Longtime technology execs launch athlete discovery platform

Two tech industry executives have partnered with sports industry veterans to launch Rule42, a sports technology company that seeks to modernize the amateur athlete discovery process for players, scouts and teams.

The Portland, Oregon-based company is building an artificial intelligence- (AI-) powered technology platform that is meant to give athletes an equal shot at being discovered while giving scouts, coaches and teams greater reach and a faster, more objective way to find and track talent through the journey from youth to college.

“Today, athlete discovery still runs largely on word-of-mouth, personal connections and expensive travel showcases,” the company said in a news release. “It’s a system that favors families and organizations that can afford to pay to play, while leaving out many athletes who aren’t able to participate. The problem is even more acute in women’s sports, where scouting infrastructure, data and dedicated tools are either completely absent or years behind men’s sports, leaving countless talented athletes overlooked simply because no one built the systems to find them.”

Rule42 initially is focusing on softball and baseball, but the company said its platform is sport agnostic and will expand to more sports in the future.

The company was founded by Renee James, former president of Intel and former CEO of Ampere, which sold to Softbank in 2025. James serves as CEO of Rule42. Other members of company leadership include:

• Tara Henry, vice president of softball, is a former NCAA champion at UCLS and current head coach of the Great Britain women’s national softball team as well as the general manager of Softball America.
• Michelle Johnston Holthaus, president, is a 30-year tech industry veteran and most recently was at Intel where she was chief executive of Intel products.
• Jed Lowrie, executive vice president of baseball, is a former MLB All-Star and 14-year MLB veteran.
• Patrick Traeger, chief technology officer, pioneered one of the first sports-focused LLM and machine-learning platforms for predicting player outcomes and assessing athletic performances.
• Todd Underwood, chief financial officer, has held senior leadership roles in technology and finance for more than 30 years, most recently serving as CFO at Ampere.

“Our team has spent decades on both sides of the scouting table as athletes, parents, scouts and coaches,” James said. “We’ve seen firsthand how much talent gets missed simply because the current system wasn’t built to find it. We’re building the technology platform we wish had existed: one that puts athletes and their families in control and gives scouts and coaches the tools to discover talent wherever it is.”