Nwanyinma Dike
Okay. Welcome again to the Atlanta Startup Podcast. I am Nwanyinma Dike, the Managing Director of Startup Runway, which is the leading platform linking unknown underrepresented founders to capital and investors. I’m excited for this episode. We have Joe Hamilton, the founder of 4-Second Football. What’s particularly exciting about 4 Second Football is that they are our winner from the most recent Startup Runway Pitch Showcase The 24th Edition. They were the Audience Favorite. And so, Joe, I’m so thankful for you joining today. Thanks for being here.
Joe Hamilton
Thank you for having me. I’m super excited and love to connect more and talk about what we got going on in 4 Second Football.
Nwanyinma Dike
So let’s jump right in. Tell the audience a bit about 4-Second Football and in particular, what really drives the value of this product and this service you’ve built.
Joe Hamilton
Absolutely. 4 Second Football, as I like to call it the world’s smartest football, is the first football that can track data that is directly beneficial for quarterbacks and translates to better performance. We took some research that is heavily studied in the game of football, data such as touchdown to interception, sacks, QB hurries, and things like that. We were able to find a connection between how long quarterbacks hold the ball and those data points when they hold it too long, they’re typically the worst performers. I actually came up with the idea one day when I was watching some guys play 707 and being that I played football, I grew up knowing quarterbacks are typically told you have four seconds to get rid of the ball. A lot of times back in the day, we used to count one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, three-one-thousand. And so as I’m watching these guys play, they start arguing over how slow the count was, right? That was when the lightbulb popped into my head like, hey, why hasn’t there been a ball that’s been automated to count for you? Because you have discrepancies such as a slow count or a fast count, when you leave it up to humans to count, you can get human error. So that was when I started doing some brainstorming and thought about is there a way that I could create a ball that would count for you. We’ve automated everything else, why hasn’t this been automated? That was when we came up with the vision for 4 Second Football. Because like I say, quarterbacks only get four seconds and the data shows that when they get the ball out of their hand in under two and a half seconds versus over, they’re much better performers. So now you can track that data with our football.
Nwanyinma Dike
I love that. I’m not going to sit here and say that I am a football buff, I know all the stats, but I do have the awareness of how much analytics goes into the game of football all the way out to professional. So I absolutely see where 4 Second Football can fit in. I’m curious, even as a layman, I get it. How are the folks that you have shared this product with? Who have you shared it with? How are they receiving it? Have you gotten any really good feedback you’d like to share with us about the product?
Joe Hamilton
Absolutely. And for one, I do want to say my goal is always to be able to make it relate to even the layman, right? The person who is not a big football fan, I have to be able to connect it and say, well, if you watch a football game, if you’ve ever said, why is he holding on to the ball so long? That’s where our football comes into play, right? It can train the mindset of the quarterback to get rid of the ball quicker with the audio and visual feedback that it gives. But to answer your other question, we’ve partnered with two high schools, one school down in Columbus, Georgia, and then a school here in Atlanta, Georgia. And then I also have a family of quarterbacks who are using our product from a home perspective as well. One of the things that we use as an upsell with our football is this QB-catching net. With the QB catching net, the benefit to using it at home is like in basketball, basketball players are taught or told they should get up to 100 jump shots a day to work on their muscle memory. In baseball, pitchers have to throw so many pitches per day and you need a catching net so that you don’t always have to have a teammate. But quarterbacks have this net as well, but you’re just making throws, you’re not tracking the data. So that’s when we decided to upsell our product with this net. Now a quarterback can go through many drills and plays in their backyard with our ball. Now they have to try to throw it in the holes in the net. That’s how they can work on their precision passing while still making sure they’re building the mental clock in their head to get it out in three seconds. The feedback, though, to answer that question is, that the player who uses it at home says it’s building his confidence because now he gets to train and track his data. He can say, I was 30% complete today. I was 40%, complete on this day and they can literally see their completion percentage going up. If their completion percentage is kind of low, then it lets them know, well, maybe I should come in a little bit closer to the net, maybe I shouldn’t stand so far away, because that’s a harder throw. Now they’re literally becoming smarter players, making easier throws until they develop to be able to make the more difficult throws. It’s really a mental and psychological tool that gives you transparency in real-time as to how you’re performing. The coaches have literally told us like, that we can see our players are thinking more in