March 2, 2011 | Category: Press Releases

Experienced industry players Brad Hefta-Gaub, Tim Bauman, and Daniel Jackson to transform youth sports market; trio joins business leaders Steve Goldman, John Connors, and Martin Coles on Korrio roster

SEATTLE, WA (March 3, 2011) – Korrio (korrio.com), provider of the 21st-century sports automation platform Playflow™, has announced key members of its management team, who have more than 75 years of collective experience leading winning organizations in sports, technology, and business. The lineup features Brad Hefta-Gaub, Chief Technology Officer; Tim Bauman, Vice President of Sales; and Daniel Jackson, Director of Business Development.

In assembling the company’s executive team, Founder and CEO Steve Goldman selected leaders in their respective industries, experts whose core competencies — technology, sports, and business — and past record of success building businesses and leading winning companies provide Korrio with the skills, leadership, and vision required to grow the Korrio brand. The team will help establish the youth sports automation category and position the Playflow platform at the forefront of this new market.

“We’ve assembled this leadership team to execute our value statement of ‘More Sport, Less Hassle,’” said Goldman. “Korrio is introducing 21st-century technology to this market to transform the youth sports experience for all stakeholders. Based on each individual’s record of past success, I’m looking forward to accomplishing exceptional things together.”

Hefta-Gaub, Bauman, and Jackson Plan to Win

Chief Technology Officer Brad Hefta-Gaub has been at the forefront of web innovation for 20 years, developing game-changing digital media technology and applications that have become the underpinnings of today’s Internet. He was a contributor to several Internet standards and an inventor of key patents in streaming media, digital rights management, and online media. As the Vice President of Engineering at Real Networks (RNWK), Hefta-Gaub helped transform streaming media from a nascent technology into a broadly deployed and commercialized medium on the Web. He also co-founded Sweat365.com, an innovative social network for everyday athletes, and was CTO and SVP of Engineering at Revenue Science. Hefta-Gaub is an avid triathlete and has two daughters who love sports.

Tim Bauman is Korrio’s Vice President of Sales. Bauman has 35 years of experience helping lead technology companies to dynamic growth and diversification. Bauman held senior executive positions at Unisys, Oracle, WRQ, and SM&A. He founded the Wilkes-Barre Triathlon, served as the Director of the United States Professional Triathlon Team, and has been an instrumental figure in helping to grow triathlons from a niche sport into an Olympic event. He also founded and served as President of the Dallas Youth Basketball Association and was a Sports Commentator for an ABC News affiliate in Pennsylvania. Bauman is a lifelong competitive endurance athlete, having completed more than 20 marathons, and has a son and daughter who are active in youth sports.

Daniel Jackson, former Major League Soccer player and captain of the Seattle Sounders, is Korrio’s Director of Business Development. Jackson recently retired from professional soccer following a successful career in which he captained the Seattle Sounders for five seasons, led the team to two USL National championships, and was the Colorado Rapid’s first pick in the 2002 MLS draft. At the University of North Carolina, Jackson was a multi-year All-American, team MVP, and three-year team captain. The team won a National Championship in 2001, and he was named Soccer America National MVP, National Championship MVP and was awarded the 2002 Patterson Medal as the UNC student athlete of the year.

Current Roster Strength

Korrio’s new executive trio joins an impressive investment team. John Connors is a partner at Ignition Partners, the lead investor in Korrio, and serves as a member of Korrio’s Board of Directors. Connors spent 16 years in strategic leadership roles at Microsoft, including Chief Financial Officer and Chief Information Officer; is on the Board of Directors of Nike; and has four children active in youth and collegiate athletics.

Investor Martin Coles brings more than 30 years of experience in domestic and international business leadership to Korrio’s Advisory Board. He is the former Chief Operating Officer of Starbucks, and was President and CEO for the Reebok brand. During his eight-year tenure at Nike, he held several executive-level general management, sales, and operations positions within Nike’s Global and European operations. Coles has four children all active in youth sports.

“I’m thrilled with the caliber of experience and passion that the executive team and investors bring to Korrio,” said Goldman. “They will be instrumental in making Korrio’s transformative vision a reality.”

