Sean Callanan chats with Zack Klima from WaitTime on how his business grew from the idea to miss hockey action to roll out in stadiums around the world. Learn how the Wait Time business grew and the important steps to ensure they could keep up with demand while growing.
On this podcast you'll learn about:
- The WaitTime origin story
- What technologies they are using to determine crowd movements
- How the digital signage in stadiums help improve fan experience
- How WaitTime opens possibilities for sponsorship and activation
- Plans for expansion in other markets
Listen to Zack Klima on Sports Geek
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Zack Klima on building WaitTime
The light bulb moment for me was I was in line at a Red Wings game when a game winning goal happened. And so I was pretty mad about it ‘coz I had spent all the money I had at that time to buy a playoff ticket. And so I said, the cliche, there must be a better way. And so my original idea was where could you put wait times in the hands of all fans of that after event on a mobile device. So that was my original idea was at your seat, can you know what the wait times are in real time.
Zack Klima, WaitTime
About Zack Klima
Zachary Klima is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of WaitTime.
Prior to WaitTime, Zach was in the field of architecture, design and sales engineering. In 2013, he conceptualised WaitTime a technology that aims to reduce wait times and created better fan experiences in stadiums. That same year, Zack met Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to which he pitch the idea of WaitTime to. This led to WaitTime to be included in Gilbert's business accelerator called Bizdom.
At present, Zack leads the company's global implementation strategy. He oversees the commercial partnerships with leading national and multinational organisations and ensures the sophistication and seamless design of WaitTime.
Resources from the podcast
- Connect with Zack Klima on Twitter @ZackKlima, Instagram and LinkedIn
- Learn more about WaitTime on Twitter @thewaittimes, Facebook and LinkedIn
- Some related articles about WaitTime you might want to read:
- Some Sports Geek episodes you might be interested in:
- Startup Series – Luke McCoy – Live Graphic Systems
- Anna Hu from Brizi on re-inventing group memories
- Matthew Pavlich from AFL to startup world
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Highlights from podcast with Zack Klima
4:58 Zack Klima shares the origin story of WaitTime
8:09 How WaitTime initially looked like
9:54 Using crowd science behaviour to identify line movement
11:22 How WaitTime’s digital signages help improve fan experience
14:10 What does the WaitTime control room looks like
18:33 How using their data helps prevent food spoilage in stadiums
20:10 The key lessons they’ve learned in the business and how WaitTime has evolved
22:13 Who are their primary customers
22:37 How WaitTime contributes to sponsorships and activations
25:16 What their business model looks like and their plans for expansion on other markets
29:32 Sports Geek Closing Five
37:26 Need help with your digital upfronts? Learn how the Digital to Dollars process can help
41:33 Want to know Sean’s thoughts on your campaigns or any topic you’re working on? Book in a Pick my Brain session – a two hour consult via GoToMeeting.
End – Sounds of the Game from an Aussie esports club at a recent Sydney event
How WaitTime works
Some tweets you may have missed:
Cool to see how WaitTime became part of the NBA history
Our @TheWaitTimes signs live at @AAarena for @DwyaneWade’s last home game with the @MiamiHEAT! What an awesome design catered for this special night…. #Innovation #FanExperience #nowaiting #Digitalsigns pic.twitter.com/ElwmFAhJnB
— WaitTime (@TheWaitTimes) April 10, 2019
Really nice queue algorithm
How does @TheWaitTimes work? Our patented, first in the #World #ArtificialIntelligence, works at a rate of 10 times per second to read #crowds and interpret #humanbehavior in real-time! #operations #software #imaging #AI pic.twitter.com/n9ItisGX1f
— WaitTime (@TheWaitTimes) March 22, 2019
Nice and neat mobile design
Here’s one of our many @TheWaitTimes signs at @KeyBankCtr with the @BuffaloSabres! Pretty awesome design for the #FrozenFour…
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•#DigitalTransformation #Sabres #NHL #FrozenFour #waittimes pic.twitter.com/b1g9E9jKG3— WaitTime (@TheWaitTimes) April 12, 2019