Putting Hoops Data to Work: Davyeon Ross, co-Founder & CEO of ShotTracker

Artwork for podcast Sports Business Conversations

Episode 103 • 7th July 2026 • Sports Business Conversations • ADC Partners

00:02

Hey, this is Davyeon Ross, co founder and CEO of shot tracker. And this is the sports business conversations podcast from adc partners.

00:25

Dave Almy

Hey, this is Dave Elmy of ADC Partners. And over the years I've had a lot of conversations with sports business entrepreneurs, and one thing they all share is a certain degree of risk tolerance. But even the most daring of them pale in comparison when it comes to this episode's guest. At 17 years old, Davion Ross left his home in Trinidad and Tobago and headed to Kansas to get his college degree and play basketball. Now, Kansas winners aren't for the faint of heart, most especially for someone who grew up on a tropical island off the coast of Venezuela. Were there some thoughts about going back?

01:04

Davyeon Ross

For sure.

01:05

Dave Almy

But Davion persisted and in doing so learned a lot of essential lessons about himself. Those lessons serve him today as the co founder and CEO of Shot Tracker, a company that sits squarely at the white hot intersection of sports and technology integration. ShotTracker's sensors based system automatically captures basketball statistics and performance analytics in real time and is currently in use by over 75 men's and women's college basketball programs. Former NBA Commissioner David Stern and Magic Johnson are among the company's investors. In our conversation, Davion recounts his journey from that small island in the Caribbean to leading an innovative sports tech company. We discuss Shot Tracker's growth and the inevitable pivots that come with leading a startup company.

01:51

Dave Almy

We also talk about working with coaches, how the company is leveraging its tech to improve fan experience, and why his favorite words in the business are, wouldn't it be cool if so, thanks for listening in on my conversation with Davion Ross, co founder and CEO of Shot Tracker. Hope you enjoy.

02:11

Dave Almy

Davion, you grew up in Trinidad and Tobago and you ended up in Kansas at Benedictine College on a basketball scholarship. Now that in my mind is about as middle America as it gets. So I want you, if you can go back to that moment, talk about that transition right from living in the islands to being in the middle of America and what you maybe learned about yourself in that transition that you feel like maybe applies today as we go through the process of Shot Tracker and building that business out.

02:43

Davyeon Ross

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Growing up in Trinidad and Tobago was just a real blessing. You had to be resourceful, you had to be aggressive. You had to, you had to make things happen.

02:56

Dave Almy

And for people who aren't familiar with the islands, it's not a big island. This is not Australia.

03:01

Davyeon Ross

No, no, no. This is A small. This is the last most southerly island on the chain of islands and it's right off the coast of Venezuela.

03:09

Dave Almy

Yeah, it is down there.

03:10

Davyeon Ross

Very, very small island. And you know, great weather, very laid back.

03:17

Dave Almy

Yeah.

03:18

Davyeon Ross

And you know, I, I come into middle America was definitely an eye opener for me.

03:22

Dave Almy

Yeah, I'll bet that first Kansas winter was an eye opener.

03:25

Davyeon Ross

Yeah. You talk about a kid who had no, no winter clothes. I mean it gets 60 degrees in the islands. They try to close school, you know. So from my perspective, it was not. It is definitely very different. Just a shock, you know, hadn't seen the campus before, got on campus, hadn't met with the coach. They just saw me play it, heard from some people. I can shoot the J and add a little bit of ups and so going. There was definitely experience being away from your family. I grew up in a really family oriented environment. I'm talking about every Friday night we got some activity as a family in the house.

04:02

Dave Almy

Very close.

04:03

Davyeon Ross

So that was very close knit. So that was probably one of the biggest adjustments. And I tell you what, it was an amazing experience and I learned a ton about myself. I learned, I learned how to activate my resourcefulness and I learned how to be resilient.

04:20

Dave Almy

Yeah.

04:21

Davyeon Ross

And I learned how to really block out the noise and really focus on what really matters and the price. And I will tell you that all of those things were fully transferable into my entrepreneurial journey. You know, being able to filter out the noise and focus on the plan that at the plan of attack, being resilient. I mean, we got through the pandemic, I don't know, much more resilient that you could be. And then being resourceful because, you know, I'm an entrepreneur, this is a, I mean, I don't know if we could still consider ourselves a startup, but I mean, we just got to make stuff happen. You know, we're making lemony or the lemon seeds. Not even the lemon.

04:58

Dave Almy

You didn't even get the lemons on that. You know, it's such an interesting point. The resiliency point in particular strikes a chord. Right. Because when you're in a startup environment and you're building something new, it's not like everybody just nods their heads and say what a great idea right there is. You hear no a lot in those early days. And so you really felt like that experience in that transition really helped support that ability to be like, okay, that was a no. Move on to the next thing.

