Highlight - Club HQ w/ Megan Bassett

This week, I chatted with Megan Bassett, from Club HQ, an all-new sports club admin platform, built for committees and members. It is a great way to keep track of memberships, payments, fixtures, comms and documents - all on one platform. Join the waitlist at clubhq.uk, and follow their IG - @c.lubhq !

Alex Pelling (Host), joined by Megan Bassett, Club HQ

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Alex: So Megan, tell us about you! You’ve been on this journey from leading clubs yourself, to building infrastructure to make it scalable - what was your journey up to that point?

Megan: Yeah, so I went to the University of Manchester for four years. I started in September of 2020 to do a neuroscience bachelor's and then in first year, because of COVID, I didn't really do any sport because it was all shut down. So then in second year I joined the campus league netball team. I'd never played netball before actually, I probably should have specified that. I came from a completely different sporting background and I was really heavily involved in community clubs as a kid and then I went on to be a coach when I was like 17, 18, then went to uni but I wanted to do a team sport so I changed up and learned how to play netball.

Megan: Did the campus league, got really involved in that, was one of the campus league coordinators in my fourth year of uni and did the sport executive committee which is basically like a body or a group of students that represent all of the different sport clubs or sport programs that university has running and then it helps give feedback and do events. 

Megan: And then I got, I wouldn't call it poached, I got asked to apply for the sports app role because it's not an elected role, it's a hired role different from other SABBs in the country. I did that for a year and a half while I was building Club HQ and then left that to launch Club HQ because it would have been crossing over too much so I didn't want to do that - then here I am a couple months down the line and it's going better than I expected, so I can't complain!

Alex: It's going great, it's a really fantastic summary, thank you. So we talked a bit about the first question with your journey at the end of your tenure, when you were considering launching club HQ and what motivated that decision. What did you feel the gap in the market was and as an extension of that, could you everyone what club HQ is and what's so interesting about it?

Megan: Yes, so Club HQ is a sports club management platform and essentially the main gap in the market was that - I noticed it's not that there's a lack of platforms out there because you've got things like Spond, Teamo, Teama, TeamUp, there's a lot of teams in there, Playways, because we do have another counterpart that does sort of what Playways does with the league management and stuff but we haven't released that yet. 

Megan: Yeah, it wasn't necessarily that there was a gap in the market it's just I noticed that all of our competitors would serve either the committee or the members and there's always going to be a compromise on one end or they wouldn't serve absolutely everything that you need to run the club and they'd often forget about the actual committee management aspects of it.

Megan: So I originally actually built a different product, not Club HQ, that was for university sport club management. It did their beginner programs, campus league, sport clubs and then scholar management and stuff. I have got that in my back pocket but that's not going out just yet. I then moved to club HQ on a smaller scale to do the club-specific management aspects, but I think what really sets club HQ apart itself is the committee management.

Megan: So you've got a shared space, where you can transfer access of who can do what admin on certain features. So if you want your Social Sec to only have control of the socials and events on club HQ, they can do just that without seeing the rest of it. It also helps first-time committee members understand how to run a committee - which you could argue would set them up for a more professional life, if it’s for a university club. 

Megan: It helps them learn how to write an agenda and it helps set everything up in little boxes and for minutes, it will pre-populate it. And when you type in the minutes like “action @ Megan” it will automatically scan the minutes for a task and then assign that task to that person, and send them regular notifications / reminders to do the task. 

Megan: Because that's something that people forget as well, is actually doing the task that they've agreed to do. But with the interest that I'm getting at the moment I actually think that we're going to release another product which is just for committees -  it will be called Committee HQ, which is just the committee functions by themselves. Some clubs don't need the entire workflow, they just need that committee management piece, so being able to give that to them is something that would be great. I basically wanted to create a platform that bridged the gap, did what people needed to do and wasn't a compromise by the committee or members themselves and hopefully Club HQ will achieve that for people.

