(Courtesy of CourtsideVC)
The following interview is part of our ongoing Expert Series that asks C-level professionals, team presidents, league executives, athletic directors and other sports influencers about their latest thoughts and insights on new technologies impacting the sports industry.
Name: Vasu Kulkarni
Company: Krossover
Position: Founder
Vasu Kulkarni is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Krossover, a sports data and analytics company which helps teams and coaches break down game film across a variety of sports, including basketball, football, volleyball and lacrosse. Now, Krossover has 10,000 global customers and is slated to surpass $10 million in revenue in 2016.
A 2008 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Kulkarni is also currently a Managing Partner at Courtside Ventures, a $35 million early stage venture fund investing in companies at the intersection of sports, technology and media.
1) What utilization of technology in sports has recently blown you away and why?
I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the use of virtual reality amongst college and pro sports organizations in the past year. STRIVR out of the Bay Area seems to be the market leader at the moment in this space, and I’ve seen teams from the Washington Wizards to the Stanford Cardinals using their technology to train guys off the field. The issue to me is still the form factor of headsets, as well as the quality of the feed. No VR headsets are giving you 4K quality video just yet, which means you’re going from watching crystal clear video on your iPhone to a 1990s TVs. Still, the use case is strong for helping players train in VR vs. their bodies taking a beating on the field, not to mention letting the 3rd string quarterback who is getting no practice time, actually feel like he’s learning.
2) If you had to invest in one technology that would enhance sports fans’ experiences at games, what would it be and why?
Simple — better WiFi. The number one thing that fans want to do when they are at a game, is share that experience with friends, family and their social following. Having to hit refresh 30 times to get an Instagram picture to post is not a good experience. Give the people what they want — more bandwidth and access points.
3) If money were no object, what technology would you build or buy to help you do your job better?
If I told you, I’d have to kill you — that’s going to be my next company!
4) As a sports fan, what sports-related service, app, product, etc., could you not live without and why?
At this point I think it’s really just Twitter. I can’t think of one sports app that I use regularly throughout the year or even a season, but I know that I’m on Twitter during every game I’m watching, in stadium or at home. I probably spend more time looking at what people are saying on Twitter, than I do actually watching the damn game. Twitter has really become the de facto destination on mobile for anyone who is following any sort of event or situation. It’s the first place I go for news, especially when it comes to sports.
5) If you had to project 20 years into the future, how will most fans watch their favorite sports teams?
While there may not be any limitations on how futuristic technology can get, there’s certainly a ceiling on what is socially acceptable and actually usable in every day life. Could we have holograms being projected out of our phones? Sure. Is that a better experience than a 4K video screen? I don’t know. I think our devices are going to continue to become faster, more powerful and have incredibly more detailed screen resolution, including headsets/eyewear. I could absolutely see a situation where we put on a pair of AR glasses, and we could watch a basketball game play out in front of us as though we’re sitting courtside. But I still don’t know if the television is going to be completely revolutionized. It’s not like there has been a tectonic shift in TVs from the 80s to now. Yes, they are thinner and offer better resolution, but that’s really it. 3D never took off, and it may very well be because there isn’t anything much better than watching a 1080p feed of an event. At some point the human eyes can no longer discern the difference when it comes to pixel count. So, 20 years from now, I still think I’ll be sitting in my recliner, staring at my TVs.
6) Give us your bold prediction about a form of technology that will be integral to sports in general over the next 12 months and why?
OTT — not a revolutionary piece of technology again, but a revolutionary way of thinking about charging for users. Cord cutting is real, and rights holders who don’t adapt are going to be left behind. People are getting comfortable paying small monthly subscriptions for just a few channels that they care about. Nobody needs 95% of the channels they get with their cable package. So, if I’m a major sports rights holder, I’m thinking about how this is going to affect me, and what I can do to maximize profit as the world moves towards a watching anything, anywhere, anytime economy.
