The Nine98 - First Edition.

We’re continuing this newsletter to show what building a football app in public looks like. In return for a few minutes of time each week, we’ll give you our best stories & insights from the world of football + tech + startup. Done right, this will bring us closer to our goal of making Nine98 the world’s largest amateur football community, with 'The Nine98' at its core. We’re targeting an MVP release in early Q4 2024 but there’s plenty of value on the table right now. So why wait? You can expect a mix of product updates; storytelling; interviews and content from top players and industry leaders; and rewards because we can. As we’ve learned from web3, it doesn’t really mean fuck all if we don’t bring our people with us.

What's New at Nine98 This Week

Development Updates:

• App Development: Our App has been in development for the past 6 weeks & we’re ALMOST ready to show you some previews… But not just yet—this is only the first edition, after all.

• Design Insights: Okay, although there aren’t any development updates - we can certainly start to tease some UI/UX visual previews…
  
  Why not tease what early access user profiles will look like?
  For those of you who are of course, on our waitlist… FOUNDERS CLUB.

  

• Social Media Highlights: We’ve uploaded across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube & X (Twitter) several times this week and are really starting to gain traction. We can’t wait to continue making content for you all across socials & want to highlight asking what YOU want to see next.

Community Spotlight

Highlighting Our Community:

• Nine98 Officially Sponsor 2 Brockenhurst FC players!
  Welcome to the team Josh Taylor & Ben Hall!

• We’ve attended two games: starting with a 2-1 victory (with two class goals from our main man Ben Hall, btw) and then an unfortunate 1-0 defeat to rivals Bemerton in the FA Cup replay game. After a 90th(+5) minute free kick finds the bottom corner, our Badgers unfortunately exit the cup. You can catch the content from the FA Cup game here.
  

• We tried a thing!
  In order to get you all hyped, we gave away a signed Cristian Pulisic jersey in partner with @pulisicfc22 on Instagram. All you had to do was join our waitlist (https://nine98.io) as you should all know by now… And guess the correct score for extra bonus entries to their friendly vs Barcalona on Tuesday night!
  
  well… WE HAVE A WINNER! Congratulations to @iaespada on winning a SIGNED Christian Pulisic jersey, we’ve reach out to you on IG :)

  

Future Insight

Looking Ahead:

At Nine98, we're building more than an app—we're creating a hub for the 99.8% of footballers who love the game but don't play professionally. Our core features include game logging and performance tracking, allowing players to document their journey and improve. Additionally, our digital jersey swaps foster connections and celebrate the sport. As we look forward, we’re excited about integrating advanced analytics, AI-driven insights, and wearable tech to elevate the player experience even further.

Game Logging & Performance Tracking: Our primary feature enables players to log their games, track their performance, and gain valuable insights. Whether it’s the number of goals scored, assists made, or overall fitness levels, Nine98 will offer a comprehensive platform for players to track every aspect of their game. We believe that every match matters, and our performance tracking is designed to reflect that—allowing players to monitor their growth, identify areas for improvement, and set personal milestones.

Jersey Swaps: In addition to performance tracking, we’re introducing the unique concept of digital jersey swaps. But more on this next time…

The Set Piece
Something about football (soccer), meant to be enjoyed by anybody, written weekly by co-founder Andrew Wang.

Coming Next Week!

The 99th Minute

TL;DR:

• Quick Recap:
  
  1. First newsletter! Welcome—whether you’re joining us from our W3FC days or are new through the waitlist.
  2. We’ve posted a LOT recently, keep an eye on socials for more!
  3. Pulisic signed jersey - going, going, GONE.
  5. App Updates? You got em - sneak peak provided.
  6. Community Updates - Brock Nine98 sponsored players scoring for fun, as expected.
  7. A look into what we’re building, with plenty more to come.
  

• Ready for the next steps?
  
  If you haven’t yet, make sure you sign up to the waitlist at;
  https://www.nine98.io and remember - refer friends with the unique invite code to climb further up the early access leaderboards.
  
  And of course, make sure to follow us across all socials.
  

On that note, thanks for reading & see you next week!