Episode 351: Meredith McPherron - CEO & Managing Partner, Drive by DraftKings

Episode 351 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Meredith McPherron, CEO & Managing Partner at Drive by DraftKings. Legalized sports betting, NIL, transfer portals, college conference re-alignment, streaming, pitch clocks, new kickoffs, the explosion of pickelball, and so much more, there is no denying it, the sports industry is going through a rapid amount of transformation. But the number one area that I’m the most excited about is the explosion of women’s sports… from college basketball, WNBA, NWSL, Olympic success, and more… there is so much going on! Thus, I couldn’t pick a better person to have a conversation about how women’s sports are having a moment than with Meredith and this topic is exactly how we kick off our interview. If you are not familiar with Drive by DraftKings, the firm invests in seed and Series A companies in the SportsTech and Entertainment industry specifically in Gaming, Fandom, and Human Performance. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Meredith’s background story including being a walk-on two sport Division 1 athlete at Harvard. * Getting her career started in investment banking and consumer products at General Mills and how she made the switch to the tech industry. * Running her own startup called Zipteva, which was early to market and would have been perfect in today’s world of NIL deals. * Her role at The Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship at HBS which was the segue into her role as a VC at Glasswing Ventures. * All the details about Drive by DraftKings and what she is targeting for investments, plus its all-star network. * Biggest challenges around building a startup in the sports industry. * And so much more.