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This week we interviewed Justin Forsett a former NFL running back turned entrepreneur. He is now the CEO of Hustle Clean, a self care brand for the active lifestyle.
Justin has played for 9 years in the NFL for a number of NFL teams such as the Seattle Seahawks, the Colts, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions, and Denver Broncos.
Founded in 2019, Hustle Clean is a performance hygiene company delivering personal active care products to people who want to do more and be more throughout their day, without compromise. Hustle Clean, formerly Shower Pill, has grown from the success of their award-winning body and face wipes to create a full range of personal care products, specifically designed for the active individual and ‘everyday athlete’. Proudly based in Frisco, Texas, Justin’s products can be found around the country in Target and online from HustleClean.com or Amazon. You can visit their website at hustleclean.com to learn more about Justin’s story.
Video: The Hustle Clean story
Hustle Clean offers a number of products such as outside of the shower on-the-go products or cleaning products. For example they offer a disposable washcloth, antibacterial towelette that removed sweat, dirt, and body odor.
They also offer a muscle relief recovery soak enabling athletes to recover quickly after interval of training or a game.
Picture: Hustle Clean products
Hustle Clean is currently being used by a growing number of pro teams such as the Houston Dynamo FC (MLS) and the US Women's National Soccer Team in pro soccer. In the NFL, the Seattle Seahawks, the Baltimore Ravens, and the Buffalo Bills, are among Hustle Clean customers.
Picture: Select Hustle Clean customer.
Hustle Clean has been featured on popular American TV shows such as Shark Tank, ESPN, Good Morning America, just to name a few.
Hustle Clean has also been working with top athletes, actors and artists such as Alysia Montano, Heidi Gardner, and Lecrae.
?Show Notes: Through this interview with Justin, we touched on his background in elite sports as a former NFL player. We also discussed his company, products and the benefits for the teams and athletes. We also touched on the best NFL players he played against and the best coaches he played for. Lastly we discussed his plans for the next 12 months.
Best Quotes: Here’s some of the key discussion points and best quotes from our conversation with Justin:
On his background in elite sports as a former NFL player:
“ I'm a former nine years NFL Veteran Pro Bowl running back for the Baltimore Ravens. I bounced around as a journeyman for most of that career, predominantly with the Ravens and the Seahawks. And then I had a cup of coffee, if you will, with a number of other teams”.
“But it was quite the journey, with a lot of really great highs, being a pro bowler player, being a top 100 player and top five running back in 2014 in rushing yards. but I was also fired six times. I was demoted. I had some injuries that I had to overcome later in my career”.
On his humble beginnings:
“I came from very humble beginnings. I grew up in a small town and I didn't have a lot growing up, but we had enough and I just wanted more for myself and for my family. Some of the struggles that I went through, I didn't want my future kids to deal with that, so I felt like football was going to be my vehicle out”.
“I Saw a guy named Barry Sanders one a Sunday afternoon, I watched him dipping dash through defenses, I watched him electrify stadiums across the country. And I was like, man, this is what I want to do for a living. And I just started to pursue that dream and the dream ended up coming true for me”.
On how he started his entrepreneurial journey:
“So my entrepreneur journey started while I was actually playing because I was cut six times throughout my career. Around that second time, there was a Sports Illustrated article that came out that said that 80% of NFL players two years after they retire, either go bankrupt, get divorced, or become depressed”.
“So I'm sitting at my locker and I'm in Seattle, and at the time I'm thinking like, what do I want to do next? What could I be doing if football doesn't pan out for me? And I just felt the entrepreneur bug as my parents were entrepreneurs. I knew I wanted to lead my own path. I knew I was a problem solver, a leader (…) We had an idea to come up with Hustle Clean, and it started off with the pain point within the locker room”.
On what Hustle Clean is and his mission:
“So Hustle Clean is a mission-driven self care brand for the active lifestyle. So what we do is that we create hygiene, wellness and recovery products for the everyday athlete and fitness enthusiast. It came from a place in the locker room where we were always on the go. We were at time poor individuals, very busy and we didn't have anything that resonated with us with self-care outside of a cold tub and a hot tub, which is really service level”.
