It sounds deceptively simple: an app that lets you book a hockey rink, basketball court, soccer pitch and other sports facilities near where you live. But CatchCorner by Sports Illustrated took years to develop – and it was the first app of its kind at a time when the practice of booking facilities could often be bewildering.
“You had to phone, and nobody would answer, or they would say they’d get back to you and never would,” recalls Jonathan Azouri, BCom’17. That’s how he and his sister Maya Azouri, BCom’17, came up with the idea for their business soon after graduating from McGill’s Desautels Faculty of Management.
Today, their app has partnerships with more than 2,000 facilities in 18 cities across North America and more than 150,000 monthly users. The Azouris were named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for sports in 2023 in recognition of CatchCorner’s success.
We caught up with the siblings to understand how they built a thriving app so soon after graduating from McGill.
What was your relationship to sports when you were younger?
Jonathan: Sports has always been something that I’ve connected with my friends through. Whenever we had a day off school, we used to always try to find places to play. That was really our main social activity. My friend group was mainly into hockey, but also basketball.
Maya: I played hockey, I played basketball. I was never really any good at any of the sports! I wasn’t passionate about it in the way that Jonathan was. I liked to do the same things he was doing. And then as I grew, I took more to fitness than sports.
You were both living in Toronto when it was time for university. Why did you decide to study at McGill, Jonathan?
Jonathan: I have strong roots in Montreal. I was born there. I have a lot of family there. What really drew me was the city, the academics, the international presence. I really thought it was cool to go to school with people from all over the world. You get such a diverse group of people all in one establishment.
“One of the challenges on a personal note was getting over the fear of cold calling and [remembering], there is something of value that I am offering them. It’s just about finding the right words or the right person to talk to.”
Maya Azouri, co-founder of CatchCorner by Sports Illustrated
Maya, why did you choose the same area of study and the same university as your brother?
Maya: My interests naturally gravitated towards [management]. But it was definitely a positive to know that my brother was there, a year ahead of me, and was really enjoying it.
Jonathan, while you were studying at McGill, you started TasteMontreal, a social media food platform. Can you tell us about that?
Jonathan: Food on social media was just starting up. There was [food-related social media] for New York, but Montreal has such a great food scene. When I was studying there, I really got to enjoy a lot of it. So, I thought, why don’t I just showcase all the best spots? It didn’t start out as a business, just out of pure passion. Before I knew it, there were people sitting next to me at the library, and I would glance at their phones, and they were viewing my posts. That’s when I realized this was really catching on.
What gave you the idea for CatchCorner?
Maya: As [our time at] McGill was coming to an end, we both felt that if we didn’t go out and organize [a sports activity], it didn’t get organized for us. When you’re younger and you’re in all these house leagues, it’s almost part of your schedule. There were other platforms that worked so well in other industries, like OpenTable for restaurants or Expedia for hotels. We both were chatting about this not really existing in the sports facility world.
What was the most challenging part of growing the business?
Maya: Initially, both Jonathan and I were doing cold calls to facilities. We didn’t have a sales or partnerships team. We didn’t have an exact direction or formula for how to launch in a new city. One of the challenges on a personal note was getting over the fear of cold calling and [remembering], there is something of value that I am offering them. It’s just about finding the right words or the right person to talk to. And also, not taking [rejection] too personally.
How did you end up partnering with Sports Illustrated?
Jonathan: It was through a mutual contact. We got introduced and we pitched them. It was actually during the Covid time period, so there were certain meetings happening that maybe people in the past wouldn’t have had time for. Sports Illustrated was going in a direction where digital was really important to them. Aligning the play aspect of sport with the Sports Illustrated brand was a natural fit.
What’s it like running a business with your sibling?
Maya: When the business started was when we had the hardest time finding the balance of when are we siblings and when are we business partners. That was really a learning curve.
We grew up in the same household, but we’re very different individuals. A lot of the long-term planning and data [analysis] is very Jonathan. I like to be on the front side of business, meeting with facilities, meeting with partners. Finding our specific roles has helped a lot.
Can you give some examples of how you have used your own app?
Jonathan: Now I’m a dad, and my son skates. Recently, it was a family day, and he had an instructor who wanted to teach a group of kids. Because it was a holiday, their program was off. So, we booked a smaller ice rink, and he and his friends and the instructor had a whole hour session.
Maya: I moved to New York City for a couple of years. All of a sudden, I was in a place where I didn’t have my local facilities. CatchCorner allowed me to map out facilities I didn’t know about. I use it all the time, mainly to play tennis in a casual way.
Any advice for current students who want to start their own businesses?
Jonathan: Failure is very normal. It happens to me still, like, five times a day. But what do you take from it? How do you improve on it? How do you move forward? Embrace it. Don’t be scared of it.
Maya: Be very patient. Everything needs to be built from the ground up. And never ask people who work at your company to do something you haven’t done yourself. Every system that’s been put in place in the company is something that we’ve actually built out ourselves.
