WisBusiness.com
“Cutting Edge Sports Management Software Takes on Excel Spreadsheets”
By Dustin Choy
MILWAUKEE – An innovative management software program is one of 21
business plans still in the running for the 2009 Wisconsin Governor’s Business
Plan Contest.
Innovative Sports Strategies was created by Milwaukee resident Brian
Cole, who believes major sports teams are losing out on money and time because
of the way they manage their financial data.
His product aims to eliminate confusion and save time.
“ISS saves time
and money for (athletic departments and professional teams) because they will
no longer need to spend hundreds of hours each year setting Excel spreadsheet
templates, rolling forward prior data, managing numerous versions of
spreadsheets and compiling massive amounts of reporting data,” Cole said.
Cole, a Glendale native, came up with the idea for ISS while working on
his graduate studies at the University of Oregon. Cole worked with Tom Larson, chief financial
officer of the Oregon Athletic Department, on turning over Excel spreadsheets
from year to year. Cole began designing
a business plan for a financial management application as part of a team
project for an entrepreneurship class.
As the idea grew, Cole began interacting with dozens of collegiate
organizations and professional teams such as the Seattle Seahawks.
According to Cole, all sports teams currently use Excel and Access to
do their budgeting, forecasting, accounting, reporting and benchmarking.
“A typical college athletic department has only 50 to 100 full-time
employees to run all operations,” he said.
“These individuals do not have the time to build, maintain, enhance, and
roll-forward high powered Excel or Access financial management tools.”
While Excel and Access are programs created for general use, ISS is
tailored specifically to sports management.
“Our software application provides college athletic departments and
professional teams with a push-button tool for all their financial planning and
reporting needs,” explained Cole. “Users
no longer need to spend countless hours building complex Excel models to
consider long-term financial alternatives.”
Cole plans to market his product through his network of connections
through his work at Oregon. Eventually,
his plans for ISS are much bigger.
“College athletic departments will be able to leverage the economies of
scale that stem from only one system needing to be maintained for numerous
athletic departments,” Cole said. “In
the near future, relationships with the CFO of the NCAA and CFOs of major
college athletic conferences will be used as ISS pursues large group sales.”
Initial funding for the project has come from friends and family, but
Cole has begun discussions with various angel investor groups.
The cost of ISS would include an upfront installation and training fee
as well as an annual upgrades and support fee.
“For the Business Plan Contest, our hope is to get exposure to and
feedback from many of the great resources throughout the state who work with
and invest in start-up companies,” he explained.
The Wisconsin Governor’s
Business Plan Contest is in its sixth year.
This year’s winners will be announced June 9-10 at the Wisconsin
Entrepreneurs’ Conference in Milwaukee.
Choy is a student in
the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the UW-Madison.