Noteefy for tee time reminders and waitlist
Episode 29

Noteefy for tee time reminders and waitlist

In this episode of the Tech Caddie podcast, Mike Hendrix interviews Jake Gordon, co-founder and CEO of Noteefy, a company focused on demand technology for golf courses. They discuss the challenges faced by golf operators, particularly the issue of no-shows and cancellations, which lead to significant revenue loss.

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Jake Gordon

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55min

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Description:

In this episode of the Tech Caddie podcast, Mike Hendrix interviews Jake Gordon, co-founder and CEO of Noteefy, a company focused on demand technology for golf courses. They discuss the challenges faced by golf operators, particularly the issue of no-shows and cancellations, which lead to significant revenue loss. Jake explains how Noteefy aims to address these issues through technology and policy enforcement, enhancing the golfer experience while helping operators maximize their revenue. The conversation also touches on compliance standards, the impact of wildfires on golf courses, and Jake's journey in the startup world.

Magic Clips:

Noteefy for tee time reminders and waitlist

In this episode of the Tech Caddie podcast, Mike Hendrix interviews Jake Gordon, co-founder and CEO of Noteefy, a company focused on demand technology for golf courses. They discuss the challenges faced by golf operators, particularly the issue of no-shows and cancellations, which lead to significant revenue loss.

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Jake Gordon

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55min

MemberSports founder Nick Anderson

Nick Anderson joined the Tech Caddie podcast to share his impressions of the 2025 PGA Show and provide updates about his tee sheet and point of sale platform, MemberSports.

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Nick Anderson

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49min

Desert Canyon Golf Club General Manager Martin Ort

In this episode of the Tech Caddie podcast, host Mike Hendrix chats with Martin Ort from Desert Canyon Golf Club about how his family-run course has embraced technology to stay ahead. From video game design to managing one of Arizona’s most tech-forward golf courses, Martin shares his unique journey.

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Martin Ort

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41min

Is Tagmarshal right for you? The PGA Tour? Dynamic pricing?

In this episode of the Tech Caddie Podcast, host Mike Hendrix dives into the transformative power of golf course data with Bodo Sieber and Craig Kleu, Co-Founders of Tagmarshal. Learn how Tagmarshal is helping courses optimize pace of play, improve golfer experience, and boost revenue by capitalizing on dynamic pricing opportunities and expanded tee time inventory.

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Bodo Sieber & Craig Kleu

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42min

The Gallus Golf Success Story

In this episode of the Tech Caddie podcast, Mike Hendrix interviews Jason Wilson, founder of Gallus, a company that provides mobile app solutions for the golf industry. They discuss the evolution of Gallus, the importance of mobile apps for golf course operators, and the essential features that make an app valuable.

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Jason Wilson

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53min

Would You Like Some Toast with that Tee Sheet

In this episode of the Tech Caddie podcast, Mike Hendrix interviews Chad Wright from Deer Ridge Golf Club about their recent technology transition from ForeUP to Sagacity and Toast. They discuss the challenges faced with ForeUP, the benefits of the new systems, and how they integrate operations for a better customer experience.

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Chad Wright

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50min

PGA General Manager Chad Pettingill shares his golf technology strategy

Watch as Mike and Chad explore the booking experience when using Lightspeed Golf in a desktop environment. Chad provides a pro tip in using Golf EMS to simply his events and golf packages operation and learn why Chad opted to leave foreUP and Sagacity Golf in favor of Lightspeed.

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Chad Pettingill

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40min

TenFore Golf podcast with Jonathan Wride and Jarrette Schule

In this episode of the Tech Caddie podcast, Mike Hendrix interviews Jonathan Wride and Jarrette Schule from TenFore Golf. They discuss the origin story of TenFore, the challenges faced in developing golf management software, and the importance of user experience. Jonathan opens up about how he co-founded Supreme Golf with Ryan Ewers and the journey that led to Jonathan leaving Supreme Golf to help Jarrette build TenFore Golf.

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Jonathan Wride

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1hr 10min

Proshop Tee Times Jay Snider

In this episode you'll meet Jay Snider who built a simple tee sheet and email tool for his country club, to help keep dues down. Today, Proshop Tee Times has become a robust point-of-sale, tee sheet, member management solution for a wide variety of golf courses.

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Jay Snider

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52min

Robb Smyth from Cobalt Software a private country club expert

In this episode of the Tech Caddie podcast, Mike Hendrix interviews Rob Smyth from Cobalt Software, discussing his journey in the golf technology industry, the evolution of Smyth Systems, and the impact of family-owned businesses on company culture.

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Robb Smyth

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1hr 11min

CourseRev launches AI Powered Tee Time Booking by Phone and Chat

CourseRev is a voice reservation system for golf courses that uses AI technology to handle tee time bookings over the phone. The system can integrate with tee sheet systems like Lightspeed and Club Prophet, allowing golfers to make reservations, join waitlists, and receive directions to the golf course. The system has surpassed online reservations in terms of volume and has handled more than 75-80 calls per day for a course. CourseRev is a game changer in terms of labor costs and customer experience.

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Manna Justin

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52min

The Strategy Behind Colin Read's Golf Tech Fundraising

Colin Read, co-founder of Whoosh, discusses his background in golf and entrepreneurship, as well as the challenges and opportunities in the golf tech industry. He emphasizes the importance of improving member and guest experiences, as well as staff workflows, through technology.

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Colin Read

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48min

USGA's Scott Mingay talks GS3 golf ball and Deacon platform

Mike Hendrix interviews Scott Mingay from the USGA. They discuss the development of the GS3, a golf ball that measures green speed, smoothness, and firmness. The GS3 is used by golf course operators and superintendents to improve the playing experience and make data-driven decisions about maintenance practices. The conversation focused on the GS3 ball and the Deacon course management system. The Deacon platform is a cloud-based system that integrates data from various sources to help golf course superintendents make informed decisions.

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Scott Mingay

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58min

Golfspot - Your Single Point Of Truth

Menno Liebregts, founder of Golfspot, discusses the challenges of managing customer data in the golf industry and the need for an integrated solution. He shares insights on the company's journey, customer base, funding, and expansion plans. The conversation highlights the importance of open platforms and the impact of data on decision-making in the golf industry.

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Menno Liebregts

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37min

Jason Pearsall about Building Club Caddie, Autism and the Future

Jason Pearsall, the founder of Club Caddie, shares his journey of building the company and the importance of understanding the day-to-day operations of a golf course. Jason has the unique perspective as a golf course owner as he purchased Warren Valley Golf Course in 2022. Club Caddie started as a food and beverage delivery system called Golfler, but quickly evolved into a full clubhouse management software. Pearsall's experience as a golf course owner and operator have allowed him to build a product that solves real problems for golf course operators. The company has experienced significant growth and success, winning deals with management companies and continuously improving their product.

