TeamSnap, President and CEO, Dave DuPont, spoke to the Sports Techie community blog about their new sport business deal with the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), one of the largest non-profit sports organizations in the United States that will provide promotional resources and content for advocating youth sports. This agreement is a perfect fit for both TeamSnap and the AAU which share the same goals for advocating physical fitness programs.
TeamSnap
This agreement makes new tools visible and available to AAU’s multi-sport membership base for promoting youth sports. TeamSnap mobile apps are used by parents, athletes, coaches and players for retrieving player information, viewing player attendance and availability, editing team calendars, accessing game locations on a map, posting game results and more. Scheduling has been made easier in their newest software rendition. Dave told me that TeamSnap is, “The unprecedented leader in Team Management Solutions.”
TeamSnap is the world’s leading web and mobile team and activity management service. They have more than 5 million users in 195 countries with four million teams in the U.S. alone. The software is primarily in English however they do have a Spanish and French version on the iOS platform. Currently, 85 percent of TeamSnap business is generated from North America. Canada is responsible for 30 percent of company revenue. They are, “undergoing triple digit growth,” says DuPont.
Dave corrected the press release by telling me that, “71 percent (an increase from 60 percent) of web application users access their teams using TeamSnap’s five-star iOS and Android apps.” He further explained how the rapid increase in mobile device users has shifted the company’s focus towards providing more mobile functionality while allocating additional resources to meet this critical customer demand.
Dave talked about how TeamSnap technology allows for their partners message to get to coaches and players. TeamSnap has the ability to provide content connected with messages and a mission. DuPont considers them to be a modern day newspaper, full of current events, from a business sense. News is used as a hook to get the interest of consumers, the same with advertisers.
Dave also discussed how the acquisition of Replay and their 2 million users earlier this year was a significant deal and momentum builder. An important trend they identified is the need to provide Big Data information. Teams generate data that TeamSnap plans to automatically integrate into their backend.
“This working relationship is a natural fit for us,” said Ken McDonald, vice president of Customer Acquisition, TeamSnap. “AAU shares the same goals of inspiring youth athletes while also maintaining a customer-first focus in their organization. Coaches, managers and athletes can spend more time doing what they love and will receive helpful team management resources through email campaigns and online materials.”
The Sports Techie blog spoke with Ken in April shortly after TeamSnap raised $2.75 in investment capital.
AAU
AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. AAU member leagues and clubs successfully utilized the TeamSnap platform through the 2013 spring and summer season. The 2013 to 2014 school year recently began and membership renewal is underway, naturally providing an ample window for members to begin using the web service and app for their newly formed teams.
“We are proud to have TeamSnap as a part of my initiative as president and CEO to provide the AAU Member Clubs easy access to the latest digital technology,” said AAU President Henry Forrest. “TeamSnap has been a great tool for our members to improve communications and enhance the “Real AAU” experience for all participants.”
“We signed up one team to use TeamSnap at the very start of AAU/TeamSnap promotional campaign,” said Gigi Lemon, the Florida District AAU Basketball and Baseball director. “We had such great feedback from parents and coaches that we immediately signed up our other teams for the TeamSnap program. It makes communicating with all of our teams and their player so easy and simple. It is a great service and TeamSnap has been very easy to implement.”
Flood
Boulder and much of Colorado recently experienced what Dave described as a, “100 year flood.” I have relatives in the city so this devastation struck home with me.
Frank Waterroot, VP of engineering, is a volunteer with the Colorado State Emergency Operations Center, (EOC). DuPont said he is their “Technology guy who enjoys giving back to the community.” In his spare time, Frank pursues his passion for radio. This led to his involvement with the communications dispatch for natural disaster emergencies such as fires and the recent flooding for the Colorado State EOC and the National Guard.
DuPont’s house was flooded in the basement. He is looking at this bad stroke as an opportunity to redecorate with some new carpet and drywall. Dave reflected further how it could have been much worse as it was for many others like the 119 homes in the Boulder area that were destroyed.
The internal resolution shown by the TeamSnap employees is exactly what makes a Sports Techie tick.
TeamSnap Flood Blog
Future Sports Business
The plan is to make TeamSnap easier and more dynamic for customized software solution needs. Generating simple API interfaces is the name of the game especially because DuPont says that the competition is not doing the same things. Clubs, Leagues and Associations are new future opportunities.
They have no plans to leave the beautiful area of Boulder.
About TeamSnap
TeamSnap is an award-winning mobile and web service for managing ongoing activities including recreational and competitive sports teams, social groups, and other organizations. With a simple but powerful online interface, TeamSnap makes it easy to keep track of participants, schedules, attendance and availability, payments, statistics and much more. Comprehensive messaging functions keep everyone in touch, and with a strong focus on usability and simplicity, TeamSnap is software that people actually find fun to use. With enthusiastic customers in 195 countries and teams representing more than 100 different sports and non-sport groups, TeamSnap has quickly become one of the fastest-growing team and group management solutions available.
Sports Techie, Dave is pure Sports Techie as are his employees. He attended Cornell in the Ivy League and then earned a MBA from Harvard. His kids grew up in Boulder and are Colorado Buffalo students. He shared how after watching MNF he felt there seemed to be a trend towards players finding football at a later age.
That got my wheels spinning and I asked whether they have plans to work with NGB’s and Olympic Organizations. Dave said they did not so I added how it seemed to be a good fit for the USOC and their Olympic Development Program (ODP) in terms of identifying future Olympians based on the Big Data teams produce that includes statistics and performance achievements. I went further and said they might consider a Portuguese version ASAP and then contact Brazil who is hosting the upcoming Rio World Cup in 2014 and summer Olympic Games in 2016. DuPont said if they go with this business development idea it is to my credit.
The good news today is that Dave likes how, “AAU promotes to members,” and is, “well respected in the United States.” This new alignment between AAU and TeamSnap will increase word of mouth opportunities to promote youth sports which are, “The best marketing tool,” says Dave.
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