Two of Kade Wilson’s biggest passions are sports and space. As an aerospace engineering student with the College of Engineering at Iowa State University, he pursues one in the classroom. As founder of NextUp—a skill-based matchmaking app that connects pickup basketball players—he pursues the other through entrepreneurship.
Kade grew up in Papillion, Nebraska, just south of Omaha, where he was surrounded by sports. He played organized basketball until middle school and dreamed of continuing to play in high school. After not making the team, he found himself searching for another avenue to continue competing with others.
Kade tried to fill the void in his life with other types of basketball, trying out pickup basketball at rec centers and parks, but nothing ever felt the same.
“I still missed the feeling that organized basketball gave me, and I wanted to recreate that for others and make it so that everybody could do it,” he said.
He got into entrepreneurship through the Entrepreneurship Club at Iowa State, which is run by students and meets weekly in the Student Innovation Center. Students from the club and former CYstarters Bolu Ojo, Madison Green, Andrew Walton, and Alana Corwin, all encouraged him to sign up.
His favorite part of entrepreneurship is the opportunity to create something from scratch.
“I feel like I’m a creative person and being able to express that in different ways is awesome,” he said.
When he started to dream about creating an app, he was inspired by other apps that were popular at the time. He and his friend talked about building an app similar to Pokémon Go. “We were like ‘What if there was Pokémon Go for finding basketball games?’ and that’s how it started,” Kade said.
Looking back at his entrepreneurial journey thus far, Kade is most proud of teaching himself software development. While his engineering classes introduced him to Python and MATLAB, building an app requires him to learn an entirely different set of skills.
“It’s been something I’ve had to learn completely by myself, which has been fun, and also very difficult,” he said.
As he continues to develop NextUp, he’s constantly troubleshooting unexpected problems and leaning on his fellow CYstarters cohort for advice.
“There are a lot of things that have come out of the blue that I was not expecting, so being able to lean on fellow cohort members has been super helpful,” he said.
Rather than simply helping people find a game, NextUp focuses on matching players by skill level to create more competitive and enjoyable experiences. Kade recognizes that people can find basketball games and participate in playing in a variety of ways, but NextUp offers a way to achieve both meaningful connection and competition with others.
His parents have been cheering for him throughout the whole process. “They’re super supportive of me, and they’re my biggest cheerleaders,” he said.
Through 11 weeks of education sessions, CYstarters is able to cover a wide variety of topics each summer. One of the biggest lessons Kade has learned is customer discovery.
“Going into it, you think you’re the ideal customer, and this is what you would want,” he said. “But often you find that other people might not want that, they will want something different.”
As Kade completed his customer discovery interviews, he said the conversations have helped shape the future of the app.
So far, he’s created his initial minimal viable product (MVP), a milestone that has required coding, research, planning, and time. He says it’s been exciting to see his idea take physical shape on his phone.
Time blocking plays a big role in how he manages his schedule. “School is the number one priority, but I also make sure to give some love to my business,” he said.
Because of CYstarters, Kade has been able to connect with new people and new ideas.
“The connections have been huge. There are so many things I haven’t thought to even consider that people have brought to me, and they’re always the first people to offer help in that area,” he said.
He really enjoyed spending time with the cohort as well. “It’s been so nice to get to know them, and I feel like we are all becoming really good friends.”
NextUp plans to launch this fall, with Kade hoping to see Iowa State students using the app throughout the semester and building a stronger pickup basketball community on campus. “I think it’d be so cool to see students using my app, connecting with each other, and to see the community grow on campus,” he said.
His advice to other students is to not let setbacks define you.
“There’s going to be things that knock you down, but you got to get up stronger and keep growing your business,” he said. “It really is a possibility to start something from nothing.”
Follow Kade and NextUp on Instagram @thenextup_app.
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Check out our video interview with Kade Wilson below!