A lifelong athlete who has spent years as a youth sports coach, Steve Goldman has more than 25 years of experience in the technology industry, with a history of building emerging companies into market leaders. Prior to founding Korrio, he spent four years as the CEO of Isilon Systems (ISLN), a company he helped bring public in 2006 with a market capitalization in excess of $1 billion. Prior to joining Isilon, he spent six years as a senior executive at F5 Networks (FFIV), where he lead the global sales, marketing, and services organizations through rapid growth, helping F5 execute one of the strongest IPOs in 1999 with a market capitalization in excess of $1 billion.

With two children active in multiple organized youth sports, Goldman knows well the intricacies and challenges of the sporting life, and founded Korrio to help transform the sports experience and elevate the level at which sports are played by automating the things that get in the way.

For more information, visit korrio.com.

About Korrio

Korrio, founded in January, 2009, is the developer of Playflow™, a 21st-century youth sports automation platform. Korrio has a singular focus on kids and sports. The company’s mission is to transform the sports experience and elevate the level at which sports are played by automating the things that get in the way – like registration/payment, team formation, rosters, scheduling, communication and web hosting. Korrio is easy, safe, integrated, and mobile. Visit us online at korrio.com to learn how to elevate your game.

Media Contact

John Gates

Elevate Communications

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jgates@elevatecom.com

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Ex-USL Sounders captain Danny Jackson talks about Korrio
Posted by Joshua Mayers

The other day I got the chance to catch up with Danny Jackson, a name some of the seasoned soccer fans in the area surely remember. The former captain of the USL Sounders is the director of business development for a new company called Korrio.

Korrio is a technology platform that hopes to simplify the youth sports world, specifically soccer. I’ve heard it likened to Facebook for youth sports. The company’s CEO and founder is Steve Goldman. Advisors include Damon Huard, a former UW Husky quarterback who played in the NFL, and Blair Rasmussen, who played several seasons in the NBA.

Be sure to check out the Korrio website, which will give you a good idea to what the product is about. As will this press release and the following Q&A with Jackson. Oh and I got some Sounders FC questions in there as well.

* * *

(Q: What is Korrio all about?)

Jackson: “Korrio is a technology platform that integrates the youth sports experience from an end-to-end solution. Our whole goal is to transform the sports experience and elevate the level at which sports are played by using state-of-the-art technology. We have an incredibly gifted group of people. The team is very experienced coming from the sports side and also the technology side. We want to create an environment where we simplify people’s lives, whether it’s administrating youth organizations (or helping) families facing elements such as scheduling and last-minute changes and communication. We want to use state-of-the-art technology to really bring those pieces together.”

(Q: How was the idea conceived and how have you gotten to where you are now?)

Jackson: “CEO Steve Goldman has a long and established track record in technology space. He was the CEO of a company called Isilon. His whole goal was to use technology to really foster the needs of the sports community. From personal experience, he found difficulty in doing the things he needed to do as a parent: registration and communicating to his kids’ teams. With his experience in technology and his real passion for youth sports he managed to pull together a great group of people that have the same characteristics and the same goals. We use the experience that all of us have in the fields of sports and technology and provide the platform on which to service the greater sports market. The sports market is huge. There are 44 million kids that play the game, whether it be one sport or multiple sports. And when you think about all the people that are connected to the youth sports experience, whether it’s parents, grandparents, different family members and friends, it really hits many, many people in all sorts of different areas of the country. We thought we could use the experience that we have, the passion that we have for youth sports, and bind it together to create a state-of-the-art technology platform.”

(Q: You were recently at the NSCAA coaches’ convention. Along with that, how have you been trying to get the word out on your product?)

Jackson: “Certainly we spent a lot of time researching the market and designing the product that we’ve now built. We spent time in Washington state. The technology was provided for Washington Youth Soccer, the state organization. We provide the technology platform for the Sounders academy all the way down to recreational clubs. So the focus was certainly in the Washington state area. The opportunity (last) week to come to the NSCAA convention was to really do a national launch. To really get ourselves out into the wider world of youth soccer and certainly youth sports in general. We showcased and introduced what Korrio is and what we’re trying to do. We’ve been incredibly excited by the response we’ve got. A lot of people are inquiring about our product, wanting to find out not just more information but how they can sign up. The immediate impact of sharing information and what we do is really exciting and the response we’ve gotten has matched our hopes.”

(Q: So how do people get involved? Is it something the parents sign up for? The coaches? The league administrators?)

