What we're building

If you play basketball as an adult, you know the problem. You want to run. You might know a handful of guys. But getting 10 people to the same court at the same time, at a compatible skill level, without flaking — it's a nightmare. Group chats, Facebook posts, waiting at the park. There's no reliable way to make it happen.

Pickup fixes that. We built the app for recreational basketball players to find open runs and paid games near them, at their skill level, on demand. Players see available games, pay to join, and show up. Hosts — gym operators, court owners, organizers now have the tools to build waitlists, manage attendance, and track stats, etc. without the manual effort of today's "systems".

Why now

Adult loneliness is at an all-time high and at the same time, in today's ai-first world, participating in casual team sport can reduce loneliness by 47%. Men do not connect face to face, but rather, shoulder to shoulder. Play is one of the greatest antidotes to loneliness. We must make it easier to find other players in your neighborhood and make use of the courts that sit empty every day to solve this crisis.

How we win

Consumer apps for sport-specific communities have proven out in every adjacent category: Strava for running, Plei for soccer, 18 Birdies for golf, Pickleheads for pickleball. Each is a $10M–$400M ARR business. Basketball — the most popular team sport among adults in the US — has no equivalent.

We win by becoming the go to home base for the basketball community.

We win city by city. We first win Atlanta and then strategically expand into key markets.

We win with partners like Overtime Elite (2M followers), Kymani (1.2M followers), SSN Network (1M), Marthreenez (1M), and HeziGod (896K)

Traction

We launched our MVP in February 2026. In four months, we've grown to 3,000+ signed-up users. 77% of users convert from download to signup and 94% of signups complete onboarding —showing high intent.

Despite supply constraints, we have over 1,000 MAU's coming back looking for games. Our next growth move is to inject more supply into the system.

Market

There are 17 million adult basketball players (18+) in the US — 30 million if you include younger player. The incumbent "solutions" are Facebook groups, group texts, and showing up at the park and hoping. Today these athletes spend billions every year on recreational league fees, gym memberships to LA Fitness or YMCA all to play basketball. Our opportunity to turn that into an always on economy with quality hoops on demand near you.

Business model

We monetize both sides of the platform. Players pay $5/month for a premium subscription (private games, stat tracking, performance dashboards, rankings). Hosts pay $12/month for game management tools: paid events, waitlists, attendee management, player vetting. Venues will pay $50+/month for court operations, booking management, and utilization tracking.

At 100,000 users — our 12-to-18-month milestone — the model projects $555K–$1M ARR across those three revenue streams plus ancillary revenue from event fees, in-app advertising, and sponsorships.

Forward-looking projections cannot be guaranteed.

Risks we're taking on

Cold start. Two-sided platforms are hard to bootstrap — you need players for hosts and hosts for players. Our answer is leading with supply: locking in courts and venues first so there are games to show players on day one. The City of Atlanta and key influencer partnerships give us that.

Competition. A well-funded competitor could move into basketball at any time. Our defense is the community we're building: leaderboards, social feeds, and group structures are sticky in ways that a pure scheduling utility isn't. We're building a home for recreational basketball, not just a booking tool.

The ask

We're raising $500,000, with $125,000 coming from this audience. We've currently secured $200,000 in commitments.

Key milestones (next 12-18 months): 100,000 users; win Atlanta; expand to second market

If you play recreational basketball — or you've ever tried to organize a game and felt the friction — this one will feel personal. We'd love to have you on the court with us.

The Product