IDEA #1 | VENTURE STARTUP

Clubhouse for Live Sports 🏀

It only happens live once

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

With the Superbowl just around the corner sports fans all around the world are gearing up for one of the biggest sporting events of the year, while also preparing to point out Travis Kelce to their girlfriends every time he appears on screen.

Big sporting events like the Superbowl prove that, despite mass migration away from tv to the internet, live sports are alive and well. The live sports market will grow from $171 billion in 2023 to $182 billion in 2024.

But here’s the thing about live sports, for many it can be a lonely experience.

Sure some people love that, but for others they prefer to watch the game with friends or listen along to a live stream of their favourite creator as the match goes on.

So let’s take some inspiration from Clubhouse (pre their recent pivot) and build a platform to cater to that audience.

2. Solution ✅

Here’s the idea…create a platform where users can create social audio rooms to enjoy sports games together.

Here’s how it works - users sign up to the app and they can create their own invite only audio only rooms which they can use to talk to their friends in real time during the game.

Similarly users with large audiences in the sports niche can create public rooms where they can commentate over a match and also interact with fans live by answering questions during breaks or before and after the game. Similar to other live streaming platforms the audience could leave comments, tip creators and so on.

The possibilities here are endless and a product like this could be a big hit among sport fans.

3. Business Model 🏦

Go-to-market: Focus on a single sport first and make the platform invite only. Work with influencers in this sport to pilot the platform and get some interest, then expand

Monetisation: Brand partnerships/ticketed content ****and taking a % of tips which can be given to creators on the platform

Startup Costs: Live streaming could incur some hefty hosting fees, so you’ll likely need some capital to get this off the ground

4. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

Big media companies in the sports space would love to own a platform of this nature, so this could turn into a great exit to one of those companies.

IDEA #2 | STARTUP

Angel Investing in Athletes

Backing the next big star

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

Professional athletes make a lot of money.

The average salary for an NBA player in the 2023-24 season is $9.7m and when you get to the absolute elites of the sporting world the money they make is unfathomable, like Ronaldo’s $213m per year salary with Al Nassr.

At the highest level for world class athletes the money they make is unfathomable, with Ronaldo for example earning an estimated $213m per year just from his salary for playing with Al Nassr, nevermind all of his endorsement deals.

Recently college athletes have been getting in on the action too, but have been struggling to hide this fact.

But there’s a problem…becoming an athlete is not only physically demanding, it’s fiscally demanding too.

It takes years and years and hundreds of thousands of dollars for athletes to fund their training for year after year while they master their craft.

Most rely on money from friends and families, as well as sponsors, but it’s incredibly difficult for them to fund the early years of their career.

So let’s create a platform to solve this exact problem.

2. Solution ✅

Here’s the idea…build a platform where users can angel invest in athletes early in their careers in exchange for a cut of their future earnings.

Here’s how it works.

Athletes sign up for the platform and give their stats in their sport as well as an account of what they want to achieve in their career. Users are then invited to invest a certain amount of money, similar to a seed round in business, where in exchange for giving funds the user gets the right to take a share of the earnings of the athlete each year.

This would be similar to a venture firm, where most athletes won’t make much money for fans, but a small few will make it big and return huge money for their fans and the business.

The platform could also create indices of athletes in specific sports for fans who don’t want to pick a particular athlete but want exposure to players of a particular sport.

Moonshot is a company offering something similar for tennis players, but this market is still totally up for grabs.

3. Business Model 🏦

Go-to-market: Start on a single sport, one with rabid fans and high earning potential, and go from there. Golf could be a good starting point.

Monetisation: Similar to a VC charge a fee on money being managed and take a portion of any upside too

Startup Costs: The legalities around setting up a fund could incur some cost here, so best to do a small pre-seed raise to get this off the ground

4. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

The most likely outcome here would be an exit to another venture firm which specialises in sports investing, like Courtside Ventures

NO BRAINER IDEA

Podcast Player with Smart Muting

Hear us out…a podcast player app which mutes people whose opinions no one wants to hear.

Based on the mock up we don’t expect Jason to want to invest in the pre-seed round.

BIG DECK ENERGY

Yuga Labs’ $450m Series A Deck

Year: 2022

Stage: Series A

Amount: $450m

Yuga Labs is the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club and owner of the most valuable NFT projects on the market, which are a lot less valuable today than when they raised this round. See the deck they used to raise $450m in 2022 right here.

JUST THE TIP

The Secret +$1bn Newsletter Business

We’re a little biased here, but we like newsletters a lot.

They’re fun, informative and as long as you keep reading we’ll be able to monetise this baby and you’ll keep us from a life of crime.

But newsletters are often seen as small businesses, side hustles even. Even the biggest players in the newsletter space like Morning Brew and the Hustle are worth less than $100m. But what if I told you there’s a newsletter business that’s worth more than $1bn.

Well there is, and it’s called the Agora. It’s a collection of 120+ finance and healthcare newsletters, as well as some adjacent businesses all adding up to a billion dollar media empire. All told their collection pulls in over $1bn each year. If you want a more in depth look at their business you can do so here.

Cool, but is there a lesson in this?