From RFP to
Relationship in Hours,
Not Months
How the Sports Tech Atlanta MatchMaker platform eliminated the noise between sports organizations with real technology needs and the startups built to solve them.
The Problem
Sports organizations — leagues, teams, and brands — consistently struggle to find the right technology partners. The process is slow, expensive, and relationship-dependent in all the wrong ways. A league issues an RFP and gets buried in irrelevant responses. A startup with the perfect solution never hears about the opportunity.
On the other side, sports technology founders spend enormous time and money on outreach — attending conferences, cold emailing sponsorship contacts, and pitching to gatekeepers who can't make decisions. Even when the right company exists, the right connection rarely happens.
- Organizations relying on personal networks, missing better solutions
- Startups spending months chasing unqualified contacts
- RFPs going unanswered or attracting poor-fit responses
- No structured process for vetting or connecting parties
- Deal timelines measured in quarters, not weeks
- Organizations post needs once; qualified matches surface automatically
- Startups enter profile once; relevant opportunities find them
- AI matches on capabilities, verticals, and stage fit
- Both parties receive full context before the first conversation
- Introduction to vetting begins within days
The MatchMaker: How It Works
Sports Tech Atlanta built the MatchMaker as a proprietary AI tool and service — an always-on matching engine that lives at matchsportstech.com. It operates as a two-sided marketplace with a human layer of expertise from the STA team ensuring every match is qualified before it's made.
"The sports technology market moves fast. Leagues and brands can't wait six months for a vendor search, and founders can't afford to spend half their runway on events and cold outreach. The MatchMaker closes that gap — connecting the right people at the right time, with full context."
— Sterling Mack, Founder, Sports Tech AtlantaWho Uses the MatchMaker
The MatchMaker serves every corner of the sports tech ecosystem, with a particular focus on the organizations and companies that move fast and need qualified connections quickly.
Organizations that post projects
- Professional and semi-professional sports leagues (including NWSL and emerging league partners)
- Sports teams evaluating new technology for operations, fan experience, or athlete performance
- Brands seeking sports tech partnerships for sponsorship activation or data-driven marketing
- Sports properties entering new markets who need vetted technology stacks quickly
Companies that submit profiles
- Sports tech startups at Series Seed through Series B seeking their first major league or team client
- AI, VR, analytics, fan engagement, and women's sports technology companies
- Established vendors expanding into new verticals or geographies
- Companies that have the product but lack the relationships to get in the right rooms
The Results
The MatchMaker changes the economics of both sides of the sports tech market. For organizations, it replaces the expensive, slow, relationship-dependent vendor search with an always-on pipeline of qualified solutions. For startups, it replaces the unpredictable hustle of conference networking and cold outreach with qualified, warm introductions to decision-makers who already have a need.
Critically, the MatchMaker operates as a layer on top of the STA network — which means every match is backed by real relationships, not just algorithm output. When a connecting email arrives, both parties know it's been reviewed by a team with active relationships in NWSL, elite VC funds, and across the global sports technology ecosystem.
Key outcomes for technology companies
- First qualified introduction in days, not months — without cold outreach
- Context-rich warm introduction means faster first meetings and higher close rates
- Access to RFPs that are never publicly posted — organizations share exclusively through STA
- No conference fees, travel costs, or gatekeepers standing between you and the decision-maker
Key outcomes for leagues and organizations
- Qualified solutions surface automatically — no more burying staff in inbound cold pitches
- Every company introduced has been vetted through the STA network for fit and credibility
- Reduce vendor search time from quarters to weeks
- Access to emerging sports tech companies before they're on everyone's radar
MatchMaker + STA Advisory: Stronger Together
The MatchMaker is most powerful when combined with a Sports Tech Atlanta retainer engagement. STA advisory clients receive priority positioning in the MatchMaker — their profiles are actively surfaced to relevant RFPs, and the STA team advocates for the match from within the network.
For leagues and organizations on advisory retainer, the MatchMaker becomes a continuous sourcing engine — proactively identifying and introducing technology companies as new needs arise, rather than running a separate vendor search each time.
Get matched. Skip the cold outreach.
Submit your profile or post a project at matchsportstech.com — or reach out to explore an STA advisory engagement that includes MatchMaker priority access.