A new way into racehorse ownership
Craig McKenna founded Crowd Racing to make racehorse ownership accessible to more people. Its Green & Gold Crowd gives members a closer view of the sport through shared ownership, expert insight, and relationships with other people following the same horses. Members follow each horse's progress, learn about racing, share photographs, discuss travel, and make plans to attend races together.
Outgrowing Facebook, WhatsApp, and email
As the club grew, communication became harder to manage. Facebook could not separate premium owner content from general updates, and WhatsApp and email only added more channels, leaving Craig to spend hours sending different information to different groups.
Craig wanted a digital experience that matched the quality of the ownership offer, without paying for a custom build. He spoke with 7 providers before choosing Disciple. "I spoke to 7 different potential software providers but the cost was ridiculous and they just didn't understand what I wanted the app to do," he says. "It was serendipity to find Disciple at just the right time. They got it right away and the software does exactly what I want." He found the working relationship matched the product: "The Disciple team are great to work with. The customer service has been outstanding and the tech set up went really smoothly."
One app for the whole club
The app brings race updates, expert insight, photographs, competitions, travel plans, and member discussion into one place. Push notifications give owners timely updates on race entries, while groups organise conversations by topic and subscription level. Membership badges distinguish the club's premium lifetime tier: each owner gets the information included in their membership, but the community also gives them a way to experience the sport together.
From side project to core product
The Green & Gold Crowd launched its app in 2020. The community, once a smaller part of Crowd Racing, has since become the company's core product—a shift Craig does not measure lightly: "The difference that Disciple has made to my company is not something I can calculate—it's changed everything."
Each year the club welcomes 100 new premium lifetime members. Lifetime members post more often, and the badges have increased interest in the top subscription tier. The app also replaced a mixture of Facebook, WhatsApp, and email with one organised channel, closing the communication problem that had been taking Craig's time.
