Exclusive: College athletes tend to pick teams on vibes. He wants to change that
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Shawne Robinson (right) discusses his startup at "Building in Color: Black Founders in AI" during Boston Tech Week in May. Photo: Steph Solis/Axios
Shawne Robinson bases his biggest decisions on the data, which is why he was horrified to learn two years ago that his son had based his college soccer career plans on vibes.
- The vast majority of student-athletes do the same, Robinson later learned.
Why it matters: That revelation inspired the creation of Andover-based Tosch.ai, which calls itself the first patent-pending AI platform for unified college sports data.
- Robinson, the co-founder and CEO, sees the platform as a game changer for a field still reliant on paperwork and whiteboards for coaches, scouts and high school recruits.
Driving the news: Tosch.ai, which launched in November, unveiled on Tuesday an expanded data platform with stats on individual athletes and coaches.
- Tosch.ai shares and analyzes data from 2,000 U.S. colleges in at least five sports leagues (including the NCAA).
- It has teams from 13 sports and counting, Robinson tells Axios.
What they're saying: College sports leagues and colleges collect millions of data points, but they don't make them easily accessible, Robinson says.
- "The transparency was really important to facilitate arming each of the stakeholders with the information that they need to make data-informed decisions."
Zoom in: Robinson is on a team of "2.5," which includes his co-founder as well as Robinson's son, Myles, who works part-time as the chief product officer.
- The younger Robinson also works in sales for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals.
How it works: Think of this as a Bloomberg terminal of sorts for college sports.
- There's data on teams, including coach turnover, athletes' output and performance stats dating back to 2021.
- A coach could use this to identify gaps in their roster and bolster recruiting efforts.
- Student-athletes and their parents could analyze a variety of stats about prospective colleges, including coach turnover and how much playing time freshmen typically get.
Follow the money: Tosch.ai is still an early-stage company relying on angel investors (Robinson declined to disclose them), but the company is also charging for the platform.
- It charges individuals, like student-athletes and parents, $49.99 per person per month or $500 a year per person.
- College coaches and other professionals pay $6,500 per person per year.
What we're watching: Tosch.ai named the Vermont Academy, a private co-ed boarding school, as a partner in November.
- Robinson says the team is in conversations with nearly a dozen colleges across the country about potential partnerships.