The company’s signature Clutch Factor assessment draws inspiration from the Thematic Apperception Test, a classic psychological tool. Athletes view ambiguous scenes and describe their interpretations, which are then processed through a proprietary scoring guide. Connerty, who developed the system alongside University of South Florida professor emeritus Dr. Ed Levine, claims a score above 750 indicates a recruit is twice as likely to commit to a Division I program. These metrics are intended for use in rankings, scholarship negotiations, and NIL discussions.
NTangible Wants to Quantify the Elusive Clutch Gene
Professional baseball player turned entrepreneur Dan Connerty is betting he can solve the mystery of high-pressure performance with a new psychological assessment. His startup, NTangible, uses neurolinguistic analysis to assign athletes a numerical score, claiming to predict who will thrive when the spotlight hits and the stakes are highest.
Despite the promise of data-driven recruiting, the system faces clear hurdles regarding potential manipulation. In a test run, answering as a level-headed recruit rather than honestly shifted a score from 584 to 802, suggesting that athletes might game the results to impress scouts. Connerty maintains that the clutch trait can be trained and has collaborated with former MLB psychologist Howie Schwartz to provide development exercises. While currently focused on nine sports, the company is eyeing expansion into corporate HR through a workplace-specific assessment called NTerpret. NTangible is presenting its strategy this week at TechCrunch Disrupt as a finalist in the Startup Battlefield competition.
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