real-time. Because if your quarterbacks underperforming at practice, then you know you play in the game, and how you practice during the week. Because we can track the data in real-time, and then give you the data in real-time, we give the averages immediately, so a coach can see how you’re performing in practice, not after practice. Now he can tell you, hey, man, you need to step it up. Here’s how you’re performing at practice. Well, now the player focuses more. They lock in and now they’re trying to get their steps up. They begin to focus more and so the benefit, and the feedback have been really, really positively received. The one thing I want to add is one of our coaches told us, that the one thing that I’ve set apart a training tool from other training tools because they get sold all the time is when a tool can be used in many different ways. We actually found a way that our football that comes with a timer can be used for offensive and defensive linemen because when you think about it, quarterbacks have to get the ball out in four seconds because the defensive linemen are trying to tackle them in four seconds. Now, we can time how fast the defense is getting to the quarterback, they make up drills to time, hey, you’re getting there too slow, right? We actually need you to get to the quarterback in three seconds, four seconds, maybe too long for some coaches. We’ve made it a ball that can be implemented in many drills for many positions. That’s the thing that I love about it the most. That’s the feedback that we’ve gotten that I love about it the most.
Nwanyinma Dike
I love that. If you’re not paying enough attention to how you’re describing the value of this ball, you might think it’s just the ball. That’s smart. But essentially, it’s a tool to improve player football IQ, if you will. Because you have that immediate feedback, you have accurate, then it’s in a place in a structure that’s immediate. You can give that immediate feedback and then be able to build that IQ in place versus if you have that a huge lag where you have to put like a play video or tape. It’s harder to instill the feedback that builds the IQ. Is that a good way to describe it?
Joe Hamilton
That is perfect. Matter of fact, you actually reminded me of one of the reviews I got from one of our quarterbacks. We were doing a session and he said to me, every throw matters now because I know you’re tracking my data on the app. Sometimes at practice, we lounge around, we’re lazy, and we just throw a pass. If it’s complete or incomplete, we don’t care. We know we have another play. But now you can make every throw matter because our football tracks that data and we’re going to show you later like hey, we’re watching you. That’s kind of like the real value proposition. We’re making your performance every day visible and then like compound interest. If you use it daily, you’re gonna get miles better than the competition over time.
Nwanyinma Dike
That’s really good. I’m actually going to shift a little bit to get a better sense of your experience on the pitch day at Startup Runway. How was that? And then also a bit about how you prepared for the pitch in a way that you were successful? You were able to walk away with some money.
Joe Hamilton
That’s a good question. So my experience, to answer the first part was, it was a great experience. I’ve done a couple of pitches, but I haven’t ever had mentors. An advisor hour before the pitch was really cool. Not only from a perspective of being able to get advice, and bounce ideas off of them, but also just in networking. They gave some, not only some gems, but they were able to say, hey, I might know somebody who might use it over here, or when you get to this stage reach out and email me. The networking piece there was pretty cool. The part where the VCs allowed us to ask any questions and they were giving the answers. They kind of confirmed some things that I was personally thinking about. The most important question being, what do you consider traction in the startup world? I know a few other startups that are kind of at this in the same position I’m in. We’re all trying to get some investment but traction is the biggest thing and what’s considered traction to an investor versus what we consider traction. So they kind of confirmed what I was thinking anyway, that was super valuable. As far as the pitch, a very kind of intimate room, with very nice lighting. It was an amazing experience. It was very cool. I was trying to remember the order of your questions. I think the other part of your question was how did I prepare? The way that I prepared in all honesty, is the same way. I was at a pitch event in November. We were able to come away with some prize money there. Very fortunate. I kind of prepared the same way I did for that one. I like to do mock pitches. I try to create the pressure of being on stage and having eyes on me. What I like to do is I get out of the camera, I’ll put some lights on me in my living room, and I’ll just record myself and really try to see what I’m gonna look like on stage beforehand to make it very transparent. And then the things that I don’t like, I fix it. I had to go over the pitch about 100 times because I was overtime at home. I think I was running out a little bit of time at the tail end there live, but just ran over a bunch of times. But when you know the data, that’s the biggest thing is like knowing your stuff. When you know your stuff, even if you freeze up, you’ll always be able to just revert back to the things that you know, because it’s just in your head. That was how I prepared.