05:25

Davyeon Ross

Yeah, for sure. I mean, yeah, you're right, we hear no a lot. So there's a need for that resilience. And I think part of it is, you know, you gotta have that deep down courage of what you're building, how you're building it, because there's all of these macro things that will impact it and you gotta have that faith. I mean, hey, if it's one thing it did, it's. It built my faith, you know, because there were many times I called my parents ready to go home with my parents. My parents were, the parents were, you know, academics was everything. They bought me a one way ticket. They're like, you're not coming back unless you come back with a degree.

06:05

Dave Almy

So for me, or as a pilot.

06:07

Davyeon Ross

Yeah, exactly. Unless you built your own plane and flew it back, but you're not coming back here. So faith is another big piece. I mean, but you know, that was instilled in me as a young kid and all that training was worth it. I just got to activate it when I got to college on my own.

06:24

Dave Almy

Now when you were at college, you actually led the nation in field goal percentage your senior year. So like, clearly the film that the coaches at Benedictine saw was accurate. Right? That was good scouting on their part. But you also graduated with a computer science degree. So this was two things you were doing at the same time. So I'm wondering, were you already kind of seeing Shot Tracker in that time when you were both playing and seeing what you could do with computers or with sports technology still totally separate for you at that point?

06:58

Davyeon Ross

Yeah, it was like, I'll be honest, I was seeing it, but I didn't realize the opportunity. Right. Because between the time that I was in college and graduated and you know, when we started, Shot Tracker was, you know, 13, 14 years, you know, so for me, I saw it and I experienced it, but I didn't think about solving it. That's where like the entrepreneurial side came in. And I've always have this entrepreneurial side, but it was activated later on when I wanted more when I was working in corporate America. And so for me, I saw it, I experienced it. And when the opportunity with child traffic came about, I mean, it was easy to just go back in my mind and be like, oh yeah, that was so painful. I used to spend an extra two hours in there tracking like that was crazy.

07:43

Dave Almy

And I'd take paper and pencil with the shots you took and which ones you missed. And doing the math, there's got to.

07:49

Davyeon Ross

Be a better way, right? So yes, absolutely, I experienced it, but I Didn't make that connection at that point. You know, I was very young in college too. I started college at 17.

07:59

Dave Almy

Okay. Yeah.

08:00

Davyeon Ross

So I was very young and like that, that connection was not made then.

08:04

Dave Almy

I wish it would have gotten a little out of hand, but maybe like, you know, so you have the sort of the foundational parts there, like you said. You kind of like had the pieces maybe of the puzzle were there, but maybe just not assembled. But did that experience in going and working for corporate America, because you worked for Sprint and some other mainline technology companies that I think are, you know, sort of widely known, did that corporate experience help you assemble those pieces? And what did you. And where did that inform the entrepreneurial experience for you?

08:37

Davyeon Ross

Yeah, so like the entrepreneurial experience came from back in the day. Right. I remember being 12 and having my mom come to the US bring buying a whole. I'd saved up a couple hundred bucks, bought baseball caps, and I'm going to school with a garbage bag of baseball caps, putting people on layaway plan and, you know, so that when I.

08:56

Dave Almy

Went out there ahead of everybody.

08:58

Davyeon Ross

Yeah, yeah. So I mean, when I saw the thousand percent return on my investment, I was like, this entrepreneur thing is real.

09:05

Dave Almy

This is real.

09:06

Davyeon Ross

But I will tell you the corporate experience, and I tell young people this all the time. I love entrepreneurship. Right? But the thing about the corporate experience, it gives you domain expertise and things that you just can't get with just entrepreneurship. So I always tell people, entrepreneurship plus some other domain or genre, whether it's math, whether it's something, is what I mean, it works hand in hand together. That's like a total one plus one equals five, which I know it sounds crazy for my guy who was a computer science and math major, but I'm.

09:36

Dave Almy

A marketing guy, so it made total sense to me.

09:39

Davyeon Ross

It's good math, right? So you're right. I learned execution. I learned delivery. I learned timeline. I learned understanding the market. I learned because I was in a position where I was a developer, but then I transitioned into a tech lead where my role was, you know, I was bilingual. I was the one working with the customer and then leading the development team. So I was like a translator for several years on bridging that gap. And then I went into management consulting where I really had to. I was a salesperson without being a salesperson because my approach was more of a consultative approach based on my expertise.

10:13

Dave Almy

Does that. I mean, I can't imagine.

10:17

Davyeon Ross

Right.

10:17

Dave Almy

Because as you're an entrepreneur, you're all about defining what the Problem is, I mean the best entrepreneurs see a challenge that's unaddressed in the marketplace and then create a solution based on the perception of what that challenge is. And there's this really fine line between getting input on what coaches, what's the old Henry Ford thing? Right. If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses. So there's but this background that you have in diagnostics, diagnostic challenges and producing solutions for clients really helped lay the groundwork for the success that Shot Tracker would become. Right.

