It is Saturday morning, and you want to organize a casual soccer game in the park. The problem is, you cannot find enough friends to play, and all of the fields are occupied. Tivity, a new online social platform, offers a solution by connecting people to their favorite athletic activities.
The website, currently in beta testing, allows users to search for sporting activities occurring in their area. Games, events and sports-related information are posted by sporting venues and recreation-affiliated users. Events can range from pick-up games to sports leagues and open venue listings.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re at home, on vacation or traveling for business,” said Matthew Sigman, president and co-founder of Tivity. “We want to help you find something to do, somewhere to do it and someone to do it with.”
Sigman, who received a Master’s in Real Estate from the NYU Shack Institute in 2012, founded the startup company and website with CEO Jason Scherr. Sigman and Scherr work with a small, close-knit group of young entrepreneurs. The team has a workspace at the NYU-Poly Incubator, which is home to almost 30 startups in varying stages of development. The Incubator provides resources, networks and opportunities to the companies it supports.
“We’re very fortunate to be working here,” Scherr said of the Incubator. “It’s been a great experience so far and we’ve already benefited in many different ways.”
Stern junior Alex Stolarz likes the idea of Tivity but wishes the website was not limited to sports.
“I don’t personally play too many team sports, but I could definitely see myself using it for other stuff like poker or political discourse,” Stolarz said.
While Tivity is currently focused on sports and fitness, Scherr and Sigman envision branching out to include other types of events in the future.
“As entrepreneurs, it’s important that we don’t limit ourselves to a fixed, rigid notion of what our company is,” Scherr said. “We have to be able to react to how people use our product and just go with the flow.”
For Scherr and Sigman, the most important aspect of Tivity is the real, face-to-face interaction it offers users. Tivity is one of the rare gems on the web that does not substitute human interaction, but encourages it.
Scherr stated that the best moments in life are shared, and hopes to promote that vision through Tivity.
“Our goal is to help people make new friends, join new communities and maybe even meet the love of their lives,” he said.
Daniel Huang is a contributing writer. Email him at [email protected].
In the previous version of this article, WSN incorrectly reported that Matthew Sigman received a Master’s of Business Administration from the Stern School of Business. In fact, Sigman received a Master’s in Real Estate from the NYU Shack Institute. WSN regrets the error.
