Kyle
Before this year I had no idea that private coaching was such a big thing across the country. Back in May we brought you the story about Jordan Fliegel and his Boston based startup CoachUp designed to help find and vet private coaches.
CoachCrowd, a Florida startup (with one founder in Austin) is about to launch their platform to connect athletes with private coaches. They’ve even gotten the endorsement of the Offensive Coordinator at Texas A&M Kliff Kingsbury who said:
“CoachCrowd is perfect for former athletes everywhere to turn their talents and experiences into a fulfilling way to help young athletes in their community and make money.”
CrowdCoach was founded by Branndon Stewart who is a former quarterback at Texas A&M and the University of Tennessee, Allan Branch who is a former D1 offensive lineman and Steve Bristol who is co-founder of Less Everything, along with Branch.
The three combined are promising an easy to use, easy to navigate, web platform to connect youth athletes with private coaches.
We got a chance to interview Branndon about CoachCrowd.
What is CoachCrowd?
Website to help youth athletes and parents to find the best private coach for any sport.
Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?
Branndon Stewart – former quarterback for Texas A&M and University of Tennessee, founder of Promo Labs
Allan Branch – former D1 offensive lineman and co-founder of LessEverything (and all of its wonderful projects)
Steve Bristol – Co-founder of LessEverything (and all of its wonderful projects)
Where are you based?
Austin, Panama City, and Jacksonville
What problem does CoachCrowd solve?
There is no effective way for youth athletes and parents to find private coaches/instructors to help them improve their game. Likewise, it’s difficult for private coaches to market their services outside of word of mouth. We solve both of these problems.
How did you come up with the idea?
Branndon had his own football camp and private training business in Austin following his career at Texas A&M where he learned about the untapped private coaching market along with the difficulties of building and managing a private coaching business. Fast forward 10 years and companies like Airbnb, Uber, Zimride, Taskrabbit, etc. have helped shape a real industry around micro-entrepreneurship (doing niche stuff on the side). There is no reason private coaching shouldn’t be in the mix.
Have you heard of Boston startup CoachUp? What’s your secret sauce/competitive edge?
CoachUp looks awesome and we’re excited there are other smart entrepreneurs and investors excited about the private coaching market. We haven’t launched yet, so I’m not sure we have a competitive edge other than we’re 1,000 times better looking than those guys ;-)
What’s one challenge you overcame in the startup process?
Postponing our efforts to raise $45m to spend more time building the product.
What’s next for CoachCrowd?
Launch then work like hell to get coaches and athletes to show up.
Linkage:
Check out CoachCrowd here
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