Habs’ Muller to start coaching tech startups
Former Montreal Canadiens player Kirk Muller will be mentoring tech startups as part of a partnership between a Montreal-based artificial intelligence company and a German startup accelerator.
The agreement sees Montreal’s Stradigi AI help Berlin-based leAD, which works with sports-related startups, vet applicants that say they are using artificial intelligence. Stradigi AI will also help startups in the program develop AI products.
Muller, who is currently an associate coach with the Canadiens, will provide mentorship to startups in the program based on his experience as a professional athlete and coach.
Muller, a friend of Stradigi AI CEO Basil Bouraropoulos, said he got involved because he’s interested in how AI can be applied in sports.
“Anything that you can do to try to get an edge, we’re always looking,” he said.
Technology has changed the way players are coached, he said.
“As each generation goes by, the way you’ve got to teach them and coach them is so different,” Muller said. “The players today want more information, they want more data, they ask more questions, and you have to provide that.”
Bouraropoulos said Muller has already helped one startup Stradigi is working with tailor its product to professional coaches.
“They didn’t take things into consideration that a National Hockey League coach would know. This is where a mentorship from a guy like Kirk is huge,” he said.
LEAD runs a three-month program for technology startups that are working in sports. The second group of startups to go through the program are scheduled to start later this month. Many of the companies that went through the program’s first class were developing products intended to gather data about an athlete’s performance to help them improve.
“AI is going to be relevant for everyone that we have in the program and we wanted to have the competence to fulfil that need that they have,” said Horst Bente, the director and co-founder of the program.
Bente, the grandson of Adidas founder Adi Dassler, said the program received more than 600 applications from more than 25 countries for the upcoming class with applicants working in a wide range of sports-related areas.
AI companies that go through the program will be encouraged to come to Montreal to work with Stradigi AI after the three months in Berlin, Bouraropoulos said.