NTangible bets it can predict how athletes will perform under pressure
NTangible is building an analytics platform for collegiate sports organizations and other clubs to measure an athlete's "clutch" factor.
Key points
- NTangible developed the Clutch Factor assessment to predict athlete performance under pressure.
- Scores range from 0 to 1,000; over 750 indicates twice the likelihood of committing to a Division I school.
- The company plans to sell to sports organizations and companies, not individual athletes.
NTangible, a startup competing in TechCrunch Disrupt's Startup Battlefield, claims its Clutch Factor assessment can predict how athletes will perform under pressure. Co-founder and CEO Dan Connerty, a former professional baseball player, developed the tool with psychologist Dr. Ed Levine, a professor emeritus at the University of South Florida.
The assessment is inspired by the Thematic Apperception Test, in which people describe ambiguous photos. According to Connerty, responses are scored against a neurolinguistic guide, producing a clutch factor score between 0 and 1,000.
How the assessment works
Connerty said there are no right or wrong answers. The key words used, how they are used, and the semantic phrasing are scored against a neurolinguistic scoring guide created by psychologists, yielding the clutch factor score.
He stated that an athlete scoring over 750 is twice as likely to commit to a Division I school. He added that the number can be used in rankings, leaderboards, recruiting conversations, NIL conversations, and scholarship conversations.
We really wanted to hyper focus on this idea of clutch performance.
— Dan Connerty
Potential flaw and expansion
A possible flaw is that athletes seeking to impress coaches and recruiters may answer dishonestly to get a higher score. A TechCrunch reporter who took the quiz honestly scored 584, but scored 802 when answering as a level-headed top recruit might.
Connerty believes clutch is a trainable skill and worked with former MLB sports psychologist Howie Schwartz on exercises. NTangible now supports nine sports and aims to expand to corporate settings with its NTerpret assessment for HR departments.
The company's most viable business model appears to be selling directly to sports organizations and companies. It will present its strategy onstage Wednesday at TechCrunch Disrupt, where it is among the top 20 companies competing for the grand prize.
