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By Joe Arney
Photos by Glenn Asakawa (Jour鈥�86)

Part of being a successful entrepreneur is knowing when to pivot. Huck Sorock (StratComm鈥�23) had an early lesson in that.

Growing up in hockey-mad Minneapolis, Sorock, like many boys his age, was lovestruck for the puck鈥攁nd good enough at the sport to secure a spot in a junior league after finishing high school. But his love of the sport waned as he was traded multiple times, 鈥渁nd I started to feel like a commodity.鈥�

Although he left the sport to enroll at the University of baby直播app Boulder, it never quite left his heart. Sorock earned money on the side as a referee starting in high school, and was amazed at how inefficiently refs are deployed to cover youth games.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a contractor-based industry鈥攅xcept you鈥檙e not actually choosing the time or location of any of the games you work,鈥� Sorock said. 鈥淪o I was getting plugged into games that were 45 minutes from home, when I would see one in the software available five minutes away.鈥� Payments, too, were subject to maddening delays.

As a student in the College of Media, Communication and Information, Sorock watched his friends score internships with Goldman Sachs and Deloitte as they prepared for life after graduation. He decided he wanted a different path, and formed Refr Sports during his junior year.

鈥淚 was bred into entrepreneurship,鈥� said Sorock, co-founder and CEO of the company. 鈥淢y dad is a serial entrepreneur and when it came to jobs鈥攚hich he always called 'the J-word鈥欌�攈e鈥檇 say, 鈥榃e make those. We don't get them.鈥欌��

Now in its third year, Refr (pronounced 鈥渞ef-ur鈥�) has earned nearly $1 million in venture capital funding as it rolls out its platform to youth sports leagues around the country. In April, Sorock claimed second place鈥攑lus an audience choice award鈥攁t CU Boulder鈥檚 annual New Venture Challenge, which invites startups to pitch their concepts for the chance to win up to $100,000 in seed funding.

鈥淭here are so many entrepreneurs who try to do it all on their own. Huck understands the value of plugging into an ecosystem and working with mentors who鈥檝e been there before,鈥� said Stan Hickory, director of innovation and entrepreneurship at CU Boulder鈥檚 Research and Innovation Office, which hosts NVC.

For go-getters willing to build those networks, Hickory said NVC offers students a mentorship platform of 350 mentors from the Boulder startup community鈥攁n invaluable resource for student-led startups.

A CRM for ref assigners

If you鈥檝e never wondered about the referees who showed up to work your town soccer matches, you鈥檙e not alone鈥擲orock said few people who haven鈥檛 worn the whistle understand the system. Most municipalities contract officiating out to a middleman called the referee assigner, who then finds, manages, schedules and pays the refs who work the games.

Those assigners, Sorock said, often are former refs who鈥檝e had to manage the complexities of this system, yet aren鈥檛 ready listeners when Sorock tells them he鈥檚 got a better way for them to do it.

鈥淲e鈥檝e basically built a CRM for assigners to manage their business, providing incremental technology that enables them to better tag refs to games and get them paid faster,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut these aren鈥檛 C-suite executives鈥攖hey鈥檙e basically mailmen with a side hustle. So, they aren鈥檛 always receptive to change. Or, they ask for features that, if we offer them, are just digitizing an inefficient system rather than offering innovation and efficiency.鈥�

Selling to an older demographic has been Sorock鈥檚 hardest challenge. But it鈥檚 also given him opportunities to learn, which he said is his favorite part of the job. A lot of that learning has come from leading a team of 13 that includes developers, sales functions and customer engagement.

鈥淯ltimately, I鈥檓 trying to become a better person, leader, entrepreneur in general,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y experiences with Refr are definitely helping me get there.鈥�

So, too, did his time in Boulder. Sorock appreciated the chance to pair his strategic communication major with the business minor offered by the Leeds School of Business, giving him exposure to concepts in marketing, finance, analytics and product development while taking a deeper dive into topics around communication and leadership.

Communication skills, Hickory said, often are a differentiator for successful entrepreneurs.

鈥淭he hardest part with a competition like this is no matter how great your idea is鈥攁nd Huck鈥檚 idea is great鈥攕o much comes down to how you make that pitch,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ne of the things we talk about with our young entrepreneurs is communication鈥攄o you have the right person, have you practiced, have you sought feedback over and over鈥攁nd over鈥攁gain?鈥�

Sorock credited Hickory with helping him connect to Boulder鈥檚 strong startup ecosystem.

鈥淚 grew so much as a person at CU,鈥� he said, mentioning a business course with Dave Cass as being particularly instrumental to Refr鈥檚 success: 鈥淚t gave me the confidence to jump in with both feet, and to believe it was going to work out the way it should.鈥