On where he saw a need in the market for Hustle Clean:
“There was no brand that spoke to us like Nike or Under Armour within the space. So we're like, man, let's come up with something we know. We sweat a lot. We know there are no real true brands that are speaking to us in the self-care space, in the wellness space. So let's create it”.
“And we first addressed the hygiene problem where there are a lot of opportunities when a lot of times I should say, when a shower was optimum, and where guys had deferred shower moments and we're like, let's create a shower on”.
On the Hustle Clean products from the shower on-the-go product to the muscle relief recovery soak product:
“We created this disposable washcloth, antibacterial towelette that removed sweat, dirt, and body odor”.
“We've had a number of products and we even have products for outside of the shower on-the-go product or cleaning products. We've dived into the wellness space too”.
“So now we have a muscle relief recovery soak (…) We have products where our athletes can recover quickly after interval of training or a game. It's been really cool to add value there within the recovery space. And we have more products coming soon in that recovery product category”.
On how Hustle Clean business grew over the years, how he got onto the popular TV show like Shark Tank, and Good Morning America:
“So we literally just threw it up on Amazon and it was a side hustle for me and my two teammates who I started the business with, that I played with at Cal, at UC Berkeley, where I went to school”.
“We hustled. We got the product up and year over year it just kept growing until I retired. And we started see great growth, when I retired in 2017. I then fully immersed myself in the business as CEO and co-founder”.
“We started getting on a TV show called Shark Tank and then Good Morning America”.
On how Hustle Clean signed distribution deals with Target, REI and Orange Theory:
“Then we started getting into brick and mortar retailers. We signed Target as a partner and it has been going on for about six years. We also added on new partners like REI and Orange Theory and a few other brands around the country. So it's been really cool to transition into something that I'm just as equally or even more passionate about than I was with football. And I found my purpose in it”.
On the teams (Ravens/NFL, Seahawks, Houston Dynamo fc/MLS..), the US Women's National Soccer Team) currently using Hustle Clean:
“So we work with a number of teams. For example in pro soccer, some of our customers include the Houston Dynamo FC (MLS) and the US Women's National Soccer Team here in the States. In the NFL, we work with the Seattle Seahawks, the Baltimore Ravens, and the Buffalo Bills”.
On how they distribute and sell the Hustle products to pro teams:
“We buy our products in bulk and wholesale and we hand them out to the teams (…) And then they'll re-up as as needed as the product goes through. So that's how we work with the pro teams”.
On how much Hustle Clean products cost:
“The retail price for the wipes and the cleaning product, the recovery product is $9 99 at retail. The wholesale cost is essentially around half of that, which we normally work with the teams on that”.
“We feel like it's a great price point. We're getting great value, and the teams are getting products that are not only good for the athletes, but good for the environment as our relief soak is made out of recycled material and recycle paper”.
On the fact that their products are not masking agents and can help build the athletes’ skin back up:
“These are not masking agents. They're not only gonna make you smell good, but it's also going to build the skin back up. We are making sure that it's going to repair and recover the dermis as it's been put through the ringer as being a high level athlete”.
“So our materials are the substrate that we use. They are stronger, bigger, tougher than any other products that's out on the market. And the ingredients that we use are better for you and healthy. We use ingredients that you can read about. So, that's how we set ourselves apart from the competition”.
On the fact that they are expanding their footprint and product portfolio this year:
“As far as how our footprint grows, we're at around a little over maybe 3000 doors. We're expanding our footprint this year. We're expanding our product offering on all of our platforms and within our retailers. So the brand is growing and we're seeing great inflection points within the space even with our current partners”.
On the best NFL players he played against:
“Regarding the best players I played against I would say J.J. Watt, Julius Peppers on the defensive side. They were pretty phenomenal. I would also mention Patrick Willis. These are some really great athletes, Hall of Fame caliber players that could really disrupt the game at any moment and against who I loved to battle against on a Sunday”.
On the best coaches he played for:
“As far as coaches, I played for some really good coaches. For example, Gary Kubiak and Pete Carroll taught me a lot about team culture, accountability, and competition. Tony Dungy taught me a lot about caring for the individual more than the production of the performance of an individual”.
“So you felt more than just a number when you played with Tony Dungy and you were ready to run through a wall for a man that you knew, that cared about you more as a man than what you could do on a football field, which was special. And it leads me to even now how I run my company is just leading with empathy”.
