Pilot RD onboarding kit · operator-facing
Welcome to PodiumBase
Thanks for being one of our first pilot race directors. The short version of who we are, what you get, and what we'll need from you is below. Should take you about three minutes to read.
What PodiumBase is
PodiumBase is a race photo marketplace built for mid-size local races — the 300-to-2,000-participant events that have historically been stuck choosing between expensive incumbents (Marathonfoto, FinisherPix) and "your photographer dumps a Google Drive link in the post-race email."
We sit in the middle. Specifically:
- AI-assisted matching. Photographers shoot the event, upload to us, and our matching pipeline tags photos by bib number, face, and time window so athletes can find themselves in seconds — not by scrolling 6,000 thumbnails.
- Athlete-direct sales. Each athlete sees a personalized gallery. They buy individual photos or photo bundles. The platform takes a flat split; the rest goes to the photographer.
- Fast turnaround. Photos go live as photographers upload, not in a batch weeks later. Athletes can buy on race day if photographers are quick.
- You stay in the loop. You see sales, payouts, and athlete experience as it happens. No black box.
What you get as a pilot RD
- Pilot pricing: Pilots ship on Pro tier by default — $14.99 per individual photo, with $24.99 event-pack bundle SKUs available. Each sale splits 80% to the photographer / 20% to the platform. Stripe's standard processing fee (~2.9% + $0.30) still applies and goes to Stripe, not us. No additional platform-side fees beyond the 20% split.
- Founder-direct contact. You'll have a mobile number for race-day P0 issues. Use it. That's the deal.
- First-mover positioning. Pilot RDs get a permanent reference relationship — early-supporter recognition once we have a public roster, and first crack at new features (sponsor placements, club integrations, Strava push, etc.) before they go general.
- Shape the V1. Your feedback during the pilot directly drives what we build next. We've been deliberate about not over-building until pilots tell us what's actually missing.
What we ask of you
We picked you because you run ~12 events a year at ~500 participants each — the sweet spot for our pilot. The ask is:
- Run at least one full event on PodiumBase. A real event, with real athletes, paying real money. Test events are useful but don't replace the real thing.
- Tell us what's broken. Honestly. Bluntly. The friction points you notice are exactly what we need to hear. We'd rather you tell us than your athletes tell their friends.
- Give us a debrief. 30 minutes within a week of the event. We'll bring questions; you bring observations.
- Be patient with the rough edges. This is a pilot. If something looks unfinished, it probably is — and your event is one of the inputs that decides what gets finished first.
Timeline (typical pilot event)
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| T-4 weeks | Kick-off call. Account setup. Photographer roster confirmed. |
| T-2 weeks | Brand kit + event page live on PodiumBase. Test transaction completed. Photographers complete Stripe Connect onboarding. |
| T-1 week | Final dry run — sample photo upload + match + checkout. Day-of contact list confirmed. |
| Race day | Photographers upload as they shoot. Athletes start finding photos within minutes of crossing finish lines. |
| Race day + 24h | Bulk of athlete purchases. Founder monitors actively. |
| Race day + 7d | Reconciliation: sales totals, payouts, refunds. Debrief call. |
| Race day + 14d | Refund window closes. Final payout cycle. |
Specific calendar dates get filled in during your kick-off call.
Support contacts
- General questions, bugs, billing:
support@podiumbase.io— we'll respond within 24 hours on weekdays. - Race-day P0 (no photos uploading, checkout broken, mass complaints): founder mobile sent at kick-off — call or text, real-time.
- Race-day P1 (single-athlete issue, one slow photographer): support email — we'll respond within 4 hours during your event window.
Full breakdown in the support matrix.
A note on what "pilot" means here
A few honest acknowledgments so there are no surprises:
- Expect at least one weird thing. Across our test events we've found, on average, one small thing that needed a same-day fix. We're getting better at predicting these, but the pilot's job is partly to surface the ones we haven't predicted yet.
- Your feedback shapes V1. If something in the buyer flow annoys you, say so. We've explicitly held off on a few features so pilot RDs can tell us which order to build them in.
- We won't surprise you with pricing changes mid-pilot. Whatever we agree on at kick-off holds through the end of your pilot window. After that, we'll give you 90 days' notice on any pricing change.
Ready to start? Reply to the email this kit came in and we'll get the kick-off call on the calendar. Then work through the pre-event checklist at your own pace.