Nwanyinma Dike
That is an awesome approach. That idea of setting up an environment in your practice space that mimics the real thing. I mean, given what you’re building, 4 Second Football, you want to be able to practice the way that you’re going to play. I think that is a great piece to hear from you. For any listeners who might be looking for some tips and tricks on how to be successful in the pitch environment as a startup founder, that’s a gem right there. I would love to hear what’s next for 4 Second Football. What do you guys have planned? What do you have planned, what you’re looking forward to, or some of the boulders or challenges you’re trying to lift? What’s the next lift for the next few weeks and months for 4 Second Football?
Joe Hamilton
Absolutely. The plan right now is world domination. I understand that we have to do it one step at a time and there’s a process. So in the sense of building blocks, the very next step is, I have some inventory that I should have coming in my first order, it won’t be a large inventory. As soon as I get those, I already have coaches who are super intrigued by this concept. They’ve seen some videos online. I have some demos lined up that I would do like a spring-like hike for high schools and spring training. Today is April the Fourth, and a lot of the high schools are doing spring training in the last week of April into the early weeks of May. Already have about three schools who will be using it full fledge in their spring training so that they can get real hands-on. And then I’m lining up other demos to go out to try to sell them the early product as well. The biggest challenge right now is not getting teams interested, right? It’s more so just kind of scaling because you need money to scale. Right now I’m in a position where I’m honestly just getting off the ground. We’re doing it right now. In the event that we won in November, we won $15,000. We put all of that into inventory. That’s what funded the inventory we have coming in in the next two weeks. It’s hardware, so it takes about 10 to 12 weeks to manufacture. And then the money that we just won from Startup Runway, we’re going to do the same thing. As a matter of fact, I’m going to take the revenue that we make from the units we have coming in, and then put it with the $10,000 that we just got. So that way I can get a bigger run because we’re hardware, the smaller the amount of money that you could put in your cost to manufacture, it just goes up so you don’t get as far. That’s kind of the biggest problem, right? In a perfect world, I could go with $50,000 and be able to scale and get way more units, get a few 100, and then bring my cost of goods down. But until then I have to just kind of do it, as I say, just building blocks. Startup Runway was perfect timing. It was big for us. That’s just the next step, getting out, doing the demos, getting the sales going because I know once they try it, they’re gonna want it. I know, for a fact, once a coach tries it, they’re gonna want to want it there. They’re going to want it and then for the parents, that’s just an online strategy. My background is in digital marketing so I know how to market online. I’m very excited about our future.
Nwanyinma Dike
It sounds like you have a lot going on in terms of picking this momentum from these wins and converting that into customers. That’s the nature of what you’re doing, starting a business. So you’ve been able to get a couple of boosts, you got some eyes on what you’re building, folks see the value, and you’re also putting the money where the mouth is. You’re building your inventory and building up the capacity to be able to communicate the value and then get customers. I’m excited for 4 Second Football. I think I really wanted to get a sense of ultimately, what brought you to this journey. You could be doing all kinds of different things, you’re like as you said, you have a background in digital marketing. Entrepreneurship, as you’ve probably already seen, is a very hard space to be in. What motivated you to start this journey and what motivates you to continue it despite whatever challenges?
