Sports are fundamentally a social experience. Sports fans enjoy being able to share their opinions about their favorite teams, favorite players, and the statistics that back them up. CourtCred, founded in 2009 by Corey Cooper and Ikay Henry, is an attempt to build upon the naturally social aspect of sports in an online platform centered on high school basketball. The platform has grown over the last five years into a resource for news on NCAA basketball programs, training camps, and information for players, coaches, recruiters, and, of course, the fans.
Over the last year, the Atlanta-based startup has been developing a mobile app called The Ranks, which will be the first fan-driven social platform specifically designed for ranking high school basketball athletes.
Take a look at our interview with CourtCred below, and then check out their new app, The Ranks, debuting today and available for the iOS platform.
Year/Date Founded:
November 2009
Number of Employees:
5 part-time employees
Founders/Execs :
Corey Cooper (Founder/CEO) and Ikay Henry (Co-Founder)
Funding or bootstrapped:
We are bootstrapped and have personally funded this company.
Your Pitch:
CourtCred.com is a fast-paced media and content driven high school basketball website dedicated to being the number one resource for high school basketball information and social interaction. Within the last few years, we have had very successful partnerships with some of the leading sports entities such as Nike, Under Armour, and PlayOn Sports.
Your app launches today, tell us about it:
The Ranks is the world’s first fan-driven social platform for ranking high school basketball players. Fans can rate, comment, and petition for their favorite high school basketball athletes. For the first time in the history of the sport, the fans’ opinion will count.
Why the focus on high school basketball?
Aside from the fact that we are high school basketball enthusiasts, we saw a void that needed to be filled in a niche market. Sports fans became eager to know more about the “who’s who” of high school basketball after seeing LeBron James’ illustrious high school career in the forefront of the media. Major sports networks such as ESPN, Fox, and CBS have increased their live programming for high school basketball in recent years. Also, the sport is becoming increasingly popular internationally.
The app is free. What is your revenue model?
We plan to include sponsored advertisement spots within the app, but we want to make sure it does not take away from the user experience.
How does ATL weave into your story?
I was born and raised in Atlanta so it is home. I think it is a great city where entrepreneurship is encouraged.
If you could have one mulligan (do-over) in the process of launching and running this startup what would it be?
Understanding the identity of the company.