Alex: That's fantastic thank you um I know you spoke about committee roles and being able to have clear boundaries and fenced off parts of the system, which is very useful. And this next question which is that, I suppose what you're talking about is making everything linked together so it's easier to have these conversations. How does having a shared vision about what you want to achieve, and how you want to go about it, how that contributes to - not just club success more broadly -  but also everyone having a good time. How do you feel about that?

Megan: Yeah, absolutely I completely agree with that. I think where a lot of committees will go wrong is that they either won't set any goals whatsoever because they're not thinking about that - they're just thinking “we need to book pictures, we've got to have refs or get our picture timetable through”. They don't necessarily think “how do I want to leave this club in a better place?”. Because I noticed that in every freshers period, all of the committee members would come in really eager, really keen and then it gets to about November and it's almost like the intrigue or the keen has sort of been beaten out of them by all of this admin.

Megan: So what I actually used to do with the clubs when I worked with them, was I got them to do a development plan that spans the student life cycle, so three to five years. So they had short term goals and then longer term goals for both on-pitch and off-pitch activities. We only ran that for one year but I'm assuming it's continued now, I would like to think they continued it but I saw a noticeable increase in the way that clubs were operating - they were actually able to achieve those goals because they've written them down. The main key is actually making them attainable or tangible - so there's no point saying “oh we want the club to grow this much bigger” - that's great, everyone wants that. What do you specifically want? How many extra members do you want by December? How many extra members do you want by this date? Make SMART objectives essentially, but giving a deadline to themselves and being super specific about what it was. I think when you boil that down onto a committee position specific level, having each committee position with one, two, three goals, however many it is -  it will help later throughout the year. 

Megan: Especially if you've got the shorter term and then the longer term goals as well, because you want to keep that. Realistically, especially university clubs, the committee members are doing it for the love of the club, but they're also doing it for themselves. They want their CV to look better, they want to gain those professional skills, so actually having a KPI (or being able to put on your CV that we had this KPI that we set out to achieve). That, to an employer, would be like “wow they know what a KPI is” and I think that is where committees are really valuable. But people have to appreciate that they are doing it for the club they're also doing it for themselves so how can you benefit both at the same time.

Alex: Yeah, I suppose it's so difficult that with students, it's bizarre that you can be in control of a club as a group over a year and then it disappears. Obviously, we work with non-student clubs as well - they'll be going for years and years but in unis it's this little bubble that you are experiencing. One interjecting question - how do you feel that you can maintain that momentum especially when it gets to that end of the year period, where you've got your exams and life getting in the way? What kind of techniques can you use to keep that energy going?

Megan: I don't know - it's something that I struggle with myself: When I was on committee, you get to the end of the year and then you just think “I actually can't be bothered anymore, I've got too much going on”. I think if a university club committee does the year perfectly, they actually would give them that space to themselves, that space to breathe during exam time. So everything is pre-planned, meaning Semester Two is essentially just planning your leaving or your handover rather than actually doing all the admin themselves. 

Megan: I think that's potentially where some universities get it wrong as well, as they forget these key periods for students and what they've got going on other than their sport. So being able to have your club pre-planning it or preparing for when you're not going to have as much time to put towards or is really really important. I think when you get to that point in the year, that's when you have to swing or pivot more towards what they're getting out of them individually rather than what the club's getting out of it because obviously they won't see the benefits of that next year if they're leaving.

Alex: Yes, it’s fascinating. I suppose that everyone wants to be confident in their ability to juggle everything - until it happens! One thing I always loved was when we'd have new people join, and you have the experience to work with them and introduce them to the sport. It's a really lovely thing but then I feel like the process of including people and making them feel supported isn't just the first session. How do you feel clubs can keep that going and make sure people feel supported when they are new to the club?

Megan: Yes, so it will be different for every club itself and I think that's that would honestly be my answer to any club development question: That's all down to you and how you know your club - I think for an individual to feel supported it's the really minor basic things that will really change how a club feels. So if someone comes in late to training they're not stressed - but if it's a high performance team that's going to be a different expectation.

