The Future of Sports Technology is Getting Personal

Bryan Finnerty, Chief Giving Officer -- Opportunity Seed Foundation, Founder/CEO – Opportunity Seed Capital, CEO/Visionary – V1 Sports, CEO/Visionary – Galway Bay Golf

When I took over the sports technology company V1 Sports six years ago, the company was not a startup. In fact, it was more than two decades old at the time and was the leader in video analysis software and mobile apps, revolutionizing the way coaches and athletes improve. However, my team rebuilt V1 from the ground up, withthe energy and focus of a startup and, also, a singular vision that would posturethe company to be a force for the future.

Our vision was that the transfer of information from coach to athlete is the most important thing. We saw this bridge as a way to better inform students, using their virtual lockers, capturing their own swing video and sending it back to the coach. We didn't really know how all that would happen, but we realized that there really was untapped potential here. Today, with our core products - V1 Golf, V1 Golf Plus, V1 Pro and now V1 Game - the market is telling us our vision to be more consumer-facing truly resonates. V1 Sports has evolved its mobile technology apps that now reach over 10,000 coaches and 3 million athletes, resulting in more than 4 million online lessonsannually, mostly through golf. In 2020, the company increased online mobile instruction by more than 40 percent. To see where it’s headed from here, we have to first consider its recent past.

The sports technology landscape has evolved over the years. In the past decade, we’ve seen a shift from gathering data for the sake of having data to providing actionable solutions that are simple to execute based on the gathered data. This evolution has allowed everyday athletes to use mass amounts of data with very few touch points - through the use of artificial intelligence and general number crunching - for everything from personal physical gains to faster learning curves. That is, they have access to take all of that raw data and put it into useful motion, whether that’s measuring calories burned on the field, finding out distance gained off the tee through the V1 Game app, or learning exactly how to practice to get better at the sports they love playing.

One challenge I’ve seen for almost two decades as a participant and investor in the sports tech space is that there are plenty of spectators - people talking about deploying money, time and talent - yet very few players actually investing real money, personal time and dedicated talent. The messages to start-up entrepreneurs can often be blurry and hard to navigate, given the number of voices talking about doing something. I believe this can be mitigated by actually following the money and using history - past investments with real returns - as a barometer to whose voice you follow.

" In the past decade, we’ve seen a shift from gathering data for the sake of having data to providing actionable solutions that are simple to execute based on the gathered data."

There are several trends influencing sports technology today. The trends I’m building on are tied to ways of tracking performance data without needing wearable devices. Video AI is the clubhouse leader in this space, followed by ball-tracking technology using camera/radar/Doppler information to overlay on video.

A simple best practice filter for businesses today would be “Can I play my sport without being interrupted by the technology that collects the data?” If the answer is yes, you’re on the right track; if no, move on because you’re only going to capture a fraction of actionable data given the athlete will not be performing at optimal output. This happens because they are wearing or attaching an external device that doesn’t replicate game-like situations.

My advice for industry veterans or budding entrepreneurs in the sports technology space is to apply the K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple, Stupid) approach. Make data actionable in the least number of touches and steps. Athletes are not wowed by big data – they are wowed by getting the best results from direct application that takes the least amount of effort.