In less than a week, the L.A. Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks kick off the start of the 2014-2015 Major League Baseball season in Sydney, Australia. The two teams will travel across the Pacific Ocean to face off at the historic Sydney Cricket Ground for a two-game series in the first-ever regular season games in the Outback.
Traveling to the “Land Down Under,” is an opportune time to check out some impressive start-ups from across the Pacific. Here are 3 start-ups that the Dodgers and Diamondbacks should partner with or utilize while in Australia:
1. The Best Day
The Sydney start-up, The Best Day, is an ideal company for the Dodgers and Diamondbacks to partner with before the games on March 22nd and 23rd. Launched in March 2013, The Best Day brings groups of people together by helping match many different schedules to help plan group activities. According to Bala Murali Krishna, writer for AnthillOnline.com, “The Best Day zeroes in on an event-planning nightmare – how to schedule an event with varied preferences and availabilities for various people.”
This start-up is perfect for the MLB’s regular-season kickoff promotion. How better to get people to come out to the games, than to help them organize a get together? With many different schedules, it’s often hard to get people to agree on a time and place for an activity, but partnering with The Best Day, would make organizing groups to go to the game that much easier. Founder Whitney Komor says she says the $1.1 million dollars she accepted from OneVentures and Sydney Angels was in large part due to the “clear and realistic plan” she has formulated. Sounds like a clear and realistic option for the Dodgers and Diamondbacks, as well.
2. Ingogo
Traffic in downtown Sydney can be tough to manage. How will people make it to the games on time if they can’t get a ride downtown? There would be no better transportation start-up for the Dodgers and Diamondbacks to utilize than Ingogo. Founded by Hamish Petrie in 2011, the goal of Ingogo is to “provide passengers and drivers with a better service by putting passenger and driver directly and safely in touch with each other using new mobile technologies.”
With over $3.5 million in backing from Australian investors, as well as a grant from the Australian Federal Government, Ingogo would be an extremely valuable start-up to partner with to ensure fans get to the game safely and on time.
3. Muro
Once people have organized a group get together and made their way to the games, what’s the best way to experience it? People love real-time updates, and they love pictures. University of Sydney students have created Muro, “a social event photography platform that allows you to connect and share with others that are at the same event as you.” Everyone at the game can contribute to the memories from the historic event with the click of the camera on their smartphone.
So, why partner with Muro? Muro would provide real-time coverage of the game from the fans’ perspectives. Instead of waiting a week before people post their photos to Facebook, Muro uploads event photos as soon as they are taken, and then “the host can simply download them, share the link or post the album to Facebook.” This app would allow both the fans and the teams to interact and share their memories at the historic set of games in real-time.
Do you think it’s worth the Dodgers and Diamondbacks partnering and utilizing these start-ups during their time in Australia?