UP286 The Athlete Investor trend

Why are so many leading athletes putting their money in to early stage sports tech ventures? What are the pros and cons of having Serena Williams, LeBron James, Naomi Osaka, Tiger Woods or Lewis Hamilton on the cap table of investors? What is being traded for equity in the business, is it cash or fame, or access to the opportunity? And below the 1% of superstar athletes, how is this trend impacting the athlete endorsement market, where the nature of sport sponsorship is changing rapidly.To help us answer these and other questions are Ishveen Jolly and Andrew Petcash.Ishveen Jolly is CEO and Founder of OpenSponsorship, a global marketplace platform for sports sponsorship, matching brands to professional athletes, creators and influencers. Andrew Petcash is a former elite college basketball player turned sports entrepreneur, investor and author of the Profluence Sports newsletter and podcast that breaks down the business issues surrounding the emergence of the NIL market that allows college athletes to trade on their own name, image and likeness for commercial gain.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.