Team-Text’s Doug Looney: Juggling a Startup, Soccer Team, and Family

Kira M. Newman Mar 28, 2012 Tweet

Before his family wakes up, Doug Looney is already sipping his morning coffee and crossing items off his to-do list. He’s working on a startup called Team-Text, before he heads off to a full-time job. And he puts in almost 10 more hours on the weekend, in addition to his role as soccer coach:

“I do juggle the duties of entrepreneur, employee, and family man,” admits Looney. “My day job is very interesting and I have a great company. A good career in this economy is a real possession. If you can, hire someone else to work the start-up until it isn’t a start-up.”

Founded in 2012, Team-Text was inspired by Looney’s coaching. Instead of calling all his players one by one, he can now send a message through Team-Text. As with GroupMe, he broadcasts to a single team phone number and everyone receives the message. He can also set permissions to allow other players to send broadcast messages. There are no apps to download, and all the setup is done through SMS.

“I really enjoy delivering a service to the volunteers in the youth sports eco-system,” says Looney. “Coaches, team managers, club officers, tournament officials are all working for nothing (or as a non-profit) toward the common goal of helping kids grow and learn through sports. Our service makes them better at their jobs and makes their lives easier.”

Parents should note that this service does come with ads, in case your kids will be checking the messages. Many are from local sponsors already supporting the teams, and Looney says he often checks ads for appropriateness (and will automate that later). He thinks that because sponsors pay in bulk for $100 worth of ads, quality will be kept in check.

Team-Text is based in Boise, and you can find them next week at our Tech Cocktail Boise mixer.