Sports Loft Podcast

Building great products in sports and media

When we meet with the founder of a prospective Sports Loft company, we are very focused on product – what exactly is it that you’re building? Who has the problem that you are solving? Why is your product better than the alternatives out there? What have you done to make your product as simple to use as possible? How are people using your product? Are users returning? Will anybody buy it?

This product focus is vital in the world of sports, media and entertainment. Why is the fan going to choose this product over all the other options they have? How can the product be applied to the workflows of a major event or the constant “always-on” of a league season? What can teams, leagues or sponsors achieve with this product that they couldn’t do before?

In this podcast, we are joined by Slate’s co-founder and CEO, Michael Horton whose clients include teams across every major US league, the Premier League and major sponsors, and Tagboard’s President Nathan Peterson whose clients include the likes of Fox Sports, NBC, Turner and NFL Media. They discuss what they have learnt from building tech products for the sports and media industry, the importance of the people in the product building process and how their products have evolved from their earliest iterations.

Selling Internationally

One of the things that we look for in the companies at Sports Loft is a management team that operates with a global mindset. We want to see companies who have products that can be successful in multiple geographies and sales teams that want to embrace the fact that whilst national differences exist, sport and media is a genuinely global business. 

However, growing a global operation is not easy. Should you build in your domestic market first and then think about selling internationally or should you go global from the start? Can you sell from your home base or do you need “boots on the ground?” How do you get to really understand the cultural differences between college basketball, international tennis and IPL? If you don’t expand globally quickly enough, will local copy-cats interfere with your global ambitions? What people do you need? Will the value in your product be perceived differently between Canal+, NBC and Foxtel?

In the latest of the Sports Loft podcasts, we are joined by Pumpjack Dataworks' CEO Nick Goggans whose clients include World Table Tennis, Williams F1 and Miami FC, and Covatic’s CEO Nick Pinks whose clients include media owners such as Bauer Media. They discuss their experiences of building global sales operations, the cultural differences in the sports industry between US, Europe and Asia and whether operating internationally will necessarily increase your cost per sale.

Building a ticketing operation for the modern sports industry

The financial results of many sports organisations in the last 18 months have clearly shown why ticketing revenue is so important. Whilst pre-pandemic, many teams and events almost took their ticketing revenue for granted (we’ve got a waiting list for season tickets, we don’t need to worry), that complacency doesn’t exist anymore. Fans in attendance make the TV product better and amongst many of the teams and events that we talk to, there is a clear desire to deliver the best fan experience possible so that the fans keep coming back.

So, for teams and events, how can you deliver those “Instagrammable” moments that the fans will remember? How do you get the fans’ attention in an environment where they have so many other ways to spend their money?  How do you deliver a ticketing and event experience that is at least as good, and hopefully better, than anything they can get from Amazon, Netflix or Instacart?

In the latest of the Sports loft podcasts we are joined by F1 Miami Grand Prix’s Josh Young, who is building the ticketing operation for F1’s new race in Miami, and FEVO’s Colin Casey, whose clients include the LA Dodgers, NY Giants, Nascar and many others. They discuss how teams and events are leveraging technology in the ticketing process, the importance of the gameday experience and whether you’ve got your pricing wrong if you sold every ticket.

Building an athlete's personal brand

Athletes are at the heart of everything that happens in professional sport. The best players deliver the biggest moments which in turn drive the audiences, the media rights and the highlight views on YouTube. The fans want to know everything about their lives, what they do and what they think. Many players now have bigger followings than the teams they play for. 

Technology, and social media in particular, is enabling the athletes to by-pass the traditional media and engage directly with their fans. This provides a huge opportunity to get their point of view across and to define themselves beyond what happens on the pitch, but it also comes with risks. What they choose to share, and how they manage what they post, has become hugely important.

In the latest of the Sports Loft podcasts, we are joined by KIN Partners MD and Founder, Simon Oliveira who manages a roster of talent including David Beckham and Neymar Jnr, and Greenfly’s co-founder and CEO Daniel Kirschner whose clients include NBA, MLB, Real Madrid and PSG. They discuss how athletes can build their brands and whether it is reasonable to expect the athletes to be role models, how both teams and players can benefit from an athlete’s increased profile and what David Beckham’s Instagram numbers would have been if he was playing today.

Finding product market fit

Achieving “product-market-fit” is one of those terms that you frequently hear in the startup-world. Sought-after by founders and eulogised by investors, it has become an almost idealistic concept of that moment when all that hard work comes to fruition and it just clicks – the product sells itself. But what does it actually mean? And when do you know if you’ve “found it”?