Joe Hamilton
That’s kind of a back-in-my-life kind of question. What happened that made you want to go down the road that many people kind of fail at, unfortunately? Trust me, I’ve looked at all the research and I had to come to a realization a long time ago, the odds are stacked against me. Only do this if you really feel confident that you can do it. But what kind of pushed me in entrepreneurship was, in all honesty, I just always wanted to be the type of boss that I felt like I never had earlier on in my working career. I’ve kind of had some employers who I just didn’t think treated everybody fair or treated everybody the same. From work-life balance to just how you treat your employees, and how you pay your employees. I just wanted to be able to create something that if I could create a company and give jobs and help boost our local economy. I just wanted to definitely be that type of employer that a person would be happy to work for unless they want to start their own thing, right? I want it to be the type of employer whom they feel comfortable coming to, they feel comfortable speaking with, an employer doesn’t make them feel bad when they come to work, and really want to train and develop them to be much better to go on to do better things. That was kind of what got me started on the journey. Sometimes it’s even out of fear. We’re always kind of taught, that you need to have multiple streams of income. Things just kind of came together, you struggle a little bit, and you fight. That’s just kind of what happened. There was a point in my life where I was just struggling with some things. I was like, I need more money. If it was that simple, right? I need more money. I was like, let me come up with a million-dollar idea. That was when I just started thinking, but the one true piece of transparency with me is some inventions come from a mistake, right? I consider myself to be a serial entrepreneur. My very first invention before this one is called Bacchus. Bacchus basically, in short, is a wearable alcohol monitor, and it can alert someone of their alcohol BAC rate or level in real time. That way they don’t have to rely on a breathalyzer when it’s too late. That invention just came from seeing people who were getting in trouble. They were making bad decisions. And that was when I thought, how can people know ahead of time that they’ve reached their limit? It was that simple, right? I think they say problems are like the mother of all invention or something like that. I think Mark Cuban has said before, I’m paraphrasing. That was how I came up with my first concept. And then the football was kind of the same way. I saw some guys arguing and they were getting really rowdy. And then I was like, why should that be created? That was how my concepts came to fruition but I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. Just kind of from struggle and wanting to treat people how I didn’t think I was treated.
Nwanyinma Dike
There are so many gems in all you just said. One, not to throw another pun in there, but entrepreneurship is a team sport. You wanted to be that employer who recognizes that, you were building something that had value, and you do it with people and treating people in a way that they all feel like they can be a part of that without sacrificing health or well-being, or a sense of ownership and being valued within the organization. I love that inspiration. Also, you were willing to share that part of your journey. A lot of folks like to say I embrace that it’s not a failure. It’s an opportunity to learn and you took that learning to this next venture that, we’re all knocking on wood, that is going to be that million-dollar idea. You’ve already started showing some traction in that direction. I really appreciate you being transparent and sharing that piece. We’re almost at a time. I want to give you a chance to share any last thoughts and then how our listeners can find you.
Joe Hamilton
My last thought would just kind of be, if you’re an entrepreneur watching this, the biggest thing I would just say is as long as you have faith that you can do it, just take the leap of faith. But make sure you do your research. Research your market, look at your competitors, and how you’re different. Do as much research as you can before you spend a dollar. Because you will waste money, you will lose money, and money is super valuable. If you don’t have a lot of it. Collaboration and teamwork can take you a lot farther than doing it alone. But I understand how hard it is. I have a team but it costs you. The earlier you build and you can get your team, it may not be as difficult as it’s been for me. I ended up getting a team late. Get a team early. I can’t think of anything deep right now.
Nwanyinma Dike
Those are great answers and there is depth there. Don’t go alone. Teamwork. Have faith but do your due diligence and do your work. I appreciate that. That is very valuable. The last piece, how can folks find you?
Joe Hamilton
You can find me on all social media channels at @4secondfootball. Our website https://4secondfootball.com/ and you can email me at info@4secondfootball.com. We would love to connect.
Nwanyinma Dike
Awesome. That’s it for this episode of the Atlanta Startup Podcast. Thanks for listening.
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