01
Athly
02
Origin
03
The Problem
04
Why Now
05
The Solution
06
The App
07
Retention
08
Why Us
09
Athlete Traction
10
Athlete Calibre
11
Fan Traction
12
Subscription Model
13
Revenue Share
14
Unit Economics
15
Market Size
16
Supply-Side Expansion
17
Go-To-Market
18
Product Roadmap
19
Competition
20
Fundraising
APX
Appendix
A01
ICP
A02
WASH Case Study
A03
Solution Tech
A04
Retention Thesis
A05
Unit Economics
A06
Defensibility
A07
Challenge Mechanic
A08
Content Playbook
ESC to close
ATHLY
Infinitely scalable mentorship, from the world's best athletes
Prepared for
The Players Fund
Origin
2022
Founded the WASH mobile AFL coaching app with Will Ashcroft (top Australian athlete)
2024
Reached 3,000 users, but realised that we hit a ceiling due to manual coaching delivery
2025
Worked with other top Australian athletes and creators to monetise their audience
2026
Founded Athly
The Problem
Fans will pay for an athlete's guidance, but athletes don't have time to deliver it at scale.
$2.4 ARR
per follower · uncaptured
$10K
each athlete paid us to solve
Why Now
AI can now replace the bottleneck.
The Solution
Public Data
Interviews & podcasts
Social media
Public perception
Onboarding Call
Situational
Emotional
Personal
Vector Knowledge Base
AI Twin
Agentic RAG athlete AI mentor
Self-Improving AI Memory
Analyse conversational data
Update knowledge base
Real-world monitoring
The App
The first surface for the persona engine — a personal mentor for the athlete's fans.
* This is an early mock-up. Product will be ready 1st June 2026
App screen 1
App screen 2
App screen 3
App screen 4
Retention
Train and grow with your athlete, all year.
PROGRESS
Real, measured improvement
STATUS
Deepened athlete connection
INTEGRATION
Live in every session
SEASONALITY
Non-stop calendar
Target: 88% monthly retention
Why Us
Joey
CEO
Joey
Legal background
Proven access to athletes
Spoken to all top Aus managers
Tom
Product Lead
Tom
Built 4 similar apps
Deep understanding of ICP
Scaled to 3,000+ users
Ben
CTO
Ben
5+ years experience
5+ consumer apps shipped
2 start-ups
Athlete Traction
FEB '26 — NOW
100+
Athletes interested
* Spoke to or about a specific athlete
30+
Spoken to directly
20
LOIs · ~2.4M followers
"This is actually insane!"
Callum Robson · Manager
"Very much interested."
Payne Haas · Manager
"Super keen on this!"
Andrew Nabbout · Athlete
Athlete Calibre
We aren't just engaging any athletes — we're in conversation with the best.
AFL
TOP 10
1Bailey Smith
2Nick Daicos
3Harley Reid
4Marcus Bontempelli
5Christian Petracca
6Izak Rankine
7Isaac Heeney
8Patrick Cripps
9Nick Watson
10Charlie Curnow
NRL
TOP 10
1James Tedesco
2Payne Haas
3Nathan Cleary
4Reece Walsh
5Isaiya Katoa
6Blayke Brailey
7Eliesa Katoa
8Joseph Tapine
9Cameron Munster
10Terrell May
Cricket
TOP 10
1Travis Head
2Steve Smith
3Alex Carey
4Marnus Labuschagne
5Cam Green
6Mitchell Starc
7Pat Cummins
8Scott Boland
9Josh Hazlewood
10Nathan Lyon
Other
Tim Tszyu (Boxing · #1 in 2024)
Kyle Chalmers (Swimming · 9 Olympic medals)
Shayna Jack (Swimming · 2 Olympic gold)
Malcolm Marx (Rugby · #4 in world)
RG Snyman (Rugby · #6 in world)
Fred Warner (NFL · #13 ranked)
Pat Surtain (NFL · #6 ranked)
In conversation with Athly
afl.com.au · zerotackle.com.au · icc-cricket.com · espn.com
Total IG Followers: 11M Avg: 478K
Fan Traction
WASH · Proven demand
3,000 users in 18 months
Pre-launch validation
We tested the solution end-to-end with a Socceroo and successfully onboarded a limited cohort of users.
