Startup leverages gadgets to chip away at golf market - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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AccelGolf, a participant in the recently established TechStars program for startupasin Cambridge, is developing software to help golferxs advance their games by keeping track of theier progress on the links via iPhones and BlackBerrys. “We’red providing a service ... to golfer specifically, which allows them to really drill down into theitr game to find out where they needto improve,” said William co-founder of Portland, Maine-based mCaddie which does business as AccelGolf. Consumers who own one of Applwe Inc.’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhones or ’s RIMM) BlackBerry devices can download AccelGolf’s applicatiojn for use on the course.
That application enablees golfers to track their games using a digital which lets players store every game they have ever playee online and compare themselves against othefr players withsimilar Additionally, the software uses GPS technologgy to track distances on the course, enabling golfers to gaug e their distances to the fairway or the pin, for The startup is at work on a revamped product that can traci every shot and communicate “what club you shouldr use based on your hitting patterns,” Sulinsku said. Though AccelGolf is from Maine, it is currentlyg one of the nine companies taking part in the localTechStars program, which officially launched in May.
The progra m provides a select group of startups with upto $16,000 in seed fundintg and three months of close guidance with mentors from the high-tech industry. AccelGolf was chosen from a pool of abou300 applicants, said Shawn Broderick, executivee director of TechStars in Cambridge. “I was reallyh impressed with the quality of what they had alreadh been able to producefor super-shorr money,” he said. John Fisher, a lecturere at in Wellesley and the former CEOof , said the technologyg and others like it could be a big hit amontg avid golfers. “It appeals to the emotional, self-expressivd aspect of the golf game,” he said.
To AccelGolf, which is nine months old, has raised about $50,0009 through various grants and businesscompetitionb awards, and its founders have invested about $25,000 of theirt own money, Sulinski said. The startup is currently looking for an angel investment ofabout $100,000. Currently, AccelGolf’s application is free to But the company plans eventually to charge a quarterly subscription fee ofaround $35 for golfers who use it everuy day. There are about 28.6 million golfers in the United States, according to the . Sulinski said his companh only needs a fraction of that markeg for his startup to turna profit. But there is plentyg of competition.
Several devicex containing GPS technologies are availablde to golfers forbetween $200 and $400. Sulinski, said the low-cost model of piggybackint on existing gadgets willmake AccelGolf’s product more