“But there's also a time in which I had John Harbaugh who could be very maniacal about preparation and studying like he was. A step above anybody when he came to this to have us ready to play on a Sunday, and give us the right information if you want to talk about the militaries and the right reconnaissance to make sure that we can execute at a high level”.
On his plans for the next 12 months:
“For us, it's going to be about going deeper with our current partners, and not necessarily going wider. In 2023, there's a lot of uncertainty in a lot of different ways. We are talking about economics, supply chain and inflation and consumer, but higher consumer behaviors are changing potentially as we go deeper into a recession”.
“So making sure that we have whatever we need to be sustainable to make it through, is important. But also looking for opportunities for us to grow smart and not taking too many risk or shots. It's about being conservative as much as we can and doubling down on what we know actually works to drive sales and drive growth”.
On how he expects to see growth outside of the US as well:
“So we just signed a contract with Orange Theory in which we launched this month. And they have places all over the globe. So we will eventually start spreading out into some of these global markets outside of the United States”.
“But right, right now we are heavily focused on North America as most of our sales and partnerships are here. But you are going to start seeing a little more of a footprint of us outside of the states as well as we, as our partnerships grow”.
On how to order Hustle Clean products:
“You can simply go to hustleclean.com or you can go to a local Target or Amazon to purchase our products”.
“ I'm originally from Mexico where I did my undergrad. I studied electrical engineering. Then I went to the US to study computer science at Carnegie Mellon. And after that I studied [biomedical engineering] at Columbia University. Although I didn't finish that degree, I was already running a corporate research group at Autodesk, a software company for designing engineering tools. And it was at that time that we decided to create this startup outside of Autodesk”.
On how he got the idea of launching LogicInk:
“So the initial vision of the company was about functionalizing body-based self-expression meaning that we saw that tattoos are ever more so common, especially in younger people”.
“And at the same time it was an amazing opportunity to be able to functionalize them and show something that is important to you and also that could be concealed because it doesn't need to be something that everybody has to know and that can be very personalized. So that's how we started the company from that vision”.
On how he decided to focus on DNA nanotech:
“And then connecting that to, in our specific case, we're mostly focused on DNA nanotech and to some extent CRISPR-Cas systems. And we just like the idea that we're making a deep tech-enabled consumer-facing application”.
On its backers (Village Global, Thiel Foundation, Metaplanet):
“Our investors are VCs who are, in the case of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, who are backed by them and many others. So that group is called Village Global. It's is an amazing team”.
“It's not only Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, it's also Mark Zuckerberg and many, many other prominent people in Silicon Valley mostly. Besides them, there's the Thiel Foundation that is part of the Peter Thiel umbrella. It's the super early stage fund. Also we have the support from people like Jaan Tallinn, who's one of Skype co-founders through his fund called Metaplanet”.
On his focus and vision to detect sequences of DNA or RNA in saliva:
“Our main focus is in actually creating a platform that we call Genetic Signal. And once completed we'll be able to detect arbitrary sequences of DNA or RNA in saliva with the same sensitivity or similar sensitivity to PCR, which is the benchmark in testing of nucleic acids”.
“But the challenge with PCR systems is that that they're very expensive. They require traditionally a central lab, and they don't scale, and they're difficult to use. They also require batteries. They're not something that we would just use in the field or at home very easily”.
“So what we are working on is in a next generation, highly sensitive molecular test platform called genetic signal that won't have the same applications that you use for PCR, meaning from the early detection of cancer, long before symptoms appear to neurological diseases, to basically every single thing where you hear PCR. We will be able to replace or expand those markets”.
On his plan to release a product that can detect athletes’ hydration levels in the future:
“So we came across this idea that we could use a subset of that [Genetic Signal] technology to be able to detect hydration levels, for example, in athletes or also in the elderly population, or even for other applications such as preserving the safety of field workers, and farmers, et cetera. Now our main focus is in athletes, but I just want to make sure that it's clear that it can be used elsewhere, and we're excited about that”.
