176 Steven Aldrich on Entrepreneurship, Ownership, and Building the Oakland Roots

Steven Aldrich, Chair and early investor in Oakland Roots Sports Club, joins the Sports Business Leaders Podcast to share how a purpose-driven vision helped build one of the most unique organizations in professional soccer.Before entering sports, Steven built a career as an entrepreneur, investor, and technology executive, including more than a decade at Intuit and serving as Chief Product Officer at GoDaddy. Today, he helps lead Oakland Roots SC and Oakland Soul SC, two clubs built around using soccer as a force for positive impact in Oakland.Steven discusses the journey from an early idea to a professional sports organization, why the Roots opened real equity ownership to more than 6,000 fans, and how community impact influences everything from sponsorships and ticketing to vendors and investment.He also shares advice for entrepreneurs looking to sell into sports, including why understanding a team’s priorities, keeping pilots simple, and making implementation easy can make the difference when trying to earn a partnership.