(Sports Tech Tokyo is a proud partner of Front Office Sports)
In the sports tech space, there are plenty of individuals and groups looking to consult with young companies looking to grow their operations. These consultants can be highly beneficial and look to partner with companies that fit well with their own skills and personalities.
Charlie Greenwood is the founder and CEO of Triple Scout: his company that consults with investors, sports teams/leagues, and sports tech companies looking to understand what strategies and technologies can help them achieve their organizational goals. Greenwood spoke with Front Office Sports at Sports Tech Tokyo about what he learned at the conference, what makes companies stand out to him as a consultant, and what he enjoys about pursuing such an independent career path.
Edited highlights appear below:
On what he learned at Sports Tech Tokyo (0:20):
Greenwood: “It’s been an amazing operation to get so many companies here. That’s quite incredible I think with the sheer number of organizations that operate in the sports tech space. I think one of the big things [that I learned] is actually there’s a lot of companies doing very similar stuff.”
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On finding a handful of companies that he wants to work with at the conference (2:39):
Greenwood: “I know there’s been a good element of pre-vetting before the companies turn up. So I think in terms of finding something genuinely new and a bit different, I think that’s probably what I was expecting. What I probably wasn’t expecting was that the general baseline was going to be at such a good level. You take a hundred companies, you think there’s going to be quite a few that aren’t so good but actually there are lots of very good companies. Not all of them are genuinely innovative. Some are just generally doing a good job with good solid products, which can still be a good business.”
On what will be the next frontier in sports tech (3:40)
Greenwood: “There’s a lot of companies of interest surrounding analysis of on-pitch performance…There’s a lot of money that’s been raised quite recently and you really see many companies saying they’re doing stuff around stats. Well, there’s a bar now that has been set in terms of computer vision and A.I. and processing, and predictive analytics and if you’re not reaching that bar…you have to be in order to be playing in this space. So I think that’s one really interesting area.”
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On what brought him into this industry (5:47)
Greenwood: “About three or four years ago was when I started doing things on my own. Before that, I had what my wife would describe as a proper job at AEG. Before that I was on my own for about three or four years as well. I think piece of working that I really enjoy is that it is up to you. Which does get a bit squeaky sometimes but I like just having to worry about myself and make sure that the contracts are right as well. I’m quite fortunate in that in the last 12 months a lot of my work has now moved from being project based to being retain based.”