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Jason Pearsall

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1hr 11min

Overwhelming Support for LA City Golf New $10 Player Deposit Tee Times

Kevin Fitzgerald, Assistant Director of Public Affairs for the Southern California Golf Association, provides an update on recent meetings regarding the implementation of a pilot program for golf tee time bookings in Los Angeles. The Golf Advisory Committee and the Recreation and Park Board of Commissioners both endorsed the staff recommendation for a $10 non-refundable deposit per player when booking a tee time.

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Kevin Fitzgerald

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34min

ezLocator founder Jon Schultz conversation on The Tech Caddie podcast

Jon Schultz, founder of ezLocator, discusses how their solution helps superintendents find the daily optimum hole location and enhances communication within a golf facility. ezLocator now include AI to improve the customer experience.

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Jon Schultz

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35min

Inside the LA City golf tee time controversy

In this episode of the Tech Caddie podcast, Mike Hendrix speaks with Kevin Fitzgerald, the Assistant Director of Public Affairs for the Southern California Golf Association, about the intersection of golf and public policy. Included is the TikTok video from Dave Fink which helped expose the gray market on the KaKao app, used by hundreds of golfers to score the best tee times available at the LA City municipal golf courses. Aaron Gleason from Golf Geek Software, discussed their solution called FairPlay Guardian, which uses machine learning to detect fraudulent activity in tee time bookings. Matt Holder from Loop Golf emphasized the need for operators to understand the pricing pressure and revenue management opportunities in the golf industry.

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Kevin Fitzgerald, Aaron Gleason, Matt Holder

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54min

Aaron Gleason, Golf Geek Co-Founder, announces FairPlay Guardian

Aaron Gleason discusses the issue of reselling tee times at LA City Golf courses and how Golf Geek's FairPlay Guardian technology can help detect and prevent fraudulent activity. He also spoke about the importance of knowing the conversion rate of a booking engine and how marketing automation can help increase revenue.

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Aaron Gleason

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29min

Kevin Fitzgerald from Southern California Golf Association

Mike Hendrix and Kevin Fitzgerald, the Assistant Director of Public Affairs for the Southern California Golf Association have a conversation about golf in Los Angeles. They discuss the role of the advisory board for Los Angeles City Golf Courses and the intersection of golf and public policy. They also peer into the issue of reservation systems and online brokers in the golf industry and specifically the City of Los Angeles.

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Kevin Fitzgerald

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43min

Matt Holder from Loop Golf clears the air on The Tech Caddie podcast

Matt Holder from Loop Golf joins the podcast to discuss Loop Golf. Matt talks about the early days for Loop and mistakes made along the way. Mike and Matt go into detail about tee time scraping and how Loop helps golf courses.

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Matt Holder

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29min

Don Rea, golf course owner and VP, PGA of America talks tech

Don Rea joined Mike Hendrix on The Tech Caddie podcast for a conversation about the technology Don uses to run the golf course he owns in Mesa, AZ - Augusta Ranch Golf Club. Don is the VP of the PGA of America and he speaks about operating technology from that perspective and from his knowledge gained as a podcast host with Jay Karen, the Executive Director of the NGCOA.

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Don Rea Jr.

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48min

Del Ratcliffe, Founder Kodology - PITCHcrm, joins Mike on The Tech Caddie podcast

Del shares his background as an entrepreneur and his life in golf. He discusses the history of Seven Jars Distillery and the discovery of buried treasure on his family farm. Del talks about entering the golf business and the importance of technology in the industry. He shares his experiences with EZLinks and Fore Reservations, as well as the development of Kodology and Pitch CRM.

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Del Ratcliffe

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1hr 6min

Morgan Kimmins joins Mike Hendrix on The Tech Caddie podcast

Morgan Kimmins from Springfield Golf Resort in Chandler, Arizona discusses their use of Lightspeed technology and the impact it has had on their business. He highlights the benefits of Lightspeed's punch pass feature and the ease of use of their booking engine. He also discusses the importance of communication and the use of technology for frost delays. Morgan emphasizes the value of support and training provided by Lightspeed and the positive experience they have had with their customer service.

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Mogan Kimmins

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42min

Dave Vanslette joins Mike Hendrix on The Tech Caddie podcast

Dave Vanslette, Founder and CEO from FAIRWAYiQ discusses the evolution of the company and its focus on data and automation in the golf industry. They have developed hardware sensors and software solutions to optimize golf course operations and enhance the player experience. They are focused on reducing friction and improving efficiency in the golf industry through AI and automation. The company has a strong customer support system and aims to provide value to golf courses of all types

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Dave Vanslette

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51min

Brendon Beebe formerly foreUP CTO

Brendon Beebe, former CTO of foreUP, discusses his experience in the golf industry and building a successful company. He emphasizes the value of bootstrapping, hyper-focusing on specific market segments, and building a flexible system to meet the needs of different golf courses. At the end of the episode, Brendon asks Mike about how he would compete with GolfNow if he was to build a tee time aggregator and how he would use GolfNow if he was a golf course owner.

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Brendon Beebe

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51min

Allison George Toad Valley Golf Course

Allison George, a golf course owner and operator, discusses her experiences with various technology platforms in the golf industry. She shares personal updates, including her involvement in the golf industry and her use of technology in her golf courses.

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Allison George

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55min

Dathan Wong Noteefy

Noteefy is a waitlist software that aims to help golfers play more golf and golf courses make more money. The product allows golfers to set their preferences for tee times and receive alerts when those tee times become available.

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Dathan Wong

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36min

Tyler Arnold Eagle Club Systems

Tyler Arnold, CEO of Eagle Club Systems, discusses the company's golf management software and its success in the industry. He highlights the flexibility and simplicity of their system, as well as their focus on customer support.

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Tyler Arnold

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35min

Transcript:

Mike Hendrix (00:00)
Hello, I am Mike Hendrix from smbGOLF. And today my guest is Jake Gordon, co-founder and CEO of Noteefy (notify) And this is the Tech Caddie podcast.

Jake, welcome to the show.

Jake Gordon (00:28)
Mike, thanks for having me.

Mike Hendrix (00:30)
I'm glad to have you on. We're into year two and we had your co-founder on early on, Dathan Wong, who's done, I think a tremendous job for you guys, but I'll let you brag about him. But we've never had you on the show. And so I have watched you guys grow this company from afar and it's impressive what you guys do. Why don't we, why you introduce people to Noteefy

Give us maybe your elevator pitch and then let's get into your story and talk about the future.

Jake Gordon (01:05)
Absolutely. Well, Mike, thanks for having me. I'm to call myself a first time caller, longtime listener. Appreciate what you're doing, really bringing to light a lot of what's going on in the golf technology ecosystem. I tend to find myself going to your site and listening to your podcasts, so I hear the latest and greatest. So really appreciate you having me. For folks who aren't familiar, Noteefy is what we consider to be demand technology for golf courses.

What that means at a high level is we make it easier for golfers to book directly on a tee sheet, especially when last minute cancellations or no shows occur. And we make it easier for operators to ensure that their perished inventory gets rebooked at peak rates. We have a suite of capabilities. of our first album, if you'll call it, our first product was really the digital booking assistant.

