Big News from Human Resources

By Reece

Ok... We don't actually have a Human Resources department. It's more like self-governance by community - the community being the three of us. There aren't many lines that haven't been crossed, but when someone does 'cross the line' we usually keep them in check with a good jab at their ego or threaten to damage their person or property - y'know, the usual resolutions for three 25 year old guys. We are often asked by others in the start-up community if we, the founders, still get along after a year now. Despite the constant threat we pose to one another's physical and mental well-being, we get along great!

Back to HR... Our company was structured a year ago with a CEO (me), a CTO (Dan), and a CNO (Joe). [For those who don't know, CTO = Chief Technology Officer or Chief Geek and CNO = Chief Networking Officer or Chief Schmoozer.] We all play our parts, but we're very interdisciplinary. For instance, I'm just as happy working on site design as I am calling coaches and investors. For the most part, Joe has been laser-focused on 'Sales' - calling coaches, doing demos and turning them into users. He's done a great job and it's given us an awesome beta group to test HomeField.

But Dan and I realized recently, that Overtime Media needs to look at the bigger picture now. We've been so focused on our users at the individual level, and now we need to build the network and that means signing up entire leagues, divisions, etc. At the same time, we need to develop our relationships with our customers to be certain we are providing the best level of service for them. What we need, is a Business Development department.

I would say that if we could afford to hire a biz dev expert, we would... but I'm not sure that's true, especially when the best candidate is already doing the job. That's Joe. The kid loves talking to coaches. He loves HomeField and he loves when they love HomeField. Who better to step up to the challenge of systematically developing a customer pipeline than the guy who already knows the customers inside and out?

So, Overtime Media Inc. is proud to announce that Joe is no longer the CNO, but our President of Business Development. Sure, he's the President of a country with population - zero, but this is a chance for him to build the department in line with our goals and beliefs as a company.

We are excited to see what he can do for us, but probably not as excited as he is at his new position. We presented our offer last week, but we made him wait out the weekend to accept - despite his need to start spitting ideas at us right away. Patience, Grasshopper.

In keeping tradition with our smart-ass internal communications, Joe's response yesterday:

Yes, I accept. I appreciate the opportunity. I would like to thank God, green tea, running first thing in the morning, and eggs with peanut butter.*

Step 1: Analyzing this fall, (ie: what we did right, what we did wrong, what we didn't do fast enough) and applying it to football for the spring.

That's right, barring any major changes, football will be our main focus for the spring.

You hear that football? Joe's coming for you. WOOOOOT!!!

* - Joe has me to thank for eggs on peanut butter toast. Great power breakfast. Try it.

Agility in the Office

By Reece

Lately, we've been working on our pricing for HomeField and among the factors we consider is the value we provide versus the current solutions. Today, I came across this article comparing the costs of 'Software As A Service' - or SaaS - and Licensed Software. HomeField is a SaaS. It's software, but you don't buy it in a physical sense - rather, you pay for the service. We think it's the best way to go for any business - here's why (from the article):

• Hardware costs: You have to either buy machines or add your software to existing servers and manage them. If it is a mission-critical application, you will probably need dedicated machines and back-ups.
• Additional software costs: You will most likely need an OS, application server software, a database, monitoring software, etc...
  
• Implementation costs: In my experience, the implementation costs associated with a behind-the-firewall solution are always higher than those of a SaaS application. There is simply more to do. You will either pay consultants or use your own valuable resources and time to worry about installing software, integrating it, building servers, configuration, etc.
• Maintenance labor: If you have in-house software, there is going to be some level of effort required to keep it happy. Your IT people will need to take care of it, which will keep them from doing more value-added activities.

And a few more reasons why from us:

• Access Everywhere: HomeField is available through any web browser. You can log in from work or from home. There's no software license that says 'you can only use HomeField on one computer.'
  
• Instant Upgrades: Every time we add a new feature or fix a bug - you'll have it on HomeField, instantly. There's no need for the download, install, reboot cycle with traditional software updates.
• Storage & Backup: Since HomeField is not just SaaS, but provides storage as well, you can rest assured that all of your data is securely protected. If your hard drive crashes, we've got you covered.

Really, it's all about agility. With our software on the web AND your media stored in 'the cloud,' your operation is entirely agile. You're not tied down to one machine or location; your processing power and data can be shuffled around to the people who need it - your coaching network and players - with effortless agility.

So be an office linebacker, like my man Terry Tate...

This Week at Overtime Media!

By Overtime Media

This week at Overtime Media... the phone kept ringing and ringing and ringing. Lots of unanswered calls this week had us baffled. Isn't it the off-season? Even fall ball is over, right? Doesn't matter... For college lacrosse coaches, everyday is a contest apparently. Right now in particular, is recruiting season. A conversation with a D1 coach revealed that there are tons of high school juniors already committed! So in the season of official visits, everyone's busting their ass to get the best players...

