Smart Sports Ball — Product Pitch

I came up with my idea for my product while golfing, and I realized an issue that I was having. I kept on losing the golf ball nearly every hole. It made me realize I needed a solution to this problem, which is where my product came in. I immediately thought of putting a tracker in the ball. This led me to the larger idea. I had thought of putting trackers in all kinds of sports balls and tracking statistics. This idea all came from simply losing sports balls.

The pain point my product solves is losing money on having to purchase new golf balls because people continually lose them. Surveys show that over 61 million people around the world are active golf players. Due to the high demand for golf balls, over 1 billion golf balls are sold yearly. However, over 500 million golf balls are lost annually in the US alone. This clearly shows how people have to continue repurchasing golf balls after losing them, and this is a widespread problem.

Another pain point that my product solves goes beyond golf, but with all sports. Allowing athletes to track the statistics of their play through the balls they use would be highly beneficial to many around the world today. I would like to focus on soccer as an example first. Studies show that around 250 million people worldwide play soccer. Additionally, around 3–4 billion people claim they are soccer fans. These large numbers of people who may be watching soccer would be highly interested in finding out the speed of a ball after a player shoots the ball in a tense moment of a game. This entertainment aspect of the ball brings an entirely new perspective to how useful this product could be, and hopefully, one day, revolutionize the sports industry.

My product works through an inserted tracker in the ball that connects to the user's phone. This tracker allows the user to know the ball's location at all times. Additionally, the tracker is capable of analyzing statistics such as speed and velocity. These statistics are important for many different sports and allow players to learn about their performance. Also, for the tracker to continue to work, it would need to charge, but you can't plug a ball in and keep it low weight. This brings the idea of wireless charging. Jessica Petyo simplifies this complicated process by explaining, "Wireless charging uses a charging pad to transmit power wirelessly via electromagnetic induction" (Petyo 2019). This process will enable my product to continue functioning as intended, even after charging, and prevent users from incurring additional expenses on new items, as it is reusable.

To figure out my target market, I have analyzed the demographics of golfers. Bill Pennington states that the average age for golfers is 43.5 (Pennington 2024). This helps me understand how to configure my ads when I create my marketing strategy. Also, as I look into the market of professional athletes, I can see that I will target white males who earn over $50,000 annually. I now understand who I need to target in order to generate sales and increase my customer base successfully.

I am seeking to borrow $500,000 in working capital from an angel investor. I decided on this amount because I believe that it will allow me the freedom to make decisions without being concerned about finances. I want to ensure that my product is high quality, and this high amount of money ensures that I can use a good supplier. I plan on spending half of this money on the product itself, but the other half will be on marketing. I believe that marketing is extremely important for products. If my marketing strategy is effective, my sales will increase due to increased awareness of my product.

I am willing to give my angel investor 15% of my company in exchange for their investment. According to this evaluation, my company is worth approximately $3,333,333. My company is worth this much because this is a very open market, and there is the possibility of achieving a monopoly. Once investors understand this, they will hopefully accept my proposal. Ideally, upon receiving the money, I will start working immediately to maximize profits for both of us.

The part of my product that would need a patent is the tracker inside the ball. This tracker has the main GPS function and tracks statistics, which is what differentiates my golf ball from others. This is important to protect because if other golf ball manufacturers have similar ideas, they could take them from me. Also, if a Chinese company that can likely produce my product at a cheaper price gets hold of this idea, they will take advantage of this gap. Therefore, I must obtain a patent to prevent this from happening.

According to Miles Almadrones, the process to acquire a patent typically costs between $8,000 and $20,000 (Almadrones 2017). Based on this information, I estimate that I will spend approximately $15,000 on my patent, including legal fees. I also checked with a company in Fort Lauderdale, and their prices are in the $10,000 to $15,000 range, which proves that my budget is accurate. According to these lawyers, I estimate that it will take me around 2 years to obtain the official patent.

I envision my company expanding to include many employees and subdivisions, enabling us to sell my product effectively. Specifically, I want around 500 workers in my office, which would consist of executives such as my CFO and COO. I plan to start by selling my product both online and in sporting goods stores. I don't want my own store just yet because I lack enough products to support one. Lastly, I plan to incorporate a lawyer to establish limited liability, which will provide me with greater protection if anything goes wrong.

I plan on using digital marketing to get my product out there — primarily focused on social media because I need my consumers to have phones. This is because my product utilizes phones to track statistics, which is a feature my consumers will need. This will not incur an additional cost, as I am utilizing in-house marketing, allowing them to focus solely on my company.

Finally, if my marketing plan works as expected, sales in my first year will be around $150,000. However, I expect this to continue increasing gradually yearly by around 10% to 15%.

My company's mission statement will be "providing next-gen statistics for true professionals in their craft". My core values will align with this: integrity, strength, and reliability. My strengths include new technology and a strong app for customers. My weaknesses include the presence of many competitors in the field and the higher cost of my product due to the tracker. My opportunity is to work with professional athletes and teams that need to track their performance to gain valuable insights. Lastly, my threats come from other established golf companies, which will likely continue to attract customers and potentially poach my top talent.

To conclude, I would like to thank everyone for listening to my presentation about my product. I intend to line all of my investors' pockets with wealth. I hope that once I receive the money from investments, I will be able to start marketing my product, and once my marketing plan succeeds, we will become highly successful together.