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CoachUp is an interesting company. Founded in 2011, it is an online platform that connects athletes with private coaches. The company believes strongly that private coaching is the secret to reaching the next level in sports and life. CoachUp was founded by Jordan Fliegel, who was an average high school basketball player until his father hired a private coach for him. The coach was Greg Kristof, the former head coach of the Brandeis University basketball team. The sessions with Kristof helped Fliegel make his high school basketball team, and he went on to play in college and in a professional league overseas. CoachUp’s website matches athletes, in all major sports, with coaches who are willing to work with them. Thousands of athletes have connected with more than 13,000 coaches since the site was launched. CoachUp vets all coaches for necessary coaching experience. Coaches set their own rates on CoachUp, so prices vary. The cost of a one-hour session averages $40 to $60. CoachUp makes money by taking a percentage of the coaching fees charged through its site. Earnings are calculated based on how many sessions a coach has had with an athlete. The more sessions a coach has with an athlete, the higher the percentage of the fee the coach retains. For an active coach, CoachUp charges a commission of 5 percent to 10 percent of the coaching fee. For a less active coach, it is 10 percent to 20 percent. Each coach also pays a $9.99 annual membership fee. The company offers a 100-percent-money-back guarantee on all sessions. CoachUp has established partnerships with the National High School Basketball Association, the Positive Coaching Alliance, and the Sports Legacy Institute. The company has raised money from angel investors and venture capital firms. CoachUp accomplishes all it does via its business model. As noted in this chapter, a business model is a firm’s plan or recipe for how it creates, delivers, and captures value for its stakeholders. Here is how CoachUp accomplishes each of these key elements: ■ CoachUp creates value by providing athletes access to private coaches. In most cases, the athletes would have had no way of connecting with the coach otherwise. In some instances, the goal is to help the athlete build self-esteem or make a high school team. In other instances, the objective is to help the athlete win a college athletic scholarship or even make a pro team. The value of a college athletic scholarship can easily be tens of thousands of dollars. Even more money is at stake if an athlete makes a pro team. Coaches benefit through the satisfaction that comes from helping athletes reach their goals, and via the opportunity to build their coaching practices and earn extra income. ■ CoachUp delivers value by providing an easy-tonavigate platform that makes the matches between

the athletes and the coaches. To initiate a match, an athlete fills out a form that asks for the athlete’s training goals. CoachUp then recommends three coaches, but the athlete has the option to look through all the profiles and sort the results by distance, price, and reviews to identify the coach who represents the best match. After each training session, the athlete receives actionable feedback. All coaches have extensive coaching experience and are required to pass rigorous background checks. CoachUp charges athletes for coaching sessions and deposits the coaches’ share directly into their bank accounts. One million dollars in liability insurance coverage is provided for all sessions booked through the CoachUp platform. ■ CoachUp captures value for its stakeholders via the profits that it realizes on making the matches. Its core value is that private coaching helps boost the performance and life skills of athletes and provides extraordinarily rewarding experiences for coaches. It captures intangible value by seeing its core value played out in successful coaching sessions each and every day. The attractiveness of CoachUp’s business model is that as more athletes and coaches participate in the program, word-of-mouth will increase demand for the company’s services. It will also be able to continually add sports. CoachUp is also a business model that would be difficult to copy. It has raised $9.4 million in funding, has 13,000 coaches on its platform, and tens of thousands of athletes have used its service.

CoachUp is an interesting company. Founded in 2011, it is an online platform that connects athletes with private coaches. The company believes strongly that private coaching is the secret to reaching the next level in sports and life. CoachUp was founded by Jordan Fliegel, who was an average high school basketball player until his father hired a private coach for him. The coach was Greg Kristof, the former head coach of the Brandeis University basketball team. The sessions with Kristof helped Fliegel make his high school basketball team, and he went on to play in college and in a professional league overseas. CoachUp’s website matches athletes, in all major sports, with coaches who are willing to work with them. Thousands of athletes have connected with more than 13,000 coaches since the site was launched. CoachUp vets all coaches for necessary coaching experience. Coaches set their own rates on CoachUp, so prices vary. The cost of a one-hour session averages $40 to $60. CoachUp makes money by taking a percentage of the coaching fees charged through its site. Earnings are calculated based on how many sessions a coach has had with an athlete. The more sessions a coach has with an athlete, the higher the percentage of the fee the coach retains. For an active coach, CoachUp charges a commission of 5 percent to 10 percent of the coaching fee. For a less active coach, it is 10 percent to 20 percent. Each coach also pays a $9.99 annual membership fee. The company offers a 100-percent-money-back guarantee on all sessions. CoachUp has established partnerships with the National High School Basketball Association, the Positive Coaching Alliance, and the Sports Legacy Institute. The company has raised money from angel investors and venture capital firms. CoachUp accomplishes all it does via its business model. As noted in this chapter, a business model is a firm’s plan or recipe for how it creates, delivers, and captures value for its stakeholders. Here is how CoachUp accomplishes each of these key elements: ■ CoachUp creates value by providing athletes access to private coaches. In most cases, the athletes would have had no way of connecting with the coach otherwise. In some instances, the goal is to help the athlete build self-esteem or make a high school team. In other instances, the objective is to help the athlete win a college athletic scholarship or even make a pro team. The value of a college athletic scholarship can easily be tens of thousands of dollars. Even more money is at stake if an athlete makes a pro team. Coaches benefit through the satisfaction that comes from helping athletes reach their goals, and via the opportunity to build their coaching practices and earn extra income. ■ CoachUp delivers value by providing an easy-tonavigate platform that makes the matches between

the athletes and the coaches. To initiate a match, an athlete fills out a form that asks for the athlete’s training goals. CoachUp then recommends three coaches, but the athlete has the option to look through all the profiles and sort the results by distance, price, and reviews to identify the coach who represents the best match. After each training session, the athlete receives actionable feedback. All coaches have extensive coaching experience and are required to pass rigorous background checks. CoachUp charges athletes for coaching sessions and deposits the coaches’ share directly into their bank accounts. One million dollars in liability insurance coverage is provided for all sessions booked through the CoachUp platform. ■ CoachUp captures value for its stakeholders via the profits that it realizes on making the matches. Its core value is that private coaching helps boost the performance and life skills of athletes and provides extraordinarily rewarding experiences for coaches. It captures intangible value by seeing its core value played out in successful coaching sessions each and every day. The attractiveness of CoachUp’s business model is that as more athletes and coaches participate in the program, word-of-mouth will increase demand for the company’s services. It will also be able to continually add sports. CoachUp is also a business model that would be difficult to copy. It has raised $9.4 million in funding, has 13,000 coaches on its platform, and tens of thousands of athletes have used its service.