New technology from startup ventures is transforming the sports industry. The mission of this series will be to introduce startup companies in the sports technology space to a broader audience and allow Founders of promising new ventures to tell their story. Feel free to contact us if you know of a startup that should be considered for this series.
Company: Playwaze
CEO: Rupert Jenner
Headquarters: Guildford, England
1. What is your elevator pitch?
Playwaze is a technology company with a mission to provide the best web & mobile platform for organising sport, with the overall aim of helping to increase participation in all sports
2. Problem & Solution
People currently organise sport, whether it be 5 a side football leagues, local darts teams, weekend bike rides, or regular tennis sessions, using a myriad of tools that were largely not designed for the purpose. These include Facebook & WhatsApp, emails & spreadsheets, SMS and even pin-up noticeboards. Especially for the organiser, it can feel like more of a challenge organising sport than it does playing it. Simply put, we believe that much of the challenge of increasing participation in sport is simply making activities easier to organise, while also making them more accessible via an app on our phones for easier player sign-up and reminders of the activities that are available to us via automated app notifications and optional email alerts.
Playwaze provides a web and mobile platform where any sports group (be that a club, a league association, just a group of friends, and many more) can organise all their sports activities – leagues, tournaments, ladders, sessions, teams & bookings, as well as their news & chat. The features are optional, meaning the group can use one, some or all of what’s available, while they are also configurable to run things the way they want to. Once the organiser invites some members, everyone will have access to all the group’s activities through the Playwaze website or mobile app on their phone. Players can enter results for competitions, sign up to sessions and team fixtures, receiving any related pre-set notifications, as well as book courts or coaches, arrange friendly games, rides & runs, and talk to each other using messaging, chat and the news feed. It’s active, it’s social, it’s on the web, and it’s on your phone.
3. Market – your target market and the overall market
Sport is a huge global market, and it’s growing fast. Our ultimate target market is sports players – anywhere, any sport, any type of sports community or group, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. Playwaze currently hosts some of sport’s most prestigious clubs alongside groups of friends playing lunchtime table tennis leagues. Playwaze is currently targeting the UK sports market, although natural virality has led to the product now being used in 14 different countries.
The company also offer solutions and services to sports governing bodies, organisations and associations. We are able to build solutions with relative ease using the ready-made Playwaze platform that can enable a variety of organisations, and their sports network, to better organise their sports activities and engage more closely with their participants. This is a key route to market for Playwaze, giving us an effective direct route to clubs and players. Our plans for Q4 2016 are to start marketing the Playwaze platform to organisations and clubs in key international markets.
4. Business Model – how do you make money?
The Playwaze web application and basic mobile app are free to use for all. There is an optional app upgrade which can be purchased by individuals, or communities can subscribe to Premium (monthly or annually) which includes app upgrades for all their members, amongst other benefits, such as the ability to customise their web and mobile apps internally with their own logo and branding.
Playwaze is also able to offer free or low-cost web and mobile solutions to sports organisations, using our low cost individual app upgrade and premium subscription model. However, our model does offer choice. Solutions can be funded at any level of the sports network – nationally, regionally, locally and/or individually – giving complete flexibility as to how the organisation would like to make use of the available technology.
Other opportunities available to sports organisations include activity reporting, giving insight into playing habits, reward schemes for players and organisers, integrations with existing technology, from existing sports solutions to CRM integrations, and finally the ability to reach their entire sports network through promotion and prospecting.
5. Management Team
Rupert Jenner – CEO & Founder
Charlie Clarke – Head of Marketing
Jerry Horwood – Director
Charles Clayton – Director
6. What else do you want the audience to know about your venture?
Playwaze offers something new for sport. It’s one simple product where people can find sport, join activities, compete, and chat. Maybe you used to enter your tennis league results on an antiquated website, sign up for your 5 a side football fixtures on a shared spreadsheet, and arrange bike rides with your friends using WhatsApp. Now you can do it all through the Playwaze app. We thought it was time that sport caught up with technology. The explosion of mobile has now made it possible to make sport more accessible through innovative technology – more visible, more engaging, and more connected. We want to get more people playing sport, and we do that by putting it in their pockets.
Bonus Question: If you were stuck on a desert island with any three athletes, who would they be and why?
Roger Federer, Chris Froome, and Tiger Woods. Roger because he is the epitome of sporting excellence and elegance. I would want to while away the days getting him to explain why my single handed backhand, despite decades of practice, just doesn’t work like his. Chris because he is the epitome of human athletic performance. I would while away the days getting him to explain why my average speed, despite decades of training, never exceeds 16mph, while he averages over 28mph over the course of a 2500-mile grand tour. And finally Tiger, because at some point we’ll want to get a party started.
If you could go to any sporting event, what would it be and why?
I would like to be in the grandstand at the top of a mountain stage of one of three major cycling tours. I love cycling and being at any major cycle event is exciting. The spectacle of the peloton and the ensuing cavalcade is a drama that can only be appreciated when you are there. The mountain top finish is where human physical capacity reaches its limit, and it’s an endeavour that fascinates me. I would love to be able to sit comfortably with a nice glass of something and study that as it unfolded in front of me.