Jackson: “Organizations, clubs, league associations, they would actually take on the product. Like I said, we do an end-to-end integrated solution, so we do the administrative tools that are required to get kids onto a field safely and securely. Then we provide the tools that families need to find out where they’re going and know about last-minute changes. I think our solution is unique in many ways because we bind the two worlds together. The club or the association would adopt the product and then all the players and the parents, the coaches, managers that really play the sports and watch the game will benefit from it without any charge.”

(Q: What are some of the long-terms goal you want to achieve with this? Are you going soccer first and then looking at branching out to other sports?)

Jackson: “We’ll use soccer as the first sport to roll Korrio out for many different reasons: gender neutral, it’s played across all areas of the country and it’s incredibly fast in terms of its growth. We feel like Korrio can help with structure and the infrastructure on the technology standpoint and certainly our product has been designed with other sports in mind. Families that have multiple kids playing on multiple teams and sports can certainly benefit from the integrated platform and solution that we provide. Again, that’s with the goal being in the mind that we keep things easy, integrated, mobile and incredible safe and secure. We have a patent pending on our technology for the safety and security aspect of it. Certainly with technology of 2011, the mobile device is incredibly important to people’s lives. We’ve really leveraged that technology platform to use with the mobile technologies that are out there now.”

(Q: What are the some most pressing challenges to you face right now? And how do you plan to overcome those?)

Jackson: “I think change of behavior is something that will be one of our challenges that we hope to overcome with just proving the model, proving that our technology will service the needs the needs of the sports community, that will make people’s lives easier. I think obviously getting the word out to all areas of the country and also just to educate people on how technology can be something incredibly beneficial, can help them in many different ways and really create that community both on the field and off the field. The way the world is now, people expect good communication, good access and we can provide with a safe and secure environment — where we recognize who you are, what you do and we provide what you’re allowed to see. First of all, we want get a kid on the field safely and securely and put a smile on their face. In doing that, again, the four pieces that we really focus on each day is we want to make things easy, integrated, incredibly safe and mobile.”

(Q: Where do people go with questions that they’ll have?)

Jackson: “Korrio.com has all sorts of information about the company and our team. Certainly we’ll provide opportunities to connect with our group. We’re based out of Seattle. You can call our office number at 206-333-2400. We’re ready and available to answer any questions regarding our product and the way we can help the sports community and the soccer community in Washington state and beyond.”

(Q: On to some personal stuff, how is post-retired life treating you and how much does soccer still play a role in your life?)

Jackson: “As a player, somewhat. I think it’s focused now on my coaching side. [From his online bio: Danny currently coaches youth soccer at Eastside FC and the Sounders FC / ODP youth development program and speaks to high schools and youth clubs regarding the far reaching impacts of youth sports.] Again, being a coach and being able to pass along my experiences and things that I’ve learned about the game is something I really enjoy now. I think soccer can be a great vehicle in teaching great characteristics that kids can take off the field as well. I think that’s what I really enjoy now is being able to combine the two passions that I have, which is always going to be sports and also technology. I love coaching the kids and educating them about the game.”

(Q: How much do you still keep up with the Sounders?)

Jackson: “Certainly I have some friends on the team, guys I played with on the old Sounders and also guys I know from being in camp with the Sounders at the very beginning. I think they’ve had a successful draft. It sounds like the players they got were people they hoped to get if they could pencil those names in. I’m sure Sigi will do a great job of bringing those guys into the squad. I think his track record of success in bringing guys out of the draft is proven. I’m sure that Seattle will benefit from the guys they picked up.”

(Q: Does the off-the-field success of the organization surprise you as someone that experienced the pre-MLS soccer community here?)

Jackson: “I think the franchise, starting with Adrian Hanauer and working down, has done an incredible job marketing and pulling in and generating such excitement about the team. I think the support was always there. We could always feel that being out in the community, whether it’d be coaching or just talking to people. Everybody resonated with the Sounders of old. There’s always some kind of story or connection to the teams that played in the ’70s and ’80s and even my time in the last 10-15 years. The passion and the support were always there. Now there’s a product on the field that can generate excitement. The way the club itself has been designed to really create this fantastic European-style experience where the fans come in, watch an exciting game, and the buzz and the excitement and the atmosphere in the stadium is really second to none.”