10:51

Davyeon Ross

A hundred percent, 100%. And I love the fact that I was able touch every piece of it. When I had a, when I was a product owner and a tech lead owner, I had to work with the business to understand the problem statement. I had to come up with the solutions, I had to think about how went to market and then I had to go build it. So when you touch all of those pieces, I mean that's what being a CEO from an entrepreneurship look, there are much more people that are smarter than me, but I need to know enough to be really dangerous to be able to have the right conversations with them because they're probably not privy to all of the things that I'm taking into consideration to make these decisions. So you're 100% right. And I love the Henry Ford thing.

11:29

Davyeon Ross

I tell my team that all the time. It's a balancing act between listening to the customer and showing them there's a better way. It's really a balance act. You can't go everything and you can't go pay the customer because you know, one customer could lead you down a path. So it's really a unique balancing act between like true ideation and creativity and listening to the customer.

11:51

Dave Almy

Yep. Now, your Shot Tracker, I think turned 16 this year, right?

11:57

Davyeon Ross

No, that's a lot older. I mean we're actually. This year is 13.

12:03

Dave Almy

13. 13. Oh, sorry. I wanted to put you in the driver's seat of a car as a 16 year old. You're just 13. Sorry, I was getting advanced there.

12:11

Davyeon Ross

Yes, yes, 13.

12:12

Dave Almy

13, 13 Years. Right. And this is like I said earlier, you know, you have the competitive sports part of your person and you have the technology part of your person. Then you and Bruce get together, you sort of fuse those two things together to produce Shot Tracker. I'm wondering, as you look back on that 13 year history, do you have a sense of when you first had a feeling of, oh, this might work? Like this is momentum is starting to happen and we're getting Positive feedback. And people are starting to call us rather than us continually doing outbound calls. What were some of those moments for you where you felt like momentum is really starting to take off?

12:53

Davyeon Ross

ould say it was in January of: 2000

13:40

Davyeon Ross

I would say it was in April of 16, sorry, January of 16, when we actually launched at CES.

13:47

Dave Almy

Okay.

13:48

Davyeon Ross

point. I will say January of: 2020

14:20

Dave Almy

Gosh, no. What I can't imagine that was the.

14:24

Davyeon Ross

Punch in the gut where, you know, I think we thought were going to lose the company because we, you know, it was the pandemic I remember being at. We were actually in the midst of a big fundraise and had a big fish. And then they came back and said that they had to back out after they lead. We were in Vegas ready to sign paperwork. It was, it was rough.

14:44

Dave Almy

And this is just as Covid was starting to take off like March.

14:49

Davyeon Ross

I got. I had that conversation with a March 6th, 7th. I remember it because it was.

14:52

Dave Almy

I'll bet you do.

14:53

Davyeon Ross

It was. That was the year that the Mountain west, who we had partnered with, went a week before everybody else. Because the next week was the 12th. I was supposed to be at the Big east tournament.

15:02

Dave Almy

Yeah.

15:03

Davyeon Ross

And they played a half of basketball and then shut the country down.

15:07

Dave Almy

They played.

15:08

Davyeon Ross

They played one half of basketball.

15:10

Dave Almy

One half of basketball.

15:11

Davyeon Ross

Yeah. And then they shut the country down,.

15:13

Dave Almy

They must have had a player test positive or something like that.

15:15

Davyeon Ross

Exactly, yeah. And so those were like big defining moments. And then if I look to further along here, most recently, you know, back when, you know, I wasn't always CEO, so in 23 I became CEO and kind of took over everything. I was always president and CEO. That was another defining moment. But when I think about customer defining moment, I think about what we're doing with a Big 12, that multi year agreement. I think about just the demand of people coming in and the fact that were tracking all this data across, you know, 50, 60 colleges. Those were also defining moments. I think. You know, the pandemic, we used a pandemic to think about our business because initially it was the Helix product where you install it.

16:00

Davyeon Ross

But if you look at our suite of products now we have all of these software, you know, AI video products. So you know, getting those into the market are additionally more validating components into. So even up to like this final four where we launched this, taking our data, this nil component. So I mean those are just almost a history of the validations, a little bit of the punch in the guts, but the validation of the steps that allowed us to be here today. It's been a roller coaster journey.

16:34

Dave Almy

But also a recognition that Shot Tracker, the original product is great but can't exist on its own. There has to be a continual evolution on how we, how you, how we. Look at me, look at me getting involved.

16:51

Davyeon Ross

You're hired.

16:54

Dave Almy

That there has to be other ways to utilize the data that's being produced, to expand the footprint of the company. Just for growth perspective, but also because capability.

17:06

Davyeon Ross

Right. And I like the words you use. Right. You know, how can you utilize the data? Because that's allowed us to span into some of these other products. Right. Like for instance, when you think about Scout, we had all this data and we wanted to figure out a way to allow people to gain access and to democratize access to this data and video. So why not, you know, as the evolution of AI and everything, why not create that component? We have the data, we have the video. How can we empower it? I mean, we talked a little bit about the Hype product. The reason that came about was because we had all this data and there was a way to monetize it and to help our partners drive more engagement, but they didn't have the resources to build the tools.

