Build, validate, and scale your school sports solution with help from forward-thinking Athletic Directors.
Get clarity on product-market fit, buyer needs, and adoption barriers to make smarter decisions that drive your sports tech solution forward.
Direct AD access. Structured feedback. Faster alignment.
HOW YOU BENEFIT FROM WORKING WITH K12
Tap into AD expertise and insight to grow, thrive, and make a bigger impact on school athletics.
Forge relationships with AD leaders & change-makers in the school athletics space.
Validate solutions earlier, before major investments by pressure-testing ideas and tools with active ADs.
Ensure your time, capital, and product investments are focused on problems ADs are actively trying to solve.
Close the gap between product intent and on-the-ground reality in school athletics.
WHAT’S BROKEN AND HOW WE FIX IT
There’s a real disconnect between athletic directors and the sports tech companies trying to serve their programs. The AD Think Tank is here to help close that gap.
Most sports tech is built with limited exposure to day-to-day AD operations.
Our Solution: Our Vendor Services combined with the AD Think Tank fosters direct, structured feedback loops between ADs and school sports vendor leaders, so ADs can directly influence decisions and solutions in the school athletics space – ultimately, to drive impact in school athletics. Real use cases support your product roadmaps, not assumptions.
Sales conversations don’t always translate into adoption or renewals of your solution.
Our Solution: ADs work directly with sports tech founders through consulting engagements in the Think Tank, to surface these issues, and work collaboratively to solve them through partnerships, integrations, and the development of better, more connected tools.
Pricing and procurement models don’t often reflect the realities of school athletics.
Our Solution: AD input helps you as a vendor understand budget cycles, district constraints, and purchasing dynamics, before features are hard-coded and contracts are drafted.
Vendors often hear fragmented feedback one-off.
Our Solution: Through the AD Think Tank, pilot programs, and workshops, we help you aggregate insight from experienced ADs nationwide.
“There’s a growing disconnect between school sports vendors and the Athletic Directors they aim to support. K12 Sports Tech exists to bridge that gap – and to help both make a lasting impact on school athletics.”
—Abby Emerson, K12 Sports Tech Founder & CEO
COST OF INACTION
When you build tools in isolation for long enough, that isolation becomes expensive. It also leads to slower adoption of your tech, longer sales cycles, lower renewal rates and more churn, higher support overhead, and worst yet, brand skepticism inside AD networks.
This doesn’t happen overnight, but it gradually accumulates.
Our Vendor Services help you to shorten the distance between your product decisions and what ADs face in their day to day, so alignment becomes your new normal.
CORE BENEFITS
Our Vendor Services are specifically designed to reduce your guesswork, strengthen alignment with your solutions, and accelerate growth in the school athletics space.
Here are some of the basic benefits both our Starter and Premium members get with their memberships:
Branded profile directory pages.
Quarterly brand promotion in our AD Think Tank newsletters.
Our Premium members have access to a more advanced suite of services including:
MARKETING INSIGHTS
Market Interest & Insight Custom Survey
- Uncover highly valuable insights about your market including competitive intel, opportunities & barriers, and potential AD interest.
AD Engagement Program
- Our most popular K12 vendor member program.
- AD engagement provides members with exclusive insights, feedback and data and an opportunity to consult 1:1 with forward thinking ADs in the AD Think Tank to generate quantifiable and qualified insights & feedback, build trust and advocacy from AD leaders in the space, and develop potential long-term, trusted partnerships with schools.
Video & Survey Program
- Designed to take the effort off of you with a custom pre-recorded video overview of your business plus a survey.
- This is a monthly opt-in project that generates awareness for you and provides category insights which can lead directly to future opportunities.
Sales Support
K12 Pilot Program
- We’ll design, launch and manage the full lifecycle of a successful pilot with one of our AD Think Tank Members to test your tool in real-time.
Mid-Funnel Nurture Support
- Designed to address challenges of lead management post initial calls or pilots.
- Our team converts mid funnel leads back into opportunities for you and keeps them engaged and educated regarding your brand.
Procurement Barrier Roundtable
- Your audiences are prequalified with high purchase intent for your tool.
