Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Ginsberg.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’d like to start by saying thank you for reaching out and to the Voyage Houston Magazine for the interview.
All my life, I have had a basketball in my hand. In 10th grade, I transferred from Albemarle High School to the Miller School and that decision started the journeyman route I took to playing professional basketball. I played for 3 high schools and three colleges, an ABA team out of Boston, a season in Israel, followed by a year of coaching/training in China. After traveling and living in so many places through the game of basketball I returned home to Charlottesville, VA to launch a basketball training company co-founded with Coach Sam Dale, head Coach of the Tandem School. After quickly growing from one client to two to 10+ clients, we realized we needed a software or a website to begin listing our sessions for clients to find and book. I searched online and contacted dozens of trainers to ask around for a recommendation of what to platform to use, and couldn’t believe what I found. There was a large void in the new and quickly growing basketball training industry. There was no go-to platform to use for scheduling, communication, and payments for basketball trainers without having to pay high monthly fee’s, losing a % of each transaction, and/or waiting 3-4 days for payment. Soon after, I reconnected with high school teammate and good friend Darryl Smith II, who just finished playing basketball at Cornell University and happened to be in Charlottesville for a job interview. We went out to lunch and discussed the idea of creating a software all basketball trainers can use, soon after we started working on Utrain.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been both a very exciting and challenging process taking on-court experience and translating it into the tech startup world. When we started out in 2018, we had no idea the challenges we would face, growing from a team of two to now seven. Team members Korey Harris, Joseph Toe, Cade Lemcke, Micah Rivers, and Robert Pons have provided experience and insight that has helped us avoid common mistakes while growing at a rapid pace. Fortunately, we have been able to overcome early obstacles without any major setbacks. My biggest struggle in the early days was simply learning to terminology for certain functions and how to communicate the ideas properly with Darryl. When we started designing Utrain we made sure every single detail had to be perfect in order for the user experience to be as seamless as possible. I want to thank my parents and girlfriend Kalela for the endless support as well. All in all, I’m not sure any startup story is a smooth process, but we have been sure to enjoy every step of the way.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Utrain?
I am currently Co-Founder & CEO of Utrain. As you know, basketball is the fastest-growing sport in the world. A rapidly growing industry of over 126,000 former players and on staff coaches filling in the off-season training void for over 24 million athletes in the USA today. Combine basketball’s growing popularity with social media and the $1.2B basketball training industry was born. At Utrain, we have designed the first and only transaction-based software, an easy-to-use app that solves the scheduling, payment, and communication issues between the trainers, athletes, and parents. Utrain is the very first user-friendly mobile App geared specifically towards the basketball training industry. We are proud to say Utrain is now in 20+ states and recently crossed the 400+ download mark.
By way of background, we are a unique team of on court experience and multiple exit entrepreneurs with over 30 years in the basketball business. Our mission is to provide a free all-in-one business management solution for basketball trainers everywhere. We provide a safe and secure marketplace for athletes and parents to find trainers anytime, anywhere. Likewise, Utrain gives trainers an opportunity to introduce themselves to a comprehensive basketball community of up-and-coming athletes. This mutual opportunity provides dedicated athletes a chance to elevate their game to a new level while enabling talented trainers to expand their reach. A Win-Win!
Just this month, we announced we are raising our first round of capital and are very excited about the feedback we have received so far.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up, I was always outside doing something. I was never allowed to have a video game system or a tv in my room and I think it has really helped me out in the long run. I started with basketball and ended up doing sports year-round between adding soccer and baseball. Although I didn’t like it at the time, my parents signed me up for Tae-kwon-do which I ended up taking for seven years. It really helped with self-control and hand-eye coordination. Other than that, I was all about basketball. Between collecting cards of my favorite players and memorizing NBA records, I spent all of my time with a ball in my hand in one way or another.
Pricing:
- Utrain is free to download on the App Store.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://utrainmobileapp.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/danielginsberg1?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daniel.ginsberg.543
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/daniel_ginsberg?s=21&t=vMH8cr1GKHaoGKvtW5tS3g
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/5sh4IUIlf7I
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/utrainapp/
Image Credits
Boo Agee Steve Morris StrongerMe Hapoel Eilat B.C Utrain
