The Playknox spoke with Rob Thompson, Founder of a non-profit association GamePlanU connecting early-mid stage sports innovators, industry executives, future leaders and Angel investors. He has also authored books “Land A Dream Job If Dad Doesn’t Own The Team” an Amazon #1 New Book release in 2018, and published ” Sports Dream Job Playbook” helping sports career seekers on their journey.
Tell us about GamePlanU
GamePlanU is a Global Membership Community of Sports Innovation Founders, Investors, Executives, Educators, and Future Leaders. As a non-profit organization our mission is to connect members through a series of ELEVATE – Network, Panel & Pitch in-person events along with monthly educational programming.
How much has COVID19 impacted the sports Start-up industry?
There has certainly been a pause within many of the SportsTech categories, understandably those which applied to the game day experience, but we also saw a substantial investment shift in Gambling, Gaming and E-Commerce platforms.
What are the sports verticals which you think are thriving currently?
We really like digital entertainment, health and wellness and e-commerce. But the one area we really have an eye on is how athletes/entertainment influencers leverage social channels to build a community and new platforms that monetize that community through NFT’s, sponsors, licensed products, 1:1 Interactions, groups, and anything else that is coming. That is super exciting to be part of this shift into individual media empires.
How do you make the decision of narrowing down on which start ups you want to invest in?
We look at the below…
1) Is it a great idea?
2) Is there a large enough market?
3) Can someone easily copy the tech/ IP?
4) Do they have an experienced team that can execute?
5) Is the founder someone we can trust?
What would be your advise to new sports startups?
Before you spend too much time and money on the MVP, spend more time on getting the POC validated by anyone that will listen.