Megan: But for something that's a bit more recreational, more low pressure, making sure you maintain that and it's also having that on-pitch / off-pitch dynamic. Going for pints afterwards or in the case of the club that I played for, we didn't necessarily go for pints after a match but we'd all get the bus back together and it was those really minor things where you wait for everyone on the team to go get the bus back together and I think that's the element of inclusion there. Especially in sport clubs when you've got multiple levels of teams at different performance levels it starts to become really segregated. So as long as you make sure that you've got the team cohesion itself, rather than a whole-club cohesion you need to focus more on the team and then expand out to wider things.

Alex: Perfect - I also saw a great video from you about the role of the captain and how there's still that responsibility to bridge that gap between player groups. I always feel that there's a terrible dynamic between more “social” players as opposed to competitive players -  when you're right, it should be like a team thing. That video stuck with me, but in case anyone hasn’t seen it, could you tell us about the captaincy role and how that works?

Megan: Yeah, so with the captaincy role, people see the match day part of it, but they don't necessarily see the training part and how you're essentially a role model. So if you're not saying hi to the people that are walking into training - whether that’s the hundredth time they've gone to training or the first time, people will learn what you've done. So if you're saying hi and you're being welcoming to everyone, other people will start doing that because you are their leader and you are their role model. 

Megan: If you're not doing that people won't do that and I think when you've got a really big club and you've got multiple teams all at once, it's really hard for a chair or a president to oversee absolutely everyone. So it's that’s where the delegation starts coming down to the team captains and I think in terms of bridging it between the social members and the competitive members it is also a team captain's thing: If you've got a social member that's looking at wanting to be competitive, the person they're going to speak to is going to be the team captain (or if they want lower pressure it will be someone on the team itself). It’s just making sure that there's not a “we're competitive you're not” mindset. 

Alex: Yeah, I suppose it's tricky because there's the kind of satisfaction of being a captain, winning and leading in that way but you are also taking the responsibility of convening that shared club culture that you've agreed upon. So in terms of Club HQ, you’ve been developing the platform for a long time, it must feel great seeing it all coming together!

Megan: Yeah, it’s terrifying! But great.

Alex: So in terms of your aspirations with Club HQ, where do you want to take it, given you are in a waitlist period currently?

Megan: It’s hard because obviously we're a tech company, but for me with club HQ in particular I don't actually really run a profit. Like the way that it's priced I've deliberately priced it for sport clubs because they don't have loads of extra cash lying around. So it's done on a pay-for-what-you-use model so there's always going to be a free tier but then the maximum it goes to is five pound per user per year and that's when you get your own app skin, you'll get your own naming and all your colors on the app itself. 

Megan: It's that professional feeling that most sport clubs can't afford because they're too busy booking pitches or transport - that is normally the real cost killer. I think I just wanted to create a platform that was accessible to sport clubs and could actually benefit and improve how they use it. What I've learned with this waitlist is that the problem isn't just UK-based: I've had so much interest from abroad which is fantastic, though it does come with extra fees for me when it comes to privacy policies and T&Cs. As a small company we can't really add that right now so we're just staying in the UK, but it would be great just to be able to basically help club.That’s all I want to do - I just make sure that they're they get the tools they deserve without having a massive price tag - chopped onto it just for the sake of it.

Megan: But yeah to be honest, my whole motivation with doing all of thiswas I got so frustrated I used to have to use playways when I was the lead coordinator. And I used to just get so frustrated with the system in general because I was just using it pretty much every day - very slow - I spent three years moaning about it and spent two years fixing it and I'm here now! So yeah, hopefully I'll be able to bridge that gap or fix that problem even if it's just a really small handful of clubs like I've done my bit. I used to do a lot of mental health campaigns at UOM: Like that, if any of those helps one person, one club, whatever - I've done my job, I'm happy. So yeah, I think once I've actually managed to get clubs on board and I've got positive feedback from them the demo is all getting positive feedback but actually getting them using it is the next as in using it in day-to-day operations that's the next sort of step - I think once I've done that with one club then ticked off my bucket list, I’m happy.

 

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