Unified System to Transform Youth Soccer Industry By Addressing Needs of Clubs, Coaches, and Families

BALTIMORE, MD (January 13, 2011) – Emerging company Korrio (www.korrio.com), founded by technology veteran Steve Goldman to transform the youth sports experience beginning with soccer, has announced the launch of Playflow™, an advanced sports automation platform that harnesses next-generation technology to make youth soccer administration and communication simpler and more efficient.

The Korrio team will introduce Playflow™, which combines registration, team formation, scheduling, communication, web site hosting, and mobile access in one integrated platform, at the 2011 National Soccer Coaches Association of America Convention (NSCAAC), held at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, MD from January 13-15. This event is the largest soccer trade show in the United States.

“Those active in the youth sports community will no longer have to cobble together multiple products, e-mails, spreadsheets, and phone trees to get the job done” said Korrio Founder and Chief Executive Officer Steve Goldman. ”As our motto says, we’re passionate about delivering ‘More Sport, Less Hassle’ by automating the things that get in the way. Korrio’s Playflow™ platform makes things easy, integrated, safe, and mobile.”

Korrio’s Playflow™ provides club administrators and coaches with a comprehensive yet easy-to-use web-based sports automation system for managing all aspects of club and team operations.

“Korrio’s sports automation platform marks a revolution by connecting every part of a player’s soccer life,” said Doug Andreassen, President of the Board of Directors for Washington Youth Soccer, with whom Korrio has partnered as a charter state organization. Washington Youth Soccer has the sixth largest membership in the nation, representing more than 128,000 players and their families. “How Korrio will impact the future success of youth sports — both on and off the field — is truly game changing.”

With more than 18 million soccer players in communities big and small, the United States has more organized players than any other country in the world. Until now, club administrators have relied on disparate — and often ineffective — tools to manage their leagues and team organizations. Korrio’s singular focus on kids and sports aims to transform the soccer experience and elevate the level at which the game is played by automating the tasks that get in the way.

“By automating the management functions of youth sports and delivering it via an advanced web-based platform, Playflow allows everyone involved to focus on what’s important: playing the game,” continued Goldman. “The value proposition for leagues, teams, and coaches is simple: it is all about saving time and money for staff, volunteers, and families.”

Korrio will be showcasing the Playflow platform at its booth (#2317) throughout the convention.

Also at the show, Korrio will sponsor a coaching clinic, “Teaching Players to Infiltrate Packed Defenses” on January 13 at 2 p.m., featuring speaker Danny Jackson, Korrio Director of Business Development and former captain of Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders FC.

For more information, visit korrio.com.

About Korrio

Korrio™, founded in January, 2009, spent two years researching the needs of the youth sports market and developing the Playflow™ sports automation platform. Korrio has a singular focus on kids and sports. The company’s mission is to transform the sports experience and elevate the level at which sports are played by automating the things that get in the way – like registration/payment, team formation, rosters, scheduling, communication, and web hosting. Korrio is easy, safe, integrated, and mobile. Visit us online at korrio.com to learn how to elevate your game.

www.korrio.com

Thanks!

The technologies that have captured the iphone app world is Dragon and Vlingo. There are of course many system that recognize voice commands. Microsoft has developed this VR in Ford cars and their e-speaking software, but it appears Dragon is the leader in this business. By building apps, and then supplying software packages, Dragon has quickly become a dominant force. It is a system that has captured the imagination of our team, and opens up a new world of possibilities. As Apple and Google develop and improve their own VR software, the question is – what will be next?

The environment was highly competitive. From the age of 12, you had to address every practice and game as a tryout. I thrived off this pressure. You had to push yourself each and every day, because new players were knocking on the door, fighting to replace you. I developed very good habits, determined to work my hardest each and every day. This was not only on the field, but making sure that I behaved and carried myself in a positive manner off the field. Integrity and character is defined both on and off the field, and Leeds United had very high standards.

When I reached the U’16 level, the team had been molded to encompass the best players the club could find. We played England in a friendly during that year, playing against Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, and Wes Brown to name a few. Our team was made up of northerners, southerners, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish. The U’16 year was our last year as a “School of Excellence”, before we graduated to the Youth Team. This was our goal and our dream. We would be youth professional players, training every day on the same fields as the first team.

