This time 3 months ago, I entered the land of self-employment (unemployment depending on how you look at it) and left Yoke, the startup I was working at for the last 2 years. Anyone who knows me well knows that Yoke was a huge part of my life, I probably worked an unhealthy amount on it but it’s what I wanted, it gave me fulfilment and I loved it. So why am I leaving?!
Lucky enough to have my last day at TheWaveHouse!
Why I quit my tech Startup
When you fall in love with a company you usually only leave for one of three reasons. You fall out of love with it, you exit (you’re acquired) and now either work for another company or you’ve quit, or you decide it’s time for you to build something of your own.
The third reason applies to me, earlier this year on a long Saturday morning bike ride (wholesome right?), my friends and I came up with a business idea that deeply resonated with us. This was to build a product that made it easier for people like us to play the sports we love & find others to play with. That’s how Sportas was born 🎉
So what is this Sportas thing?
Sportas, which means sports in Lithuanian (you’ll understand), is going to be a social platform that allows you to instantly find a game of sports to play at a location & time that suits you. Say you wanted to play a game of basketball next week Tuesday at London Bridge, you could hop on our platform, find a game, sign up & play with others. You wouldn’t have to worry about finding the right venue or players or all the other inconveniences that come with organising a sports game.
You also get the additional benefits of having fun with friends, meeting new people, whilst also keeping fit at the same time🏃♂️
Our main aim is to help adults exercise more by making it fun & social via the avenue of playing sports with others. With the increasing hours of desk work & continued popularity of streaming services, it’s become more difficult to get outside and exercise, we want to change that.
I’m the perfect example of who we’re trying to help. I absolutely despise cardio, I find running boring and I usually have to really take my mind off it to even get to 5k. However cardio whilst playing football I can do, it’s way more enjoyable to be out of breath whilst having a kick-a-bout. And now I get to catch up with my friends & meet new people whilst doing it too.
So really we built this product for me, I am the target user (I am the captain!), a win win for us when it comes to intuitively trying to improve our product and really enjoying what we’re building.
But I’m not alone in this new venture, I’m joined by two of my best friends Lukas & Gvidas (GG) & I couldn’t think of a better duo to do this with.
My co-founders
I met Lukas & GG (who are twins) 8 years ago at Sixth Form. Initially we didn’t like each other, not because of any particular reason, more because we were trying to sus out whether this was a friend or enemy (might be a Newham thing). But we quickly overcame that hurdle and became great friends. We bonded over many things and saw how positively we influenced each other. I remember us doing things like waking up at 6am everyday to get to Sixth Form 2 hours early, so we could revise for our upcoming A-level exams, putting on I’m different by 2 Chainz to get us hyped. Those are the type of positive things we’ve tried to do to better ourselves.
We were 17 and definitely don’t look like this anymore
The twins are two of the hardest working people I know, they’ve continued to excel and impress me throughout my relationship with them. I don’t have to list out their work experience or achievements to prove this, trust me on this one. There’s something about immigrants’ love of hard work & wanting to make something of themselves that really defines us. All born in other countries, Lithuania (told you you’d understand) & Nigeria and all moved to the London borough of Newham around the age of 8.
Oh and they also LOVE sports and all things fitness related in general. They’ve been a huge influence on me trying to get fitter, I doubt I’ll reach their level but they’re a great yardstick.
That’s them. Good, honest, hard working individuals who have a genuine interest in making others feel better, who also happen to be my co-founders!
And yes I’m still working with friends which is fantastic (most of the time)!
But enough of the soft stuff, let’s get down to business. I wrote this post as an update to inform you, the reader of what I’m currently working on, because my aim is to get as many people as I possibly can to use Sportas. I genuinely believe that playing sports is one of the best ways to put your mind at ease, the focus forces you to put all other thoughts aside, it’s great and I don’t think enough people understand this yet. But they will!
Our progress so far
We launched our basic MVP at the start of July in London and we’ve seen a fantastic response, people love playing sports. From regular sports like basketball, football & netball to more obscure ones like beach volleyball (which is amazing) & dodgeball! Our Instagram @Sportas.uk is flowing with highlights of our users in action!
This is just the start for us, one day you’ll be able to find a Sportas game any where in the world 🌍
But for now, if you’re based in London, I’d like to invite you to one of our games, I promise you won’t regret it. We’re running a bunch of games this week, which you can find here or if they don’t suit your schedule, you can sign up to keep updated about our other games.
That’s it for now. I want to thank my friends Jide & Musty for giving me a life changing opportunity in joining Yoke and the rest of the Yoke team for a great couple of years.
Now it’s Sportas time and I couldn’t be more excited to see what we can build!
Thank you for reading this post, if you’re interested in what we’re trying to build in anyway or want to help, feel free to message or email me at clinton@sportas.co.uk
