As we head into Super Bowl week, Noah Zaret keeps hammering out our podcast notes, this week featuring to recent and very timely ones; one of the growing value of entrepreneurship in the sports space, the other on the expanding world of sustainability. You can hear all our podcasts here as well.
Ryan Berman on the Importance of Courageous Ideas
We spoke with Ryan Berman, founder of Courageous, an agency that focuses on creative and courageous marketing. He shares how he got his start in advertising and what is was like to watch the industry change around him. He explains why he left New York for San Diego to become an entrepreneur and pursue his belief in courageous ideas. Berman explains why he fired himself from the first company he started and how that led to him writing his book, Return On Courage: A Business Playbook For Change. Ryan shares his tips for bringing a more creative mindset to risk-averse companies and the overall importance of being courageous. He also discusses why he started his nonprofit called Sock Problems.
Some key things to listen for:
- Started his first agency with three other people in a house – IDEA
- Soon realized that courageous ideas are what matter the most
- It took Ryan until his third business (Courageous) to realize that the name of the business has to correlate with your overall persona
- Ryan said that the book process took a year to research, a year to write, and a year to understand the publishing business
- His two biggest fears
- “I’m not qualified to write a book”
- How do you even do it?”
– He says that it is crucial for a company to have the guts to reinvent themselves
– Ryan has a newsletter that goes out every Thursday – says that it forces him to stay on top of his work and field
– How Ryan manages his time – he sets time aside to have his “thinking time”
– Advice: What questions can you ask to talk about mentorship? It is important to find the right people to learn from
Dylan Robbins and The Digital Challenge
We started January with Dylan Robbins, Founder & CEO of Lucra Sports. Robbins discusses his upbringing in a sports fanatic family in NYC, his professed love for analyzing statistics in live and fantasy sports games, and how sports betting redefined his game-watching experience. Struggling to get his friends to participate in sports betting, he utilized his background in finance at Goldman Sachs to launch Lucra Sports as a more social alternative to traditional sports betting. For this new platform, Robbins talks about the importance of building a community for casual sports fans and promoting shared experiences through friendly competition. Next, the conversation touches upon the timing of his business, the lessons learned from existing social media, dating, and betting platforms, as well as the approachability and scalability of his startup. He further mentions that Lucra Sports aims to retain customers by providing a personal fan experience based on social interactions rather than a platform solely dependent on betting volume. Dylan also advises on entrepreneurship, the qualities recruiters look for, and different ways to raise capital.
Some key things to listen for:
- Dylan was always a large sports fan and admired the analytics and stats of sports
- The idea of Lucra (started in fall of 2019) came from wanting to create a platform for casual fans – social, approachable, and fun
- What is Lucra: peer-to-peer platform – user is wagering against another user instead of playing against the house, casino, etc.
- The goal is to be a social platform and incentivize play among friends
- The biggest lesson learned was the approachability
- Currently, close to 40% of the users come from other users
- The mission is to redefine friendly competition: you can now challenge your friends to wager matches
- First-time users have the ability to try the platform before depositing real money
- Dylan says that sports betting licensing fees will go up in the future
- Lucra is actively looking into incorporating college athletic wagering
- Dylan says that going from an investment banker at Goldman Sachs to an entrepreneur and eventually creating Lucra has been a lifestyle change for him – says he is passionate about what he does and it does not feel like he’s ever working
- Says hustle and having a positive attitude is what they are looking for when recruiting
- How Dylan stays up to date:
- His Stanford graduate business school class group chat
- Uses social media to stay up to date on sports news or any other relevant news
– Advice to entrepreneurs: Dylan says to start early and fail fast – don’t be afraid to take risks and leaps
Tom Odjakjian and a career in the college media space.
With March Madness on the horizon, we talked to Tom Odjakjian, who recently retired from The American Athletic Conference after a trailblazing career combining media and the intricacies of college athletes. Tom shares how he got his start in sports media, getting a job at a young ESPN and growing the network’s live sports portfolio through college sports. Tom takes us through the details of building a television schedule and the complications that come with reaching out to schools individually. He shares what he believes is “the most important decision he ever made” as well as some dream college basketball games he tried to schedule but never could. The two also explore what makes a good leader and the different qualities found across the best bosses they’ve had.
Some key things to listen for:
- Tom was a teammate of Joe Maddon while both were at Lafayette College
- He says the process of scheduling games back in the day was much different than the current process (no computers or advanced technology like now)
- He says the most important decision he’s ever made was putting the Princeton vs. Georgetown game on primetime – Although it was a 1 vs. 16 seed matchup, he told his boss that it was worth the risk of airing the game in case of a potential cinderella story. Princeton lost by 1 point, as it was a close game from start to finish which generated great ratings.
- Tom’s dream matchup in basketball that he wanted to schedule: UConn vs. Kentucky – says there could not be an agreement on who would be the home team
- They finally played on a neutral site at Madison Square Garden many years later
- Says the tricky thing about scheduling football, particularly college football was scheduling games on weeknights
- The lower tier D1 schools that did not have a huge following would be willing to play games on weeknights to gain a new level of exposure – was taught to stand out when they played games on the weekends with other teams that were more recognizable
- Tom said that there was never a demographic for reaching young woman when he was working – says that has changed drastically
- Specifically mentions how amazed he is with Womens Softball and the growth of the game – says it is incredible how solid the ratings are
- How analytics and the current programs have changed schedule making:
- Were not any ratings at ESPN until 1982
- Now ratings are measured by total viewers, as opposed to viewers per household which was the original way that ratings were measured
– Tom mentions how ESPN + has been a great way for not only to increase the exposure of non-popular sports, but for the brand or the university
– Traits from good leaders that Tom has worked with:
– “A great leader is one that gives you confidence and trusts you”
– There is no one way to be a great leader
– Says it was inspiring to have leaders that put trust in him no matter what the situation is
– Inspiring your staff and appreciating them
Advice:
- “Everybody you know knows somebody…Always be prepared”
