Sideline Swap

Brendan Candon founded Sideline Swap in 2015 to solve a simple problem: athletes accumulate expensive gear they use for one season, then let it sit in garages and warehouses. There was no efficient marketplace to connect these sellers with buyers looking for high-quality gear at discounts. Brendan saw a $60 billion sporting goods industry with an untapped opportunity for peer-to-peer resale.

The company launched quietly, processing around $400,000 in transaction volume in its first year with roughly 3,000 sellers and 6,000 buyers. Brendan took a 12% commission on each transaction. When he first appeared on Nathan Latka's podcast a year into the interview timeline, Sideline Swap had raised $120,000 from 500 Startups and was generating about $2 million in revenue. The business model was simple but the execution required careful balancing: too much supply without demand meant unhappy sellers; too much demand without supply meant wasted traffic.

Brendan's breakthrough was getting scrappy and leveraging his networks in the sports world. He approached former college athletes, professional athletes, and people liquidating equipment rooms at colleges and professional teams. He convinced high-profile athletes to list on the platform—like Jimmy Vesey from the New York Rangers selling his Harvard hockey gear—which created buzz and unique inventory. "We had like 25% of the former college lacrosse players come on and sell their stuff," he explained. This initial supply, combined with aggressive social media marketing on Instagram (180,000 followers) and Facebook (70,000 fans), created a flywheel: unique inventory attracted buyers, those buyers saw the value and became sellers themselves, and the cycle accelerated.

Social media and influencer marketing proved incredibly cost-effective for driving demand. The company discovered that the collector aspect—fans buying gear from famous athletes—was only 5-10% of transactions; the real value was utility: an $800-900 hockey skate used for one season selling for $450. By mid-2017, just seven months in, Sideline Swap had processed 70% of its total lifetime transaction volume. The team grew from 3-4 people to 10, distributed across Boston and New York but functioning as a remote-first operation. They raised $1.8 million in Series A funding over the summer of 2016 and an additional $1.2 million in spring 2017, for a total of $3 million raised.

By mid-2017, Sideline Swap had grown to 15,000 sellers and 23,000-24,000 buyers, with 3,000 transactions and 1,500 sellers listing items in a typical month. The company was growing 30% month-over-month in transaction volume and revenue, projecting $5-6 million in revenue for 2017. Average order value sat around $80. Brendan's vision expanded beyond used gear: he wanted Sideline Swap to become "a resource for every sports family," helping athletes turn the extra stuff in their houses into cash while building the best shopping experience for the sporting goods consumer. With over $3 million in total transaction volume processed and a clear playbook for marketplace growth, the team was positioned to capture a significant portion of the untapped peer-to-peer sports equipment market.