A project by Mike Murad (President/CEO) and Larissa Pistan, Pursue Sports has been operating for 2 years and has now grown to a team of 17 employees located around the world and expanded their operations to London, UK. Pursue Sports is an athletic recruiting platform that uses a numeric ranking system to better scout soccer players. Through a process of rigorous testing computed into analytical data, Pursue Sports is able to offer a comprehensive profile of each athlete tested.

Pursue Sports has already experienced local success with the recruitment of two male soccer players, with one of them receiving an invite to the Real Madrid feeder academy, also clinching a spot on a semi-professional team.

Athletic recruitment agencies haven’t been as quick to adapt to standardized testing but Mike Murad and his team at Pursue Sports have capitalized on their own experiences to build an unparalleled system to place players more accurately. Pursue Sports is hoping to expand into other sports but are currently focusing their efforts on the excellence of both male and female soccer players worldwide.

We sat down and asked Mike Murad a few questions about his startup:

1) How did you come up with your idea? How did you start your business? Is it a partnership?

• I used to be a soccer player and felt like there has to be a better way of being recruited
• With the help of the EPICentre and the University of Windsor I was able to launch Pursue Sports on July 13, 2013.
• Pursue Sports is a corporation.

2) What is the most valuable trait/skill a young entrepreneur should have?

• The most important trait an entrepreneur should have is passion! Passion will keep you awake at night; passion will keep you going when everyone has said NO to you! Passion will inspire you to go the extra mile when things get hard.

3) How does EPICentre support/advance your ideal company? Have you received any help from a mentor? If yes, what did they help you with?

• EPICentre helped connect me with my mentor Steve Hart, the Head Coach at the University of Windsor.

4) What stage is your business currently at?

• We are at the growth stage!

5) Do you have any recommendations to young local entrepreneurs?

• Everyone fails and it’s OK; what matter most is that you learn from it. Don’t worry about failing because when it happens, the lessons you learn are a lot better than hearing them from someone telling you their story.

6) What was the hardest obstacle you had to face to progress your business idea?

• Working in two different parts of the world!

Pursue Sports has announced over social media on Friday, June 19, 2015 that they have secured $100 Million in contracts for players for the Summer 2015 transfer season.

Follow Pursue Sports on the web at https://pursuesports.com/, on Twitter @PursueSports or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pursuesports.