"
"what are some mental skills for low confidence in a new team"
Pre-sale User
"
"why am I picked last for teams when I am one of the best"
Pre-sale User
Subscription Model
CORE
$19.95/mo
Training programs + methodology
ICP
Playing the sport and wants mentorship from their idol
PLUS
$39.95/mo
Deeper access + video breakdowns
ICP
Competitive club player with specific improvement goals
ELITE
$54.95/mo
Full mentorship experience
ICP
Pathway-focused athlete targeting selections
Rev Share Model
Monthly revenue
Athly
Athlete
$0 – $10K
30%
70%
$10K – $30K
25%
75%
$30K+
20%
80%
* Feedback has been overwhelming positive. Indicates potential to shift more favourably towards Athly.
Unit Economics
1 athlete with 100k followers = $5,287 MRR, net to Athly
Market Size
# Athletes
Avg Followers
Subscribers
Conv. Rate
Athly ARR
20
125K
15.6K
0.625%
$1.7M
40
175K
36.4K
0.52%
$3.9M
80
400K
144K
0.45%
$15.9M
160
725K
440.8K
0.38%
$49.8M
250
1.5M
937.5K
0.25%
$102.3M
Conversion rate and Athly blended share decays with scale · ARPU increases with scale
AI in sports · 28.69% CAGR to 2030 Mordor Intelligence, 2026
Supply-Side Expansion
Green = validated interest
May 2026
Athletes
20 → 40
New Countries
Australia
New Categories
AFL NRL Cricket Soccer
Q1 2027
Athletes
40 → 100
New Countries
New Zealand UK South Africa
New Categories
Solo Sports Basketball
Q4 2027
Athletes
100 → 250+
New Countries
India USA Canada Europe
New Categories
Baseball NFL
compound mechanisms
Referral Flywheel
VALIDATED
Managers and athletes receive referral bonuses
Revenue Guarantee
VALIDATED
Top global athletes interested through small revenue guarantee
Catalogue & Trust
VALIDATED
Athletes and managers are driven by results, which we'll build
Go-to-Market
Athlete Distribution
Leveraging existing IG audience
Proven posting & CTA templates
Positive feedback from calls
Challenge Mechanic
Seasonal, time-limited signup events
Drive concentrated signups through urgency
Creates shareable results
Owned Social Media
Build own engaging IG, TikTok, FB
Grown accounts from 0 to 30k
Collab posts with athletes
PR
Existing contacts at top sports media
Newspaper, radio, TV
Have experience in space
IG Collab
Press Coverage
Press Coverage
Product Roadmap
LAUNCH
MVP
June 2026
MONTHS 1–4
Deepened Mentorship
Authentic athlete connection and status. Voice-to-voice accuracy.
MONTHS 4–9
Integrated Improvement
Live mentorship, built into your training. Real, gamified skill rankings based on performance.
MONTHS 9–12
Athlete Scale
Frictionless onboarding and management through AI agent calls and intelligent dashboards.
Long term vision is in broader applications of monetising IP licensing. The mentorship app is the first surface, but the persona is valuable to brands, media, federations, and more.
Competition
AI Athlete IP
Talk2Me
Brahma AI
ElevenLabs
Kotcha ($6.6m)
Delphi ($16m)
Fan Training Apps
Peloton
Nike Training Club
Centr
Ladder ($147m)
Masterclass ($461m)
Playbook
HumanGO
Fulltrack.AI ($600k)
Athlete Monetisation
Sponsorships
Cameo
YouTube / TikTok
Fanfix / Patreon
Own business
ATHLY
Defensibility
◆Subscriber lock-in
◆Proven conversion
◆Manager networks
◆Owned users
Fundraising
AUD $260k pre-seed closed
Milestones · July 2026
Use launch to prove repeatable revenue per athlete model
Seed round
Lead investor confirmed. Locking in strategic co-investors.