That being said, we still got a hold of a bunch of our users to informally ask for their support. See - we're working on a deal with the coaches' association right now, and we want to demonstrate to the powers that be that HomeField is what the coaches need/want/can't live without... So, Joe's made some calls and here's just a few examples of the awesome responses we heard.

And I quote...

"This is a no-brainer, absolutely put us on there."

"Without question, my kids LOVE it."

"Absolutely, put me down!"

"Put us down! Definitely."

Thank you to those coaches, and everyone who's given us such great feedback! We really appreciate it (and keep it coming!).

We also had a Board of Director's meeting yesterday. For a change of scenery, we met on Joe's couches, instead of at his kitchen table. Amazing what it did for our discussion... We are now inches away from officially choosing a law firm to represent the company, and we're psyched about it. (Yes. We are excited about dealing with lawyers. It means Reece doesn't have to draft our own legal documents anymore.

Finally, Dan has pretty much been M.I.A. and that's fine with us. Once in a while... OK... often, he disappears into a pile of code and resurfaces a while later with a great new feature or update completed. I'm calling him out right here, because I can't wait to see the results.

This Week at Overtime Media...

By Overtime Media

This week flew by! It all started out with Reece's move into a new apartment on Monday and his ensuing riff on the Accumulation of Things and Storage of Said Things. With the new location, we held 'Team Day' - our weekly day to work together - on the Upper East side for the first time. Since Time Warner Cable is apparently in no rush for Reece's business, we were forced to steal wireless internet, huddling together near the window where the connection was best.

We still got the work done that day, and shot off a partnership proposal to the Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches' Association (IMLCA) for the 2009 season. It makes perfect sense for us, as well as the teams and coaches of the IMLCA. The idea started when a few of our users began urging us to come to the annual convention to pitch HomeField as the standard for their league, and we're grateful for that encouragement. We're now trying to make HomeField the standard for the entire divisions and are offering a great deal for the first year of paid service. More news on this as it develops...

Though it's a bit old, we finally got around to reading a post from the Official Google Blog on the future of search. In it, Google reflects on their first 10 years in business, as well as what's next. It got us thinking, what advancements will be made in sports media in the next 10 years? As is already happening, we think we'll see all content - videos, reports, stats - move into the cloud and be entirely searchable. We'll also go out on a limb here and say that we'll eventually see RFID's or similar chips implanted in players' equipment - tracking devices that can overlay meticulously specific routes and the actual game footage. Imagine that? As a coach, you could track your players' movements on the field and get reports with all of the relevant stats - where they are on the field, number of touches, how much possession time each has, etc. - all instantly available on your computer. Call me crazy, but my dad used to say that we'd see the flying car before too long... and he just may be right.

Finally, we celebrated an important birthday over the weekend... ours! Overtime Media Inc. is 1 year old as of November 15. Dan may debate the date, as he believes we didn't really get started until he quit his old job last January. Regardless, the past year has been full of baby steps and giant leaps, and we're really proud of what we've accomplished so far. Thank you to our early investors, the friends, family and general counsel along the way, and of course, thanks to all our fantastic alpha and beta users who have been so vital to our development. Here's to year 2!

Stuff and Storage: Why Store ANYTHING Yourself If You Don't Have To?

By Reece

I have now spent the last two days moving into a new apartment. Soup-to-nuts. The place was empty, so on Monday morning, I packed up my truck, strapped my mattress and box-spring to the roof and hauled it down to Manhattan from my 'rents house on Cape Cod. Thankfully, Dan and Joe are team players and were on hand for the heavy lifting. They helped all afternoon and it made the move a lot more fun. They even helped me move all of our friend Matt/my new roommate's stuff since he was at work all day. Yup... couch, bed, another mattress, etc etc. Matt's been living in his little studio apartment now for a couple years, and he's accumulated a TON of stuff...

It got me thinking about two ideas: Accumulation of Things and Storage of Said Things.

1. Accumulation of Things

We live in a consumer culture and it's natural for us to accumulate things. We want new/better/sexier whatever it is, all the time... and it adds up, one little purchase at a time. When you're forced to pile all that stuff into one vehicle, or even one box, it makes you think - how the hell did I get all this crap? Do I really need it?

The answer, more often than not, is "no." As I packed my belongings, I said "no" to a lot of "stuff" and I'm glad I did. I had significantly less junk to carry up the stairs to our apartment, and my room is already easily organized. Matt's got a lot of work to do, largely because he has more stuff...

I point this out, because it's the same approach we've taken in developing HomeField. We have a ton of ideas for features or "things," but we don't build them all. Instead, we cover the basic needs of our users, and now we're waiting to hear what other needs, real needs, our users have, before building anything else.

We've heard a few different requests so far, but if we haven't heard from you yet, where is HomeField lacking? What else do you really need it to do?

