CatchCorner in CityNews. A tech startup story that's really a human interest story

When we get hired as a PR agency to promote a tech startup, we're not always 100 percent comfortable with the preferred strategic direction of the leadership team.

They'll be super-buzzed about a new UX feature in version 1.35 that their engineering team has been working on for months... but most users might never care about. But that wasn't the case with CatchCorner by Sports Illustrated. They'd built a sportstech app with a very human problem and solution in mind: helping users easily book sports facilities and activities.

The Toronto-based company helps users rent out facilities in a similar fashion to AirBnb, offering a simple way to book everything from ice rinks to golf simulators to dance studios.

This homegrown Toronto startup made for a perfect TV feature story on local news. We pitched CatchCorner's angle to CityNews not just as a tech story, or a consumer-interest story, but a human interest story. Families and friends want to spend time doing actual fun sports activities in the real world -- but what if you can't?

Founder Jonathan Azouri, the CEO at CatchCorner, was inspired by a frustrating experience trying to find a hockey arena to book with friends, a tedious process that shouldn't exist in 2023.

How a sportstech startup's TV feature hinges on CEO backstory

"In the span of a few minutes you can book a flight to go across the world, but if I want to play a game of hockey with my friends and I'm looking for an ice rink, there's no easy way for me to just do it in a few clicks," explains Azouri to Toronto's CityNews reporter Stella Aquisto.

Across 5 major Canadian cities and places in America like Chicago and New Jersey, CatchCorner lets users select a space type, browse available times and prices, and view photos, all in one place.

The big story reported that businesses using the app said that it's improved their booking process in a big way. Just by removing the possibility of error from using email or an online form, bookings went up. That translated into friends and families having a good time, without technology getting in the way

Is your sportstech startup creating new ways to help make lives easier... but no one knows about it? Contact the Mind Meld PR agency