DevReady Podcast E24 – William Strange
On today’s episode, Andrew and Anthony speak with William Strange about his company, Sports Performance Tracking (SPT), his history of entrepreneurship, and the future of tech.
From Melbourne, Will got his start in real estate, he saw successes in the industry and moved over to the property development side of things. Not long after, in 2013, he founded a subscription-underwear business for men. He was able to land an investment on Shark Tank for his subscription company Three65. Ultimately, he ended up selling Three65 shortly after his appearance on Shark Tank.
Will explains that in order to be successful, you need to build your processes so that anyone can do it. Create the infrastructure that will allow the buyer down the road to jump on production with little friction.
Andrew and Anthony discuss the stages that an entrepreneur must walk through, including the conception stage, research and development, and testing the prototypes for the initial product delivery. Born out of the idea of GPS tracking bikes and cars, William developed the GPS tech necessary to track the movements of high-performing athletes. Ultimately, this required him to develop his own hardware because vehicle-based GPS was limited in its ability to monitor precision movements.
Unfortunately, Will didn’t have the software, either. So he not only needed to develop the hardware, but the software as well. Trying to deliver this product proved to be more difficult than he imagined at first. Will also goes into how the COVID pandemic has impacted his cash flow and his team.
Beyond this, Will discusses how the business world is likely going to be changed by the impact of the COVID-19. Most businesses are going to reevaluate their expenses when it comes to office space and overhead because most are still able to work from home and keep the company alive. There is some concern about monitoring employees, however.
In conclusion, the hosts reflect with Will on the future of business in the tech industry and look forward to more conversations about the marriage of tech and sports.
Topics Covered:
- Key takeaways from Will’s time as a novice business owner.
- What it’s like selling a business you built yourself.
- Sports Performance Tracking inside and out.
- Strategy and kicking off the prototype.
- The down-and-dirty with research and development.
- How to draw the attention of the initial investors and capital investors.
- Pitching your idea to the right people.
- You need to understand expectations and outcomes.
- Improve a product using your skillset and repurpose existing tech.
Key Quotes:
- “You’re in the Tank for about an hour and a half, but they only show six or seven minutes.” — 9:25
- “Any business you start from scratch, you start from nothing…it’s like your baby.” — 11:15.
- “If you’re passionate about something, it’s easy to drive that business.” — 16:50
- “Do I need to go and build a new wheel? No. And to be honest, I didn’t want to.” — 20:10
- “It’s not really ‘we,’ it’s me and the brand.” — 25:40
- “An idea is not nearly as valuable as an execution.” — 28:45
- “Software compared to hardware is a dream.” — 30:28
- “The number one thing I look for in people I’m working with is inquisitiveness.” — 35:45
- “We can only control our controllables.” — 49:00
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