Special Episode – Reeplayer

On today’s episode, I speak with Orhan Ajredinovski from Reeplayer. We talk about their new AI driven camera. Learn more about ReePlayer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Orhan from Reeplayer. Welcome. How are you? 

Orhan: Good. Good, Matt. Thanks for having me here.

Matt: Yeah, thanks for being here. So, We met crazily enough. I was going to LA just for, uh, to see some friends on a, on a kind of a midpoint of a work trip.

And, and I had seen you guys on, uh, on Facebook or something. Somebody had mentioned your company and I, I had looked you up and saw that you guys were based in la I was like, You know what, I’m gonna reach out and, and, and see if I can meet these guys. And, and we did. We had a nice lunch, talked a lot about soccer and, and, and your camera set up.

So it was great. So I’m happy to, to, to get you, you know, face to face on, on Zoom here for, uh, for a little bit of a conversation that we can share with the folks. Um, but, but before we talk about replay, let’s, let’s talk about you a little bit. So why don’t you just, uh, gimme. Give everybody kind of a, a, a brief background.

Uh, you know, how’d you get into to soccer? What’s your journey like? Where’d you grow up? What’s your, been, your pathway? How’d you get to where you are now? 

Orhan: Yeah. Um, I mean, everyone has their own unique pathway and I love hearing this. So I, I, you know, first of all, thank you for having me here and, uh, thank you for putting this together for everybody.

It’s, it’s very unique. Um, my, my, my personal journey started, uh, in Istanbul. I was born in Istanbul, Turkey, um, and my dad was a diehard fan of [00:01:30] Uhone Spore, and my grandpa was a diehard fan of Galk. Um, and. , I happen to choose the, uh, burgundy and the light blue, uh, colors of tr spore. And although I’m, you know, we didn’t live in that city, that’s a Black Sea region.

Um, and they’re the fourth, uh, biggest team, not the biggest team in, in, in, in the country. So that’s where my heart lied and that’s what what I went with. However, , I had to pick a side, um, soon because I don’t live in that city. So I picked to play for Galk at a very young age. Um, And, and I did. So my journey started there.

Um, I was probably in the vicinity of the Art Deran and, and a couple of the other guys, Emre, who ended up going to Spain after that. During that time, and I, I had a great time out there. They have a great facility. It’s the youth guys at the very bottom of the hill, and as you get higher and higher up the hill, you get to the, a squat and they’re at the top.

And, uh, I mean, that says something right. Talk about like working your way up the mountain. Um, and funny enough, um, uh, eventually my parents decided that we needed to move to the United States because, you know, there’s better education out here and. . Um, although my dad really wanted me to play pro, I guess he picked education over, over athletics and, and, and moved us.

Um, but um, I had just signed my, um, like youth pro contract several months before. So that was devastating as you can imagine, uh, at that age. [00:03:00] And, and then it gets worse cuz then I didn’t touch a soccer ball in the United States for about two years until I found the club team to play for. Um, , you know, you gotta look at it from the bright side.

I was like a cages up dog. I say, and when I was kind of let out onto the nice green gas, um, I, I knew what I had to do. So, um, you know, that was sort of the journey. From starting soccer and playing on the streets, of course, um, to coming to United States. And then I played youth youth club out here, um, in Los Angeles, California, um, for a while.

And then I had a quick stint at, um, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Um, shout out to those guys out there in, uh, coach Steve Earl. Um, he changed who I am and what kind of game I played. Um, I was a forward, he made me a midfield. Um, and without even asking me and forced that upon me. And I love it. I love playing midfield and, uh, whether it’s defensive or offensive.

And, and so, um, had a nice journey with my high school out here. Came back, uh, we, we, we, before I had left, we had just won c i f and state and ranked number one in nation for high school. Um, so went to Tulsa, came back, um, finished up high school out here, and, um, and. things kind of fizzled out from there, um, from the point of view of playing college in the United States.

So I had a couple of hiccups maybe we we’ll talk about on the podcast today. Um, but that’ll ultimately ended up motivating me and, and getting myself to, to [00:04:30] Europe. So I, I hauled myself to Europe and started knocking on some doors and opening up some doors to play some soccer out there. And, Trained and played with, um, some lower division teams in Sweden and then like, made myself to Turkey and trained with, um, uh, some of the, um, clubs out there.

