VENTURING WITH
Good morning!
My friend showed me a Jamaican cover of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” I think I might like it more than the original. Am I allowed to say that?
Showtime.
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THE INTERVIEW
SEQL’S Robert de Wolff
Earlier this week, I caught up with Robert de Wollf, Co-founder and CEO of SEQL.
SEQL, (Sports Equality), is a company looking to disrupt amateur athletics by breaking down barriers in the space and pioneering a more equitable future.
In the conversation below, Rob and I discuss SEQL, their star-studded cap table, their business model, and a whole lot more. (This interview is edited for length and clarity.)
Alan Soclof (AS): Rob! What’s up, man? Glad that we are finally having a conversation that will be shared with the Just Raised subscribers! What is SEQL all about?
Robert de Wolff (RDW): SEQL (Sports Equality) is a platform that is disrupting amateur athletics. We are looking to build the LinkedIn for high school and college athletes.
Every year there’s 9 million athletes at the high school and collegiate level in the US alone that are looking for opportunities, a college scholarship, a brand endorsement, and more. We want all of the conversations with coaches, sponsors, and schools to flow through the SEQL platform.
AS: What inspired you to launch SEQL?
RDW: So much in modern day amatuer athletics has to do with where you’re from and your parents’ financial status. I personally grew up really fortunate, but my best friend and co-founder Bryant grew up in a completely different socioeconomic status.
This did not sit right with either of us. Your skin color and parents’ credit report should not affect your career. And at the beginning of COVID we said enough is enough and knew it was time to launch SEQL.
AS: What does SEQL’s business model look like?
RDW: The way that we've set up our business model is that we are free for athletes. And we monetize from colleges, corporate brands, and everybody else that wants to interact with this database.
So the question is then: How do we get athletes onto the platform? Three ways:
Videographer services: We have an Uber-like service where you can literally press one button and request someone to record your game footage from our platform.
MasterClass-like classes: We have agility drills, sport-specific training videos, financial literacy classes, etc. all on our platform taught by the most accomplished athletes, like All-Pro NFL WR Deandre Hopkins, NBA champion Quinn Cook, WNBA legend Nancy Leiberman, and many more.
Influencer marketing: Leveraging these accomplished athletes’ socials
AS: How the heck did you pull off getting these athletes on your platform?
RDW: More DMs than you could ever imagine and a whole lot of persistence!
AS: I love it! One more question about your business model and then I will let you go back to running your company. What do you think the profit margins of a business like SEQL’s can look like?
RDW: Great question. We are operating in a fast growing sector of business called “Impact As A Service” (IaaS). This is a form of revenue that comes in from companies that want to make a social impact.
Massive corporations would give funds dedicated to their social impact, ESG, and CSR marketing dollars to essentially sponsor our athlete initiatives. So when an athlete gets a free highlight tape, it will say “brought to you by (insert massive corporate brand name here).”
That is the vision.
AS: Robert. It has been a true pleasure! Keep making your vision a reality and changing the lives of so many.
RDW: Thanks man! Talk soon.
Pictured: NFL All-Pro Deandre Hopkins Repping SEQL
Alan’s Angle:
Impact as a service: The world of business is evolving right before our eyes. Consumers are demanding that corporations operate under strong values and social impact is a must. Nike, Adidas, Gatorade, etc. are dedicating millions and millions of dollars to equality and social causes. In February, Gatorade announced the “Fuel Tomorrow” initiative, dedicating more than $10M over the next five years to social causes around athletics. SEQL is poised to be a serious beneficiary from this trend.
Endorsements & brand: For businesses to succeed in the athletic arena, a sweet brand and athlete endorsements are musts — and SEQL has both. NFL All-Pro WR Deandre Hopkins, NBA champion Quinn Cook, NFL Pro Bowler Ryan Clark, and many, many more. Not only are these athletes often investors in the company, but they also consistently rep the brand on the biggest stages. To high school athletes, being affiliated with these stars is priceless, and this has been a key to SEQL’s success to this point.