17:48

Davyeon Ross

So we started building the tools and our whole strategy is, hey, we have data and video. How do we find ways to Streamline the experience for our customers, make it more efficient, help them monetize it with the same data. And that resulted in the suite of tools that we have and have them integrated across the board so they work in cohesion together.

18:09

Dave Almy

I feel like it's just legendary inside of technology companies that founders will one day look at what they thought was the product, like, oh, we're doing this and then realize, hey man, if we scramble what we're doing here, like we have all the stuff, but if we tweak it so that it has this different purpose, that'll that leads to just more success than they originally anticipated. I do want to talk about the Hype product because I find this to be really interesting because it takes Shot Tracker out of sort of the coaches and player performance area and it kind of makes this big bet on fan experience and connecting and using what you have in entirely new ways. So why was this the right time to create Hype for Shot Tracker and how will fans experience it?

19:01

Davyeon Ross

Yeah, fair question. So I think that anything that could, I mean, we're in a different world, man. When you think about revenue share, you think about nil. So I mean these budgets and the revenue hasn't really changed, but you just added a whole additional. You know, I would say you just sliced up the pie with an additional piece that's substantial that has to go to the players. Right. But you didn't increase the revenue. Yeah, at that point.

19:27

Dave Almy

And it happened like this.

19:29

Davyeon Ross

Yeah, it happened pretty turnkey. And now there's this market and it happened without like some guidelines or some rules. It kind of happened in, hey, it's a free for all, you know.

19:38

Dave Almy

Oh yes.

19:39

Davyeon Ross

In regards to start well before they now they have the 20.5. But that still doesn't include, you know, all the other money associated. That's just the revenue share bucket.

19:50

Dave Almy

Not too many businesses survive when they're told the one day that they have an additional $20 million line item expense without any impact on revenue. That's a, that's a tough one.

20:00

Davyeon Ross

So for us was, okay, how can we help our folks add? I mean look, I think gone are the days where it's just plopping a sign or popping an image. Like people want to interact, people want to integrate. Brands want an experience, they want to collect data. And that's really why we built a high product. So you may see the high product in, you know, one of these teams app showing some 3D data where they can actually replicate their actual stadium look and feel and bring that to a digital set. But they could do it literally with three or four clicks and not like a whole after effects experience or a whole product experience. Just click, click and publish and.

20:39

Dave Almy

You push it and you could see.

20:41

Davyeon Ross

Them, you know, enhance that in the in stadium experience. That's more and more very important because fans are very, you know, very important to the ecosystem and the dollars they spend, the sponsors associated. You may see it on social media where that's another channel and another vehicle to additional views. And what I think Hybe does is Hybe starts operating. Hybe starts creating opportunities for people not to have to be just in the stadium to experience a fun experience. They could be in home and playing on their mobile device. I mean we see the second screen experience across the board and this is a perfect example of how Hype helps to facilitate that.

21:21

Dave Almy

It's, it's such a common thing in sports that sometimes teams make the mistake of thinking that their fans only exist in the arena when, you know, not that many people actually get to go to the games who call themselves fans. And sounds like hype is one of these tools that teams can use and sponsors can use to engage people who might never make it to the arena to see the in game video board and things like that. So the more collective experience.

21:48

Davyeon Ross

Yes, 100%. I mean, you know, a perfect example of that is, you know, we had like, you know, one of our partners and their whole thought process is we could only sell inventory when people in stadium. What if when they're in the road? Well, that same data is coming back and now you have in real time you could use that data and you can actually replicate a digital version of the court and go sell that to other sponsors, you know, versus having to worry about the sponsor that's in the stadium.

22:16

Dave Almy

Yeah.

22:16

Davyeon Ross

So not only is it creating inventory, it's creating engagement and it's creating, and it's going to create really unique opportunities for brands.

22:24

Dave Almy

Now Helix and Scout and those are on the practice and performance side. Hype is on the fan side, inside the business. How do those product lines make each other better? Right, because they seem to come at the same thing at different locations. Do they pull you apart from an engineering standpoint or do they does iron sharpen iron kind of thing?

22:49

Davyeon Ross

No, I think anytime. I mean look at the end of the day. So just for the whole purpose of everybody, let me break these out. So you have Helix, which is a sensor based system, that's a player development Tool like literally schools can go in. We've had people go into the portal and go to their schools and say, hey, this is how much I shot last summer. And this is a breakdown. And I may not have played much because we had a whole bunch of NBA players, but this is the work that I put in.

23:16

Dave Almy

Yep.

23:17

Davyeon Ross

So that's a player development tool. It's a sensor based system where we have sensors in all Dominion basketball. So Nike, Under Armour, Adidas, Molten Baden, Spalding Wilson, and it happens in practice.

