Front Office

LeagueApps Ready to Bring the Lumber After OTAs

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By LeagueApps
July 5, 2016
3 min

Credit: Javie Rios

The organized team activity. It is a term that was created in the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement so that teams could better control players’ offseason preparations before training camp. To many, it’s the unofficial start of the NFL season.

You might have noticed that the LeagueApps office was away on their own “OTAs” last week. From June 26th through the 29th, the team participated in exercises, activities, lectures, and programs to set their sights on the second half goals. To many here, it’s the unofficial start of the second half of the year.

Though we call it OTAs, other companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, and EA Games have their own brand of team-building activities. Corporate team-building activities are starting to become the norm in the professional world. Even Forbes agrees they are “good for company culture and boosting the bottom line.

These OTAs seem even more important to Service as a Software (SaaS) companies like LeagueApps. We believe in many of the same qualities that another Saas company, Percolate, was able to convey in this blog. We call our values by a different name, a more appropriate name for a sports SaaS. Sportsdogs.

The Sportsdogs were out in full force for three and a half days. We were honored to have venture capitalist Wiley Cerilli share with us invaluable advice on company culture and business expansion. Cole van Nice from Dodgers Accelerator stopped by to discuss the future of sports technology. And of course, we were uplifted from movie-like speeches from our own team leaders.

Clockwise from top left- Wiley Cerilli, Cole van Nice, President Jeremy Goldberg, CEO Brian Litvack

Aside from stellar presentations and pump-up speeches, a great deal of time was spent designing new products and brainstorming ways to better serve our partners. During one such session in which our developing team dubbed a “LeagueApp-athon,” taken from the term hackathon, we were up until the wee hours of the morning creating and sharing ideas to improve our already stellar products. We’re not ready to announce what we came up with, but we’re excited to release them in the near future!

Our team was up until the wee hours hacking away!

Of course, what type of sports company would we be if we didn’t compete in our own Olympics? The events: wiffleball, soccer, team activities, and volleyball. And the competition was fierce.

Eight teams but only one champ. Can you guess who?

Perhaps the icing on the cake, however, was a team exercise in which we brought the wood. Literally. Using one axe, every LeagueApper took a turn in striking a piece of wood until it was completely cut in two. It was fitting and fulfilling to see the final blow complete the task.

The Sportsdogs values were on full display over OTAs. We’re ready to bring the wood in the second half of the year for everyone involved with LeagueApps. Stay tuned for what the lumber yard has in store.