The right partnership can transform everything, but only when both sides truly get what you’re trying to build. This is the story of how Teckollab and A New Icon joined forces to transform an inspiring MVP into a scalable, commercial platform that’s reshaping sports sponsorship, while staying true to the values that made it special in the first place.
The Project: A Next Generation Sports Sponsorship Platform
A New Icon is a sports sponsorship platform that enables brands of all sizes to discover and collaborate with a truly diverse range of athletes worldwide. This includes elite professionals, grassroots competitors, para-athletes, teams and emerging talents. Whether a brand is looking for micro-influencers with dedicated niche followings or mega-influencers with massive reach, the platform spans every level of athletic influence.
The variety is equally impressive across sports, from e-sports champions and traditional sports stars to adventure athletes pushing boundaries in extreme conditions.
What sets A New Icon apart is its focus on story-driven sponsorship. The platform features AI-driven capabilities and intelligent matching that connects brands with athletes based not just on statistics, but on shared values, authentic narratives, and meaningful alignment.
Want to know more about A New Icon? Email hello@anewicon.com or register your interest at: https://anewicon.com/contact
Meet the Visionary: A New Icon
Founded by Linzi (she/her), A New Icon emerged from a clear mission to create equitable, value-driven sponsorship opportunities between athletes and brands. Drawing from her sports sponsorship experience and commitment to fair representation, Linzi had already built an MVP with hundreds of athletes onboard.
The platform was working, but Linzi knew it could do so much more. She wanted to simplify manual processes, add AI capabilities, explore new avenues and scale the platform’s reach. That’s when she discovered Teckollab’s work, said hello, and our initial conversations began.
The alignment was immediate. Our values matched, our vision for the platform’s potential aligned, and we both understood that this was the moment to join forces and elevate A New Icon. With the platform still in its relatively early launch stage, we had the opportunity to redesign the fundamentals, laying a robust foundation that would support exciting new features down the line.
It was time to hit the drawing room and begin the transformation.
Understanding What Needed to Change
Before writing a single line of code, we needed to understand what was working and what wasn’t. We dug into feedback from existing users, tested the platform from every angle, and identified the key barriers preventing A New Icon from reaching its full potential.
The research revealed some clear patterns: sponsors loved the concept but needed clearer value propositions, athletes wanted better ways to showcase their stories beyond stats, and the platform needed smarter ways to connect the right partnerships.
The Key Challenges We Tackled
With a well-thought-out MVP in place, the next phase needed to address three critical areas:
Making sponsors fall in love with the platform. Brands needed more guidance and clearer ways to express their values and find athletes who genuinely aligned with their mission, not just their budget. This meant going beyond basic demographics to focus on shared causes, values, and authentic storytelling.
Helping athletes share their real stories. Linzi was adamant (and we agreed) that long-lasting partnerships are built on shared values, personal stories, motivations, and goals rather than just stats and metrics. Athletes needed tools to communicate these deeper elements that would resonate with like-minded brands.
Building intelligence into the matching process. The platform needed smart, data-driven capabilities to suggest meaningful partnerships, plus analytics that would help brands measure social impact for their annual reports.
We also needed to ensure the tech foundation could scale without compromising the mission that made A New Icon special.
A True Partnership Approach
We realised that the key here was total immersion in A New Icon‘s world, understanding not just what needed to be built, but why it mattered to the athletes and brands who would use it.
Teckollab evolved from service provider to co-creation partner, working directly alongside ANewIcon’s ecosystem of athletes, brands, and compliance specialists while also helping them navigate Innovate UK and Creative Catalyst funding opportunities. So much learning and exciting conversations!
Building on Strong Foundations
This transformation wasn’t about throwing away everything already existing and building a totally new product. We wanted to keep what worked, but rather amplify what made A New Icon special while addressing the gaps holding it back from commercial success.
We kept the heart of the platform intact: the original core application process that users loved, all existing user data and relationships, and most importantly, the purpose-led foundation that set A New Icon apart from typical marketplace platforms.
But we reimagined almost everything else. We implemented a modern, startup-friendly tech stack that could develop quickly and hire larger team easily. The product flow, design, and user experience were redesigned from the ground up, informed by our research and user feedback.
Perhaps most crucially, we restructured the data architecture entirely. This wasn’t just about fixing current problems, but about unlocking massive future potential for the platform to explore new capabilities and grow in directions we couldn’t even imagine yet.
We also created tools that would help athletes tell their authentic stories rather than just listing achievements, to facilitate value-based matching. The infrastructure we created could scale dramatically without compromising the ethical standards that made the platform meaningful.
Real Results, Lasting Impact
The transformation delivered exactly what we’d hoped for, and then some. Sponsor-side clarity improved dramatically, leading to better conversion rates and more meaningful partnerships. The feedback from brands discovering the platform’s new capabilities has been overwhelmingly positive, with many commenting on how intuitive and purposeful the experience feels.
But the real success lies in what we built for the future. The robust foundation we created is ready to support the AI-driven matching capabilities and advanced analytics that will truly set A New Icon apart in the market. The scalable architecture means the platform can grow alongside Linzi’s ambitious vision without requiring complete rebuilds.
Most importantly, we proved that you can transform an MVP into a commercial-grade platform while staying true to the values that made it special in the first place. When done thoughtfully, purpose and profit can actually amplify each other.
Client Testimonial
“I have kissed many frogs while finding the right tech partner for growth and long-term vision. Teckollab got in the trenches with me, fully immersing themselves in the problem. This meant we got exactly what we needed and accelerated our growth plans way beyond our expectations.”
— Linzi, Founder of A New Icon
What’s Next for A New Icon
The platform’s roadmap includes AI-powered athlete-brand matching, advanced analytics, fans area, and international expansion. All ready-to-be built on the solid foundation we created together.
What We Learned
Building A New Icon taught us something important: the best platforms aren’t just technically excellent, but are built on genuine understanding of the problem they’re solving. When you take time to really understand a founder’s vision and the community they’re serving, you don’t just build better software. You build something that actually matters.
The sports sponsorship world needed what A New Icon offers, and having the right partner meant Linzi could focus on what she does best while we handled the complexities of scaling her vision.
For founders ready to scale, remember that the right technical foundation doesn’t just solve today’s problems but unlocks possibilities you haven’t imagined yet. When purpose and profit align with the right partnership, magic happens.
If you’re a founder with an MVP that’s ready to grow, or an idea that needs the right technical foundation, we’d love to hear your story.
By Team Teckollab
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