- Topics include purchasing barriers, buying process, champion enablement, and internal approvals.
Thought Leadership & Brand Awareness
New Member Spotlight Webinar
- Hosted by us on your behalf, we’ll cover product awareness, proof points, value proposition, and budget justification to introduce your company and drive excitement regarding your services and solutions within the Think Tank.
Content & Resource Provider
- We distribute your content to the K12 network, such as whitepapers, blogs,etc to help you become a trusted resource in your expertise area.
Meet @ the 50 Workshop Series
- The Meet @ the 50 Workshop Series brings you together with athletic directors to tackle real-world challenges in the athletics space through collaborative discussions. The series offers various participation levels, from lead vendor opportunities to virtual attendee seats.
HOW TO ACCESS OUR VENDOR SERVICES
Step 1: Create Your Free Profile – Join the Vendor Directory
Boost your presence in the space with Athletic Directors – and alert K12 Sports Tech to your interest.
Step 2: Book Your Strategy Call
This call will help us understand your goals, stage, and where structured AD insight & connections would be most valuable. What you’ll get from K12: Membership offerings & pricing, Recommended plan to hit your objectives.
Step 3: Engage With the Think Tank
Launch your membership and tailored growth plan with K12 and the AD Think Tank – one that aligns with your objectives.
You choose your level of involvement.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What are K12 Vendor Services?
K12 Vendor Services provide structured access to Athletic Directors through research, consulting engagements, pilot programs, and facilitated conversations inside the AD Think Tank.
These services are designed to help sports tech companies better align their product, pricing, onboarding, and messaging with real school sports operations.
What's the difference between the Vendor Directory and Vendor Services?
The Vendor Directory provides visibility on our AD-facing platform and signals alignment with school sports leaders.
Vendor Services go deeper.
They include offerings such as:
- Market Insights Surveys
- Vendor Impact Surveys
- 1:1 AD Engagement Interviews
- Pilot Programs
- Customer Success Support
How do vendors gain access to Athletic Directors?
Access happens through the AD Think Tank.
Vendors engage Athletic Directors through:
- Facilitated roundtables
- Structured surveys
- Paid consulting engagements
- Guided interviews
- Pilot programs
These conversations are organized and moderated to ensure feedback is clear, actionable, and grounded in day-to-day AD work.
Do Athletic Directors get paid for participating?
Yes. Many AD Think Tank members are compensated for their time and expertise through consulting projects with sports tech companies. These engagements recognize the value of your experience and ensure your feedback directly influences product development.
Is this primarily a lead generation platform?
No. While our vendor members gain visibility and may build relationships through participation, their primary focus is improving alignment, adoption and long-term product fit, not transactional lead flow.
What types of companies benefit most from Vendor Services?
K12’s Vendor Services support companies at multiple stages:
- Early-stage vendors seeking product-market fit validation
- Growth-stage vendors refining onboarding, pricing, or renewals
- Established vendors looking to strengthen retention and customer experience
The services are structure to meet vendors where they are on their business journey.
What does participation require from our team?
Engagement is flexible. Some vendors participate only in the Directory.
Others engage in research interviews or pilot programs.
Your level of involvement depends on your goals and capacity.
How are vendors selected for the directory?
Companies like yours apply to join the K12 Vendor Directory. Applications are reviewed for alignment with school sports operational needs and a demonstrated commitment to serving Athletic Directors effectively.
Not every vendor who applies is approved.
How is feedback structured so it's actually useful?
Feedback is facilitated and aggregated through the AD Think Tank. Instead of isolated conversations with individual schools, vendors receive patterned insight across multiple contexts, making the signal stronger and more actionable.
Do Vendor Services guarantee contracts or adoption?
No. K12’s Vendor Services are designed to improve alignment and reduce friction, but purchasing decisions remain with individual schools and districts.
What happens if vendors don't seek structured AD Input?
Products risk drifting from daily operational reality.
Adoption slows.
Renewals become unpredictable.
Support demands increase.
Our Vendor Services exist to prevent that misalignment before it compounds.
Build, validate, and scale your school sports solution with help from forward-thinking Athletic Directors.
Not ready to join yet? Download our Vendor Whitepaper