No. 5 · 8 Nov 2023 · 8 min
Sportflow.
Live-streaming app for sports team.
ORIGINAL POST: February 2023
Hi everyone ✌️,
I hope you’re doing very well. Now we are going to talk about Sportflow.
For me, it’s an untold story. An idea that was born after boot camp in Product Marketing. You could talk about different startups, but what about you? You have to be honest with yourself. I had an attempt to start with the livestreaming app for a sports team. It gives me an understanding of the product itself, and product market fit.
Sometimes you could quit. It’s absolutely normal. I decided to keep everything as it was and put it on hold in Autumn 2022.
I hope this experience can help you to stay motivated and even to start your own project.
What’s inside?
Product Idea
Market analysis
Issue - solution
Competitors
Product Concept
Messaging
Prototyping
Final decision
What to do if you have failed?
A note from the author
Product idea ✈️
When I completed my bootcamp in Product Marketing, I decided, that would be great to learn the topic deeper and to launch a product that can be easy to use, for a wider audience. It’s actually the short story on how the Sportflow idea was born.
What do I have to do, to make sure, it makes sense to launch an MVP?
Correct, you should work as a product marketer all way alone to gather feedback, market analysis, prototyping, learn competitors, design the app, code the app, and launch marketing campaigns to get your first users into it.
Actually, you have several strategies on how to achieve these goals, find addicted people who will join your project and delegate tasks. (I want to be honest, maybe had the sense to work more on this one, but as a newcomer, you could learn only from your mistakes).
Lesson number one:
Later on, I realized what are the main difficulties to attract someone to work on your project.
You were looking at people, not in the right place.
Everyone has their own life, work, and idea you should be a game changer on the market (mine wasn’t, but I saw a huge potential)
When I become older, I’m not sure I will join even a startup on a free basis. Too many reasons to explain why.
My product was not completed from a lot of points of view.
It's only 4 reasons, but in reality even more. What I like about this time, later, you have a completely different look at what you’ve done and what ideas or features you could implement into the product, but I will show you everything before I stop working on it.
Nothing to hide.
Market analysis 📄
What issue resolves the product?
They give an opportunity to join and watch the game online. Even busy parents could watch a game and replay highlights.
Analyses and coaching feature that was accessible only for professional teams. Now, youth teams and coaches have a tool to educate better and explain everything in a more digital manner.
Game recording and highlights. You have the chance to replay your game and work on your weaknesses to improve the game.
Grow revenue for the teams. With pay-per-view options, you can earn revenue from your games and reinvest the money in your team. Here we have also an option for partnerships and etc.
What is doing sportflow?
Provide accessible solutions for amateurs sport to stream their games professionally. Build a platform where you can stream, share, and engage more audiences for local events. Create an eco-system for sports enthusiasts in the future.
Values:
Multistreaming for social platforms.
No hidden fees. Cheap SaaS solution accessible from every device.
Not required additional hardware.
Cloud storage for recorded games.
OTT services on demand.
Key metrics, scoreboards, team names and etc.
It was only a few of them, on the top. Long story short: livestream solution in your pocket with easy setup. That was the main goal.
Issue - solution 📱
Just some facts to give a quick overview of the market.
Germany
France
U.K
Rest of Europe
Livestream content distribution by type
After additional research and competitor analysis, I decided that this gonna work. (I didn’t think too much about the technical side and implementation in the beginning). Actually, now, I can give advice, if you have an idea, please take a few days to prepare and work on it. You don't need to think a lot, otherwise, you'll find reasons not to do this.
I also talked about the cost of live streaming in this blog earlier, and I noticed that nobody says this, but from my vision, it was an important point. You have to overcome challenges like no Wi-Fi connection, weather conditions, and much more. So, you have to make sure it won’t cost too much to the user. In different countries, we can have absolutely different situations, and even with the same subscription price, in the end, the price can be too high.
I saw that the market has potential. One of the driving factors was, that my brother an amateur football player, is playing in the local league that streamed with low quality and frequency, and for people watching this, a live streaming solution in their pocket can be a good solution here as well.
I explored the services they used, talked to people, and understood, that it doesn't have even a little part of what I would like to implement into the app to engage both sides as players and fans globally.
Competitors 😎
I talked more about the main competitors in the livestreaming apps for sports teams recently. I would recommend going through this post to get a better understanding of what already we have on the market.
Most of them have a hardware solution, but as an outcome, you’re receiving amazing potential for your team and professional automation broadcast. It’s more expensive than just an app, but if you have some budget, I think you’ll select one of the hardware options for a reason.
At that time, I didn't find an application that suits all my needs. I tested several applications, but it seems incomplete from many points of view.
Product Concept🐱🏍
I think this is gonna be the most interesting part. I’ll try to explain the overall idea, name creation, and the vision of the product itself.
SPORTFLOW
That’s the name I came up with very quickly and decided it’s easy to remember and shows actually what is product about. In this meaning, flow can be like a stream, and sport means for sports teams. It was clear to me, but of course, you can work even more on naming.
SPORTFLOW - is an interactive app that takes your skills to your audience. It’s the all-in-one multistreaming platform that’s always in your pocket. Built for sports amateurs to share their moments with family and friends.
Currently, it doesn't seem like a plan at all, but at least I’m happy it drives me to move forward with my personal vision without limits.
Messaging🍴
Of course, during the journey, I have to create positioning, messaging, and even the prototype of the website. You can see the results below. It hasn’t been finished yet, but I like to explore how changes your vision, points you can to improve and etc.
I didn’t update it at all, to track on how you is growing from that time. More attention to details, more clear message.
Prototyping📲
The main value of the app should be an easy setup. You just login into the app and stream your game. Below I will provide pictures of what I did. In theory, it should be an application where you can combine real and virtual competition.
Livestreaming is the only first step. It`s a ground where you could build a better product and implement features and ideas to train, perform, and compete globally on an amateur level in every place in the world. In my vision, it should become an ecosystem for amateur players. From livestreaming to scouting, just in one app.
Final decision📲
At the moment, after consideration of all details, information, and competitors I decided not to go with the idea of the MVP. From a technical point of view, all ideas require resources and investment and live streaming has too many aspects to fail.
You can’t control factors like weather, internet connection, frequency, etc. In the end, it will destroy the user experience. You can’t provide HD quality for streaming if the customer has a low internet speed. It’s only one example.
Of course, based on the market situation, the mobile device can’t provide the same quality of the game with minor details that are really important in a sport like football.
I realized that resource versus impact is not equal.
What pros you could have from this?
This is a valuable experience and case study even for future employees. It took time to do everything, but finally, I will have part of it in one place.
You could try to pitch your idea to a company, that is already working in the livestreaming industry and has the resources you need. Maybe at this time, they’re looking for a solution to expand the audience.
What to do if you have failed? 🛑
I can open a secret. There is no failure at all. If you win, you win. If you lose, you lose. It doesn’t make you a bad founder, product marketer, or professional. It is just an experience. Even now I see, where I can do better, what to change and even maybe make sense to start from scratch, but I decided to put it on hold and focus on other things.
A note from author 👀
I am happy that finally, material about Sportflow is live.
All ideas, prototypes, and information have been prepared for my personal needs. If you want to discuss or leave feedback, you can always do that through via Linkedin.