Tattoo: Robert & SEQL look to make a permanent impact on athlete’s lives — something he is so serious about that he was willing to get some permanent ink on his wrist to the tune of “Sports Equality.” Would I ever recommend a founder getting a tattoo of the name of their venture on their wrist? Definitely not. But if I were an investor, I would absolutely love it.
I am so excited about what SEQL is building, I might be sliding into Rob’s DMs soon to see if I can sneak just a few bucks into the company!
CHART OF THE DAY
The Rise of TikTok
Source: The Network EC
TikTok’s dominance took a massive leap in 2021, with the average user spending 25.7 hours per month on the app.
This is 2 hours more than users engaged with YouTube (23.7 hours monthly).
I anticipate TikTok will continue skyrocketing, Instagram will stay consistent, and Facebook will see engagement plummet.
RECENT ROUNDS
Jomboy Media
What They Do: Multimedia sports company
Amount Raised: $5M
Lead Investors: Connect Ventures
The Rundown: If you love baseball, you love Jomboy. Jomboy has become a household name in the sports media industry through his legendary breakdown videos of key in-game moments.
The money will be used to continue to build out Jomboy Media as a company — they’ll now look for a CEO and PR team, and to acquire marquee talent.
Learn More: Press Release & Company Website
HireLogic
What They Do: Modernize interviewing process
Amount Raised: $4M
The Rundown: Harvard Business School and Accenture found that 88% of employers feel that they screen out qualified candidates using current tools and processes. HireLogic is looking to change that.
The company is looking to modernize interviewing processes by deploying machine-based learning hiring intelligence software to organizations of any size.
Learn More: Press Release & Company Website
Kabata
What They Do: Creating smart dumbbells
Amount Raised: $2M seed round
Lead Investors: Courtside Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Tribe Capital
The Rundown: Kabata is looking to make our workouts even smarter by embedding technology into dumbbells. This would enable people at the gym to receive live coaching as well as track their progress.
Kabata has some serious celeb backing including NBA owners/executives and professional athletes across a variety of sports.
Learn More: Press Release & Company Website
TRIVIA TIME
Q: According to Kruze Consulting, what is the average salary of a startup CEO that has raised more than $10M?
JOBS
Here are three of my favorite jobs from the startup/VC world today. Click here to post a job on the Just Raised Job Board and get it featured.
Blue Origin, IT Project Coordinator
Blue Origin is a company focused on lowering the cost of spaceflight and exploring the solar system. The IT Project Coordinator will work directly under the Project Manager ensuring that deadlines are met and teams are able to collaborate fluidly, as well as ensuring the success of all things IT.
Revel is looking to make EVs synonymous with cities by making it easy to rent electric mopeds, access ride sharing, and find electric charging stations. In this gig, the analyst will be working with all of Revel’s data, visualizations, etc., and work to extract takeaways as well as creating predictive analytics.
SydeCar, Venture Sales Associate
SydeCar is looking to expedite and simplify the VC/private investment process. The company recently raised an $8.3M seed round where they will use the funds to continue to build out back office operations for investors so they can focus on making deals and not spreadsheets. In this gig, the associate will be on the front lines finding inbound leads and supporting referrals.
GOLDEN NUGGETS
100% hooked on the NYT daily Mini Crossword. It’s like Wordle, but fun.
In this clip, Tampa Bay Ray Joey Wendle looks like he was pulled right out of 1927. What a call by our friend Sam.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi shared a phenomenal email to the company detailing the company’s shift in focus to Free Cash Flow.
Lady Gaga’s new song “Hold My Hand” is incredible. Anthem.
FINAL THOUGHT
Inject This Meme Into My Veins
Thanks for reading! If you have any feedback, please reply back to this email. See you on Friday.
— Alan (@alansoclof)
Trivia answer: $200K. Check out this TechCrunch article for more!
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