Startup to Revolutionise sports club management
A new online platform has emerged to take the pain away from sports club management – Revolutionise. Indeed, like its name suggests, the platform plans to revolutionise the way grass roots sports club and industry heavyweights conduct business daily.
There is no denying that sport is a perpetual market with endless opportunities for growth. Alex Mednis and the Revolutionise team were quick to spot that.
Coming from a background of sports club management, Mednis noticed there was no quality service in the marketplace for grass roots sports clubs to manage their day-to-day tasks; and of the 40,000 local sports clubs in Australia, fewer than 30 percent utilise a membership management system.
"We touched base with quite a few local clubs who were sick of doing the tedious work and unhappy at the lack of reasonable solutions in the marketplace," says Mednis.
To address this deficit, Mednis decided to build Revolutionise, the "one-stop, all-in-one platform for sports club management" that enables efficiency in:
- maintaining a member database;
- processing registrations;
- issuing invoices;
- organising teams and divisions;
- scheduling games;
- entering results; and
- updating point scores.
The business model
Revolutionise is targeting both grass roots sports clubs and the higher-order governing bodies at state and national levels.
They currently implement a year-long subscription model tiered according to the size of the club.
"We’re also looking into other options, such as sponsorship for clubs (so they won't have to pay a cent to sign up) and contract agreements with state and national bodies," says Mednis.
Consumer response
In just two weeks following its July 16th launch, Revolutionise received 20 trials and three confirmed customers.
"The main thing we’re hearing is how simple, easy and effective our service is – and how it’s the best solution they've come across yet," says Mednis.
Proud to be a startup
An excited Mednis says they just did "something pretty crazy". They went to a local costume shop and got their own mascot made.
"It’s 1.5 metres in diameter and doesn't fit any of our cars – his name is Buddy and he’s a huge, awesome, statement-making creation that we love!"
"We are itching to get out there and use Buddy as a promotional tool – visit clubs, take photos, film an advert."
Startup challenges
Like many other startups, the Revolutionise team wish the day would grant them more hours.
"We're a small team at the moment, so the biggest challenge has been finding the time and resources to do everything we want to do in the time frame we want to do it in," says Mednis.
Tips for turning an idea into a business reality
"Learn what your customer wants!" Mednis says.
"The best starting point is identifying a need in the market and creating something that addresses that need. As long as you have people who need your product, you’ll have business."
He adds the importance of getting a marketing perspective.
"It’s one thing to have a great idea, but it’s quite another to translate that into an attractive and accessible concept for customers and potential investors to grasp."
Revolutionise to revolutionise the future of sports management
As more and more sports clubs starting using Revolutionise, the team see opportunities for peak bodies to acquire grants and funding from the government – especially because of the way Revolutionise is engineered where state and national bodies would instantly have all the data on their constituent clubs.
And because Revolutionise is applicable to any sport, anywhere – the team aspires to go worldwide.
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Originally published in Startup Daily.