23:28

Dave Almy

You're calling brands I didn't even know made basketballs. Yeah, yeah, no, you do have everybody.

23:34

Davyeon Ross

Yeah, no, we work with every single brand and then so literally that could be translated into game and it generates just really extensive level of data. We have our Pulse product for individuals who may not have Helix, but what that does is that it's kind of a tech on a bench product where it takes similar data, it takes data feeds, it takes video and it's able to actually use an AI, synchronize those and give you interactive box scores, gives you possessions. It automatically chops up the data and then they can pull it into their video editor. If a kid comes out the game, they could start the things and said, hey, you're going underneath the screen, I need to go above the screen.

24:14

Davyeon Ross

Let me show you three videos because I don't know if you guys know, but I've got 12 year old twins and if I tell them it's a giraffe, they're going to tell me it's the lion until I show them it's a giraffe.

24:24

Dave Almy

Yeah, I got bad news for you. I got 24 year old twins and they still do that.

24:29

Davyeon Ross

All right, well, we have a lot to look forward to. But yeah, so that's the Pulse product.

24:35

Dave Almy

Yeah.

24:35

Davyeon Ross

Right. And then you got the Scalp product which sits on top of these and takes all the rich data.

24:39

Dave Almy

Yeah.

24:40

Davyeon Ross

And it literally democratizes access to data and video. So we want anyone to be able to ask any question and get access to that. It's not going to take them 100% of the way, but it's going to be able to tee up that video and data and some intelligence from a basketball model perspective. That makes sense. Right. And then you look at, we've got the high product which is the fan, which it says, hey, give me all the data and how could I drive interactive experiences? This really focuses on the fan. So from my perspective, the better data we have in all of those products flow into the hype experience.

25:15

Dave Almy

Yeah.

25:16

Davyeon Ross

And they really complement each other. And the beautiful thing about it, they.

25:19

Dave Almy

Just stack on top of each other.

25:21

Davyeon Ross

Exactly. I mean, it's. It's a. It's a great marriage. And now the cool thing about it is that we have multiple people in the athletic department that are benefiting from it. You got coaches, you got players, you got strategists, you got analytics, people that are benefiting from those suite of tools. And then on the other side, your marketer, your revenue share, maybe even your MMR partner, whoever that may be, is all benefiting from it, and everybody wins. And for us, as a company, we have multiple people who see value in the solutions that we bring to the market.

25:53

Dave Almy

I want to talk also about how you sell into colleges and universities in particular, because you just announced, I think there's like 17 new and renewed Division One partners just recently. And. And we're not talking like, these are not small schools. This is Indiana's and the Purdues and the San Diego states.

26:10

Davyeon Ross

You just wait, bro. You just wait.

26:13

Dave Almy

You want to announce something here, David?

26:14

Davyeon Ross

No, I can't.

26:15

Dave Almy

I can't.

26:15

Davyeon Ross

I'm not at liberty just yet, because. No, it's just that I'm not at liberty to say just yet just because, you know, everybody. You talk about the process at the collegiate level. It is a process.

26:26

Dave Almy

It is a process. So let's talk about that for a minute, because I'm assuming, like, coaches are a big audience for you, and coaches trying to be as charitable with this as I possibly can, have ways they like to do things. And so introducing something you say, like, hey, no, trust me, this is better. That's not easy.

26:49

Davyeon Ross

So.

26:50

Dave Almy

So. So talk about what. How do you break that dam to. For. For coaches who are. Or others who are just really, like, this is the way we do things.

26:59

Davyeon Ross

Yeah. So, I mean, look, so for one, it's not just coaches. That's almost human nature. Right. Like, we like the things that are. That we are familiar with. Right. I mean, I always try to put my kids in these situations to kind of see how they react and. Because I don't want them to always do familiar. Right. Because what's familiar is comfortable.

27:19

Dave Almy

Here's 16 goats go.

27:21

Davyeon Ross

Exactly. And what I tell people is that, like, true innovation does not happen in your comfort zone. Right, Right. And. And that's true innovation does not happen. Change does not happen in your comfort zone.

27:33

Dave Almy

No. Smooth seas do not make good sailors.

27:36

Davyeon Ross

Exactly.

27:37

Dave Almy

Yeah.

27:37

Davyeon Ross

And so for me, I think it's a combination of. We have to make it Easy. We have to make it easy for them. We have to make the transition easy. We have to give them comfort because their ultimate goal is to win games. And if they have a process that has done them successful, maybe they haven't won a championship, they're going to want to stick to that process. This is how I do it, and this is how I've done it for the last 87 years. And it's not time for me to change. So one of the things that we've tried to do is we've tried to mitigate the risk of change. So sometimes we build stuff. It may not be the best way, but we build stuff so that transition is easy for them.

