Kellogg Chronicles: Game, Set, Match! Exploring Entrepreneurship In SportsTech

Over 50 million people in the U.S. participate in racquet sports recreationally. My partner, Andrew Argeros, and I are competitive tennis players, with Andrew also coaching juniors and adults. After talking to over 50 coaches and players, we realized there is a huge gap in racquet sports: players struggle to find community events, coaches do not have a good way to retain players, and the racquet sports environment overall can feel unengaging.

And proof is not hard to find. In Facebook forums around the country, players are asking about groups to play with, coaches are trying to build businesses, and everyone is trying to get better. The current platforms reinforce only championship-level competition, but do little to foster the connections between players and coaches that many people in the community crave.

AN UNEXPECTED PATH

So, we built NextOnCourt – a platform that runs innovative events and keeps coaching at the forefront. Most coaching only happens during lessons, but we built NextOnCourt for all the time in-between. Players can log their matches, coaches can leave feedback, and the relationship never ends.

The crazy part is that we almost never built NextOnCourt. When I came to Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, I had no intention of being an entrepreneur. In my MBA admissions essay to Kellogg, I wrote that I would continue to pursue a career at a big food and beverage company.

We created NextOnCourt for a small school tournament before Kellogg, not thinking that we would take the idea beyond the initial concept. I was risk-averse and felt comfortable with the status quo. I came to Kellogg to learn new skills and build a network, not to build a business. However, my experiences at Kellogg changed that.

COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTIONS FOR COMPLEX PROBLEMS

While I was focused on opportunities in food business, I couldn’t stop thinking about NextOnCourt – the app that we built for one school tournament – and the way it could change the racquet sport industry. I reached out to Scott Tsangeos, a Kellogg alumnus and founder of Olympus, to talk to him about NextOnCourt. His advice was simple: ‘You are either building or selling, so don’t wait around. Start selling what you have and figure out the product as you go.’

That conversation helped me take the leap from simply sharing my dreams with Kellogg friends to discussing NextOnCourt with real customers.

I then started researching what software applications currently exist. I found that there were some platforms that could run some basic events, but nothing truly created this community feel. We wanted to build a product where players could attend innovative event formats like INTENNSE and Flex Leagues. We also hoped to enable coaches to host these styles of events, and record feedback for their players, live in the app. Because AI lowered the barrier to build software, competitors created quick one-off, “vibe-coded” applications for a small niche.

However, building fast is not the same as building well. Building a complete product for the racquet sports industry requires deep domain knowledge, like our passion for racquet sports and tournaments, and technical complexity, like Andrew’s experience building software applications. NextOnCourt leverages AI to build tournament schedules, while simultaneously producing practice plans and match insights based on player and coach feedback after events.

This level of complexity is only possible because of our backgrounds: Andrew’s machine learning expertise and decades of coaching experience drive the product pipeline, while my background in business informs our go-to-market strategy. Given our career interests and domain expertise, we were confident that we could build the only truly comprehensive racquet sports event software – one that goes far beyond what is broadly available on the market.

FINDING SUCCESS IN THE CLASSROOM

Building the product was Andrew’s strength.  Selling it, marketing it and negotiating with customers was my job – and I had a lot to learn. We applied for the Kellogg Venture Capital Investment Competition and were selected as the only first-year finalists, pitching to 100+ people and four seasoned venture capitalists. We built a pitch deck and heard the tough feedback: event software was just not enough. We needed to look at features beyond just tournaments.

After the competition, we met with Professor Jeff Cantalupo, who taught us the importance of real stories versus simply using data to craft a compelling pitch. For example, he recommended that we open a pitch by asking the audience who has played a racquet sport in the last year. He emphasized that this storytelling approach would still illustrate that racquet sports were a booming opportunity, but it would be significantly more effective than using a bar chart with some statistics we found online. We used his guidance in crafting our new website, marketing materials, and talking with potential customers and advisors.

I also leveraged Kellogg classes to accelerate the product even faster. I am confident that, because of Kellogg, we are two years ahead of where we would have been. For example, New Venture Development was all about rapidly testing ideas. So, we ran an email campaign with different messaging aimed at tournament operators. From this experiment, we learned that operators cared much more about player loyalty versus saving time. Through this class, I even talked with the Northwestern men’s tennis coach about the role of analytics in college coaching. This constant experimentation approach I learned in New Venture Development gave me the confidence to keep testing ideas.

Through Kellogg, I have not only learned new skills, but more importantly, I have cultivated a community of mentors and fellow student entrepreneurs committed to helping each other succeed.  During New Venture Development, I connected with Josh Koshy of Oak&Leaf, and through the Kellogg Venture Competition, I built a strong working relationship with Adena Leibbrand of CoreVector. Both of these peers have become sounding boards as I negotiate contracts and find product-market fit. Having peers in similar positions as me continues to be invaluable.

GAINING KNOWLEDGE THROUGH REAL-WORLD KELLOGG OPPORTUNITIES

But taking classes and engaging in the Kellogg community was not enough – we needed to talk to our initial target audience: coaches and organizers. My Kellogg entrepreneurship professors continually stressed the importance of “getting out of the building.” So, Andrew and I took advantage of the Levy Inspiration Grant to travel to Texas to understand racquet sports operators’ biggest pain points. Prior to the trip, we collaborated with Professor Gina Fong, a leading ethnographer, to learn how to interview people and ask better questions.

While in Texas, we met with over ten different coaches, academy leaders, and racquet center professionals to learn what mattered to them. Through these conversations, we learned about key features that we were missing, like a mobile app and creating fun in-app experiences for players.

But most importantly, this trip allowed us to develop relationships and build our platform. We have now cultivated exciting relationships with multiple academies and coaches in Texas, such as Austin Tennis Academy, with plans to launch the full product with coaches and players by early fall 2026.

However, Kellogg’s financial support did not stop there. I applied to the Kellogg Summer Startup Stipend and was given both financial assistance from Kellogg and mentorship from Professor Rebecca Kahnweiler. We traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, where we attended the INTENNSE junior showcase and talked with various leaders in the tennis industry. We also saw juniors playing simple “drop and hit” games to 11 in between games, with no coach forcing them to hit. They simply wanted to play tennis.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR NEXTONCOURT

I came to Kellogg risk-averse and thought that I needed to follow a prescribed path. Instead, my Kellogg classmates and professors pushed me to take risks. For any incoming students, here is my advice: you have a risk-free environment to try new things and a huge community of alumni, professors, and students ready to support you. So, say your idea – even if it is not perfect yet – because you never know what will come out of it.

For my partner and I, what started as a small tournament software application is now a full-featured racquet sports platform made to enable coaches to build their businesses and players to improve their games. We most recently became the exclusive software provider for back-end tournament operations for TYPTI, a brand-new racquet sport bursting onto the scene. And in July, we piloted new formats of events in partnership with the Fredericksburg Racquet Center in Texas.

While I came to Kellogg risk-averse, I am now building a product that I want to become a household name for every player and coach in the country. We are only six months in and are building momentum daily. And we are just getting started.

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Katherine Spencer is the co-founder of NextOnCourt and a 2026 MBA student from the Kellogg School of Management. Growing up, she played competitive tennis at a top academy in Austin, TX, fueling her passion for fostering community in racquet sports. She and her partner created NextOnCourt to empower coaches to build their business, and to help players improve their games.

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