Dan and Paul have always been passionate about sports, particularly basketball. Over time, we noticed that while many people love watching Basketball, not all have access to or can easily engage in the sport with friends casually. That's why we created Bighoops - an experience that reimagines basketball for everyone, much like what Topgolf did for golf.
Bighoops uses AI to adjust shots based on skill-level and performance and offers a variety of gameplay types, and we largely own this space given our early and broad patent. We believe it not only makes basketball more accessible and enjoyable (>90% positive reviews from 2,000+ paid experiences) but also introduces a fresh, exciting approach to the sport.
Here are some additional reasons why we think Basketball entertainment dining will be as omni-present as bowling alleys and Topgolf in 5-10 years.
* Size / Total Addressable Market (TAM) - Basketball is the ~2nd most popular sport in the US with what we think is >3x the TAM of golf entertainment dining. Topgolf was acquired for $2.7b in 2020.
* Favorable real estate economics - Topgolf requires ~15 acres and ~$30m per venue, BigHoops fits in most malls and shopping centers at $5-$10m per venue, capitalizing on the commercial deals that have opened up since the pandemic and due to the general rise in e-commerce.
* Accessibility - Not everyone can make solid contact with a golf ball, but just about everyone can and has shot a basket, and our patented AI skill-based adjustment along with regulation and larger than regulation hoops make it fun and competitive regardless of skill-level within a group.
* Gameplay - BigHoops Original (medium exertion and pace), HORSE, Acceleration, Shot Clock, Staying Alive, Pong, Battleship, etc - these are just some of the gameplay types we currently have and are building. They span the spectrum of exertion, pace, and difficulty catering to both hardcore and casual players, families and birthdays, corporate events, etc.
Note that we admire Topgolf and their successful model, and we plan to adapt their playbook to our unique context and needs in the Basketball entertainment dining industry.
To date, we've raised a $450k seed round, have a patented AI-enabled machine that achieved a 90% fill rate @ $55/hr in our first beta Atlanta site, have built user stats and custom booking software online and at-venue, have a new and improved production-ready unit with additional experience-enhancing features (not shown in video), and have secured ~40% of funds for our Series A but are still looking for a lead investor.
We're excited to bring Basketball entertainment dining to the world and are eager to hear what the HN community thinks. We would particularly appreciate feedback on fundraising and investor leads given that we’re more real estate and capex heavy vs the more typical pure-software HN startup, but any thoughts, feedback, and challenges to our assumptions are greatly appreciated. We are also open to potential collaborations and partnerships that could help us take Bighoops to the next level.
Thanks, and we look forward to your insights!
1-min machine-in-action video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd9zH0UnAxQ&t=1s
Visit us at https://www.bighoops.com/?utm_source=hackernews or feel free to reach out at paul.brown@bighoops.com
