New technology from startup ventures is transforming the global sports industry. The mission of this series is to introduce startup companies in the sports technology space to a broader audience and allow Founders of promising new ventures to tell their story and pitch their idea. Feel free to submit your startup’s answers to the below questions or contact us if you know of a startup that should be considered for inclusion in this series.
Company name: SmartPitch LLC
Founder(s): Chuck Richard, PhD and Dexter Richard, Software Engineer
Headquarters: Hartsdale, NY, USA
1. What is your elevator pitch?
SmartPitch is an app that turns anyone’s smartphone into a pro-level, precision speed gun for baseball (and cricket) that you can use from the dugout, on the field or sitting behind the foul lines. SmartPitch matches Jugs & Stalker guns, pitch for pitch, at 2% of the cost.
2. What problem are you solving?
Problems:
- $1,000+ Jugs and Stalker radar guns are priced out of reach of millions of players, coaches and teams.
- True pitch release speed is missed by cheaper radar-based devices. They pick up the ball long after it’s left pitcher’s hand.
- Radar gun usage is limited to directly behind home plate or the rubber
Solution:
- Everyone has a smartphone and SmartPitch can turn it into a pro-level speed gun
- Uses sophisticated high speed video analysis to capture precise, true release speed.
- User Location Freedom – use where you watch or manage the game, during the game. Anywhere in green areas in the chart below, including the dugout.
- Matches speeds of high-end radar guns pitch-for-pitch at 2% of the cost. See SmartPitch vs Stalker face off video:
- Unlike radar gun owners, SmartPitch users get ongoing enhancements
- Precise speeds for Baseball and Cricket “out of the box”
- Plans to add Tennis, Soccer and Football in early 2017. Kickstarter backers will receive these upgrades.
- Gives large new market a way to gauge pitcher tryouts and to track training progress.
- Perfect for parents and baseball fans, too!
3. What is your target market?
- College, high school, Little League, Ripken Baseball and other youth coaches
- Scouts – pro, college and high school
- Baseball, softball and Cricket Players
- Baseball, softball and Cricket Fans
- Parents and relatives
- Plan in 2017 to add Tennis, Soccer and American Football coaches, players and fans
- Over 3 million youths play baseball; millions of adult league players; over 35,000 collegiate players; over 120 mln cricket players worldwide
4. What is your Business Model?
- Our KickStarter price, launching September 14, 2016, is $20 for SmartPitch. See KickStarter Pre-Launch preview at this link
- Price in the App Store and Play Store will be $25.
5. Management Team
6. What else do you want your audience to know about your venture?
We have a Cool Sports Technology tool:
- Precision scientific instrument
- Will be available on iPhone and Android, beginning 2017
- Patent Pending, TradeMark application pending
- No additional radar hardware required; uses built-in smartphone video
- 4 years to develop, 1000’s of hours field testing
- 10,000+ lines of code
- Don’t be fooled by the “stop watch” apps out there that require you to tap the screen when the ball is released and caught. A pitch takes only 0.5 seconds or less to reach home, so tapping the screen twice with those apps is inherently very inaccurate.
UNIQUE FEATURES
- Turns the phone in your pocket into a precision baseball speed gun
- Uses the smartphone video camera, no special hardware required
- Accuracy to tenths of a mph
- As accurate as $1,000+ pro scout radar guns
- Calls out the pitch speed on the phone’s speaker
- Saves pitch speeds in a database for charts and use in training
- Has Regular mode and Pro-Level options