Standing in front of you is a potential client worth $1.23 billion. It’s an illustrious company with a proud history, and this early innovator in its field has doubled its growth over the past 15 years. It has 31 head-to-head competitors scattered around the country, and two rivals in their own state that are so rancorous it makes Uber vs. Lyft battle look like a birthday party.
There are many companies like this, but you’re not standing in front of them. You’re standing in front of the New York Jets, and the football team wants to know how you can make them better. That’s NY Jets Pitch Night for you, coming on Tuesday, June 9. Organized by WeWork Labs, the RSVP-only event will take place at WeWork’s Bryant Park location. Swill is also a sponsor.
The Yankees play 162 games. The Knicks play 82. If the Jets don’t make the playoffs, the play 16. That’s it. Just 16 games to get everything right, from concessions to ticket sales. And only half of those are at home. The purpose of Pitch Night is to make those eight games even more engaging. Think Shark Tank, but the sole winners are Jets fans.
Six startups will be competing for the attention of the team’s management. Denis Cranstoun works with x3East, a company that specializes in providing technology-enabled solutions to sports organizations, agents, and athletes. Cranstoun is going to be showing off x3East’s Game Day Plan.
Cranstoun says it will help Jets fans “navigate unfamiliar environments around home and away football games,” and to locate “local suppliers of goods and services.”
The company relies heavily on data, but not solely. Cranstoun relies on the “secret sauce” of innovation, that magic that comes when you throw one piece of technology in with another.
You might think it would just be sports-focused companies going after the Jets’ attention, but you’d be wrong. Sol Weinrich’s MINR is a smart news aggregator that creates personalized recommendations based on each user’s interests.
Although he’s a “die-hard Giants” fan, Weinrich is going to pitch the Jets on a custom version of MINR that will “help them connect with their fans and enable the fans to share that content.” He says this will allow the Jets to connect to their fans on a more personal level.
Weinrich, Cranstoun, and the others who are turning out for Pitch Night have to bring their A game. Some of the strongest entrepreneurs in New York are rushing to the Jets, ready to take those eight games to the next level.