Uh, B squad of Bishop Tosh, which was like a big squad and tried to get myself in indoors. But, um, ultimately, um, I didn’t have it in me at that very young age to sleep on a couch in an office space and daytime go and knock on doors and try to make things happen. So I came back and got my education and here I am today.

Matt: No, it’s a, it’s an amazing journey for sure. Um, so I mean, I’m guessing all of that experience as a whole is, uh, is kind of what, what got you to, to where you are now? So, I mean, what, what, what, what’s the biggest reason you wanted to, to be in this business? Uh, this replay and, and, and the college, or not college, but just the soccer video.

Orhan: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Of course. I mean, like, you know, you, you do things in life and hopefully you do it because it’s meaningful to you. Um, soccer was that thing where, you know, it was meaningful to me for several reasons. Um, I wanted to perform at a very, very high level and do so on a regular basis, but also I wanted to support my family.

I mean, they meant everything to me. So that was, you know, really the meaning behind that. And I’m sure it is for a lot of athletes out there. [00:06:00] Um, and so, you know, when I. A couple of, you know, a decade or two later, two decades later, I’d say, um, I overheard, um, and I am in his house today. Funny enough, um, I overheard the guy that lives here, his roommate’s friend, Tell them, Hey, can you come to my next game and record?

Because a College Scout is looking for video and, and, uh, I’m at a community college. I want a transfer and I have an opportunity here, but I don’t have any footage. And um, you know, I hit the chord, right? Like I didn’t have footage. That was one of my things when I went to Europe or before I went to Europe, I pinged a ton of agents and managers and that was the thing.

Send your cd. That’s what it was. Didn’t know. Sense. Um, I feel like that ages us a lot, but that was. 

Matt: We won’t, we won’t, we won’t talk about, uh, any video that I had that done or lack thereof on VHS tape . 

Orhan: Um, yeah. So, uh, so yeah, I mean, that, that was the start of this, you know, it’s something in me was like, what the hell?

Is this still a problem? It cannot be, there’s no way. We have iPhones in our pockets. There’s no chance that video’s not being recorded, and yet it was, it wasn’t recorded. That was a problem. And. I did a year of, uh, proof of concept they call it. And um, I ran a company, a product development company, um, and I built products for others.

And we had a marketing department which had D S [00:07:30] L R cameras as well as drones. So, um, you know, Flash news to people that thought that was a real business. We put together a fake business called Drone FC and put, put, put up a site, um, and, and got hired to record games. And all I was doing was just seeing whether or not this was a real problem.

Why is it a problem? And to identify a better solution for it. And so that was, um, that was the start of it. And so it’s, it’s demeaning. I I really want to help athletes record their best. There’s a, it’s an asset ultimately. And, um, here we are today sitting on the Zoom call. You’re recording this and you’re gonna share it with a wider audience only because Zoom is enabling us to do this.

Video is the asset here, and they’re gonna put that in your hands and you’re gonna reach your audience and, uh, distribute this information. So that’s the same thing with athletes, and I’ve said it when we met too, um, at lunch. Um, athletes are the coolest kids on the block, uh, but they don’t have anything to show for.

So I don’t know how cool you could really be outside of that physical block of space in your, uh, 

Matt: Yeah. Well, and, and that’s just, just a reminder to folks, this, uh, if you’re listening as a podcast, uh, first of all, hope you hit subscribe. But second of all, we are available via video on our YouTube channel, which you should also subscribe to.

But, um, so. . I mean, video is, is like you just mentioned, you know, it’s everywhere. Uh, people are, well, I mean, [00:09:00] we’re, we’re talking today and, uh, the, the TikTok hearings were yesterday talking about video. So, um, but. I mean, if, if someone who’s listening to this today, they’re going, well, Matt, I, I know there’s, there’s video and there’s trace and there, there, there are video things out there in the youth soccer world to help people get their video.

So, you know, folks may not have heard of replay at, at this point, but how are you guys different from, you know, the, the other products? 

Orhan: Yeah. Yeah. I, I love this question. Um, mainly because of the fact that you can ask this question, uh, where there is competition. , there’s competition, baby. And, and I love that it pushes all of us.

