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A full-stack club platform combines reservations, access control, scoreboards, and video replay for sports venues.
200+ locations · 2,000+ courts · 100–200% year-over-year growth
Build the stack for your own venue, then license it: PodPlay's software ran PingPod's staff-free clubs for four years before the first outside club paid for it per court.
Fewer bars = easier, cheaper, or faster for an AI-assisted solo builder. Editorial judgments based on the case details.
PodPlay Technologies licenses the software and hardware stack first built to operate PingPod, a network of autonomous table-tennis clubs. Co-founder Ben Bordon said the team saw venue operators stitching together club-management and video-capture tools, creating friction for reservations and sharing replay clips. PodPlay combines those jobs with digital scoreboards, video capture, and, for some customers, door access, security cameras, and remote monitoring. The company began taking outside customers in summer 2023, initially extending its approach to pickleball venues such as CityPickle. Pricing is primarily a monthly SaaS fee per court, with software-only, hardware-enabled, and autonomous tiers. In the interview, Bordon reported approaching $3 million in contracted ARR, more than 200 locations, and over 2,000 courts. He said year-over-year growth was between 100% and 200%. The business raised an $8 million Series A led by Frontier Growth after spinning out as a standalone entity. Software-only customers typically went live in one to two months, while hardware-enabled deployments took around four to six months, creating a meaningful difference between signed ARR and live operations.
For PodPlay, the first customers are venue operators who already feel the cost of fragmented booking, access, and replay tools. Start with a narrow operator profile, such as a multi-court pickleball club or an autonomous table-tennis venue, and map its current workflow from reservation to entry to post-game sharing.
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Data credibility: Co-founder Ben Bordon reported contracted ARR (approaching $3M), 200+ locations, 2,000+ courts, 100–200% growth, ACVs and go-live times himself. Contracted ARR includes clubs not yet live: hardware deployments take four to six months. The per-client ranges in the host's wrap-up ($2–6K software-only, closer to $10K with hardware) are the host's restatement. Nothing was shown on screen or audited.
PodPlay's first dollar arrived by licensing infrastructure that had already been built to run PingPod. The founder described the first code as part of the predecessor operation's technology, with outside PodPlay customers starting in summer 2023 after the software company formed as a wholly owned subsidiary.
PodPlay's growth loop links better venue operations to a more shareable player experience. Reservation management and video capture work together: players can book through the club system, see digital scoreboards, and access replay clips without juggling separate accounts or QR workflows.
A venue platform has long feedback cycles: a prospect may sign before construction, hardware can take months to install, and a club's adoption becomes clear only after members use the system.
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