28:16

Davyeon Ross

And then we start taking them through this process of, hey, let me see how you're doing that. Can I show you something? I just got here in two clicks and it just took you 10. Would you be willing to migrate here? And so for us, we always have to show. We have to give people the opportunity to test. We have to give them a comfort, and we have to have the supporting cast with them so that they know that no matter what, we're going to have their back. And because their success is our success. And I tell you, the schools that have moved over to us and that have partnered with us, that's one thing they get from us. We're customer obsessed. We're going to be great partners.

28:56

Davyeon Ross

You pick up the phone and call, we're going to drop and make sure that we can support you, because your success and making that migration as streamlined as possible is the most important thing. So it's challenging. Trust me, I think it's very challenging. I shot. I was. Last thing I was saying, I shot free throws in college the exact same way from my second year. My first year, I struggled, so I needed to make some changes. But for my second year, from college through, and I shot, like I want to say, I shot between 78 and 82% from the free throw line. Not too bad. But this is the deal. If I pick up a basketball right now, I don't even have to think about it.

29:37

Davyeon Ross

I'm gonna get a basketball, I'm gonna spin it, I'm gonna dribble it three times, I'm gonna spin it, and then I'm gonna make that free throw. So, like, we are creatures of habits, especially athletes and coaches and humans in general.

29:49

Dave Almy

I think also, I mean, coaching is such a human business, and technology can be seen as inserting itself.

29:59

Davyeon Ross

Yes.

29:59

Dave Almy

In that personal business, I mean, coaches go into coaching because they like working with people. I think that's probably a fair general statement. So I suppose there's an element of if you're going to be successful talking with coaches, you have to show them how it's going to aid them and support them in their personal interactions. Just like you said, customer obsessed. If we don't have that layer to back this up, the non starter.

30:24

Davyeon Ross

Well, there's a couple things I'll say to that. You're right, coaches like the interaction. But what has happened over the last several years is that in order to win, you've had to do a whole bunch of things that have not been streamlined, that has been painful, that has taken you away from that interaction with your players. So what I like to tell coaches is that my job and my team's job is to have less hands on keyboards and more hands on players. And so when you tell people that they're like, yeah, that makes sense because that's what I love to do. I don't like being away from my family and having to hand code stuff for three to four hours.

31:06

Dave Almy

Yeah, yeah. I don't want to be cutting tape.

31:09

Davyeon Ross

People are starting to get and see the benefit like, wow, I could really start developing these players versus and you know, we have like just the ecosystem. Right. You, you had nil, you had the transfer portal where people could transfer every single year. Think about it from the end of final two years ago, it was in March, they opened up the portal before the final four was done. Last year, it was the Tuesday after it. So literally you go from playing it to final four into you can't even celebrate now you have to try to.

31:41

Dave Almy

Now you're working on your career.

31:43

Davyeon Ross

Exactly. So they've added so much work to their plate, whether it's compliance, whether it's nil, whether it's the transfer portal that they're doing so much. And again, less time with hands on players. And that's where it really matters. I don't care what you have. If you don't have good players and you don't grow those players, you're not going to keep them and you're not going to win games.

32:03

Dave Almy

I suppose it probably also helps to a degree in your sales process the fact that you've had as investors Magic Johnson and former NBA commissioner David Stern were some of the initial investors that you have on there. Can you talk about their association with Shot Tracker and maybe some advice that you heard from them?

32:25

Davyeon Ross

Yeah.

32:25

Dave Almy

That has helped drive the success of the company.

32:29

Davyeon Ross

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, growing up as a Kid in Trinidad with three channels. And sometimes they would play a little bit of NBA. I was a big fan of, you know, the Lakers. I had. I had drawn the Lakers. It was on my wall.

32:44

Dave Almy

So I'm a Celtics fan. So we're going to have to. We're just going to have to move. We're going to have to move through this together.

32:49

Davyeon Ross

We could shoot for it, but Lakers and the Bulls were, you know, my two favorite teams. And it was surreal being able, you know, thanks to Ryan Smith. He's now the head of Atlanta Life Insurance and doing some amazing things there. But he was Magic's director of investments. And I was introduced to him via another VC guy, Marlon Nichols. Shout out to Marlon. And built a relationship with them. And then I also was a mentor@gosh Techstars and got introduced to Greatcraft, which led to an introduction. At that point in time, they told me, hey, we're going to introduce you to David. He's an intern at Greycroft. And it turned out to be David Stern. And that was crazy. And just building just incredible relationships with them. I will tell you, those two gentlemen are two of the best around about seeing around Corners.

33:48

Davyeon Ross

I mean, like, there's things that are coming to fruition now that David and I talked via text at 11pm One night.

33:56

Dave Almy

You know, you guys really developed a relationship.

33:59

Davyeon Ross

Yeah, no, I was, like, really close with David.

34:01

Dave Almy

Man.

