JOIN USIn a league of their own
Their love for sports and technology led Prashant Pansare and Chetan Suttraway to start ‘Playerify’ in August 2013.
The popular start-up has helped shrink the vast ecosystem of sports and has more than 2,000 sports afficionados registered on it at present. It has helped sports-lovers across the country connect with each other and organise events, matches and leagues among themselves.
A start-up that can be best described as a sports social networking site, ‘Playerify’ allows afficionados to register in eight sports — badminton, squash, table tennis, tennis, cricket, football, basketball and volleyball. “Sports-lovers face a multitude of problems today, the biggest being not knowing who to play with.
They play within their close social circle but this becomes too monotonous and stalls their improvement as well. ‘Playerify’ helps them connect with other players, search for the right profile and choose who they want to have a match with,” says Prashant. He adds that the response is both positive and encouraging as a diverse group of sports-lovers register on the site. “Apart from the younger crowd, a retired army official who is a tennis player has registered too,” he adds.
However, he says that the response didn’t surprise him as India already has a huge amateur sports market waiting to be tapped. “There are many sports amateurs who don’t know who to play and practise with. This is where we bridge the gap. The online platform helps people evaluate themselves as sports players. I’ve always had the vision for such a platform and more innovative ideas like these can actually contribute to the growth of the amateur sports market.”
He adds that a lot of leagues take place across the country which aren’t widely known. As cricket enthusiasts, the two themselves had faced problems like finding other players, contacting leagues and conducting events.
Prashant and Chetan both worked in a corporate until July 2012 before they started working on ‘Playerify’ full time.
In September 2012, they had an online portal called ‘justplaycricket’ which focussed only on cricket players and leagues. Prashant says, “We soon realised that the structural problems in cricket are similar to the problems existing in other sports. So we ensured that ‘Playerify’ catered to a wider range. The beta version of ‘justplaycricket’ was launched and leagues were conducted only in Bangalore but after ‘Playerify’ was launched, we started conducting leagues and events in all the metro cities.”
‘Playerify’ mainly helps develop talent and contributes to the betterment of sports.
Prashant feels that though cricket has ruled the country and given it a global recognition, India can still do well in other sports. “Government should spend more on infrastructure and quality coaches. There are many PV Sindhus and Baichung Bhutias out there. We just have to find them,” he sums up.