New technology from startup ventures is transforming the global sports industry. This Startup Series has introduced over 300 startup companies in the sports technology space to a broader audience by allowing Founders of promising new ventures to tell their story and pitch their idea. Feel free to submit your startup’s answers to the below questions or contact us if you know of a startup that should be considered for inclusion in this series.
This series is supported by Stadia Ventures. If you are a sports technology startup looking for strategic investors, we recommend checking out their upcoming accelerator programs.
Company name: Thinking Baseball, Inc.
Founder(s): Neal Johnson
Headquarters: Elmhurst, Illinois
1. What is your elevator pitch?
We are a family-owned company looking to help ballplayers of all ages to learn and appreciate the mental side of baseball. We want players to learn by seeing, hearing and interacting with defensive situations so that, when they happen on the field, they know what to do because they've been Thinking Baseball already!
2. Problem & Solution
Our phone/tablet app helps ballplayers learn to think before the play with over 8,000 questions about baseball situations. The situation is shown and described by Pat Hughes, professional baseball broadcaster, and the user then interacts with the app by dragging the player where he should throw or where he should go. Then the correct answer is explained, both visually and audibly, to further help the learning process. Coaches can assign sets of plays to their team and see feedback on how they each did for the situations assigned. Not enough time to go over all the possible defensive situations because of field time restrictions? Need to put a player in a new position for a game because of a short bench? Problems solved!
3. Market – your target market and the overall market
We are expecting end-users to be in the 9-15-year-old age range, but our actual target market is baseball (and softball), coaches and leagues. Although we do sell the app direct to end-users, we offer discounts for team and league purchases in an effort to reach more players through the people they often turn to for guidance - their coaches!
4. Business Model – how do you make money?
Our app is sold as an annual subscription for $20 per player or $25 for coach features (when purchasing a Team or League Edition). Discounts are offered at various levels for teams and leagues.
5. Management Team – with titles
Neal Johnson, Founder and President
Chris Johnson (Technology)
Matt Johnson (Sales, Marketing, Customer Service)
6. Financial Needs: are you currently looking for investment? Have you raised investment already? If so, who are your investors?
We have thus far self-funded the creation and initial marketing of our app, which was released in September 2017. We are not currently seeking investors but will be open to the situation if/when it makes sense to do so.
