NTangible, a startup led by former professional baseball player Dan Connerty, aims to quantify how athletes perform under pressure by developing a psychological assessment called the Clutch Factor. This tool, inspired by the Thematic Apperception Test from psychology, asks athletes to respond to ambiguous images and analyzes their responses to produce a score predicting their likelihood to succeed in high-stress sports moments. Connerty, collaborating with psychologist Dr. Ed Levine from the University of South Florida, claims the Clutch Factor score can be a powerful metric for collegiate recruiting decisions, even influencing scholarship offers and name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals in today's competitive collegiate sports environment.

The Clutch Factor assessment scores athletes on a scale from 0 to 1,000, with Connerty stating that those scoring above 750 have double the chances of committing to Division I programs. NTangible is pitching this cognitive scoring method as a vital supplement to traditional physical performance metrics like speed and strength, aiming to bring measurable mental performance data into sports analytics. However, there’s potential concern that athletes might game the test by providing dishonest answers to boost their scores when attempting to impress recruiters, which raises questions about the assessment's integrity.

While NTangible is not positioning its platform as a training tool, Connerty acknowledges that clutch performance can be improved and has teamed up with former MLB sports psychologist Howie Schwartz to offer exercises designed to help athletes enhance their mental resilience. Originally focused on baseball, NTangible now provides assessments across nine sports and is pursuing ambitions to adapt its technology for corporate environments, helping HR departments evaluate employees' performance under pressure via its workplace-focused NTerpret tool that assesses responses to coaching and feedback.

NTangible is currently targeting sports organizations and companies as its primary customers rather than individual athletes. The startup is gaining exposure through its participation in TechCrunch Disrupt 2026's Startup Battlefield competition, where it will share more about its growth and business strategy. NTangible’s approach to combining psychological science with sports analytics showcases a new frontier in assessing intangible traits to support athlete recruitment, coaching, and possibly employee evaluation in other fields.