Using my experience to fix online branding for soccer athletes

TL;DR I'm starting a new project which lets soccer athletes create their own website without knowing how to code.

Born in Burkina Faso, I discovered soccer at the age of 7. It wasn’t until I moved to Mozambique at the age of 12 that I fell in love with the sport and started to develop my skills.

However, opportunities to be scouted and become a professional player were limited in Mozambique. With limited resources, it seemed that my dream of becoming a pro soccer player was out of reach.

In 2010, at the age of 17, I moved to Canada to pursue my education in software engineering with a minor in entrepreneurship. I threw myself into my studies, but also made time to play soccer in local leagues and tournaments, always with one eye on the professional game.

In 2012, I had my first internship. It was tough to land it because I did not know how to sell my personal brand. Fortunately, the University of Ottawa’s COOP program helped me figure out how to tweak my resumé to impress employers.

I took this experience and applied to almost 100 jobs, resulting in daily interviews. I learned how to stand out from other intern candidates and ended up being ranked #1 by all employers that interviewed me during my last round of interviews.

This experience not only helped me land internships at top companies in Canada but also opened doors that I never thought were available to me. I try my best to always keep my LinkedIn profile polished as a result of this experience.

In 2016, I had the opportunity to join a semi-professional club called FC Gatineau. It was an amazing experience because I finally got to experience what it is like to play for a club. The seriousness, the competitiveness, the infrastructure, the trips, and the trainings were thrilling to experience.

On the downside, I found it hard to juggle it with my full-time software engineering job, as the two activities interfered with each other. The recovery between games was especially very difficult. Unfortunately, playing semi-pro did not sustain me financially either, so I made the difficult choice to hang up my boots.

My first goal was mentioned on ledroit.com 🤯

In 2017, I took a break from semi-professional soccer to focus on my career in the tech industry.

However, I still enjoyed played amateur soccer and noticed a problem: teammates would often bail on the games at the last minute, leaving teams shorthanded.

With more free time on my hands, I decided to tackle this problem by using my skills as a software engineer. That's when I built an app called FreeFooty.

The idea was to make it appealing for people to find places to play soccer for free, while solving the problem of last minute substitution. The app notified users nearby whenever someone needed a last minute substitute.

In 2019, I joined Shopify and learned about empowering merchants with easy-to-use tools to build online stores without any technical knowledge. This experience got me thinking about other ways I could use technology to benefit the soccer community.

I even got the chance to be featured on their LinkedIn page 🙏🏿

In 2020, I had the opportunity to do some software technical advising for a sport management group called OPSM.

They give aspiring professional soccer players guidance to progress in their careers. Their services include physical, technical, tactical, and mental strength training. They also connect players with professional soccer opportunities around the world.

I built a software tool for them to help manage their clients.

In 2022, I obtained the Canadian citizenship and continued empowering non-technical people by shipping my first side project that made revenue. It’s a platform called ilufy.io. It lets customers create augmented reality experiences without knowing how to code.

I learned a lot about how to run a business as an independent developer. It especially taught me the importance of distribution channels and building for solopreneurs.

At the end of the year, I joined another e-commerce industry company called Square.

It is now January 2023 and things are coming full circle. I noticed a gap in the market for apps that allow soccer players to easily create and manage their own branded websites without needing to know how to code.

This will help them connect with coaches and teams around the world, and stand out among the competition.

Looking for "soccer website builder" on the Apple App Store shows no results. 😢

I believe my experiences navigating the world of soccer, building software and promoting my personal brand make me ready for the job.

I'm more than ever motivated to build a user-friendly platform that will empower soccer players to take control of their online presence and build their personal brand.