Case Study: Taking Sports Tech to Market – A Strategic Alternative to a Chief Commercial Officer
Client Profile
A UK-based sports technology start-up developing advanced performance monitoring solutions - aimed at improving recovery and reducing injury through real-time physiological insights.
Challenge
The company had a compelling innovation but lacked the market access and commercial expertise to convert it into traction with elite sports clubs. Without a dedicated Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), they faced delays in partnerships, struggled with message clarity, and found it challenging to meet the procurement expectations of sports institutions.
Our Role
Knexu was appointed to fulfil the strategic commercial function - acting as an embedded, flexible alternative to a full-time CCO. Our scope included:
Crafting a go-to-market strategy
Identifying early adopter partners through our network
Driving commercial negotiations and pricing architecture
Building a scalable engagement model with clubs and federations
Embedding academic validation and usage data into the value story
What We Did
1. Opening the Right Doors
Knexu’s network spans over 100 elite sports clubs and federations including the Premier League, English Football League, Rugby League, and national governing bodies. This allowed rapid introduction and pilot deployment without waiting for traditional sales cycles or cold outreach.
2. Translating Innovation into Impact
We reframed the technology narrative to align with the day-to-day concerns of clubs - performance gains, injury prevention, and budget efficiency. By shaping the offer through the lens of club performance and medical outcomes, we ensured immediate relevance and buy-in.
3. Delivering a Fully Integrated Pathway
We used Knexu’s infrastructure - national diagnostic networks, blood testing services, and performance analytics - to embed the client’s technology within existing clinical and performance workflows. This eased operational integration and accelerated adoption.
4. Accelerating Adoption and Iteration
Pilots were tightly scoped and supported with feedback loops, allowing the product to evolve in response to real-world user data. Knexu’s academic and research relationships helped validate and strengthen the commercial story.
Outcomes
7 elite club pilots launched in 3 months
Revenue-generating within 4 months of Knexu’s engagement
Positioned for wider health and wellbeing market entry (e.g. NHS Innovation Pathways)
Avoided cost and complexity of building a full internal commercial team
The Knexu Advantage
Knexu isn’t just a route to market - we are a strategic partner that understands both sides of the equation: the ambition of innovators and the operational needs of clubs. We provide the relationships, infrastructure, and commercial thinking that help sports tech thrive in real-world settings.
For start-ups ready to move from prototype to pitch, and from pilot to partnership, Knexu is the growth engine - and the CCO alternative - that delivers.