On the great amount of interest for his upcoming product he is seeing in pro sports right now:
“We're seeing, thanks to amazing sports advisors, including former world champions and just people who are highly connected to pro league sports, we're seeing an incredible traction in this direction. And just to be completely honest with you, that is incredibly important for a small startup that has a big vision, but has to also show market validation if it's going to be able to achieve its maximum potential. So we're excited about that direction”.
On the fact that its hydration assessment device is very low cost, can assess the hydration level quickly by analyzing silva:
“We think we're close to delivering something that can make a difference in athletes’ routines so that they don't need to be taking urine [specific] gravity tests or something more invasive. And then they can easily get a sense of their hydration levels, but with just a quick saliva sample”.
“And I think what's interesting also is the low cost. It's going to be very low cost. And you can get the results almost right away”.
On the fact that LogicInk’s hydration assessment device will helps teams reduce soft tissue injuries as well:
“And again our expertise is in biosensors, but what we're learning from experts in sports, and by talking to pro-league teams is that is not just the fact that it's something that is easy to use, but the main goal or one of the underlying goals of getting athletes tested is that by ensuring that they're properly hydrated, we are reducing the risk of soft tissue injury, which as you know, is very common”.
“When you're dehydrated, your muscles become tense. When muscles are tense, sprains and tears are common. So in a way, we're just [...] helping an athlete by empowering them with information so that they can stay properly hydrated [improve performance] and reduce the risk of soft tissue injury, which is important”.
On their product’s competitive advantage such as its low cost approach, ease of use, and form factor:
“One challenge with sweat patches is that they require you to perform exercise and sometimes for a long time such as 20, 40 minutes, and even more time sometimes”.
“So you can imagine that if you have an athlete that is already dehydrated, and starts to do exercise just to learn that they're dehydrated, you are incurring in a higher risk of injury, whereas if you can take a quick saliva sample, sometimes even the night before, you know when you can do something about it in time. That is a more productive use of a biosensor. So I think that is one competitive advantage we have, that we can assess hydration levels before you begin to exercise and also after”.
“And then the other competitive advantage is that the form factor is so simple to use and the cost is so significantly different than let's say electronics-based devices that are out there, that it just makes it easy for everybody to use, whenever they think they need to test for their hydration levels”.
On their business model:
“We're a small startup at this point, and the most direct way to get to market right now is through B2B partnerships. However, as we keep growing ultimately to be able to reach our growth goals, we will build up skills in the team, acquire new skills so that we can execute a B2C, go-to-market strategy that follows the B2B launch. That's our goal”.
On their plans for the next 12 months:
“We are determined to finish an MVP of the hydration signal so that we can start running pilots in the second half of 2023, at which point we will be ready sometime in the first half of 2024 for a broad release of the hydration signal”.
“And then in parallel to that, we also want to make sure that within the next 12 months, we can already start to run pilots for the genetic signal platform, which is this PCR-equivalent platform that that can be used at home or in the field without any instrumentation or batteries”.
“And therefore, it is a massively scalable approach to PCR testing. And by the way, our initial focus, as far as we know today, will be in the sports market. And I can't wait to tell you more as we become more public about that”.
So as part of that we thought that it would make sense to interview again Adam Cheyer, the co-founder of Siri (sold to Apple), and Viv Labs (sold to Samsung), and known as a world’s pioneer in the world of AI. You can also listen to the full podcast interview by clicking on the button at the beginning of this article.
?Show Notes: Throughout our conversation, we touched on what ChatGPT is, and why there is so much hype about it these days. Then we talked about what is unique about ChatGPT, and some of the most exciting uses cases for Chat GPT that he has come across. We also touched on who the winners (e.g. Microsoft, Google..) might be among the big tech companies. Then we discussed whether or not ChatGPT or similar generate AIs will eliminate jobs.
?Best Quotes: Here’s some of the key discussion points and best quotes from our conversation with Adam:
On the progress made by ChatGPT:
“I think that this last version called ChatGPT 3.5, surprised people, and even experts in this field. I was shocked. (…) In 2017, I was working with a team on that, and so I watched it, I saw the uses of it in 2018, 2019. And in 2020, ChatGPT 3.0 came out. I'm like, oh, okay. That's getting a little bit better than I expected. And as I said last year at the end of 2022, they came out with a new version and it was surprising and shocking to me”.
