{"id":38843,"date":"2023-10-20T14:59:16","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/melbourne-startups-app-for-referees-featured-during-international-football-game-how-its-founder-followed-his-entrepreneurial-dream-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:59:16","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:59:16","slug":"melbourne-startups-app-for-referees-featured-during-international-football-game-how-its-founder-followed-his-entrepreneurial-dream-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/melbourne-startups-app-for-referees-featured-during-international-football-game-how-its-founder-followed-his-entrepreneurial-dream-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne startup’s app for referees featured during international football game: How its founder followed his entrepreneurial dream – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

An entrepreneurial soccer player is following his startup dream after his app was used during\u00a0an international football game.<\/p>\n

Simon Murphy has created RefLIVE, a smartphone and smart watch app that digitises match day admin for referees, allowing them to input and sync mass data and quickly create game reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had to set it up in mind of current team sheets used by referees,\u201d Murphy tells StartupSmart.<\/em><\/p>\n

RefLIVE was recently used by a referee at a recent pre-Olympic match between the Matildas and New Zealand, a “world-first” for this type of technology, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe feedback from the official that used our technology was overwhelmingly positive, with many of them asking if they could use it for all of their games,” Murphy says.<\/p>\n

From personal experience<\/h3>\n

The idea to create RefLIVE came from Murphy\u2019s experience out on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been a player for quite a long time and I\u2019ve been involved with coaching and refereeing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWatching a lot of football, it just stuck out to me that it\u2019s a pretty time consuming process using a pen and a notebook for referees.\u201d<\/p>\n

After observing this out-date and inaccurate process, Murphy says he turned to his background in finance and banking to solve the problem with tech.<\/p>\n

With referees currently still using a pen and notepad, RefLIVE digitises all administration, with a smartphone app used pre-game to add teams and players, and a smartphone app used to record all game details including goals, cards and substitutes.<\/p>\n

\"13465980_494575820739745_6241163347389792440_n\"<\/p>\n

With limited knowledge in tech and app development, he quickly put together a team including a developer and an investor friend, and they now operate the startup out of NAB Village.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment, we\u2019ve just released it as a free app as a proof of concept targeting initial referees,\u201d Murphy says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lot of web traffic downloads in the UK and US.\u201d<\/p>\n

His\u00a0big goal is to have the app picked up by major sporting leagues and governing bodes around the world.<\/p>\n

Living the startup dream<\/h3>\n

Murphy has always dreamed of running his own startup, leading him to quit a cushy corporate job and move to Melbourne to study entrepreneurship and innovation at Swinburne University of Technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always wanted to run my own startup from a really young age,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t something I got a lot of encouragement for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RefLIVE<\/p>\n

During his study,\u00a0he decided to bring the\u00a0referee app idea to life.<\/p>\n

Most of the app\u2019s development has been funded by Murphy and he has no intention of bringing on other investors any time soon.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got enough cash to help us really execute our commercialisation plan,” he says.<\/p>\n

Looking back over the past year, Murphy says he is glad he stuck to the\u00a0vision and got a product out to market, especially because many told him it just wouldn’t work.<\/p>\n

“The biggest challenge is trying to validate your idea but at the same time having the vision,” he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just had to make it and show people.”<\/p>\n

Since RefLIVE hit the market, users have responded well and many naysayers have been converted, Murphy says.<\/p>\n

He encourages other early stage startup founders to be objective and listen to advice but push past discouragement, fear-mongering and risk-aversion.<\/p>\n

“You\u2019ve got to listen to the right people,” Murphy says.<\/p>\n

He says the decision to study entrepreneurship helped shift his doubts to\u00a0realise the opportunities in starting up his own venture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entrepreneurship program gave me a lot of direction and helped me build that contact base,\u201d Murphy says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really validated everything I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the entrepreneur has some lofty goals for RefLIVE.<\/p>\n

“Look out for us in world football and major tournaments,” Murphy says.<\/p>\n

“Our dream is to be used in the World Cup.”<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0<\/em>LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An entrepreneurial soccer player is following his startup dream after his app was used during\u00a0an international football game. Simon Murphy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,11,1,26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38843"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}