34:02

Davyeon Ross

I used to talk to David. It'd be crazy. I'd be in a meeting and my phone would ring and it would say, David Sterling. And they would look at me like, what? Why is he calling you? You know, And I still have a good relationship with Irvin and his crew too. But those two were some of the two. Like, if you think about it, Irvin took Starbucks to the inner cities before. I mean, you talk about the ability of movie theaters. Starbucks, the movie theaters. The ability to see around corners was one of the blessings that they both had. And I really enjoyed it. I got close. I was really close with David. Still got a good relationship with Irvin, and they were just incredible. There's a lot that they said to me that David had these. I call them Sternisms.

34:50

Dave Almy

And I have a. I'm sure he does.

34:52

Davyeon Ross

And there were things that he said to me that I still use today. Like one thing. One time were going through a situation, I called it up and he said to me, and anytime he had, like these words of wisdom, he would lower his voice. So you had to, like, listen. Like, you're like. He said, lean ahead if you want to make stuff happen, you always have to be willing to step into traffic. And he's not safe, bad things may happen, but you have to be willing to step into traffic. And man, I have about 15 different sternisms that every time he would say something to me, I would write it down. You know, he used to say his venture firm was a micromanagement ventures. And he'd always say to me like micromanagement is underrated.

35:44

Dave Almy

But yeah, so perfectly. David Stern.

35:47

Davyeon Ross

Yeah, like I miss him, man. I go back and read our texts periodically, but I really do miss that dude. He was, he was really instrumental and I'm just so blessed.

35:58

Dave Almy

Not just instrumental for your business or the NBA. I mean he's one of the transitional figures in all of professional sports. So that's looking a bit back. I want you to look ahead because the sports landscape is accelerating and growing and changing dramatically. So as you look down the road, moving to professional leagues and growing their women's basketball, other fast growing U S properties AI now basically the common language that we're all trying to speak. How do you identify those places where shot tracker goes next as you find success here? Where do we go next?

36:44

Davyeon Ross

Yeah, so that's the question. I think that you know, we, we have a plan here and you know, it's a multi step approach Plan 1. We really listen to our customers and that's what a lot of people don't do, to be honest with you. With one of our customers, we have a bi weekly call even during the season where he's just giving us problems and ideas that he's experiencing for us to solve and he's given us feedback and so listening to our customers, we had a situation where back in February we did a bunch of tests and on our pulse team we did probably 20, 30 tests and people were like, well you have the whole video in here. So I couldn't get in and scrub.

37:30

Davyeon Ross

When went into the final four and we showed people that we listened to them, people were like, man, other companies just don't listen. And this is incredible that you guys got this done. You're talking about end of February. By the time they went to the final four, that first week in April, it was done, pushed to production and we could actually let them play with it. So that's the first thing we listen to our customers and we're going to continue to do that. The second thing we do that is we try to surround ourselves with experts, people who are thought leaders, people who Want to be on the bleeding edge. And that may be partners, that may be individuals. I'll give you one example.

38:09

Davyeon Ross

So we just brought on the former video coordinator of Virginia, and he's also the assistant coach with the Serbian Women's national team. Right. His name is Janko Popovich. Played basketball in college, worked across some of the top programs. He is probably 1% in video coordinators alongside some of our other customers, but he's top 1% in regards to workflows and making sure that the head coach has exactly what they need when they need it, and taking it to the next level. We brought him on board. So now between my knowledge, between his knowledge, between listening to our customers, and between our partners, that thought leadership, that's how you actually plot what you need to do going forward. And we're going to continue doubling down on those two. The third thing is that we have a culture here where the best idea should always win.

39:06

Davyeon Ross

I don't care if the janitor is cleaning out one night and he gives you a good idea. We better run with it if it's a good one. And we validate with our customers. So we try to create a culture here that's conducive to bring these ideas. We don't care if they fail. We'll tell you if they're crap. So you got to do your due diligence, but that does not mean we won't listen to the next one. And in creating a culture internally, I'll tell you, we ooze with that culture when our folks go into the field and it's showing up in customers. I mean, look, I could go on, but those are three of the things that we're doing to really stay ahead. And also, we are heavily into AI. So, for instance, I'll give you one last thing.

39:49

Davyeon Ross

I created a AI ambassador program within the organization. So you've got all of the engineers that they utilize AI heavily integrated into their development. I mean, we're at a time right now where changing everything are accelerating development at astronomical speeds. We've got a data science group who. They're not engineers, but they're. They're well versed in data science, and they understand and they're using AI. And then we've got our different groups who they're just starting to understand AI because they're not necessarily tech resources. So we created an AI ambassador program with six of our excited people. 1. It gives them an opportunity to really embrace it, and we provide them training. And what we're doing is we're taking that. And they partnered up with the non AI people. And the non AI people are bringing the problem statements to the market.