And I’m an athlete, uh, without other teams, soccer wouldn’t be as fun as it is. And so I’m glad to be in a space where there are folks like the Vos and the traces and the slots and, and all the others. Um, and it pushes us to differentiate and. Um, you know, we’ve been sort of idle for a good amount of time, um, because we wanna make sure that we have perfect alignment with what people want.

As I mentioned earlier, I come from a product development background and all I did and I know very well to do is find that alignment with folks. And, um, and what I mean by that is, Are they not getting from the existing products out in the market? And what are they actually wanting and needing? Um, so ultimately that, [00:10:30] that drove us into hyper-focusing and putting at the center of our attention the athlete.

um, they are the majority, um, they have, you know, they, there are 22 of them playing on the field plus the bench. Um, and then you got the coaches and then you got the parents. Um, so times two, uh, of the players. And so everyone’s after the asset, which is the video here. And, and our primary focus has been how can we build a product, the best camera in the market period.

Um, because the video needs to be, Good. I mean, in fact, better than good. It needs to be something that people, uh, just love, um, and they can utilize more so than others. And I thought that there was a, um, Uh, what’s the right word? I mean, I, I just didn’t think that the, the quality out there of video for coming from other cameras wasn’t something that I’d be proud of sharing in the ways that I would wanna share and distribute on social media.

So that was number one thing. And then the other differentiation is shareability and access to footage. So, You know, day one since day one, our obsession has been how can we give folks access to footage faster than anybody else? Which we can hopefully talk about what, what we’ve done in a later part in this podcast.

Um, and then distribution of it, um, shareability. So going from like recording to accessing it via. Your mobile app in your pocket to hitting a button and sharing your best in the best way possible. No one likes to see these, you know, tiny little videos, but they wanna see [00:12:00] vertical, you know, a large video just like you would when you’re scrolling through TikTok or, or, or Instagram.

So, Those are primarily the focuses that, um, we focus on the product side. And then on, on the flip side of that was affordability. Um, nine, nine bucks a month for the entire team. Unlimited everything. That was, you know, if, if, if someone came at me, I mean, that was a question I asked myself, what would I say yes to and what would be a no-brainer?

And it was that, and we didn’t, we didn’t come up with that. I can’t take credit for it too, because we did. nationwide research targeting zip codes like Compton and Beverly Hills to understand what folks are willing to pay and, and what they could afford to pay. So, um, we took that data and then we went to the drawing board and started to build a product.

So I’m very proud of that fact. 

Matt: Well, and right now you guys are, are in private beta. Can you, can you talk more about that? How’s it going? What’s some of the things that, that the users have seen that you guys have learned from the beta? 

Orhan: Yeah. Um, I mean, first of all, , um, you know, I just got goosebumps. I always do.

I I just wanna give a major shout out to everyone who has been supporting us through beta and otherwise. Um, we have a massive community, a huge wait list. And, um, you know, I have people emailing me saying, you know, I’ve been waiting for you guys to finish up, um, you know, your prototype to your beta, to your private beta for the last year and a half.

And I haven’t purchased any others. Just still waiting for you. . That’s crazy. Thank, thank you so much for [00:13:30] believing in us and waiting for us. Um, we have acquired a lot of information through, uh, through beta, um, from uploading issues that, you know, we were experiencing. So were, you know, some of the other entities out there to, uh, video quality improvements that we made.

So, you know, we, we originally, and, and you know, I should. I always mentioned this too. Um, we originally wanted to bring in 12 beta participants, uh, to this round, and we had about 1500 clubs sign up for these 12 spots. Um, we, we did onboard about a hundred hundred and close 120 beta participants because we had so many people sign up.

looking back, um, I’ve said this before, we made a mistake there and we all make mistakes. We’re all human. Um, and we onboarded way too many people. So the data coming in was the same, but the people to manage was. Much larger than what we could handle. So we went, we did go through a phase where we actually reduced the number of beta participants that we had.

Um, and that allowed us to make specific, um, uh, upgrades to this next gen camera. So, um, that’s what we call the unit that’s gonna come up. Come out, um, when we publicly launched. So we went from a two 4K camera system to the only ones with actual three functioning. 4K camera, um, ca uh, cameras in, in one single camera unit.

Um, each one of those cameras are recording in 4K and stitching [00:15:00] with, with a brand new algorithm that is not a traditional stitching method. Um, I really don’t think anyone out there is actually using this, um, type of method that we’re stitching with. And, um, what it allows us to do is preserve raw pixels straight from the sensor itself.