The dark side of accumulation, is that there are some things that will accumulate and there is 'no saying no.' Think money. As a kid, you kept your money in your piggy bank, but eventually you got a job with a real paycheck and needed a place where you could put all that paper... on to my next point...

2. Storage of Said Things

Fact: Stuff takes up space. Where do you put it all?

This move made me realize how lucky I am to have parents who don't mind that my three surfboards are sitting in their garage and my drumset is ready to rock in the basement. Since I drove down to NYC, I have my truck to deal with. Where the hell can I store that until Thanksgiving (without paying an arm and a leg, getting ticketed, or broken into)?

I'll write the analogy out loud for you. I'm referring to game film. I've seen coaches' offices with stacks of Mini-DVs and shoe-boxes full of DVDs. Really? That's the system? It isn't sustainable and it certainly isn't search-able. Some coaches have moved on to external hard-drives, but not a single coach I know is backing up. Better knock on wood, you're in for trouble when your drive crashes.

That's why we built HomeField. We store all of your game film for you, totally secure, completely private, and absolutely sustainable. We scale up as you add your film and we back it up to ensure there's always a safe copy for you to access. Your players benefit from easy access to the film they need to review to get better and you don't have to worry about your film being seen by anyone who shouldn't.

So, face the facts. You're going to accumulate video and you need to store it somewhere. Do it the right way. Do it with HomeField.

Email me and I'll create your account today!

This Week at Overtime Media!

By Overtime Media

Election-shmelection, the real news this week was happening at Overtime Media...

• Dan and Reece spent last Saturday doing their best slam-dunk competition moves in some pick-up basketball. OK... Reece didn't quite dunk on anyone, but he did play stellar defense. Dan ran the court for the most part... and proceeded to tap out immediately after. Poor guy can't run like he used to... even against the 60 year old who was covering him!
  

• Joe lost half of his equity in the company for missing team basketball on Saturday to hang out with his girlfiriend, but he continued kicking ass through the week, signing up teams at Villanova, Bellarmine, Manhattan, and Air Force. We also did a demo for William Smith (This one, not this one). Reece was late to get on the call, because he was on the phone with his mother. He told the coach at William Smith, unbeknown to him that there were three other women coaches on the call... Awesome. Mama's boy or not, Joe and Reece nailed the demo and signed up four teams at William Smith (and the referral was all thanks to a happy HomeField coach at Gettysburg - Thanks Coach!). We also finally got some of our former coaches on board at Bucknell and Virginia (both swing states, both blue and orange), as well as our first team in the NLL.

• A few coaches this week have suggested we get ourselves to their annual coaches' convention/league meetings, so we can present HomeField and make it the standard for everyone's film handling needs. We love it! So we got on the horn, and before we knew it, we're working on the details of a potential partnership with the IMLCA (Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches' Association). Nothing definite yet, but we're excited at the opportunity, and looking forward to giving back to the sport we all love.

• We also met with a few lawyers this week at some powerful law firms - big fancy boardrooms and all! We've got a TON going on, and we can't keep doing our own legal work. It's a really tough decision for us, as everyone we met was great, but we're not worried, because we'll be in good hands no matter where we end up.

• Dan showed off some new code that's going to set limits on accounts. You heard it, the beginning of the end of our free beta summer extravaganza! Haha... Don't worry, we'll keep in touch as we announce subscription service levels and pricing. In the meantime, we'd love to hear what you think. Shoot us an email with your suggestions on pricing - what's HomeField worth to you?

• And finally, Reece signed a lease on a new apartment, so he doesn't have to sleep on the floor of his friend's studio apartment. We're just glad his search is over, so we don't have to listen to him talk about it anymore. Unfortunately, we do have to help him move.

Okay... we take it back. The election was important, too. It was great to see people so passionate about politics again. We're excited for Obama, despite the potential financial ramifications it may have on us as a small business. Nonetheless, we believe in the words of a businessman we look up to, Mark Cuban...

"As any successful CEO will tell you, leadership, vision and motivation has far more impact on results than any tax cut or increase. While I prefer lower taxes, I can tell you that no entrepreneur or CEO worth a damn in this country gives up or works less because of a change in tax policy. In this country you work harder to achieve your dreams and goals."

"What I Learned About Football This Week That I Didn't Know Last Week"

By Reece

Our buddy Pat forwarded me "The Monday Morning Quarterback" from Sports Illustrated's Peter King today. In it he emphasizes the impact of technology on sports...

"That's right -- modernization of digital-video, and what it means to the research every team puts in during the week to prepare for games... Even 10 years ago, the computerization of video wasn't the same as it is now. In the last four or five years, every team has been outfitted with similar video systems, which enables them to look at every commonality on tape within minutes -- every third-and-eight-or-longer, for instance, that the opponent has run since the start of the 2006 season."

The point is clear, video review is essential to game prep. Are you doing everything you can to prep your team? If you're on HomeField, the answer is yes. If not, then what are you waiting for? Sign up today!