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Founder conversationUnicorn $50m+

How Golf Genius Grew to $53M Selling Tournament Software to Golf Clubs

Mike Zisman explains how a self-funded, profitable golf software company grew to 11,000 courses, ten acquisitions and about 80% employee ownership.

Mike Zisman · Golf Genius

Published June 3, 2026
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What you’ll learn

Mike Zisman, founder and CEO of Golf Genius, explains how his tournament software for golf clubs grew to about $53M in revenue while staying profitable since 2017. He covers the roughly $4,200 per year price across 11,000 courses, the USGA relationship, ten acquisitions, and how employees came to own most of the company.

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Key moments

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Low price, high quantity model

“every business is price times quantity. P times Q you learn in economics one. We're relatively low P, high Q, high quantity.”
Watch at 02:58

The USGA break

“And in our case, was building a relationship with the USGA to replace their tournament management system with ours, which really put the company in a whole different trajectory.”
Watch at 05:16

Earn 20% and reinvest

“So my strategy is earn 20% and invest the rest. So we consistently earn about 20% EBITDA margin, invest the rest.”
Watch at 07:52

Retention through equity

“We have over, we probably have six, 7% attrition, including in Romania for developers.”
Watch at 09:38

What makes a good acquisition

“when you do an acquisition, it's some combination of technology or product, talent, and customers. The best acquisitions are all three.”
Watch at 12:09

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About the speaker

Mike Zisman

Founder & CEO · Golf Genius

Company revenue
$53M

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