Five Questions With: Todd Grant

Todd Grant, president of Warwick-based SquadLocker, discussed the company’s history with Providence Business News and plans going forward. / COURTESY SQUADLOCKER
Todd Grant, president of Warwick-based SquadLocker, discussed the company’s history with Providence Business News and plans going forward. / COURTESY SQUADLOCKER

Todd Grant, president of Warwick-based SquadLocker, discussed the company’s history with Providence Business News and plans going forward. SquadLocker recently announced a joint revenue agreement with USA Football, an organization that says it trains more high school and youth football coaches combined than any other in the United States, and also is powering Sports Illustrated Play’s new team store, MyGear.

PBN: Where did the idea for the business come from?

GRANT: SquadLocker was founded by noted Rhode Island entrepreneur and investor Gary Goldberg, a third-generation textile product innovator who has enjoyed designing textile consumer products for some of the world’s most recognized retailers and brands.

Like SquadLocker’s other founders and management team members, he is a proud parent of young athletes. All of us have witnessed the amazing learning journey our son and daughter athletes have experienced through participating in youth sports. With these life experiences as a backdrop, we decided to create an easy-to-use online solution that makes apparel management for teams simple, easy and fast. Our vision is that if we can make it easier for coaches and parent volunteers, they’ll have more time for mentoring and inspiring young athletes everywhere.

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Before SquadLocker, Gary founded and operated Turfer Athletic, one of the nation’s leading product brands providing decorated team apparel to teams, leagues and schools throughout the U.S.
After 10 years operating as Turfer Athletic, the management team determined that a larger and more profitable market opportunity had presented itself. Specifically, very large online communities, several with more than 10 million registrants, were being established as part of League Management Software platforms. Leveraging all of what had been learned from 10 years in the market sector and being willing to embrace a business model and culture transformation we conceived and launched SquadLocker to be a national team dealer representing brands such as Under Armour, Nike, Adidas and many others. The go-to-market strategy was to develop an online experience so innovative and easy to use that it would gain traction amongst these very large online communities of teams and youth leagues. And so, we completed the company’s “get started” equity financing, we built and are continuing to improve the user experience and we began securing partnerships with the leading league management software companies.

To date, SquadLocker has formed key partnerships with Sports Illustrated Play, TeamSnap and Sport Ngin, USA Football and many other leaders in the youth athletics space to change the way leagues and teams select and purchase customized team gear and apparel.

SquadLocker is the only solution that allows a league manager, coach or parent volunteer to select from a curated list of gear based on the profile of the team, to select items from the world’s leading athletic brands like Under Armour, Nike and Adidas, to upload team logos and to build a custom shopping experience for parents instantly in a self-service mode … League managers and coaches manage the entire process themselves using SquadLocker’s proprietary instant and free store builder tools.

After the store is built, tools are available for promoting and sharing the stores with parents who shop for their son and daughter athletes. Once the parent ordering takes place, SquadLocker’s customer support teams handle order processing, provide free art work creation and editing, decoration and fulfillment from its global headquarters and wholly owned manufacturing facility in Warwick.

PBN: How much have you raised to date? Have you met your funding goal?

GRANT: We have been fortunate to attract terrific investors who are onboard and full heartedly support our vision of SquadLocker’s future while investing $3.75 million in our company. Our business model drew interest and investment from successful entrepreneurs and visionaries George Overholser, management team founder and investor at Capital One Bank and VistaPrint, respectively, and Jim Lombardi, founding principal at Atticus Capital, both who joined Gary Goldberg as board members.

Also, part of our initial investor group was Slater Technology Fund, a Rhode Island state-backed venture capital fund. Slater’s significant network of co-investors, innovators and other game-changers in the New England venture development community will be an accelerant for the company during the company’s fast growth years as we build value for the business.

PBN: Tell me about the new partnerships with Sports Illustrated Play and other league software providers.

GRANT: What was once the vision to start a fast-growth business to transform a stagnant market is now a company up and running, gaining traction and securing partnerships with market leaders in the youth sports management space who are proudly presenting SquadLocker’s industry-leading platform to their customers.

As the list of partners continues to grow and SquadLocker’s online tools are being introduced to hundreds of thousands of teams and millions of registrants, revenues are growing as well. This will lead to expansion of the R.I. operation including adding dozens of new employees and then ultimately expanding to a second decorating and fulfillment operation in the Midwest.

Just recently, we also announced a partnership with USA Football, the first national governing body of an amateur youth sport to join our team. Going forward, we expect to be announcing agreements with more partners, including both more league software providers as well as additional national governing bodies.

PBN: Where do you see SquadLocker in five years?
GRANT:
SquadLocker has established a leadership position providing tech-enabled solutions to teams and youth leagues throughout the U.S. In five years, we anticipate being the utility for all league software providers by offering an easy to integrate solution that provides a seamless apparel management user experience for the league organizers and team managers already using the tools sets with the league software platforms.

The focus is on team gear and apparel. Note that this includes not only soft goods such as player packs, spirit wear and uniforms for athletes, but also all the gear they need to participate in your sports, including accessories, hard goods and foot wear. In addition to gear and apparel for the athlete SquadLocker also provides affinity wear and other spirit items for fans.

PBN: How many more employees do you expect to add this year as a result of the new partnerships and growth?

GRANT: Right now, our team is 40-strong.
We expect SquadLocker to grow to over 100 employees by the end of 2018.

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