Dario Ferretti CEO and Co-Founder Pick-Roll

1) Hi Dario, you are a basketball fan, when did you fall in love with basketball?

Hello Chiara! It all began at the age of 8. The football club where I played, closed that year. Many friends signed up with other teams far from where I lived and therefore I decided to not go on. That year someone put up a basket in the garden school and nobody used it. One day I tried to shoot the ball, it was a spark!
I asked my mother to look for a mini-basketball team and she found one close to home. A story that I always remember is when I was at school and my classmates used to collect football player stickers. I was the only one, who collected the NBA Cards and I still guard them jealously at home 🙂

2) CEO and Co-Founder of Pick-Roll App, a community for basketball lovers, how did you come up with this idea?

The idea came up from a need. Living in Rome, unlike other cities, it always gets hard to find a basketball court to play and above all popular. Whenever basketball lovers leave for vacation, shooting “away” is essential and it gets complicated to find a court, when they are not familiar with people or the place.
Thus Pick-Roll was born, first as a “basic” website and then as a real startup.

Dario and Pick-Roll App

3) Let’s suppose I am a new user and want to sign up for Pick-Roll, how does your app work?

The APP is a map to look for basketball courts, gyms, arenas and stores. Anyone can add a new playground with specific characteristics (rims, nets, lines, etc …) and arrange games, keeping the whole community updated on game time on that court. Pick-Roll transforms the match adding the post-game “Evaluation” and introducing the “Fama” function on the field. After checking-in, players may assign a score according to specific criteria and a score of trustworthiness and respect to the opponent, setting his value of reputation gained on the field.

4) What does playgrounds mean to you?

Each of us has personal experiences, a life lived and each one has lifelines, mine have been the playgrounds. When things fell apart, I always found refuge on basketball court, building my basketball-family.

5) Which is a basketball court in your heart and one you would like to visit?

The playground that makes me feel like “home” is in Rome, close to the church of S. Alberto Magno, although I no longer live there, I often drive by on my way to work and have the desire to drop by and make some shots. I have always dreamed of visiting Rucker Park, a wish that came true some years ago. As soon as I landed in New York, that was my first stop. It is still hard to explain what I felt, but you certainly know what I mean:)

Holcombe Rucker Park, Harlem

Talking about basketball courts, Andrea Fanzini founder of DKB Darwin Knew Basketball, related his experience in the feature Under 35