Pointstreak: A Chatham-Kent Business Success Story

Chatham-Kent, ON – When your job is to keep track of other people’s successes, you often forget your own success. For a community such as Chatham-Kent that is looking for a success story to cling to however, the rise of Pointstreak, a revolutionary technology company serving the sporting world, is a breath of fresh air.

Along with a few business partners from British Columbia, Ridgetown native and Pointstreak President and CEO Scott Secord, has built one of the world’s fastest growing sports companies. Pointstreak manages league and team statistics, among other things, for professional and amateur sports organizations from across the globe.

In Secord’s opinion, the secret to his budding business’ success was their initial investment in technology,

“Having the most advanced technology has been the biggest part of our success. Initially, we created the best mousetrap by investing heavily in our technology. We have about 20 full-time developers who spend their time creating applications and new aspects to our platform. Advancing our technology and making sure we are on the cutting edge of the industry keeps us one step ahead of our competitors and at the forefront of our market.”

Originally a hockey only company, the Pointstreak platform has expanded to league and statistics management, as well as social networking for sports in areas from hockey, to baseball, football, lacrosse, and soon, rugby.

“When I saw the concept and idea I thought that this was something that made a lot of sense for grassroots hockey and at the professional level,” said Secord. “People want real time information and easy access to it. At any level of hockey and sport, it’s great to have statistics and standings instantly accessible online.”

The statistics management system has served as an asset for coaches, players, media, and scouts across North America in recent seasons, and as Pointstreak’s technology continues to evolve, so will the functionality for those in the sporting world,

“It serves a large purpose for media, coaches, and players. We’ve also created video streaming to allow media to review highlights immediately. Most leagues are videotaping their games and we can automate and index the live videos for everyone to see.”

Secord started his career in the sports world as the Director of Operations for the Chatham Maroons (who now utilize Pointstreak at www.chathamjrmaroons.com), before moving on to a role with the St. Michaels Majors of the Ontario Hockey League.

Strangely enough, Secord isn’t the only Chatham-Kent product contributing to the success of Pointstreak. Paul Pettipiece, another Chatham-Kent native is the Vice President of Baseball Operations, and has been instrumental according to Secord, in the growth of Pointreak’s portfolio from simply a hockey company, to a broad based sports business that now manages the statistics for numerous professional baseball league’s across North America.

“We started out as strictly a hockey company,” said Secord, “but I think we’ve got out of that mold. We’ve had significant success in lacrosse and baseball. Paul Pettipiece who is also from Chatham-Kent developed this [baseball] program. We do several baseball leagues across North America and we’ve signed a deal to do all statistics in Texas. We want to provide a vehicle for all sports and I think high school sports will be the next step. Growth will be moving into new sports platforms. We’re building a rugby platform right now.”

Secord even went as far as saying Pointstreak’s main offices in Toronto have a decided “Chatham-Kent feel” with seven full-time employees originating from Chatham-Kent.

For other small businesses in Southwestern Ontario to find the success Pointstreak has experienced, Secord says there needs to be access to capital, something he believes is more readily available in larger urban centres.

“We’ve been fortunate to have access with this to grow our business. The biggest thing is we had to have access to capital to spend money on infrastructure, resources, marketing, and to build our technology.”

Despite Pointstreak’s current locations in Toronto and Vancouver, among other spots in North America, Secord says that if growth continues, he wouldn’t rule out opening a satellite office in Chatham-Kent that could potentially manage contracts with Ontario’s minor hockey and baseball systems.

“You never know. Certainly at the grassroots level we’d love to get more involved with the OMHA and baseball Canada and across Ontario. Certainly as we grow, and we continue to see a need to have satellite campuses we could consider Chatham-Kent. We definitely need to have the infrastructure in place.”

From a small town hockey guy, to the President and CEO of one of Canada’s most widely known and successful sports technology companies, the rise to the top has been rapid, yet filled with hard work for Ridgetown’s Scott Secord. For Chatham-Kent, Secord’s Pointstreak serves as a shining example of the accomplishments, and technological advancements people from this region are capable of reaching and creating.

Pointstreak shows despite the economic shifts in recent years, that through an investment in technology, and utlizing the talents of people from the local community, that any height of success is possible; and that Chatham-Kent isn’t doomed to become just another statistic.

For more information, feel free to visit www.pointstreak.com.