 "This start-up wants to rekindle the child in you")
Sports are a universal language because they give birth to team spirit – “a simple yet powerful notion that forges deep bonds between individuals.”
Such is the philosophy of Playo, a sports community app that seeks to connect amateur athletes, venues, and vendors. Available on iOS, Android, and Windows phones, it helps users reserve spots at nearby venues, find coaches, and connect with potential competitors of equal skill levels.
It covers sports like basketball, football, tennis, table tennis, badminton, swimming, and even pool. And, being an India-based start-up, it doesn’t forget cricket. Users can also book coaches through the app if they want to raise their game. People in the community can track their games and earn ‘karma points’ that can be redeemed on bookings and in-app purchases.
However, at Playo’s heart lies team spirit and community. It’s not a fantasy football team – people use the app for recreational sports – but it’s not a workout tracker either.
“We don’t pretend to be a fitness app,” laughs CEO Gauravjeet Singh. Their attitude toward developing the app was to simplify as much as possible, inspired by the way children approach sports.
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The idea for Playo sparked in October 2014, when Gauravjeet was working at an outsourcing firm. About a month later, he met four like-minded people – Daanish Suhail, Amit Kumar Roushan, Karthik Igoor, and Umashankar An – who were looking to work on similar things.
Playo is specifically designed for the non-professional and specifically targets those who want to participate in some kind of sports team in his or her city. The app seeks to help venues, many of which did not use online technology for their bookings.
This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.