The way it works is our product integrates into the course's existing website and existing tee sheet and provides automated notification capabilities for golfers looking to play at that facility or at affiliated facilities. For example, if you're looking to book in Northern California at San Jose Muni, we might recommend you also play at Ancil Hoffman or another facility nearby because with Noteefy,

That's a CourseCo property, and so we have multi-course recommendations. So the digital booking assistant makes it easier for the golfers to play when inventory opens and ensures that operators are capturing as much of the hard-earned revenue that they deserve. We also are rolling out a number of other capabilities that help operators capture incremental revenue, whether that's a new capability called Confirm, which we're just now rolling out that focuses more so on no shows and short shows.

or even a new product called Q, which is more like a digital call center for destination resorts. So I know that was long winded, essentially it was, yeah, we're in Manhattan going to the very top. But really the reason we exist is to help operators drive more revenue and a better golfer experience.

Mike Hendrix (03:08)
elevator ride.

It sounds to me, Jake, like you guys help golf courses, make more money, through a different demand levers that actually the golfer can create, but you leverage on behalf of the operator, right? I mean, you're not a marketplace. You're not like saying we're selling tee times at 20 % off or anything like that, but you leverage this demand that is out there today among the millions and millions of golfers. And you found a way to,

to make that be a greater advantage for your customers versus people that are not your customers, golf courses that aren't your customers. And you've done it through a couple of familiar features, if you will, or familiar ways of people you use, wait list, reminders, this call center thing that I'm anxious to learn about. And that's really the proposition, I think, for thousands of golf courses out there.

Jake Gordon (04:19)
That's

exactly right. think early on, know, I'm newer to the golf business and new newer player only picked up the game within the last five plus years. But as a golfer, one thing I noticed and you know, I'm here in Southern California in L.A. So this early understand the pain of trying to find inventory, especially at some of these busy courses. I think the number one thing I realized is as a golfer, there's so much friction in the discovery process.

Especially when you add scarce kind of parameters like I can only play between 7 and 10 a.m. On Saturday this weekend You know that creates a lot of friction for me as a golfer then at the same time I think the big aha or my god moment was I saw a stat Actually from Lightspeed that about 20 % of all inventory did get result in a cancellation or in some cases a no-show so there seemed to be these two kind of

big trends were on one hand, so much pent up demand, so much excess demand on the consumer side to play at great courses. And that resulted in a ton of friction trying to find your way onto the course. But at the same time, there was a leaky bucket, if you will. Because of last minute cancellations, because of no shows, a meaningful portion, maybe up to 20 % of all the revenue was effectively leaking out the bottom of bucket and not going to the operator.

Mike Hendrix (05:47)
Right. Let me ask you, know you pay attention to the restaurant space and that's actually my original. you know, the first thing I did as an adult was I started buying subway sandwich shops. Right. So I kind of ran in that circle a little bit for a while. the problem of no shows in golf, is it greater than the problem in restaurants? And let me just, I asked that because I wonder if

as an industry golf courses have allowed no shows to be easier to commit if you will as the golfer right like is it easy to be a no show and it doesn't hurt and so that's why we found ourselves in this place but maybe we compare to restaurants maybe it's the same as restaurants I actually don't know yeah

Jake Gordon (06:37)
We saw some data from OpenTable that said up to 30 % of restaurant seats resulted in no-show, which is pretty staggering.

Mike Hendrix (06:46)
This isn't like a bed that the golf course operator made for him or herself. This is frankly, consumers just aren't very respectful of reservations is the problem.

Jake Gordon (06:56)
Yeah,

that's right. Especially when there's no disincentive to short show no show cancel. So if you'll say like, you know, kind of what's my what's the solution, right? I think it's a combination of policy and technology. On the policy side, this is kind of my quote unquote, like hill to die on is every operator, in our opinion should be enforcing their cancellation or no show policy. Right. The obvious reason is that that's perishable inventory. And Mike would have

Maybe Jake had a four some drop to a two some. You know, there was two other guys or gals who would have loved to play that time. And I think as the NGF just pointed out in their research about the value of a tee time, that operator is not losing out just on the $50 green fee. There's actually up to 50, 60, 70 % incremental spend that that operator missed. The retail, the merchandise, the F and B. So for us, I think there's

Mike Hendrix (07:54)
Let's

talk about that for a second. Let's drop, maybe we'll drop the, uh, the graph in here because the NDS says I'm allowed to. maybe we'll put that in here. But look, when I'm looking at 18 hole premium based on the data that came out today in a press release that I saw, uh, we're talking about 52%. Help me if I'm wrong here, 52 % of the total revenue that came from that foursome was actually not related to green fee and just, and oh, by the way,

In this case, we're including cart fee in green fee. Right. I didn't see that broken out. So you're the data is suggesting that more than half of the spend from a foursome at a premium golf course premium public is not green fee related.

Jake Gordon (08:40)
That's correct and I think anecdotally we can all relate to that as golfers. You check into the pro shop, you spend 50 bucks for a green fee and then you get a bucket of range balls for 10 or 12 bucks. And then on the fourth hole, you go and you get a burger and a beer. And then maybe after you're around, you have such a good time, you get a hat, right? And then maybe you sit down for lunch. You can see how all of that ancillary spend adds up for the operator and for the golfer. So.

That's kind of our point here about the problem of no shows is it's not just the green fee, which is the opportunity cost. It's all of the additional spend and then it's the lifetime value. And then it's also the fact that another loyal customer didn't have the chance to come back and patron your facility. you know, for us, that's exactly right. And that's a frustrating experience, right? Maybe Mike's going to now take his business somewhere else. Maybe you're just not going to play if you don't find the inventory and

Mike Hendrix (09:25)
because they got blocked out.

Jake Gordon (09:36)
Pick up a new hobby. Maybe you're going to be the latest one to fall in love with pickleball, right? So golf, we believe really should be pulling those golfers in and compressing the inventory. And we see it as two big levers that an operator can pull. One is on the policy side. So as I said, enforce your cancellation policy. I always look to Palm Beach County and Eric Garber, and I love the way he set it up, which is collect a credit card.

Zero dollar deposit. If you cancel inside 24 hours, it's 20 bucks ahead. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. If you no show, it's the full green fee. While it's painful for Mike to walk up to the pro shop and say it's gonna be three of us and our fourth buddy, his car broke down, ultimately if you don't disincentivize that behavior, it's going to repeat itself.

Mike Hendrix (10:27)
Now I, okay, I got a lot of questions and I want to come back to the Eric Garber thing because, uh, I think that's a whole nother interesting conversation. if I go back to the data, the short shows are a really big deal, I think. Um, and for the people that maybe don't know golf, we're talking four people booked, two people showed up. call that short. Maybe today the golf course operator, he's selling golf for $75 a round. Okay.

