NTangible says its assessment can predict athletes’ performance under pressure

NTangible is developing an analytics platform for sports organizations that aims to measure how athletes perform under pressure. Co-founder and CEO Dan Connerty, a former professional baseball player, says the company’s Clutch Factor assessment can predict an athlete’s likelihood of performing well in high-pressure situations.

Developed with psychologist Dr. Ed Levine, the assessment draws inspiration from the Thematic Apperception Test. Athletes describe ambiguous scenes, and their word choices and phrasing are scored using a guide created by psychologists. The resulting score ranges from 0 to 1000. Connerty says athletes scoring above 750 are twice as likely to commit to a Division I school.

TechCrunch writer Amanda Silberling reported that she scored 584 when answering honestly and 802 when responding as she imagined a composed top recruit would. The article notes that athletes could answer strategically to impress recruiters, raising questions about how reliably the test measures performance under pressure.

Connerty says clutch performance can be trained, though NTangible is not positioning itself as a training platform. The company supports assessments for nine sports and is also exploring corporate uses. Its NTerpret assessment asks how people respond to coaching and feedback, with the aim of giving managers information about how employees process instructions and act on information.

NTangible appears to be pursuing sales to sports organizations and companies. The company was among the top 20 contenders for the Startup Battlefield grand prize at TechCrunch Disrupt, where it planned to discuss its strategy.