Redefining athlete evaluation by measuring the cognitive, behavioral, and competitive traits that physical testing cannot reveal.
Billions spent yearly on tools that haven't changed since the 1950s. The result: a bust rate unacceptable in any other industry.
40-yard dash, bench press, shuttle run. None predicts who will learn a playbook under pressure or adapt when the game plan breaks.
A 50-question test from 1936. Ryan Fitzpatrick scored 48. Dan Marino scored 16. It measures reading speed, not competitive instinct.
Athletes train with media coaches for months. A 15-minute interview reveals nothing about how someone processes real adversity.
"We spend more on evaluating a single draft pick than most startups raise in seed funding — and still get it wrong 40% of the time."
The Pericles Protocol is a structured, in-person evaluation system that places athletes in unfamiliar, high-pressure environments to reveal their true cognitive and behavioral profile.
No preparation. No way to game it. Four hours of observed behavior across six domains produces a comprehensive 47-metric report mapping directly to professional success predictors.
This is not a personality test. It's real behavioral data collected in real situations with real consequences.
SAMPLE PROSPECT PROFILE OUTPUT
Chess, board games, scenario puzzles. Pattern recognition, forward thinking, strategic planning under constraint.
Golf, bowling, darts. Speed of learning unfamiliar physical skills. Self-correction vs. repetition of errors.
Head-to-head games against evaluators. Response to losing, emotional calibration, tilt-resistance.
Group activities, unstructured interactions. Leadership signals, room-reading ability, team dynamics.
Timed challenges, public performance, escalating difficulty. Decision quality under observation and stakes.
Instruction-heavy tasks with deliberate feedback. Receptivity, incorporation speed, improvement rate.
Unlike DISC, Myers-Briggs, or S2 Cognition, we don't ask athletes what they would do. We observe what they actually do when the environment is uncomfortable, the task is unfamiliar, and the stakes are real.
Our methodology integrates cognitive psychology, game theory, and behavioral economics into a standardized, repeatable evaluation rubric.
"You can't fake how you react to losing at chess to someone you've never met, in a room full of evaluators, while a clock is running."
Observed in controlled but unfamiliar environments. No self-reporting, no multiple choice, no way to prepare.
Every evaluator uses the same rubric. Reports are directly comparable across cohorts and sessions.
Each metric maps to professional success indicators: career longevity, team chemistry, coaching fit, off-field risk.
92 teams spend $5-15M annually on scouting. A cognitive dimension offsets $20-50M+ draft bust risk.
350+ D1 programs, growing NIL ecosystem, intensifying recruiting competition demanding differentiated tools.
700+ NFLPA-certified agents. Cognitive data creates competitive advantage in placement and negotiation.
European football academies, Olympic programs, military selection, corporate leadership. Sport-agnostic methodology.
Launching with high school student-athletes in Phoenix metro — the ideal test lab. Highest volume, lowest cost-per-evaluation, longest career runway for longitudinal tracking.
The pilot creates early revenue while building the dataset that proves the model before a single dollar of pro evaluation revenue is at stake.
$250-500/athlete. Full behavioral profile + development recommendations.
$3K-8K/team. Roster evaluation, chemistry mapping, coaching recommendations.
$15K-30K/year. Quarterly assessments + development tracking for elite programs.
8-12 school programs. 200+ evaluations. Refine rubric. Build dataset. Target: $50K-100K revenue.
Approach D1 programs with pilot data. Pre-recruit evaluation packages. Target: 3-5 partnerships, $150K-250K revenue.
2-3 front office pilots at $50K-200K per draft cycle. Publish anonymized research for industry credibility.
Multi-city centers. Annual pro contracts. Agent advisory. Protocol licensing. International expansion.
HS assessments + team packages. 200+ athletes. Phoenix metro. 2-3 person operation.
Add college contracts. First pro pilot. 500+ athletes. 2nd market. 5-8 person team.
Multiple pro contracts. Agent tier. 1,500+ athletes. 3+ markets. Approaching profitability.
No proprietary equipment needed. Off-the-shelf games, facilities, trained evaluators. Capital goes to people, not infrastructure.
Standardized methodology means each new market requires evaluator training, not R&D. 70%+ gross margins at scale.
Decades of combined experience in competitive strategy, athletic performance, behavioral assessment, and business operations.
Lifelong multi-sport athletes who have spent years observing the gap between physical measurables and actual competitive success. Built from direct experience watching talented athletes fail and "lesser" athletes succeed.
Advisory network includes former professional scouts, sports psychologists, and collegiate coaching staff.
Deep understanding of what separates winners from losers. Years studying multi-sport development and cognitive trait transfer.
Methodology from cognitive psychology and behavioral economics, adapted for athletic evaluation contexts.
Experience systematizing human-judgment-intensive processes without losing quality.
We're raising a seed round to fund the Phoenix pilot, hire evaluators, and build the dataset that proves the Protocol predicts what the Combine cannot.
Evaluator hiring & training
Pilot operations & venues
Data & methodology
Marketing & partnerships
phxburch@gmail.com