Episode 1 with William Strange
In this episode of the IoT Buzz Podcast, hosts Andrew Romeo and Hamed Ghajarnia are joined by William Strange, Founder and CEO of Sports Performance Tracking (SPT), a wearable sports technology company. Listen to this interesting conversation as the three delve into topics like the ‘why’ behind starting the business, navigating COVID, taking risks and being flexible during turbulent times, among others.
A highly competitive sports person, Will wondered ‘why’ he couldn’t track his performance. After all, he wanted to be informed about how hard he was working and how his performance was when compared with his teammates. So, in 2015, drawing from his experiences in sports and from his passion to build a product based on his needs, he founded Sports Performance Tracking (SPT). He shares that the product has evolved since and now the company has over 90,000 users around the globe in over 130 countries.
Talking about specific challenges, he points to changing customer needs, dwindling customer base, unavailability of hardware components, the soaring price of materials, changes in the supply chain, and cost-cutting as being the primary ones. He acknowledges that the hard times called for some hard choices to be made–75% of staff for SPT was terminated over a course of just four days. He, however, also understands that making tough calls and having honest conversations were of utmost importance at that point in time. His recommendations for businesses when navigating difficult times include:
- Understand the variables in the business
- Be flexible
- Be willing to take risks
- Pivot quickly by making informed decisions
Topics covered
- Finding a solution
- Diversifying areas of the business
- Understanding variables during hard times
- Finding alternate solutions
- Taking risks as entrepreneurs
- Making informed decisions
- Being flexible
