New technology from startup ventures is transforming the 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. Feel free to contact us if you know of a startup that should be considered for this series.
Company: doublesix
CEO: Hassan Rajwani
Headquarters: Brighton, UK
1. What is your elevator pitch?
refsix is the smartwatch and mobile app that enables referees to record match incidents in-game, track their own fixtures, results and stats while also accessing performance data from their matches.
2. Problem & Solution
Being a referee is hard work. You have to be extremely fit, make decisions in a split second and show authority and calmness when sometimes it’s hard to do so. What people don’t know however, is behind the scenes they also have a lot of administration to do. From receiving fixtures, scheduling transport with assistants, ensuring kits for the matches won’t clash, receiving team-sheets on paper, writing that down in their notebook which they use during games and then filing a match report after the game.
That’s where refsix comes in. refsix is a smartwatch and mobile app that reduces the amount of administration referees have to do. Fixtures are sent to the referee’s app, team sheets are inputted directly into their mobile phone and then sent to their smartwatch so they can record key match incidents during the game like yellow and red cards, goals and subs. This information can then be sent directly to their Football Association after the game with the click of a button. We also track their physical performance in the game too, using the smartwatch. Which means with all that time we give back to referees by reducing admin we can give them greater insight in how to train smarter and more effectively.
3. Market – your target market and the overall market
Currently there are 850k football referees globally and this number is continuously growing. We hope to cater to all referees globally from those who referee alone at a park on a Sunday to those refereeing at the top levels of the game in the Premier League, MLS and beyond. 
4. Business Model – how do you make money?
We sell the watches directly to referees as well as have an annual subscription based model to our app for premium features.
5. Management Team
Hassan Rajwani – CEO & Co-Founder
Luke Gardiner – CTO & Co-Founder
Adam Wilkinson – CIO & Co-Founder
Michael Ryan – Business Development Executive
Alex Crisafi – Wearable Engineer
Michele Ricciardi – Mobile Engineer
6. What else do you want the audience to know about your venture?
We’re at the start of our journey and aim to continuously innovate in the world of match officiating in football as well as other sports too. Watch this space!
Bonus Questions:
If you were stuck on a desert island with any three athletes, who would they be and why?
Kevin Keegan – I’m a Newcastle fan and he’s a legend!
Pierluigi Collina – So he can teach me his famous stare and also share some of his wisdom around refereeing
Jamie Vardy – apparently his parties are pretty good.
If you were to invite any CEO to dinner who would it be and why?
Gary Vaynerchuk – if you don’t know who he is check out his videos on YouTube, especially his talk at USC.