Since we began the company in 2010, we have only done business in the US. This was done to make sure we stayed focused on putting all the energy of a pure self funded startup into building the best product for our customers in the endurance community. As we have grown, we have expanded into adjacent markets of Peer-to-Peer Events with GiveSignup and more recently into other events with TicketSignup. As we look forward, we are considering the idea of making our technology available outside of the US.
Also, since the early days of our company, we have had many races and timers from across the world approach us and ask that we service their geographic region. As we become more serious about deciding the right timing, we are asking for input. First from potential customers in Canada.
We Want Your Feedback
So we have created a survey to collect information over the course of 2023 as we look to a potential launch in Canada in 2024. If you are in Canada, we would appreciate your feedback here. Or click the button below:
Why Now?
We feel that we might be in a position to dedicate development resources to this very large project beginning later in 2023. We want to evaluate the payback of offering our platform in other countries, and make sure we develop a plan where we can support customers well and not impact our existing customers negatively.
Later in 2023 we will have transitioned our race platform to the next generation website and email platforms we are rolling out. We will also have brought out a next gen ticket capability around multi-day timed entry, as well as rolled out our new Membership platform. Not only does this potentially open up some developer talent to work on this project, but these releases provide new technology that would enable us to provide some very good options for multiple languages.
We had started looking into moving into Canada back in late 2019 and early 2020 – but were sidetracked by the pandemic. In 2022 we looked at acquiring a European registration vendor, which also got us evaluating the cost of acquisition vs. building ourselves.
We also realize it will take us time to become successful with international expansion. It will take time to build partnerships, learn how to support customers, customize our products and add multiple languages, add different payment options and more. And we know it takes time for customers to decide to move. However, there has to be a time to begin. And as we look long term, we feel there is a market for our whole platform in endurance as well as P2P and Tickets.
Why Canada First?
There are a number of reasons. First, we do not want to stretch ourselves too thin and over promise as we look at beginning this journey. Second, Canada makes a lot of things easier from a doing business perspective. It is one of the larger markets, it is in the same timezones, while we want to support the French speaking customers in Canada, most people do speak English, and we have connections with many potential partners and customers. We also see some pent up demand from Race Roster customers in Canada who think they are not the same company since the Asics acquisition. We also think Race Roster will be a bit consumed with figuring out which platform they will be using and if they do switch to the newer Njuko technology, their customers will be more open to evaluating our platform.
Another reason for Canada is that Bob (our founder) has been going to Canada most summers of his life. Bob’s Great Grandfather built a cottage on Lake Lauzon in Blind River, Ontario in 1937.
As the title implies, as we get our feet under us, we do intend to move to other countries over time. Once we make the final decision and put all the final plans together for Canada, we will be looking for input from other potential partners and customers across the globe.
When?
That is be determined later in 2023 and will be based on feedback we get as well as on how we decided to allocate development resources. Probably the earliest we could have an offering would be in Q1-Q2 of 2024.