Meet the Team

AJ Colaizzi

Founder & CEO

LinkedIn

About the Founder
AJ Colaizzi is the Founder and CEO of Roughcut. His life has been shaped by a deep commitment to sports, technology, and helping others succeed. The combination of his experiences as an athlete, coach, and professional in tech has given him a unique perspective—and it’s what fuels his drive to lead Roughcut and solve the real challenges in the sports recruiting world.

Coaching Experience
For over a decade, AJ has coached lacrosse at the youth, high school, and club levels—including Boulder Valley Lacrosse Association, Jets Lacrosse Club, Denver Lacrosse Club, Denver Elite Field & Box, Denver East High School, and City Lax. His passion is helping student-athletes find the right fit to enhance their lives, not just their athletic careers. This hands-on experience has given him an intimate understanding of the challenges faced by players, families, and coaches, fueling his desire to create solutions that truly help all stakeholders.

Athletic & Academic Background
From the age of four, AJ immersed himself in sports, coached by his father, which provided him with a global perspective on teamwork, competition, and mentorship. As a multi-sport athlete in high school, excelling in football and lacrosse, he learned the discipline and determination required to balance academics with athletics. He turned down scholarship offers to attend CU Boulder, where he played MCLA lacrosse—an experience that reinforced the importance of high-level competition, personal growth, and preparing for life beyond athletics.

Professional Experience
AJ earned a degree in Information Management from CU Boulder’s Leeds School of Business, fusing his passion for sports with an early interest in technology and business strategy. His career has spanned support engineering, data science, and product management—roles that honed his problem-solving, analytics, and customer empathy. As a product manager, AJ bridged technical and business teams, focusing on understanding customer pain points and crafting innovative solutions—a skillset critical to Roughcut’s mission.

Vision for Roughcut
AJ’s journey—from student-athlete to coach, data scientist, and product manager—gives him a unique ability to understand the complexities of the sports recruiting ecosystem. He is relentlessly determined, resourceful, and driven by a genuine love for collaboration and learning. His vision is to help every student-athlete find the right path, using data-driven, practical solutions that empower families, coaches, and players alike. AJ’s passion for sports, coupled with his analytical mindset and entrepreneurial drive, positions him not just as the leader of Roughcut but as a visionary determined to reshape the future of athletic recruiting.