 
In this episode, host Yanni Andreopolous is joined by Get Metrix Co-founder and CEO Andrew Hall and FEVO’s EVP & GM of Partner Development, Colin Casey. Andrew and Colin share their first-hand experiences at their respective companies - a B2C company that is about to release its first product and a B2B social commerce platform that is more mature - as they work towards  product market fit. The discussion reflects on the importance of being able to react quickly, how to work out which customer insights to prioritise and whether a “Minimum Lovable Product” is more helpful than a “Minimum Viable Product”.

Hiring and building great teams

Hiring and finding great people is without doubt one of the biggest priorities for any high-growth tech CEO, and the companies at Sports Loft are no exception. Whether it’s working out whether to hire for talent & aptitude or for a defined role, how to profile potential employees who are ready for a start-up environment, how to build a great on-boarding process and where to look for the best people, getting hiring right is hard but important.   

In our latest podcast, we are joined by Satisfi Co-founder and CEO Donny White and Slate Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer Will Brooke. They share their first-hand experiences of hiring at a startup and what they have learnt about the best ways to build teams for their respective companies.

Sports Loft Member Series: an interview with Tagboard President Nathan Peterson

Tagboard's President Nathan Peterson joins Yanni Andreopoulos from Sports Loft to talk about Tagboard’s growth as social media has become critical to the production landscape. Tagboard now powers broadcasts across US news and sports and was used for NFL Media’s production of the NFL Draft, is used by teams in every major league in the US and they recently signed a 4 year deal with Major League Baseball.  

Nathan and Yanni explore the impact of COVID and how the sudden shift to remote production has helped Tagboard, the value of keeping the product as simple to use as possible and the importance of client feedback in the product development process. Our favourite bit - how Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey suggested that Apple Music’s Creative Director, Larry Jackson, should use Tagboard for the Apple Verzuz livestreams!

How is the value sports teams get from social media changing?

How is the value sports teams get from social media changing?  What role does social media play for teams and how has this changed? We talk to Eric Stark, founder of Sports Loft member company Slate and Minnesota Timberwolves’ Director of Digital Content Shahbaz Khan about the increased importance of social media in sport and the demand for innovation and adaptability for digital content within sports teams, specifically the NBA. 

Shahbaz talked about the importance and purpose of social media and how it can add value to teams. He mentioned how “there’s never a time which we’re posting for posting sake.” Therefore, in terms of using social to drive value, he abides by several ‘pillars’ which include “ensuring that we are engaging current fans at the highest level possible, potentially gaining new fans and monetizing content in a way that continues to engage with fans.” All of which contribute to the importance placed upon social media. Shahbaz said “it’s the most front-facing part of an organisation.”

Eric mentioned the increased emphasis on social and digital content now more than ever. He touched on how in today’s climate, teams are having to rely on social content for engagement and revenue. He explained “we’ve seen a lot more creative ways to incorporate sponsors this year than ever,” and how “all of a sudden teams are turning to the digital and social team as this is our most valuable asset.”

Personalisation in sport

Alexandra Wilis of Wimbledon and Nick Pinks of Covatic chatted about what personalisation means for sport. 

Alex talked about how Wimbledon wants to remain relevant for as many people as possible, whatever their engagement with the tournament and tennis. She discussed the importance of both the technical side to personalisation, efficiency and how it needs to match up to the emotional, delivered through giving sport meaning and relevance. She touched on how Wimbledon is “making it easy to follow players” so fans can feel ”more immersed in that players’ success or failure and tap into that celeb feeling.” This “helps players become more famous and create more personal connections with the sport”. Personalisation can extend to helping those fans find new players to follow all year round.

 

Nick Pinks, CEO of Covatic, told us “you need to build a positive relationship between a user and the platform they’re using” to be allowed to personalise their experience. HE pointed out the danger of building segments and models from your most engaged fans as they’re often the wrong traits if you want to build a bigger audience, who are most likely to be composed of people who are not as avid as your top fans. Nick spoke about the importance of protecting user privacy and of how important that is to buy consumer trust and allow brands the right to take things further.

How technology is changing sports broadcasting

Technology is changing sports broadcasting. We discuss how with two leaders who are shaping innovation in that area. World Rugby's Ronan Donagher, who has overseen the implementation of video refereeing and the growth of rugby broadcast to new nations. He is joined by Ben Reynolds, CEO of Spalk, a technology that powers remote commentary and production of sports events globally.

They discuss how remote production has enabled rugby and other sports to reach new markets, how technology can help engage fans and reach new audiences. 

Ronan tells us what's next for World Rugby, looking ahead to the Olympics the women's world cup and the next men's, France 2023.

Ben outlines his ambitions to be the technology powering broadcasts across global events.