From that England game, from that group, the club only signed 4 players to youth professional contracts – myself, Jonathan Woodgate, Paul Robinson, and Steven McPhail. I had played for many years with many players who never made it. We would be training in the evening, and as we walked back to our cars, I would often see one of my teammates in tears, after being told that he was being cut, and his dream of playing for Leeds United was gone. It was a nervous year for all of us. But like I mentioned before, we hardened our characters each and every day.

The Sounders are developing a similar structure. They have the RTC’s, and then graduate the best players to the youth academy. This will not only develop a natural competitive environment, but will develop some very good players. However, my coaching philosophy encompasses all the players. Our job is to develop skills that kids can use on and off the field. So for the many kids that don’t quite make the level they dream of, they will have characteristics that can help them accomplish all their other goals and dreams. My experience at Leeds United was very special, but what I take most from it are the traits that are helping me build a new life, and seeking out new goals with the focus on being the very best that I can be.

The Sounders can have the same impact on the lives of the players in Washington state. I am excited to see how they build it….

There are many things going on in the world right now, from health care reform to the Winter Olympics. If anybody watched the Inter Milan vs Chelsea game yesterday, and you understand the Mourinho situation, then you will agree with me that Jose will be a happy man today. He is a great coach, and a great entertainer. I think it is often overlooked how effective his actions and controversial comments are though. The circus that surrounds him, and the attention that he brings upon himself is quite brilliant. Do we talk about his players, or the Inter Milan team as a whole? No. We do talk about the problems of the Chelsea players, such as John Terry and Ashley Cole, and barely touch upon Anchelotti, the Chelsea coach. There isn’t a question that Mourinho loves controversy – it’s what motivates him. But his team are basically untouched. He attracts the attention, allowing his players to relax and prepare for the big games without the constant media barrage. As a player, I would enjoy that sense of calm. But does Mourinho take it a little too far? Probably, but it’s fun to watch.

Families with multiple kids and multiple schedules must have a torrid time. Balancing practice times with piano lessons, and homework, and a parent working late – problems and conflicts can quickly occur. The kids that I coach often have more of an idea of who we are playing than I do!!! As a coach, and an avid supporter of youth sports, I am interested in how life can be made a little easier for all involved.

Please send me your stories, challenges, and issues. I would love to hear them. I am sure somebody has an idea of how to help……

Challenge players early on. If you set expectations and build an environment in practice of quality and competitiveness, the future will be bright. Build the habits that you want as a coach, and reinforce it. If a player doesn’t close the ball down, tell them. If they are sloppy and lazy in their passing, tell them. Once a player develops bad habits, it is incredibly difficult to break them of it. Players who work to their maximum during practices and games learned these vital traits at an early age. It is paramount that a player immerses themselves in a playing environment that is both fun and challenging. Playing with a smile on their face is number 1, and it is their early youth coach that allows that smile to stay throughout their career.

Coming to America, I was quickly introduced to the health care system here. The first piece of official paperwork was for my health insurance with Blue Cross Blue Shield. It was an eye opening experience to have to pay for coverage, and certainly more surprising when all my expenses would not be covered by the insurance company. This is an area of huge debate right now. President Obama is introducing a bill that sets forth a government health care option that would potentially reduce costs for the public. I see positives and negatives on this -

Positives:
Reduced costs
Another option
Children have more chance to be covered
Drastically reduce the number of uninsured
People will not be turned away from a hospital

Negatives:
Government involvement in a private industry
A significant change in American Capitalism
Huge cost – $1 trillion
Increased taxes
Forced change
Small businesses are forced to provide coverage and greatly increase costs

Questions to ask….
How to sustain the model over the coming decades?
Will the costs increase over the years?
Will the health care industry be negatively affected?
Will quality and standards be maintained?

Health care is a highly contested issue. The American public need some help after seeing premiums rise as much as 20% in the past year alone, but is such a drastic change realistic? Britain provided the social health care system after World War II, and there are many positives and negatives associated with it. If injured you can be treated relatively easily and quickly with no cost, but if you need surgery, you may be waiting months and sometimes years. Private health care is available and is often purchased to offset the delay in a future surgery.

I am not sure what the solution is, but to have 50 million American’s unable to gain health care is quite shocking. To have this problem on this scale in the richest nation in the world is baffling. We all wait with baited breath……