Insight
Borden says developers cannot vibe code deep vertical domain software
“You can put together a prototype, like and you can vibe code your way to kind of a, you know, a simple scheduling app but you can't vibe code your way to something that has kind of deep value to a domain.”
Insight
Founders should choose white-box buildouts over prime locations to launch faster
“You would prefer a slightly lesser location that if you can get kind of that white box that doesn't have a lot of structural work and you can put less money into it and get open faster than getting that kind of prime location if you have to do a bunch of work …”
Insight
Venue tech requires vertical integration of hardware and software
“Part of the secret here is like, can you get rid of the friction? And in order to get rid of that friction, you need to do the club management sort of reservation management and the video capture. So hardware and software. So most of the rest of the market, yo…”
Disclosure
Borden: Podplay approaches $3M contracted ARR across over 200 locations
“We are kind of approaching three million in, in contracted ARR. We have a little over 200 locations signed up on the platform.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Borden: PingPod's first location achieved 60% to 70% 24-hour utilization in 2020
“Yeah, I mean, just from a utilization, we had a single location, but it was, utilization was, I think, running between 60 and 70% on a 24 hour basis. So, if you have a low fixed cost business, that unit was very, very, very, very profitable.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Borden: 90% of Podplay tech team worked on Equinox or Nike apps
“About 90% of our tech team has ties to those two, two projects. So our hiring strategy has been to kind of go pick off all the best engineers, product managers, and designers that Ilya worked with in, in the past and kind of reassembled them as a dream team.”
Disclosure
Borden: Podplay manages over 2,000 sports courts across its venues
“Average is, is trending up closer to 10 per, per location, and so I think we're over 2000 quarts now.”
Disclosure
Borden: Podplay grew contracted ARR between 100% and 200% year-over-year
“Triple digits. So, you know, we'll put it, peg it between a 102 hundred. Yes, more than a hundred percent. Less than 200%.”
Disclosure
Podplay spun out and raised an $8M Series A in 2025
“We spun out pod play as a standalone entity in August of this year, which was a prelude to raising a series A for standalone pod play which we did in October. So eight million dollars series A round led by frontier growth.”
Disclosure
Borden was the first outside investor in PingPod in 2019
“It was founded in 2019 by Max David Silverman and Ernesto Ebwin. I was the first outside investor in that business.”