Maybe today he says that short show cost me $150. But the part of your data is suggesting, no, Kelly, it actually costs you $300. Am I right to think about it in those terms? Because of course those two people weren't there for all the ancillary spend.

Jake Gordon (11:13)
Yeah, absolutely. think the most the realized cost is just is the green fee. But then additionally, the opportunity costs on the ancillary revenue we're seeing from the market data is there, right? Yes. So yeah, the the total cost of the problem at an individual facility on average is over $100,000 in no shows or short shows, or last minute cancellations, which is staggering, right? Because that's a meaningful part of the profit margin of some facilities.

for sure

Mike Hendrix (11:43)
So if you're looking to grow revenue without growing, you know, charging more for green fee without going from a 10 minute intervals to eight sevens, if you're looking to grow revenue, this is your honey pot. Just get so much better on no show short shows.

Jake Gordon (12:01)
Yeah, exactly. back to the restaurant example, maybe you can send the link out to folks who are listening. Open Table did a campaign called Turn the Tables on No Shows. The entire reason is because 30 % no shows is a serious problem to the financial health of a restaurant, right? That again, if one or two tables no show, that's the entire margin for that hour or that shift. So

Mike Hendrix (12:26)
Yes. Entire margin for that. Right.

Jake Gordon (12:28)
Exactly.

So OpenTable had a few ways that they solve this. One is they almost instituted or suggested course restaurants have like a four strikes in your out policy. So if you no show on OpenTable four times, they might ban you from the platform or warn you that, you're at risk of losing access to this product because at the end of the day, OpenTable's health is also tied to the restaurants, right? Right. So the first is the four strikes you're out and

I course operators can potentially take inspiration from that. That's something we've actually baked into our new capability. So operators can see what, kind of the, we're calling it like the naughty list, like who the serial no-showers are. And then at the same time, there's an education issue sometimes for the consumer. Maybe Jake and Mike are getting together next weekend. I booked dinner, but I completely forgot about it. Open table.

over communicates with the customer saying, you've got a reservation via SMS next week, then four days out, three days out, they continue to let you know. And we think operators can take some similar technology inspiration there.

Mike Hendrix (13:41)
That's good. Going back to the press release. Again, this came out this morning, so it's good timing. There's a line in here, it says, and again, this is not your press release. This is a press release from the NGF. They actually did not mention Noteefy, but I think they were referring to you. It was my guess, okay? But there's a line in here that says, the key shift.

is thinking like an experienced designer instead of a golf operator. And goes on to say with each touch point presenting an opportunity to create value rather than just facilitate the round. My thing with that is, but I love golf operators. Like I don't want golf operators to not be golf operators, right? There are people, Steve Graybill in the greater Philly area, Alison George in Iowa, Kelly Morrow in Zanesville, Ohio.

MG Orender, Rock Lucas, golf course operators are amazing people. I think we have seen on more than one podcast or presentation, we estimate they run like six different businesses simultaneously. It's kind of an amazing thing to be a successful golf course operator. So I want to be super pro golf course operator, but just help them get exposed to some of these new ideas. And I am, curious to know.

Jake Gordon (14:40)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Mike Hendrix (15:07)
Yeah.

You guys made, I'm not a, I'm not a dummy. was watching you guys in 2024. The progress you made with management companies was frankly staggering. what I'm interested in is how do you connect with Alison George? How do you connect with Kelly Morrow? How do you bring the Noteefy story to these individual, operators that are just kind of out there doing it on their own?

Jake Gordon (15:33)
Sure, yeah, absolutely. Well, first of all, I believe we have roughly or over 600 properties we work with and at least half of them are individual course operators who are not affiliated with a management company or an ownership group. The first course we ever launched with was Cimi Hills in Cimi Valley, California, awesome $40 a round individual municipality course, no affiliation with the management company. And I think it's yes and right.

The way a management company views their operations may be focused heavily on optimization of the tee sheet, optimization of that customer journey to book, the website design, et cetera. And I think what a individual course operator is doing or owner like you described is taking a lot of pride in the product and the craft and the way that a course, that a golfer experiences the property when.

They turn the corner, there might be little details that an individual owner takes a lot of pride in. I don't think it's by any means mutually exclusive of, and I think it's additive, what a MCO brings and what an individual course operator brings is a different set of skills that I think one plus one equals three.

Mike Hendrix (16:50)
And

for the record, I do think there's a bunch of management companies that do a wonderful job for their their clients and they and they provide excellent value, right? And I just was really impressed with the progress you made there. Yeah. But when I was at the PGA show, and I did get a chance to speak with Dathan, he mentioned

that you guys had completed a big SOC 2 certification. And for people that don't know you, I'll put a link in the notes along with your link, by the way, from the open table mentioned. I'll put a link in the notes to what SOC 2 is. But As I was flying back to the home of the national champions, Ohio State University, Buckeyes,

I thought to myself, that's pretty cool that Noteefy did that SOC 2 work, but he also mentioned, I think it's called VPAT. he also mentioned VPAT work that you guys are doing. And the reason I said that that's pretty cool. And I don't want to bore people, but when you do that work, it is on behalf of all of your customers. It's on behalf of the individual mom and pop golf courses. And it's on behalf of these management companies.

where you're essentially making sure the tech you provide them is safe and is not going to get them, you know, crossing any kind of line with, with any laws or regulations that they might not be aware of. don't know if you want to brag about Dathan a little bit. don't know if you want to expand on what VPAT is. I've done a bunch of research on VPAT. think I got a 15 page report I'm ready to share. But it's been impressive what you guys have done on those, on those fronts.

Jake Gordon (18:35)
Yeah, it's been an education and I think we had to make a decision as a business how seriously we took these things fast, know, maybe rewind to fall 2024. We had an opportunity to work with one of the biggest resorts in the world who was owned by a massive, I don't know about publicly traded company, but equivalent in size. And they said to us, hey, we're excited to work together. But if we're going to work together, you need to be SOC 2 compliant.

And SOC 2, for those who don't know, it's a security data certification that effectively audits your entire business, your entire technology stack, your use of data, how you handle personal information, how your passwords are, et cetera. And if you get SOC 2 certified, it effectively means that you've held the highest standard of data privacy and security regulations.

We said, okay, well, what does that entail? We looked into it, realized to get SOC 2 certified, it takes well over a year. In fact, sometimes like a year and a half. But we talked about it as a company and we said, hey, listen, do we wanna be on the leading edge of this capability? Do we want to have, to be able to support courses like this massive resort? And the answer we came to was yes. And as we thought about our business, handling customer information, golfer information,

we realized it was a good business decision as well to have the highest possible standard of security and care. So we went through the process, we said, let's do it. It's taken us well over a year and a half. got our SOC 2 Type 1 certification, which means, hey, at this point in time, everything is compliant and everything looks good. And then to get SOC 2 Type 2, they audit you for three months and make sure that you continue to be in good standing, which we've also gone through successfully. So we finally...

