Let say a Mercer Island runner is looking for a race to take part in. Where do they go to get the information – a website, an email, Facebook or Twitter. What if instead of hunting all over for the information, it was available in one spot when you could find an event, compare it to others and then share it with friends?
That very idea is driving the founders of Tenacity Sports to go in a new direction, called Gametiime.
Jon Tam, one of the founders of Tenacity Sports and Gametiime, said they discovered while running events as part of Tenacity Sports that there was a side of the business they didn’t get to spend nearly as much time on as they wanted – the technology side. Tam and co-founder Don Le knew that a portion of the business, developing their website into something with more data and information, was something they wanted to do, but with running events and everything else, it wasn’t going to happen as soon as they wanted.
“We knew we would do it, but not right then,” said Tam. He said after doing some thinking about where the company was and what they wanted to do, they realized their was an opportunity for something new.
“We did a market exploration and asked people how they find information about this kind of thing, the reoccurring message there wasn’t one place to find it all,” said Tam. The found consistently in talking to people that this was an area where they could find a niche.
“The concept is Gametiime and it’s a place to discover, compare and share,” he said. The name was two-fold, partially because gametiime.com was an available domain and because the two ii’s represent people participating together, a core principal.
The site, which Tam said will be in a Beta version by the end of the year, will sort of be like Yelp, but for sports.
“We believe sports are in our DNA,” he said.
In the beginning stages of the site, Tam said they will focus on running events in the state. This will allow them to roll out the basic features of the site, while getting feedback before any expansion.
“Running sites are valuable resources, but we felt there was an opportunity to do better,” he said. “Relevance is very important to us, very local.”
The site is currently taking registration for people interested in participating in the beta testing of the site, which will go live sometime between now and the end of the year. Tam said they are also looking for race directors and events who may be interested in working with Gametiime by listing their events on the site.
While someday the company may expand to other sports on the site, for now the focus is running because Tam and Le want to make sure they do it right.
“We want to do small really well because we go really big,” said Tam. “We don’t want a mediocre product. I’m confident in our willingness to listen to customers.”
Tam said the site’s bread and butter will be to help users discover and search for events, see pictures and information about those events and then share them with friends.
Anyone looking to join the Beta testing for the site can sign up at gametiime.com. Race directors who are interested in working with the site can email Tam at jon@tenacitysports.com.