A lot of times, um, you might see manipulation of pixels, blurring of pixels in some of the other, um, products out there. Um, you know, we we’re eliminating that concept, uh, from the foundation. So, um, I mentioned the obsession that we have about video quality. So, um, that’s where the pi highest pixel density camera is gonna be coming from, just.

The three camera system as well as the stitching. Um, and then we’re shrinking the size of the beta unit, of course, and making it more rugged. And, um, we’ll be ha we we’re going to have probably the most powerful AI chip, um, uh, from Amedia in these, uh, camera units that we’re, we’re gonna launch into the market, as well as equipping every camera with an LTE module.

So, um, you know, some folks might wanna livestream and they want, they might wanna be able to do so. Because they’re in the final in two hours and they decided then and they wanna hit a button and turn on live streaming, live streaming capabilities. So every unit will be equipped with that. And then we’re making major improvements, like I noticed, uh, I mentioned earlier, um, to the mobile app.

So. Um, sharing content, [00:16:30] creating highlight reels, downloading them, um, is gonna be very, very simple. So, um, I know I can keep nerding out about this, but the last thing I’ll say is that we wanna adopt this open platform concept where, Um, it is, you know, I wanna make sure that when we sit on the table with every single stakeholder, be it athletes, players, you, um, and parents who, whoever it is, we’re all there for the same reason, which is access to video and what we can do at video.

So, um, you know, we don’t wanna. Punish people for using other products out there. So we’re gonna slowly deploy this concept of, okay, bring any footage that you have, whether it’s from your cell phone or from a VO from a trace, and utilize the shareability features within our platform and then send it out to wherever you’d like.

So you might really like our shareability features in the app and, and, and, but you might really like huddles analytical features. Um, we’ll, we’ll par par partner up with those folks and build an integration where you just toggle on a switch and while you’re saving it to the replay platform, we just zap it over to your huddle platform as well, so you can have access to it there.

So hopefully that’s in a quick nutshell. Everything, uh, all the improvements that, you know, we went from beta to NextGen that we’re making before we launch. 

Matt: No, it’s, it’s, it’s a lot of stuff. It’s pretty cool. Well, I mean, Let’s fast forward, you know, to launch, and of course you’re gonna send me one of the first, uh, you know, ready [00:18:00] for production units, so I can play with it down here in Bradenton.

But, um, how, how do you see kind of, you know, the videos serving everybody that needs them, right? Whether that’s the, the player, the parent, the coach, uh, and everybody in between. I mean, obviously. The video is one part, right? And then there’s the next part. It’s the editing and the highlighting and the sharing and the, all that stuff.

So, so what, what does that look like for you guys? 

Orhan: Yeah. Um, you know, I’ll talk about each stakeholder very briefly, but the way I see it is, um, I just want everyone to enjoy the game, man. Um, you know, the athlete just needs to think about that next game, um, and step on that pitch and just give it their best.

The parents just enjoying every ounce of that game and every single moment. The coach doing what they do, the scouts doing what they do. No one, no one should ever think about whether this game was recorded or whether, whether or not I need to edit it. You know, that’s, I come from a UX world, so you know, that’s the best case scenario.

So everyone enjoys it. And then once the game is over, or during the game, it’s livestream. Then once the game is over, everyone has access to it. You hit, you hit a button, you get your highlight reel. Um, you share by hitting another button. Um, simple as that. So, but if we were to kind of d dial into each individual, uh, persona that you just mentioned, the way I see it is that, and I mentioned the, mentioned to, uh, them.

The next [00:19:30] generation athlete, um, because there is gonna be a quite a difference in pivot here in how, how, how these athletes showcase their themselves. And so with video athletes will be able to grow an audience, engage with brands, and monetize that fandom. I mean, here you are. Doing that in essence as well, and, and sharing this knowledge and wisdom.

They’re, they too will be able to learn from their game, connect with trainers and improve their game. Um, when you have video and, and the best part is they don’t. , they no longer just have to connect with trainers, uh, personally. Um, just like you and I, they might want to connect through Zoom and just because video exists, they can give that feedback.