Can I last knock on wood sleep well at night knowing at least we have the best possible standards of data and information compliance. The other was on VPAT. We were working with a few properties in Colorado and they said, are you guys VPAT compliant? VPAT is standards of audio, visual, effectively disability technology use.

That means folks who have audio or visual or other disabilities can use your technology successfully.

Mike Hendrix (21:09)
Let me me let me jump in here because I think some people

Some people get confused. think that VPAT is the original ADA and how we had a lot of ambulance chasing attorneys running around looking at golf course websites. It is not, it is another step in that evolution. to that point, Colorado went live with this on July 1st of 2024. if you're a golf course operator and you're watching this and you're thinking, I've already dealt with that. This is new.

Jake Gordon (21:27)
Yup.

Mike Hendrix (21:46)
Ohio just put it into effect. Now I will say it tends to apply to municipal facilities, but in the case of Colorado, I think we actually found a sentence in one of the documents we looked at that called out municipal golf courses. so we know it applies to golf courses. and, so don't tune out if you think, I dealt with this, you know, the NGCOA covered all this off a few years ago, whatever this is new.

And I'm sure at the NGC OA conference in Orlando, I'm sure they talked about this. But if not, or if you weren't able to attend, we should put some attention on this. So go on, explain how you guys addressed VPAT.

Jake Gordon (22:28)
Yeah, it was it was robust. I think there's another vendor, you know, I'll give a shout out to Gallus Golf. I think they also have a number of properties in Colorado and you effectively have to make a decision. Are we going to rebuild their technology to be VPAT compliant in these states or are we going to work with a partner like another software company to help get to VPAT compliance? So we opted to work with a partner to help get us to the point where

Colorado municipal golf courses, of which we have dozens, could help, could use our software, use our technology. And again, it was a business decision saying, hey, we want to work with Colorado and Ohio municipal courses. So if this is a requirement, we're going to do that. And again, this is some of the stuff that isn't always sexy and shiny and new, but it's the blocking and tackling that makes us a trusted partner for a lot of these municipal facilities.

Mike Hendrix (23:27)
Right. This is the grind of running a complete company, right? That sometimes you've got to spend dollars and development hours on things that aren't going to generate revenue. It's going to, it's hard to tell the board that as a direct result of doing this, we, you know, we grew this revenue or whatever. Sometimes you got to play defense, right? Because you didn't want to be in a situation where you started getting termination letters from municipal golf facilities in Colorado. Um, and so this is for these young, young tech entrepreneurs that, that

tune in and watch this. These are the things that to your point, Jake, they're not sexy, but they're necessary.

Jake Gordon (24:03)
Yeah, it was a product decision, right? We could go build a new capability within our technology platform and maybe it would make for better PR and better buzz if it was a new shiny gizmo or gadget that we had on top of our system. Or we can invest in VPAT and SOC 2, which honestly took over a year, hundreds if not thousands of hours, but situated us to be able to scale and support those municipalities that

we want to work with. you know, I would say it was a feature, not a bug to be able to build this in. And now we're positioned to be able to scale and continue to help course operators that are required to be VPAC compliant to buy software in Colorado or elsewhere.

Mike Hendrix (24:49)
That's good. Good on you. Let's go back to Eric Garber if we can, because in your explanation of how he does cancellation policy, and if I can just throw a little plug out there, we're doing research right now. We're asking every golf course that we can get our hands on to complete a short survey about what their cancellation policy is and what their reservation policy is. And what you're saying is that Eric has said,

I don't like the idea of somebody having to put down a whole bunch of money when they make the reservation. But if they no show I need recourse to collect the money. Now, maybe you know, or you don't know the big pushback to get from a lot of operators on charging for a no show is that they can't get support from visa mastercard when it gets contested.

Any thoughts on that? you hearing the same? I'd be interested to get your feedback on that.

Jake Gordon (25:50)
I definitely am. I don't want to put words in Eric's mouth because I think you should ask him and he's the operator here. I'm just a technology guy. But I think the way he situated it, it's a zero dollar deposit and he uses technology like Noteefy and foreUP to make sure that golfer knows very clearly that if there's a no show, they're going to get dinged. It's all over the website where the policy is crystal clear.

I think that works. I haven't heard directly from Eric that they have issues with disputes, but I have heard that with many other operators. You could get a fee coming in and a fee paying going out. So that's one of the reasons as well with Noteefy Confirm our automation product to verify the golfer is going to be there. We want to give that course operator an audit log. That's a key part of our product. So.

Mike experiences a no show, you have a cancellation policy, you charge the customer. If MasterCard says, hey Mike, what's the deal? They disputed it. You actually have an audit log saying, hey, we texted them four different times confirming they were gonna be in attendance. Here's it, and they verified they were gonna be there. And here's our cancellation policy. We believe that should arm operators with enough muscle to be able to defend the fact that

customer dispute isn't correct in that case.

Mike Hendrix (27:20)
That's awesome. Can you explain what is the experience for this Noteefy, if you will? What's the golfer experience?

Jake Gordon (27:30)
Yeah, so for, I guess there's kind of two key capabilities. You've got the digital booking assistant, the golfer goes to the course website, they see our capability white labeled with the course's branding, and they can put in their preferences and get real-time text messages when inventory opens. There's a bunch of other bells and whistles under the hood. The Confirm capability is pretty similar to like a doctor's office confirmation. So you'll get, and it's all configurable by an operator.

But you, the golfer, will get a text, call it 72 hours before the tee time saying, hey, Mike, you have a tee time on Saturday at 10 a.m. One to Confirm, two to cancel, three to modify. Obviously, we move the numbers, actually. It's like one, five, nine, so that there aren't any fat finger mistakes. But ultimately, what we want to do is drive cancellations outside of the booking window, of the cancellation window, so that that operator has an opportunity to rebook it at rack rate. So...

Our system integrates into the tee sheet and the operator has a suite of configurable texts they can send out about all the different messages, whether it's the confirmed text, whether it's the reminder text, whether it's the booking congratulations text, we are really text first because texts have a 98 % open rate and a very high engagement. So for us, we believe arming operators with the technology, suggesting they implement a cancellation policy,

should hopefully put a dent in the 9 % to 10 % no-show rate operators experience today.

Mike Hendrix (29:03)
Okay. Okay. So that's an interesting data point, nine to 10 % no show rate. And that includes short shows. Okay. so, so one question that brings up for me is, is the, is the Confirm capabilities in this, is that only specific to tee times that were booked as a result of the wait list, functionality or like can Confirm run if I call the golf course and make a tee time Confirm would still get applied to those tee times as well.

Jake Gordon (29:08)
Correct.

That's correct. We integrate into the tee sheet, whether the golfer has or hasn't used Noteefy, they're going to be put into the confirmed flow. We need their phone number, obviously, so we recommend the operator collects phone number at the time of booking. Obviously, that's great data for the course operator to have anyway. So the golfer does not have to have used Noteefy, the digital waitlist or booking assistant, to be into the confirmed flow on the tee sheet.

