Startup idea with marketing from top pool players guaranteed
He confirmed that they are interested in an iphone app and they would support it and market it assuming someone is actually capable of building it and not damaging their reputations.
He asked me if I could manage it. I can't, I'm working on a startup and even though it's a no-brainer, we are launching and it's too late for me.
These guys play pool, they don't live in the startup world. They don't imagine that someone would sit there and take the risk to build the app and so I explained how it can work.
The concept I have in mind is something very simple and addictive for pool players like 'staircase dismount', 'angry birds' 'fruit ninja' etc - but in a pool setting
Pool players are currently in a situation that, due to anti-gambling laws in the USA, they can't make as much money as they want and the prize money has gone down since then but they still have huge followings.
If anyone is interested, get in touch with me. These guys are willing to fly out and meet with you to talk it over. In fact, I think they'll insist. Work out your own percentage split with them and your own contract and the terms for the marketing.
You'll be building a product with an agreement, in advance, of marketing guaranteed. Just make sure you get what you want and they get what they want.
We launch our product on friday, I have limited time for this but I've also promised to get it moving.
If you are interested, then I suggest you go via the y-combinator route to make it happen. I'll put you in touch with them and you can go to y-combinator with a guarantee of having it marketed. I don't want to manage it and unless I'm wrong, Y-combinator processes startup idea's.
Stats: everyone plays pool at some point in their lives and there is a hardcore following of millions. My cousin quoted a worldwide following of 130 million, for some countries, it's a national sport. Current pool apps might be good but they are not addictively simple as it does not have to be playing a full game. Personally, i think the first version could be as simple as 'maximum break' with bonus points, flashing lights and an addictive feel.... just get that right and then build more apps to sell in the future.
my email is p.kullar@gmail.com for urgent questions, although best if you post here and we'll work out next steps. Work together, form a new startup, whatever it takes. My cousins name is raj hundal of www.rajhundal.com he's got a sizeable facebook following and so have the others. He mentioned wearing the app symbol on their t-shirts when they play pool on tv... so you get my drift? It's an opportunity no-one seems to have put together properly yet.
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[ 6.0 ms ] story [ 29.0 ms ] threadPreview of the billiard scoring app for league players we are developing: https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=11KO5WoWQJewm75cuoY...
Isaac Wooten isaac@levid.com http://www.levid.com
I initially suggested 2 things to him 1. A very very simple / addictive app 2. Go for the big picture - an app where there are ladders/leagues connected all the way to the major players i.e. you keep score in local pool halls and the best play the best till they then meet these top players.. That would involve a well organised and funded company (probably)
I'll forward this to him and see what he thinks.
I was looking through the current top pool apps on iphone and while I only looked through the top 10 or 20, this is just another level. I guess the simple fact that someone stands in a pool hall with a mobile computing device this entirely possible now, when it was not previously (pre smart phone mass market)
You can make your name in the USA but in vision, this is a lot bigger. The USA is a good start though :) Get funding, go full time!
We hope to release both a pro version and a lite version so people can at least download it for free and test it out before they decide to join the league. Once they join the league they would just pay a small subscription fee to be able to use the scoring features, manage their team rosters, see ongoing match stats & history etc. We would really like to implement live scoring as well. When playoffs come around each team could keep tabs on the other teams they are in contention even if they are in different locations. This could add a very interesting dynamic into league play and possibly affect the strategies used in posting matches based on an opposing teams current score.
Just some ideas, and I would love to get some funding to be able to work on this more often. The Japan APA reps were very into it, but I haven't heard back from them or the APA national office since I demo'd it in Vegas several months ago. My colleague and I will attempt to launch it on our own early next year and perhaps they will take notice when the league operators start receiving lots of automated score sheets :)
Simple apps are definitely effective as well, and would take considerably less time to build compared something like what we are making. A good friend suggested making a basics "drills" app for players who are looking for tools to improve their game. It would have a simple daily practice routine built in, and allow them to easily keep track of their progress and show them an ongoing statistical analysis for each day they use it. Then over an extended period of time it would be able to pinpoint exactly what aspect(s) of their game need work and offer suggestions on other possible drills to practice (specifically to fix that issue). Your thoughts?