Why The Players Fund
Support European expansion
Network activation
Thesis synergy
Milestones · December 2026
Use repeatable model to expand to 40 athletes generating $150k gross MRR
APPENDIX
ICP
CORE · $19.95/mo
The Fan
14–19yo
Plays at club level
Idolises the athlete
Wears the merch
Pays for proximity
Progress is a bonus
Replicates training style
Parent often pays
PLUS · $39.95/mo
The Competitor
15–22yo
Trains 3–5× weekly
Chasing specific goals
Wants accountability
Pays to improve
Competes in grades
Challenge-responsive
Trusts the name
ELITE · $54.95/mo
Pathway Athlete
15–23yo
Targeting selection
Sport is identity
Every session counts
Willing to pay
Zero price sensitivity
Needs deeper connection with athlete than others
WASH Performance
1.5K
Coached in-person through clubs, schools, and clinics
15
Coaches managed (VFL/AFL players)
3,000
App users in 18 months
18 years old when founded.
· Built Instagram to 30k followers
· Organised merch drop within 24 hours of Norm Smith medal (sold out)
· Commercial partnerships, including Sony, BodyScience, and ApolloX
Solution Tech
STACK
Python, FastAPI, Supabase, Pydantic
LangChain, Anthropic
ElevenLabs
Typescript, React, Vite
Railway
WHY
Scalable, async-native
Easy error surfacing
No cloud or database ops
Optimised for scalability and developer velocity
Retention Thesis
4 mechanics to hit 88% monthly retention
MEASURABLE PROGRESS
Improvement you can see
◆ Realistic rankings based on ability
◆ Skill ratings updated on personal dashboard
◆ Public ranking with gamified improvement
ATHLETE IDENTITY
Connection that feels personal
◆ Status rankings under athletes' banner
◆ Top performers unlock real athlete access
◆ AI twin personalises with every interaction
LIVE TRAINING LOOPS
The coach is in the session
◆ Live feedback, not post-session reviews
◆ Wearables sync
◆ Program adapts to live training
LIVE SEASON
Twelve months of reasons
◆ Pre-season: Get a head start on everyone else
◆ In-season: Perform your best on game day
◆ Off-season: Don't lose your progress now
Unit Economics
Value per athlete
per 100K followers
Instagram followers
100,000
Follower conversion rate
0.625%
Avg. revenue per user
$32 / mo
Gross MRR per athlete
$20,000 / mo
Athlete rev share (72%)
−$14,400
COGS  ($0.50/mo/user)
−$313
Athly net revenue
$5,287 / mo
Defensibility
Subscriber Lock-In
· Athletes can't extract users
· We own the consumer data
· Switching restarts AI twin accuracy
Proven Conversion
· We've done it before
· Early sales data will prove this
· Will be trusted leader in space
Manager Networks
· Managers expand from 1 athlete to many
· Managers want 1 relationship
· Referral system compounds
Owned User Base
· Potential long-term model (2y+ away)
· Fans pay for Athly-wide access
· Athletes use our distribution instead
Challenge Mechanic
Drive sign-up urgency and limit churn.
01 · PRE-LAUNCH
Build narrative and sign-ups
→
02 · ENROL
Users join and baseline is set
→
03 · TRACK
Progress is tracked live
→
04 · REWARD
Win athlete-specific prizes
→
05 · CONTINUE
Next challenge begins
Content Playbook
Scalable, predictable, proven acquisition engine
Authentic
· Built around how athletes already post
· 3 key pillars: Authority, journey, CTA
· Athletes personalise to maintain brand
Automated
· Quarterly seasonal content packs auto-delivered
· Ready-to-post options
· Minimal extra athlete workload
Scalable
· Central engine creates optimal content
· Based on sport, niche, seasonality, etc
· Continuous results-based optimisation
Collabs
· Athly posts collabs with athletes
· No extra work for athlete
· Build own channels