STAC is rebranding its college athlete recruiting platform in name and in purpose.
The company, now called SEQL, launched earlier this summer, offering a platform for high school athletes to connect with college recruiters. Since then, its user base has grown to several thousand, and more recently Los Angeles Lakers point guard Quinn Cook signed on as a brand ambassador.
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Robert de Wolff said the team saw an opportunity to rebrand and become an even bigger player in the market when the NCAA Board of Directors announced earlier this year that it would consider allowing college athletes to be paid for their name and likeness through things like brand deals, third-party endorsements and their own business pursuits.
The result was SEQL.
SEQL, which de Wolff said stands for “Sports Equality”, still offers the same athlete-to-recruiter connection but will eventually serve as a platform for athletes to leverage their own brand throughout their career, beyond the recruitment stage.
"What we want to do is extend the lifetime value of our user and essentially provide a solutions platform for the next-generation athlete, providing a value ad at every stage of their career," he said.
For example, college athletes will be able to use the platform to post events in which they can charge the public for attendance, such as private training sessions either online or in person.
“A few months ago our long term vision was just to be the market leader in the recruitment space,” de Wolff said. “Now we want to be the solutions platform, really the one-stop shop, adding value across every stage of your career, from the time of your thirteenth birthday, until you hang up your cleats at the end of your professional career.”
The platform will also offer a space for college and pro-level athletes to post brand deal and endorsements campaigns in order to directly reach a niche athletic audience, de Wolff said.
While the timeline of the NCAA’s decision on athlete brand opportunities is not yet finalized, he said the SEQL team is planning ahead in order to take advantage of the opportunity as soon they're able.
“Athletes are going to be entering a whole new market,” de Wolff said. “The way we see it, we’re going to provide them a value ad within the athletic community and open up a platform for them to generate revenue.”