The Profluence Pod 🌐

Perfect Game is the world’s largest youth baseball/softball platform and scouting service, producing over 8,600+ events, 300,000+ games, and showcases annually across the United States.  Rob Ponger became CEO in 2022, previously serving as a Senior Vice President at IMG.  To date, more than 1,650 players who have played in a Perfect Game event have made it to Major League Baseball.  Chapters: (01:50) From IMG to Perfect Game (04:15) Creating a flywheel of brands  (09:30) Downstream professionalization  (12:30) MLB players  (13:50) Baseball innovation for GenZ (16:30) Women’s sports and softball  (18:00) Going younger & company size (21:00) Future for Perfect Game (23:35) NIL/Other trends . Rob Ponger: Website: https://www.perfectgame.org/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-ponger-1534735/ . Andrew Petcash: 🏠 Website: https://profluence.com 🐣 Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewpetcash 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpetcash/ Thanks for listening! Hit the “follow” button to stay updated on new podcasts. 

Pro Skills Basketball is now in 20 cities across the United States with their innovative basketball training, coaching, and team membership model.  Brendan Winters grew up the son of an NBA coach. He played college basketball at Davidson and then went on to play professionally overseas for 5 years before founding Pro Skills Basketball.  PSB has since grown into a nationwide club team organization with the mission to change the culture of youth basketball in the US. Chapters: (02:40) Davidson and Steph Curry (03:30) Pro Skills Basketball inspiration  (08:40) Adding new markets (10:45) From sports to entrepreneurship (12:35) Building European-style clubs (16:40) Pro Skills Basketball model (18:20) Differences in markets (22:10) Future initiatives . Brendan Winters: Website: https://proskillsbasketball.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanwinters/ . Andrew Petcash: 🏠 Website: https://profluence.com 🐣 Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewpetcash 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpetcash/ Thanks for listening! Hit the “follow” button to stay updated on new podcasts. 

Futsal is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, and Senda Athletics is at the forefront of it.  Senda Athletics is a head-to-toe soccer product line, including footwear, Fair Trade Certified balls, and custom team uniforms, focused on the rapidly growing 5-a-side and indoor soccer market.  The initial 5-a-side market is an estimated $5B with the opportunity to expand into the $14B broader soccer market. Popular soccer stars like Lionel Messi have been known to enjoy futsal.  Chapters: (01:30) Senda Athletics overview (04:15) Argentina & World Cup  (06:15) Engaging athletes as owners (08:30) From 1 product to many  (12:30) Becoming Fair Trade Certified  (14:40) Distribution channels  (20:10) Soccer 3.0 (24:10) Trends to watch . Santiago Halty: Website: https://sendaathletics.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/santiago-halty-9a764214/ . Andrew Petcash: 🏠 Website: https://profluence.com 🐣 Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewpetcash 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpetcash/ Thanks for listening! Hit the “follow” button to stay up to date on new podcasts. 

Coming off an $8M funding round, DUPR is going both downstream and horizontal in pickleball.  DUPR is a rating algorithm and app to find other pickleball players at your skill level. The score ranges from 2 to 8.  Tito Machado is the CEO and Scott Mendelssohn is the Head of Analytics.  Chapters: (01:10) Entrance into pickleball (04:45) Company overview (06:30) Understanding the DUPR score  (09:50) Acquiring users  (12:05) Plan coming off $8M funding  (15:45) Building community & engagement (20:00) DUPR collegiate championships (24:20) International expansion  (29:55) Trends to watch in pickleball  . DUPR: Website: https://mydupr.com/ Tito LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gilberto-tito-machado-19004670/ Scott LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-mendelssohn-44555150/ . Andrew Petcash: 🏠 Website: https://profluence.com 🐣 Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewpetcash 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpetcash/ Thanks for listening! Hit the “follow” button to stay up to date on new podcasts.

We dive deep into Drake Star’s latest sports technology report which saw a total deal value of $37B in 2023.  Mohit Pareek is a media and tech investment banker who oversees Drake Star’s sports technology, media, and gaming reports.  We also cover investors to watch, significant strategic buyers, global investment trends, and the growing role of sovereign wealth funds and athlete investors in the sports industry. Chapters: (01:15) Drake Star and Mohit’s background (07:25) Sports dealmaking in 2023 (09:50) M&A deals (12:55) Outlook for 2024 (15:15) Investors to watch  (19:20) Buyers to watch  (24:00) Public companies (26:45) Sovereign wealth & athlete investors . Mohit Pareek: Website: https://www.drakestar.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohitpareek/ . Andrew Petcash: 🏠 Website: https://profluence.com 🐣 Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewpetcash 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpetcash/ Thanks for listening! Hit the “follow” button to stay up to date on new podcasts.