Mike Hendrix (30:03)
All right, let me ask you a really technical workflow question here. Let's say Sally uses Noteefy at XYZ golf course. Do you collect her mobile number in her in signing up to be notified if an opening happens? Okay. Then do you push that mobile number up into her golfer profile in let's say the foreUP tee sheet.

Jake Gordon (30:20)
Yes.

We provide that data right back to the operator to use however they see fit. OK. Exactly. So we don't necessarily push it into their profile, but we do just hand it right back over to the operator.

Mike Hendrix (30:41)
And so then, and then we can maybe run some kind of workflow from there, honestly, insert it. But really the fact that you guys are on site, if you will, if you're a vendor for the golf course, we should probably see an increase in mobile phone number collection.

Jake Gordon (31:01)
100 %

Mike Hendrix (31:03)
Have you done any data on that? Have you ever written a white paper on, here's what happens to the mobile phone number field, you know, once you bring Noteefy on board.

Jake Gordon (31:13)
You know, it's an interesting concept. One thing we did look at is how many of the contacts using Noteefy are net new contacts for that golf course. And then we found over 30 % of the golfer data that we're giving to the course is brand new. I had a marketing manager at a golf course say they would pay the software subscription just to keep getting 30 % new emails.

Mike Hendrix (31:28)
Wow!

Of of course. It's funny you say that because we were just coming off the PGA show and then I'm hopping on a plane after this is done to get down to the CMAA show. And of course, this is the time of year when we collect so many more contacts of people that work at these golf courses. And so really to hear you talk about a 30 % growth of database size resonates with me.

as we're trying to serve all of our different technology customers on these golf course contacts. That's pretty cool.

Jake Gordon (32:09)
Yeah,

that was pretty jaw-dropping. It wasn't only a one golf course either. This was across a multi-course portfolio of dozens of properties where this operator downloaded all the data that they had on one platform and then compared it to the notified information and found thousands of new records that they could use for their marketing campaigns. So we were jaw-dropped when we heard that.

Mike Hendrix (32:34)
Yeah, no, that's that's excellent. It'd be, you know, for whatever it's worth it. Grow that piece of your marketing plan, right? You're here to help grow golfer data collection. That's really cool. What was the PGA show like for you? I'd be curious to know what you what you thought of it. I think you guys were probably there last year. But I'd be curious to your feedback on the show.

Jake Gordon (32:46)
No doubt.

It would, you we call it our Super Bowl, right? It's the major of the golf business. think that's, they call it that for the right reason. It really is. It's always a spectacle. It always just gives you so much excitement about being in this industry. You know, I always try and describe it to people. like 40, 50,000 people go into a conference room. It will take you 45 minutes. You can walk from one side to the other in a straight line.

You see every gizmo and gadget you could ever imagine, whether it's Adidas and Callaway launching their latest and greatest product, or if it's some guy or gal who has a new swing aid and everything in between.

Mike Hendrix (33:41)
you get to spend time with Derek Jeter. Whatever might happen there.

Jake Gordon (33:46)
It's like golf Disneyland, I call it. It is wild. And I think for us, it was really cool being there in 2024 and then again in 2025, because obviously we've grown both head count and our partner count materially. So I think our booth was a little bigger. We had 12 folks with us there this year and we had a lot of clients that we got to spend time with, a lot of new prospects we got to know.

So I joke that I wish every day was the PGA show for the business, but at the same time, I think I'm a little still worn down from, you know, from YAP and for five days straight with the golf business conference before and then rolling to the PGA show.

Mike Hendrix (34:27)
We, I got a chance to swing by the Tee Commerce booth, Tee Commerce that people get apparel like this through Tee Commerce, but you go to the golf course website to get this apparel and you don't really know that you're using Tee Commerce. And as I was doing that, it reminded me of you guys. It's similar, right? You are an app that the golf course operator is using to enhance their business.

But the consumer is really just thinks of it in terms of like in this case, Windsor Parke right? Windsor Parke is a course that I played at it's in Jacksonville. And I like to get, you know, apparel from places where I play. Maybe I don't think to get it while I'm there in the pro shop, or maybe they don't have the selection I'm looking for. But in the case of Tee Commerce, they provide this online store. And so it ends up being a cool experience for me, but, but Noteefy similar.

I think in that sense, right? You're this bolt on application. You're not a tee sheet You're not a point of sale. You're a bolt on application that enhances the, frankly, the golfer experience, but also is there to make the golf course operator more money.

Jake Gordon (35:40)
That's absolutely right. I would assume that the Tee Commerce guys also call themselves B2B2C, where our customer is the golf course, but our user is the golfer. So it's probably the same thing with Tee Commerce, where their customer is the course, but the user is Jake and Mike getting a new quarter zip. That's right. And I love what they do. We have a Noteefy Tee Commerce store that they generously stood up for us. And I think

Just about every one of my friends and family, list has been spammed with our online store to get a new Noteefy zip. And every now and then I'll see someone from the team do a big haul and do, I think, Christmas order to make sure that their family has a bunch of the bells and the Noteefy logo on there.

Mike Hendrix (36:25)
That's cool. Hey, listen, you, know, I know you're from California and I know actually when we were covering the big kind of tee time, you know, outrage that was going on in Los Angeles, you and your co-founder had experienced that as golfers. Talk a little bit about the fires. If you can, you know, help someone in Ohio, someone in New York, someone in Florida to understand.

exactly what you all have gone through in that greater LA area because it is devastating, Jake. And I'd just be interested to get the firsthand report if you would.

Jake Gordon (37:03)
Yeah, you know, I'm a lifelong Angelino. I grew up here. I did a tour of duty on the East Coast. I went out to New York and Pennsylvania for a while, but I boomerang back. So I live here actually in the canyon in the San Fernando Valley. I've never, know, fires are a part of living out here in LA. We're used to it. know, the Santa Ana winds are these really hot winds that blow through and dry vegetation. You know, we were in a drought for a while, creates fires.

But nothing like this ever. mean, the structural damage is not something we were used to. There's always mountain fires and they get it contained and we move on with our lives. evacuations are very rare. But in the case of this fire, especially in the Palisades fire and the Altadena fire, everybody I know has friends or family who have had their houses burned down. And it's almost hard to comprehend.

you know, the devastation that that does to your family when you don't have somewhere to go home. And it kind of interesting not to get all dramatic is, you know, it's the little things like, you know, you can get a new TV, you can get a new couch, but like, you know, we have a family friend who couldn't get his, you the watch his dad gave him and now it's gone. Right. And, you know, those little things, right, that are just, you know, you'll never get back. I think on a personal level, so many people impacted.

