The Entreprenurial Pivot: Three Founders Talk About When To Adjust and Learning From The Marketplace…

How do you know when you are in a startup if the marketplace is telling you that you need to adjust, and how do you keep a business going when you start to hear the siren song of chasing a different direction, especially in challenging financial times. We talked to three smart company leaders about everything from the social space to sports gambling to predictive analytics to NIL and sneakers, and learned a great deal. Enjoy the listens

Jamming The Odds.

Matt Restivo is the current CEO of OddsJam, but has always been a first mover in the digital space. He has made a career out of delivering, monetizing, and scaling products and direct-to-consumer subscription services. He has managed high profile apps, websites and subscriptions such as Action Network, NHL, and built the original business plan for ESPN+. A lifelong problem solver, he now runs Oddsjam, a platform that helps educate sports bettors. Matt gives his take on the status of the sports betting space at this present time, including professional players’ issues with gambling and where the business is going. Take a listen here..

Crossing Over In A Sneaker Startup

Ryan Duke, Founder of Crossover Culture. A serial entrepreneur, Ryan dives into his background and the development of Crossover Culture. He discusses the size of the company and how they pick the athletes they partner with. Ryan further explains what success looks with the athletes they partner with, and the nature of the deals. He expands on marketing, interacting with paid marketing outlets and using grassroots events. Ryan also talks about the impact of NIL on his business. Lastly, Ryan speaks about future potential partnerships and the vision of the company. Take a listen here.  

Being Spry and Knowing When To Pivot

Lastly we revisit with Lyle Adams, Founder, Chief Dreamer and CEO of Spry, a technology company that solves the unique needs of both athletic departments and student-athletes in one comprehensive platform. After a brief professional soccer career, Lyle switched over to the world of tech and startups when he joined LivingSocial. Following that, he was an early employee at Uber, having joined the company in June 2012. During his time at Uber, Lyle helped grow the Washington, DC market, implemented Analytics Bootcamp, and built the first internal analytics training platform for the company. With Spry, Lyle uses his industry insider knowledge and his expertise in operations, analytics, product management, expansion, strategy, and user growth, to position the product for scale. He talks about the idea behind Spry’s development and the ways he evolved Spry over the last couple of years. He speaks to the state of NIL, the skills of an entrepreneur, and the future of Spry. More lessons learned on the listen.