first year at the helm, he guided the Raptors to 58 regular-season victories and the franchise’s first NBA Championship title. He became the ninth head coach in NBA history to earn a title in his first season. Nurse has been named NBA Eastern Conference Coach of the Month three times (January 2020, October/November 2019 and October/November 2018) and earned honor of coaching Team Giannis at the 2020 NBA All-Star Game in Chicago.

ANTHONY TOLLIVER

ANTHONY TOLLIVER

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Born and raised in Springfield, MO, Anthony Tolliver had aspirations to become a successful basketball player and entrepreneur. He committed to play basketball at Creighton University and finished with a 3.5 GPA in 4 years of finance. He is now a 10 year veteran of the NBA and currently is a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Tolliver has also served on the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) Executive Committee for the past 4+ years, currently serving as the Secretary Treasurer. He is avidly involved in business off the court. Apart from his successful real estate developments and portfolio, he owns Active Faith, a Christian athletic apparel company and Lil Anglers, a kids fishing company that has exploded into the industry with purchase orders from Walmart, Target, Cabela’s, Bass Pro, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and many others. He is also a husband to Jessica and father to three children.

Core / Key Fundamentals

1. Passion Driven

Each Noah board member, employee and key brand influencer is extremely passionate about the sport of basketball and understand the great impact that the game has had on their lives. Beginning with the founder, Alan Marty, when he discovered the perfect arc while playing with his daughter, to John Carter, the current CEO, basketball has never been far from the lives of those involved with the Noah product. They have poured time, energy and resources into creating the best version of the Noah product. Because basketball is an integral part of the Noah DNA, they want to use their passion for the sport to inspire basketball players of all ages to create a renewed passion and interest for the game. Noah employees want nothing more than to see players reach their potential and make shots that they didn’t think were possible.

"A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position."

-John Maxwell

"You have to have a lot of passion for what you are doing because it is so hard… if you don’t, any rational person would give up."

-Steve Jobs

2. Quality Guaranteed

What started with a rake in a driveway and the vision to teach a better basketball shot, Alan Marty developed the perfect arc at a 45-degree angle and 11 inches deep into the basket, which resulted in Noah. After years of dedicated research and millions of shots later, Noah has continued to introduce top of the line products to amateur and professional athletes across the country to help them make more shots to win more games. While the data that goes into making Noah so unique and precise is complex, the user experience is simple. All of the measurement tools are compiled into an easy-to-use device, which displays the data analysis through a user-friendly online portal. Once the product is purchased, users can rest assured that they will have a quality built product that is designed to be used for a very long time. Noah’s commitment to quality is evidenced through the performance of the product, which has been endorsed by many players and coaches.

"Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, and skillful execution. It represents the wise choice of many alternatives"

-William Foster

"Quality is more than a promise, its genuine performance"

-Ron Kaufman

3. Commitment to Second Mile Service

The Noah staff believes that it isn't enough to do the basics when it comes to providing service to customers because they want to go beyond what the customer is expecting them to do. Therefore, they commit to making themselves available to users of the product from the moment they purchase throughout each time that Noah is used. They are so invested in each relationship and each program because they genuinely care about the product that they represent and the people that are using it. John and his team want to do whatever is in their power to provide an exceptional experience for the players and coaches, which has resulted in very positive feedback from users. Combined with the quality of the product, providing second mile service to customers is extremely important to the continued success of Noah.

"If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles."

-Matthew 5:41

4. Ever Evolving & Innovative

Innovation is at the core of the Noah product and has propelled the brand to continual improvement. The Noah System was created by experts in the fields of science and technology who had the courage to keep improving and evolving the product. Noah first started with identifying the perfect shot that revolutionized how basketball was taught. However, the innovation did not stop there. Twenty patents later, the Noahlytics product includes break-through technology that tracks players shots from anywhere on the court. Noah is providing data that no one else in the world has and is presenting a solution that no one else has solved, while changing the entire sport of basketball.

"Being an innovator is not just about solving problems. It is about solving problems no one else sees"

-Phil McKinney

5. Results Oriented

The goal of Noah basketball is to make every basketball player better by increasing their shooting percentage to get better results and win more games. Noah is committed to tracking results to ensure that their basketball technology and training improves basketball-shooting percentages consistently over time. With over 100 thousand shot measurements collected per day, basketball enthusiasts at every level of the game are seeing results from the Noah way. Before, a player could only really know if a shot was a miss or a make. Now, by leveraging data, Noah can pinpoint exactly why a shot does or does not score and then provide instant feedback to improve. This real-time, tangible, accurate feedback will not lie because it is all based on the laws of physics and science, and that will not change. Already, players are shooting 17% better than their identical counterparts after using Noah. As Tony Bennett, UVA Men’s Basketball Coach explains,“It’s impossible to dispute Noah because the proof is there, and the feedback is immediate, and that’s when the body starts to self-correct.

"It takes time to create excellence. If it could be done quickly, more people would do it."

-John Wooden

"To be successful you must be interested in finding the best way, not in having your way."

-John Wooden