For the golf business, have a client. CourseCo operates Altadena in Eaton Canyon. Altadena Golf Course had the Pro Shop burned down, most of their equipment destroyed. The course is gonna be closed for a year plus. It's devastating. That staff that now has to figure out what they're going to do. sure, I know that Tom Bugby and Lee Finkel and Mike over at CourseCo are all over it, but ultimately it's really tough.

for everybody who was impacted. Thank God we are okay, I'm home right now, but we saw the fire from our house and it come down the hill. And if the wind changed the wrong direction, we probably wouldn't be talking to you from this room.

Mike Hendrix (39:12)
Yeah, it's just terrible. Explain why Altadena, and maybe you don't know, but explain why Altadena would be closed for a year. Why can't they set up a temporary trailer or something like that?

Jake Gordon (39:25)
I'll be honest, I don't know. I don't want to speak for them in terms of the timeline. What I know is I saw pictures of the course and it was really beat up, right? So I don't know how long it will be down for. Hopefully I'm misspoken. It'll be up in two, three months. But based on the devastation, based on bureaucracy of what it takes to rebuild in California, I would be surprised if it was less than that. I hope that I'm wrong and I hope that it's going to be back and people are teeing it up in three months.

We haven't even been able to go, most people whose homes were impacted haven't been able to go home yet. So, and that was, it's been a few weeks. So it's hard to think about being able to rebuild the golf course over the homes, but I hope that I'm wrong.

Mike Hendrix (40:09)
How about the other golf courses? You know, you've got that LA city contingent, you got the LA county group. Any information on other golf courses other than Altadena?

Jake Gordon (40:22)
I mean Riviera was set to host the Genesis Open on this weekend I think, right? February 12th.

Yeah, two weeks. So it's set to host the Genesis. Believe it or not, the course, as far as I understand, is not damaged, whereas most of the residential area is gone.

Mike Hendrix (40:44)
Yeah, they just don't have the infrastructure, I think, to put the tournament on.

Jake Gordon (40:48)
Exactly exactly. I I think they have bigger problems in Palisades other than posting the golf tournament But as far as I know there were no other courses damaged materially I mean maybe Eaton Canyon had some light damage Alta Dena was really impacted So, you know, I recommend reaching out to Tom Bugbee. He's been all over it. He's the COO of CourseCo and

He's been on lot of local news talking about what they're doing to take care of their employees, obviously in this challenging time.

Mike Hendrix (41:19)
Yeah, it's just, it's just terrible. you mentioned that you were in New York for a step. I don't know if a lot of people know about your background. You did not grow up, so to speak, in golf. You, you certainly are an athlete and I think you, wrestled, maybe played baseball. but you know, who, who is Jake Gordon? Where were you working? How did you decide to found a company? Give us some, some background on.

on what set you up to do this.

Jake Gordon (41:50)
Yeah, who is Jake Gordon? I guess it depends who's asking, you know. But at the end of the day, in the context of Noteefy, I've been obsessed with startups and new technology for as long as I can remember, but at least the last 15 years. You know, I was in college and there was a startup pitch competition and saw a flyer that said that the best pitch, startup pitch, can win 10 grand. And I think I ripped that off.

wall, I brought it to my friend, said, Hey, we should come up with something and do this thing because this seems awesome. I love short take. And that kind of took me down this path of falling in love with identifying a problem building something, you know, for me, was software, and I'm not a coder, but I kind of fell in love with the concept of having a software enabled solution that gets all wrong. So ironically, in college, it's kind of cringy to think about but

It was a peer-to-peer dress rental service like Airbnb for dresses on campus.

Mike Hendrix (42:54)
And those are just today, so that wasn't too far.

Jake Gordon (42:56)
It

was a little early in my time. It was early 2010s. was like sharing economy was the thing. So, you know, what's mine is yours for a fee is kind of like the business model. And, you know, we pitched this concept of, you know, a peer to peer dress rental service, you know, for college campuses and won the competition. We hacked together an MVP. We took it to a couple different campuses. We got some

GMV which is gross merchandise value meaning like how much volume was done on the platform and in the thousands and It was just like magic to see an idea come to life and for me that started a 10 or 15 year journey of trying a bunch of different parts of the ecosystem so I went out to tell a B visceral and worked for a big growth venture capital fund that

was managing billions of dollars and investing in late stage companies. I then worked for a big consulting firm called Accenture. We had a venture's arm. We had invested in something like 70 different startups. And my job was to help those startups go to market and scale.

Mike Hendrix (44:08)
But

not so much, not so much find the startup, but once they got under the umbrella of Accenture, get in there and help optimize it.

Jake Gordon (44:18)
Yeah, that was my job. So my job was to help them grow and scale as part of our value add. We had a team that was writing checks and then they bring them over and we would help them go to market and scale by brokering Fortune 500 deals.

Mike Hendrix (44:34)
And how long, how long Jake, did you live in Tel Aviv?

Jake Gordon (44:38)
I was there for five months.

Mike Hendrix (44:39)
Okay, so, you know, not multiple years. I mean, it does, the minute you said Tel Aviv, I thought to myself, hmm, does Noteefy get to England? Does Noteefy get to France? mean, give me your thoughts on that.

Jake Gordon (44:54)
Well, we're in five countries right now.

New Zealand, we're in the Dominican Republic and we are in another one of the Caribbean countries. So we have distribution, not a major footprint, but in Canada, think 30 to 50 courses, maybe 50 plus. So, and New Zealand has a great footprint. Believe it or not, in Israel, there's one golf course, the Kasaria Golf Club, and it is an awesome track. Scratch golf today.

to feature on it. It's a really cool course. So I think global could definitely be an option. If they have supply and demand issues, I think we can help.

Mike Hendrix (45:40)
And so how long at Accenture and what are there any notable companies that you helped with that we would recognize today?

Jake Gordon (45:48)
yeah, absolutely. I mean, I was there for just over five years, which isn't that long, but it was long enough that I got to work with a lot of great clients. It's a little bit, you don't usually talk about your projects as much, but this is public information. One of my big first clients was the Hershey company, and we were doing a big technology transformation project. That was an awesome experience. I got to work with CVS Health a lot and big investment banks.

I had dozens of Fortune 500 customers.

Mike Hendrix (46:20)
So as a golf guy, immediately have to ask, so is Hershey a customer of Noteefy?

Jake Gordon (46:26)
They're not yet, which is on our list.

Mike Hendrix (46:30)
one

of your white whales for 2025.

Jake Gordon (46:32)
I'm

more than to get out to Harrisburg and drive to Hershey and knock on a door and maybe pick up some chocolate while I'm there.

Mike Hendrix (46:41)
Yeah, I've been to a few owners conferences there and enjoyed cutting it up with all the different people that were there.

Jake Gordon (46:50)
It's

amazing over there. mean, I guess I'll just wrap long story short is you know had this built this muscle around working with startups and helping them go to the market at scale and I just as you alluded to as a wrestler I like I like being on the mat I like being in the arena and being on the side was really educational but I Love the feeling of going for it and having your destiny be a hundred percent in your control effectively so when I met Dathan who's my

partner in crime, the brains behind the operation. He's a builder and I'm kind of a go to market guy, so there was a good division of labor and we had a great chemistry working together and he built our product, the initial version. I helped get it to market at one course, then three, then 10, and now we have a robust team.

