

What do you guys think of this idea? Does anyone want to implement it with me? - myoung8

So the market for race registrations (i.e. road races, triathlons, etc.), camp registrations, and other active event registrations is dominated by Active.com. They offer a set of solutions, but from having used it...well...the bottom line is that someone could do a lot better.<p>They charge $3 per registration they process (so their gross margin is on the order of $1.5 - $2 per registration, which ends up being quite a lot of money when you take into account that many marathons have 10-20K runners.<p>I'm thinking about creating a dead-easy, on-demand registration system and pairing it with either/or a) other event management tools, b) some sort of network for racers (e.g. create groups, share photos, review products, see stats, etc.).<p>Revenues would come from the registrations, as well as ads in the vertical (which I'm guessing have a relatively high CPC/M because of the fact that this demographic buys gear quite often).<p>Thoughts on the idea? Anyone interested in building this with me?
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hwork
I think the trick here is not the technology or the pricing: appealing
interfaces and lower prices are doable. I think what's challenging about this
is the barrier to entry to becoming a player in this space. That is, how do
you get races and camps to get on board, and to ensure others will follow? It
seems like this david-vs-goliath effort is how to build relationships with
customers and really drive them to your site. Lower prices are definitely a
start. But it might take a lot to build up the brand.

But seriously, man, all the props to ya. This idea clearly comes from
frustration with the current competitors and a 'damn the man' attitude. Good
luck!!

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kabanossen
That's a really good point hwork. I think there's a way to deal with it.

If Active is what everyone's using, create an interface for your service as
well as the Active service, give people a simple interface to Active as a way
to introduce them to your service. Build on top of Active so to speak. What
you really should try is to build on top of ALL other services and make a
better interface to them. That's not an easy task but it might be required to
win the market. This idea is taken from Joel Spolsky's essay "Chicken and Egg
Problems"

<http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000054.html>

You should definitely try it, the idea is good and the market is there and you
seem excited so go.

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sethjohn
I heard the founder of Active.com give a talk a few months ago. It turns out
that their main source of revenue isn't the registration fees, it's the
T-shirts that they sell to race participants!

Unfortunately, that suggests Active.com could easily lower or eliminate the $3
charge to drive competitors out of the marketplace.

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ajkates
From what you describe, it looks like there may be room for a competitor.
Before putting in the time though, do some research (if you haven't already).
Can it really be that profitable? What percentage of the market do you plan to
capture?

I'm often wary of startups that differentiate themselves on a cost basis when
the cost is minimal ($3 in this case). Even if the margins are substantial,
the difference between $3 to get things done right, and any other lower price
offered by a competitor, just may be an insignificant point of
differentiation.

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myoung8
The cost difference is incurred by the race director (or event management
firm), though, not the consumer. A $1 difference over 20,000 registrants is a
big difference IMHO.

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jam
From what I can tell, the key to these niche social networking sites (of which
yours isn't exclusively one, but sort of is) is to find an existing network of
people and replicate it online.

It seems like you've found a great application of this idea... especially if
you have loads of potentially sticky customers coming to your site every so
often to register for races. I don't use Facebook, but if I had to register
for courses through it, I'd probably have an account sooner or later.

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brianr
I think that's potentially a great idea. Active.com is a pretty big website,
so you'd have to carefully decide which parts of its functionality are
important and which aren't.

The social networking pieces sound pretty cool, but I wonder if people would
actually use them. I guess there isn't really anything like that already, and
big endurance races can be pretty social, so it could turn out to be really
useful.

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dfranke
I think you've got something here. $3 per registration really does sound like
an arrogant dinosaur whose day has come. Don't go overboard on the social
networking bit though. Just take some off-the-shelf forum software and add the
ability to have your competition history appear in your profile and to search
for other users by competition.

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rms
That's a good idea. Good luck.

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samwise
I'm sorry, but i don't see what you bring to the table. What are you doing
that nobody else is or that can easy be replicated. How do you plan to get
users? not putting you down, just asking.

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myoung8
Usability, cost advantages to reduce price, value-added services, etc.

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alaskamiller
Those things aren't sustainable competitive advantages, though.

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mrtron
I like the basic idea, and think it should be easy to build.

You then could run with the idea, and maybe be able to provide this service
for free and charge for something else. For example, provide this service for
free and make money from tshirts and advertising materials the runners receive
(or any of 100 other similar ideas)

I know registering for runs is kind of a pain right now, so maybe you chose a
good spot.

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ballred
As someone who is forced to use active.com about 10x per year, I can agree
with you. Someone could do better.

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myoung8
I'd love to hear what you think the problems with Active are. My email's in my
profile.

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bmaier
I agree that the tough part about this will not be the build but developing
the right strategy and relationships. A simple app will go a long way if you
know where to put it.

I have some contacts in this area and ran at a pretty high level. If you want
some help, my email is in my profile

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webwright
I think it's a good idea. People are obsessed with originality, but the
reality is that most truly great businesses are just taking an existing idea
and doing it BETTER (Google, iPod, MacOS, Reddit).

I think the first mover "advantage" really isn't.

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Alex3917
Regatta Central works pretty well. Once you create the roster for your club or
school, you just choose an event and then check the names of the rowers you
want in the boat. I haven't used it in about five years, but I assume it has
gotten even better.

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joeguilmette
yea, i think that's a great idea, and the majority of concepts people push
around most definitely are not.

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bkmrkr
email me bkmrkr at yahoo.com