Um, they can of course get discovered by College Scouts, which is what your podcast is all about, and professional teams. So, um, they can, you know, compete against their peers. We want to create those kind of environments so that virtually they can do that. And then, and then this might be the most important too thing to many of them, um, allow their family and friends to watch them and, and watch their best, even if they can’t attend a lot, uh, live.

Um, so for, for youth clubs, um, this is. Massive opportunity to go into the next generation as well. Um, provide massive value to the athletes, to the parents and the fans and the coaches, of course, increase club visibility and, and impact the, the growth of the club, but also bring in new re uh, revenue streams.

Um, I was always sponsored [00:21:00] as an athlete. I could never really afford to play and thankfully there was a wealthy parent who sponsored me. Um, but the club itself really couldn’t. Um, You know, why can’t we, uh, introduce new revenue streams? E digital, live streaming tickets, um, growing their fans and monetizing from other brand sponsorships, increasing college scholarships, resulting in, you know, more satisfied parents and pulling more sat, uh, parents in inside of their club.

Um, so, you know, as you can imagine, I can keep going what this means to scouts and brands, but, um, you know, I don’t wanna hog the mic, but this is, this is definitely something that is an asset and everyone in their own right, um, can utilize. , um, in a, in a unique way. 

Matt: Well, I, I’ve got one, well, I guess two last questions, but, but one final one about the camera, uh, topic, but, you know, let’s say a fast forward, let’s, let’s go five years, right?

Where do you see the whole game video recording data analytics space in soccer. 

Orhan: Yeah. Yeah. Five years is a long time for tech. I mean, um, you know, look at the introduction of Open AI and chat G p T, right? What has it done to our world in a span of couple of weeks or a month, or couple of months. So I love it.

I [00:22:30] mean, it just kind of broadens our scope of what we can accomplish. And the way I see it is that in five. Man, it’s gonna be a different world. Like, you know, we’re gonna have, um, little celebrities coming out of neighborhoods and, and kids getting discovered, not just for soccer, but for all sports. Data is gonna play a magnificent part in this.

And, um, you know what? Have you watched Moneyball? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Love it. Yeah, I mean, love it. I’ve, I’ve watched this several times too and you know, you kind of watch these things on TV and then you think to yourself, only do pros have that. Um, but things are gonna change and I think now technology’s becoming more and more widely available and we’re gonna see Moneyball situations in, in sports.

And look, ultimately I’m on the side of the athlete. Um, meaning this is, you know, I wanna make sure that the athletes themselves, are empowered and they’re in full control of their destiny. And um, and, and they have that data available to them. And therefore, the way I see it in five years, and I’ll paint a clear picture on the data side, is that, um, as an athlete, I know what profile of an athlete I am and I know what profile of.

A team X and Y and z R. Therefore, I know where I could go and play and get the most minutes and perform. Um, so you know that decision making should be a lot [00:24:00] easier. Right now it isn’t like that and it’s literally. I mean, you’re just, it’s wishy-washy. Um, so, um, I think we can see a huge change in the way we make decisions and where we go play and how we play because that data is clearly visible to us.

Matt: Yeah. Well, I’m gonna end us on one last question, and it’s a question. I’m, I’m, I’m tweaking it slightly since, uh, you know, you’re not my normal college coach interview, but it’s gonna be similar here. So, Gimme one nugget, one piece of advice, one thing that you’ve learned or that you’ve seen, uh, regarding the college recruiting process.

Gimme one, one piece of information you’d love to share with any parent, family, or player who’s hoping to play in college. 

Orhan: Oh, man. I mean, as someone that, um, ranked number one in the nation in high school and didn’t get an opportunity, um, and didn’t get an opportunity in the pro space. For the reason that I didn’t have game footage, that that’s what I would say.

I know it’s funny coming from the c e o replay, but that’s why I started it. That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. So please record . It doesn’t have to be with replay. Uh, pull out your phone, whatever it is, but record your kids, uh, games and put together the reels and share, share their best with them and with college.

Awesome. 

Matt: Well, hey, I appreciate the time. It was great meeting you in person, uh, and now meeting on Zoom and I look forward to, to [00:25:30] keeping in touch and learning what you guys are doing and, and can’t wait to, to get the, the final, uh, in production unit out the door and, and get my hands on one. 

Orhan: Yeah, absolutely.

And thanks for doing what you do, Matt. Appreciate it. Take care. 

Take care.