Mike Hendrix (47:39)
You know, you mentioned go to market. We could do a whole podcast episode, honest to goodness on, on go to market because there's a lot of tech founders, CEOs, et cetera. They there's a gap there is, is a nice way to say it. How did you get your go to market chops? Like who did you learn from? Was it just from testing or do you think back to a couple of individuals that you feel like really helped shape?

your go to market strategy and listen, not to maybe we should just explain what go to market is too, before you maybe tell us how you learned about it so much.

Jake Gordon (48:17)
Sure, I mean very simply put, you have a product, you gotta get customers. How are you going to get customers? That's your good one.

Mike Hendrix (48:23)
And don't you think go to market is often just as important as what the problem is that you're solving? Like you might solve a problem, but if you can't figure out how to get it out there and to get people to consume it, you don't have a company really.

Jake Gordon (48:36)
That's right. mean, at the end of the day, software is commoditized, especially in an area of AI. You could go on to chat GPT right now and you could build a piece of software that's usable. The question is, can you get distribution? Distribution is how you get your product out into the world. I'm a big believer that distribution is just as important as your product because you can have a Ferrari if no one knows how to drive or use it or it's parked in a garage. It's not adding a lot of value.

You know, for me, I'm borderline obsessed with it. I love the science of go-to-market. I love all of the different channels of how you get your product out there into the world. You know, it starts with doing blocking and tackling, like picking up the phone and calling a golf course and convincing an operator to give you a shot. And then you compound that into one other operator in the area. And then maybe you can get a multi-course operator. And then maybe you can get another multi-course operator.

So you just create what's called a flywheel, but ultimately go to market is useless if you don't have a good product.

Mike Hendrix (49:42)
I do agree with that. Yes.

Jake Gordon (49:45)
You

can have the world's best go-to-market strategy and distribution, but if you don't have a good product, you're going to have a leaky bucket. People are going to turn off it and not say good things about you. Agreed.

Mike Hendrix (49:55)
Who's your go-to-market mentor?

Jake Gordon (49:58)
You know, when I was at Accenture, had a mentor of mine. was two. One led our venture's arm, and I'll give her a shout, Amanda McBride. She's a mentor of mine, a friend of mine, and she is a whiz on all things startup go to and market. She taught me everything I need to know, or everything I learned about how to bring software to market, specifically in the startup world. Then I had another mentor of mine, Eric Polovsky. He was the, he was a big deal guy.

And he was someone who just knew the art of a million dollar deal, 10 million dollar deal. I saw him do 100 million dollar deals and what it takes to be a tenacious person to structure something that big and complex and had the pleasure of working for both of them for several years and just trying to be a sponge. And they gave me a lot of responsibility. And now I, they're my first call if I have a question about anything.

Mike Hendrix (50:51)
Nice. I did think we, and we can get into it another time. You know, part of go to market is also about, I go freemium and then I graduate people? Like there's a lot of strategy around, I'm actually still waiting for a tee sheet company to figure out how to sell in terms of credits. You know, Hey, you can buy a hundred credits a month as my low tier. And that means after a hundred tee times you've booked,

You're either going to have to go back to the phone or something, you know, and, help operators test technology without making a big commitment. Again, we haven't seen anybody do it, but we can, we can talk about that another time to wrap things up. know next week you're, you're going to actually sit with some different people and try to expand more on this no show issue. Just tell us about that. think, I think it's called golf's billion dollar problem, but

talk about that and then we'll say our goodbyes and we'll let you get back to work.

Jake Gordon (51:54)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I got to give a shout out to Ross Liggett, founder of Metolius. He has 500 plus customers he works with as a data like data warehouse business intelligence platform. And he's got 10 million rounds of data from 2024. And we had an operator kind of give us like a I'm not going to say a lead, but hey, take a look at this no show problem and see how widespread it is. We looked at their portfolio. It was a serious problem.

in the teens of no-show rates. And then we said, all right, well, let's see how bad this is across the industry. We looked at it as 10 million rounds and blended the no-show rate was 9%. Weather agnostic, which 9 % applied onto the 300 million rounds that are public a year, $50 green fee, add in the ancillary spend. It is north of a billion dollars in revenue that gets lost in the industry. On top of that, you when

we look at the problem, we think that there's something that you can do about it. So we're gonna also be talking about both policies and technologies of what operators can do to help. So tune in next week, February 13th. And again, no one wants to sit through a product show and tell, but I wanna bring in Eric, bring in Scott Wellman, bring in David Palau.

Mike Hendrix (53:14)
Wellman for people super smart at Landscapes Unlimited or Landscapes Management Company. So for Scott to be on there with Ross and I know both those guys and yourself really good, but go on. Who else will be on?

Jake Gordon (53:30)
brought David Lorenz, the chief research officer of the NGF. He's going to be talking about the market and the problem that you just outlined. Ross is going to be talking about no shows, what's preventable, what's not. Scott is going to be talking about how he views technology and automation from a MCO point of view. And Eric's going to be talking about policy.

Mike Hendrix (53:51)
No, that's great. I just would say this, even though Scott will come at it from an MCO perspective, it's good for individual operators. mean, Scott's going to talk in terms of, but if you're running this golf course, because at the end of the day, Landscapes is running these individual golf courses, right? And so if you are an individual operator, I think to have the opportunity to hear from Scott is valuable. So I think that's great.

Jake Gordon (54:15)
Yeah, he's an amazing mind in the industry. Fortunate to call him a customer and a friend. And I learn from him every time I chat with him. So hopefully you get a lot of diverse points of view. And I'll try my best not to bore you to tears on it and make it worth every single golf operator's time.

Mike Hendrix (54:32)
Well, that's good. We'll put a link. If it's okay with you, we'll put a link to that. Yeah. The show notes, as well. so hopefully we'll come in and listen to you guys. Well, listen, I appreciate the time. I know you're feeling a little under the weather, so it was very nice of you to make the time. I gotta go hop on a plane so I can get down to Tampa. But, I wish all the success in the world. Reach out if you ever need anything. and,

Jake Gordon (54:41)
Yeah, that'd be great.

Mike Hendrix (55:02)
I think it'll be great if as an industry we can solve some of these reservation issues. And like you said, know, kind of plug up that leak in the revenue bucket. That would be a big win for everybody.

Jake Gordon (55:16)
Yeah, well, thanks for having me, Mike. Appreciate everything you do to kind of put the word out there about technology. I think you're a great problem for folks like myself and operators looking to figure out what's legit and what's vaporware and everything in between.

Mike Hendrix (55:31)
Okay, well have a great day. Thank you. All right, bye.

Jake Gordon (55:33)
All right, thanks Mike.

00:07

Host

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00:43

Tyler Arnold

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

01:34

Host

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

01:50

Tyler Arnold

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

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