On Microsoft investing $10B into OpenAI the creator of ChatGPT:
Microsoft didn't just invest in OpenAI, they invested $10B into a startup (OpenAI). So it's not just a minor investment. And now everyone, Facebook, Google are trying to capture mind share”.
On the new paradigm shift happening with ChatGPT:
“Now, the reason is, I say that every 10 plus years, the way we interact with computers changes. Back in 2007/2008 the smartphone came out. And again, there were a major winner and a minor winner namely, Apple and Google/Android. And the companies really became successful for that decade”.
“And I believe, and I've been predicting that around 2020 to 2022, that a new interface paradigm would emerge. And that's why I started Viv Labs, the kind of work in that space, et cetera”.
“But I said back then that a conversational assistant would come out, and it's not going to replace a graphical interface. It won't replace mobile or the web, but I think it's a major new paradigm. And whereas we fell a little bit short with Viv Labs. At Viv Labs we created a great technology, but it didn't make the wide stream adoption. I think chatGPT broke through and will create this whole new era around conversational interface”.
On what is unique about ChatGPT compared to previous digital assistants:
“With ChatGPT, you can now ask an assistant pretty much anything and get an extremely reasonable and reasoned answer (…) And the second thing is that you can ask complex tasks”.
On how ChatGPT can answer complex tasks:
“So for example, I'm planning my 25th wedding anniversary, and I want to go for two weeks down the west coast. So I said plan and itinerary down the west coast of California for two weeks. Recommend cities where I should stop, and places to stay and things to see and do. And it's for my 25th wedding anniversary”.
“And that's something that no Siri, no search engines could ever attempt to answer. And yet ChatGPT can say, here's an itinerary. But first it said, congratulations on your 25th wedding anniversary. Here's an itinerary that will be romantic and have the best aspects of California. And it went and it said day one and two, go here (..) And so on, and the coolest thing was that it was not trained specifically for that task. So you could ask a any complex questions and you'll get a surprisingly interesting answer for pretty much anything”.
On how ChatGPT can save your preferences:
“Part of your question can be your preferences. So I could have said, I'd like to plan a trip for my 25th wedding anniversary. And then, I'm a vegetarian. I like basketball and sports. And I can enter in that information as part of my query or as context to the query”.
“But you have to tell him, you have to tell ChatGPT these are my preferences. It's not like he knows already your preferences, but it's not too hard to write a program that saves your preferences. And for anything you said before, that you typed before, it can add at the front of that query anything you've saved as your preferences”.
On ChatGPT being used into avatars and robots already:
“There are already apps and Siri shortcuts and Alexa skills that just take the words, send it to ChatGPT, speak it back. I've also seen versions where they've hooked up an avatar, meaning a human-like Face, and I've even seen a physical robot that you can walk up to that has a face and some expressions using ChatGPT”.
On which big tech companies will likely be the winners in the ChatGPT and generative AI race:
“I wouldn't put it past Microsoft. And which companies have a lot of our text and, and text interfaces? Microsoft and Google are two. Microsoft has Outlook with all my calendar and email. Google has Gmail (…) Microsoft has PowerPoint. There are a lot of text in that. Google also has Google, Google Slides and Google Docs, et cetera. So these technologies and large language models are primarily about text input, text and maybe graphics and commands output”.
“So there'll be perfect things to put into your email systems, into your writing tools. So Microsoft realized that and they're going in hard with ChatGPT. They say it will be integrated in every technical, every product they have, and they have a lot of tech-based products. So I think they have a good shot”.
“Google has many of the same kinds of tools as Microsoft, so I think they are well positioned and Google is an expert at scale. They are experts at running machine learning algorithms for the entire internet on massive amounts of computers. And what does this technology need? It's very computational. It requires a lot of data and a lot of processing. And who's got the most data? Who's got the most processing? It's Google, in my opinion”.
On his belief that Microsoft has an early lead but that Google should lead in the Generate AI space in the long run:
“I think that Google is maybe a year or two behind Open AI and Microsoft. And so are Facebook, Amazon and Apple. But if you're looking from a long run perspective, who has the real DNA and the real skills to succeed in this space? I think Google has the most experience in what's needed”.