With over 60+ employees globally, the Aura platform is transforming traditional linear content experiences into an engaging, interactive, and immersive hyper-contextual environment by aggregating content, data, financial engagement, and communities.  Before Aura, Antony Arena served as the Chief Executive at Unbound, a group of digital and communications businesses specializing in cutting-edge technologies including AI, VR, and AR. Aura is headquartered in Australia, with an office in London and soon one in New York City.  Chapters: (01:45) Antony’s background (04:30) Aura overview (08:15) Why building in sports first (10:50) Challenges for media/sports (14:15) Scaling offices globally  (18:15) Verticals beyond sports (19:30) Hiring & finding the right talent (22:30) Learnings from agency business  (24:40) Keeping an eye on AI . Antony Arena: Website: https://thisisaura.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ant-arena/?originalSubdomain=au . Andrew Petcash: 🏠 Website: https://profluence.com 🐣 Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewpetcash 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpetcash/ Thanks for listening! Hit the “follow” button to stay updated on new podcasts.

WSC Sports is nearly a billion-dollar Israeli company, that enables sports media rights owners to automatically generate personalized sports videos in real-time Prior to co-founding WSC Sports, Daniel Shichman attended Tel Aviv University and served in the Israeli military.  We discuss the company's journey to success, trends in the sports media industry, the impact of artificial intelligence on content creation and distribution, and the rise of Israel as a tech powerhouse.   Chapters: (01:25) Background of WSC Sports (07:30) Scaling a company globally (11:40) Israel as a sports tech powerhouse (15:05) Future of sports media (22:00) Role of artificial intelligence (25:20) Conclusion . Daniel Shichman: Website: https://wsc-sports.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-shichman-121b4633/?originalSubdomain=il . Andrew Petcash: 🏠 Website: https://profluence.com 🐣 Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewpetcash 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpetcash/ Thanks for listening! Hit the “follow” button to stay up to date on new podcasts.

GameChanger is a tech company (acquired by Dick’s Sporting Goods in 2016) whose mobile app and website provide scorekeeping, stats, video streaming, and recap stories to teams and connected fans at the local level. Sameer Ahuja is a long-time entrepreneur with 20 years of experience as a Founder, CEO, or, COO of high-growth technology businesses from startup to late-stage in multiple industries. He co-founded an interactive sports attraction, founded a quant hedge fund, and built a fintech company.  GameChanger’s app is used in all 50 states, has a partnership with Major League Baseball, and more games are covered in two months on GameChanger than in the history of all American professional sports combined. Chapters: (01:40) Sameer’s entrance into sports (03:10) GameChanger overview (06:10) MLB partnership  (07:40) Adding new sports  (10:50) State of youth sports (15:15) Take on NIL / Private Equity (20:15) Seasonality in amateur sports (22:25) Advice for building  . Sameer Ahuja: Website: https://gc.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sameerahuja/ . Andrew Petcash: 🏠 Website: https://profluence.com 🐣 Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewpetcash 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpetcash/ Thanks for listening! Hit the “follow” button to stay up to date on new podcasts.

Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech finds, funds, and fast-tracks innovative startups from around the world to invest in and develop the next generation of technology to change the way we experience sports.  Jenna Kurath spent time in the PR and communications space before joining Comcast and helping to launch the sports accelerator.  Comcast SportsTech features partnerships with NBC Sports, Sky Sports, Comcast Spectacor, and Golf – alongside NASCAR and three US Olympic sports organizations. Chapters: (01:30) Comcast SportsTech overview (05:00) Evolution of the accelerator  (08:25) Success stories  (10:35) Accelerator model (13:00) Criteria they look for  (19:40) Challenges they commonly see (24:00) Cohort #4 (27:45) Emerging areas . Jenna Kurath: Website: https://www.comcastsportstech.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennakurath/ . Andrew Petcash: 🏠 Website: https://profluence.com 🐣 Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewpetcash 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpetcash/ Thanks for listening! Hit the “follow” button to stay up to date on new podcasts.

CrewLAB recently completed a pre-seed round for their sports team management system for high school and collegiate endurance sports.  We dive deep into the rowing industry and talk about CrewLab’s journey and how they’re trying to expand into other niches within sports.  Dominic Pardini is a former UCLA rower, innovation consultant at Accenture, and now sports technology entrepreneur.  Chapters: (02:20) Background (04:00) CrewLab overview (06:50) Fundraising process learnings  (10:40) The rowing industry  (15:40) Advice to jump into entrepreneurship (19:00) Interesting areas in sports (22:20) Expanding LTV in athletics  . Dominic Pardini: Website: https://www.crewlab.io/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicpardini/ . Andrew Petcash: 🏠 Website: https://profluence.com 🐣 Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewpetcash 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpetcash/ Thanks for listening! Hit the “follow” button to stay up to date on new podcasts.