40:41

Davyeon Ross

And then we're just developing and building things to build operational. And if we see some things we could push to our customers, that's what we're doing. We're also creating different summits because we think that we have to educate people. If you just tell them, hey, this is what you're doing, they're not going to understand. So we're going to try. We have a very robust customer success team, and their job is to make sure that people are using our products to the nth degree and we're identifying opportunities to help them figure out how to get better. Because a lot of times they're hesitant, but when they see it and realize it can help their workflow, they're like, I may have to change how I'm doing stuff.

41:18

Dave Almy

I suppose it's not uncommon. Right. With a. Particularly with technology products, this can be intimidating to dive deeply into it. Right. You may have the four or five things you really like about it, but for a twofold thing, you improve their workflow, but also they become more integrated into the product. Right. And the more integrated they are into the product, the less likely they are to go try something else.

41:35

Davyeon Ross

That's. That's exactly it. And we hope that they don't go somewhere. It's something else. If, you know, as the entrepreneur and you. And you know this, the best word you could hear is like, you know,.

41:45

Dave Almy

What would be cool Now?

41:48

Davyeon Ross

I'm like, now I'm listen, I'm like, all right, roadmap. Roadmap. Oh, and I heard that. Oh, I've heard that five times. Okay, that bumps up the list.

41:55

Dave Almy

Yeah, it's starting to get another.

41:57

Davyeon Ross

And that's where we got to have the. Where they feel comfortable enough to say, man, you know, I would love it if it did this, or, you know, it'd be cool if it did this. And we're just sitting there. Okay. Okay. Listening and help. Having them help us build a roadmap.

42:13

Dave Almy

The greatest phrase an entrepreneur can hear. Wouldn't it be cool if I'm with Davion Ross? He is the co founder and CEO of Shot Tracker. Davion, thanks very much for the time today. But before I let you go, I'm going to put you into the lightning round. I got a couple of questions for you. I want you to give me, please, the first thing that comes to your mind. Are you ready?

42:33

Davyeon Ross

Okay. I'm ready.

42:34

Dave Almy

Okay, Here we Go. What would you order me to eat when we go to Trinidad and Tobago together?

42:42

Davyeon Ross

Oh, you got to get a roti and a doubles.

42:44

Dave Almy

Okay, give it to me. What is it?

42:46

Davyeon Ross

So there's multiple pieces of roti. There's multiple aspects of the roti. Right? The roti is like flour. It's beaded. One has. They have dalpuri, which has split peas, and it has curry chicken, curry potato.

43:00

Dave Almy

You literally just made my stomach rumble.

43:02

Davyeon Ross

Yeah, it's. And then doubles are like fried dough with curry chana in it. And people put tamarind sauce, they put pepper, that type of stuff. You see a lot of street vendors do, like the doubles. Roti is more an establishment, but you gotta have that.

43:17

Dave Almy

Should we. Should we go for lunch today?

43:20

Davyeon Ross

We can't go today.

43:21

Dave Almy

We can't go today.

43:22

Davyeon Ross

The jet is out. Okay, all right, maybe another day. But if you do go, that's. That's what you got. Depending on where you live, there's a lot of great Trinity spots in. In the US too. Florida, New York, Louisiana.

43:34

Dave Almy

So I'm going to start looking around. How's your hoops game these days, man?

43:39

Davyeon Ross

I can still shoot it. I don't move like I used to, but I'll focus my energy on my golf game. Oh, okay. All right.

43:46

Dave Almy

What's the handicap?

43:48

Davyeon Ross

I don't know. Somebody maybe listed here. No.

43:52

Dave Almy

Shot Tracker golf.

43:54

Davyeon Ross

I'm like a 10, 11.

43:55

Dave Almy

Oh, come on. That's pretty dang good right there.

43:59

Davyeon Ross

Yeah, I'm okay. All right, noted.

44:02

Dave Almy

All right. You said once said we want Shot tracker to be for gyms. What WI fi is to coffee shops. So what's your go to coffee order?

44:10

Davyeon Ross

I don't drink coffee.

44:12

Dave Almy

I knew you were going to say. How did I know you were going to say that? Not even actual high coffee drinks. Me?

44:19

Davyeon Ross

Yeah, I don't. I don't like. I wouldn't say I've never had coffee, but I have one or one to three cups a year, and it's just regular coffee.

44:28

Dave Almy

That is not a habit. Last one. We've talked about a couple of mentors and people. You get a couple of shout outs that any. Anybody you want to give a shout out to before we sign off?

44:38

Davyeon Ross

2. I want to give a shout out to my parents, my wife, my family, because this is a lonely road. It's hard. And they have been, you know, my brothers, they've been like, incredible. And then I got to give a shout out to the shot tracker team. You know, a lot of times I'm the face, but it's like every basketball team. It takes a village. And these people work hard. They work hard for me, they work hard with me. I push him hard. I love up on them. And then I push him hard. And so I just want to. There'd be no me without, like those two groups. So hands down.

45:15

Dave Almy

Davion Ross, thanks for the time today.

45:17

Davyeon Ross

My pleasure. This was fun.

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