“So I would say for the short term, Microsoft will be the leader. Google and Facebook and others will be like, me too, me too. We've got stuff. But they're playing catch up, but they want to capture that mindshare. And then I think in the long run, like two years plus, I think that Google can take the lead again”.
On the fact that ChatGPT is the fastest adopted technology in history with 100M daily users in 2 months:
“When ChatGPT 3.5 came out, everyone went, whoa, it's the fastest adopted technology in history. There's something like 300 million people signed up in the first two months, and more than 100 million daily active users. This is crazy”.
“So why is that? It wasn't because OpenAI had better algorithms, and it might not even have been that they had better data, but I think it was because they hired some people who were able to scale this up efficiently very, very well”.
“I mean engineers, low level engineers who can really squeeze out the greatest amount of compute juice out of that lemon. And it's an Art. And I think that their models were bigger and bigger than anyone had ever tried before. And it went like this, getting better and better and then zoom”.
On the most exciting use cases he has seen with ChatGPT:
“Marketing for instance, is an incredible use case. If you're trying to write marketing copy, or build a website, it can write the copy almost better than you do the website”.
“I'll give you an example. I was trying to hire someone and I said, I have an open role. I'm looking for A, B, C, D, and I just had some features and qualifications. I said, write a job description for with these requirements, and it's put together a full, beautiful, fleshed out job description. Better than I could have written in a few seconds”.
“Here's another example. So, as you know, I speak French very well, but I learned it 30 years ago. So I said, ChatGPT, I'd like to practice my French. I said let's talk about a topic that I don't know very well. Let's converse back and forth, and if I make mistakes, please correct me. And it was correcting me as I made mistakes. It was like, and it's perfect grammar”.
On the fact that ChatGPT can rewrite its own code:
“So I first started typing, write me a a sub-routine that will do X (..) And I go, okay, that's good, but I want to change it so that this happens instead, and it rewrote its own code. And It wasn't just spitting back some preexisting thing. I can interact with it, say what I wanted to change in English, and it understood enough to make the right changes”.
“That blew my mind and there's some evidence that by learning on code, by training its models over text, from code repositories like GitHub, it actually learned things about causality, loops, iterations, all these concepts of logic that matter for programming”.
On the impact of ChatGPT on jobs:
“I think every job such as lawyers or teachers, and even sports teams will find ways to use this technology to give them an advantage. And their jobs will change, but not be eliminated”.
On how sports teams could start using ChatGPT:
“You don't have to be a computer scientist or data analyst. You can start trying these technologies today and then for every aspect of your marketing, audience engagement strategy, high level strategy, low level strategy if it's sports related”.
“Try putting in some statistics and asking questions about it. I'm curious to type in, “On Monday we're going to play a team that plays small ball, runs really fast and has two good three pointers. What strategy should I use? Just to see what it says. But I bet it will give you some interesting viewpoints to kind of test your ideas and, and it's very good at brainstorming situational type things, so I would try that”.
Pictures: Thad Young’s portfolio of startups at Reform Ventures
?Show Notes: Through this interview with Thad, we touched on his background as an NBA player, investor, and philanthropist. Then we discussed the importance of technologies for him as an athlete. We also touched on how he ended up investing in startups and building his own family office. We also talked about how he is doing his due diligence on startups. We also talked about the best NBA players he played against, the best coaches he played for. Lastly we discussed some of his favorite portfolio startups.
Best Quotes: Here are some of the key discussion points and best quotes from our conversation with Thad:
On his background as an NBA player and investor:
“I am an NBA athlete. I got drafted in the NBA in 2007 as the overall 12th pick (…)I have played for many different NBA teams, but I am not just a basketball player. I've also built an amazing portfolio of investments outside of the entertainment space, which is basketball”.
I have built Reform Ventures. I also have real estate investments and some cash flow opportunities, which is bringing in things outside of basketball”.
On the fact that he built its own family office and has invested in over 200 companies:
“I created my own family office where we act as a VC company and we angel invest into a ton of different companies, and try to keep it diverse across the board. I think to date we've invested into over 200 companies through funds, funds to funds, direct investments, and regular angel investments from the different groups that we've been able to align ourselves with”.
On the fact that he has built a great network of VCs to get a great deal flow source where him and his team evaluate 40 to 50 deals a month:
“We have several different partners, including some of the top 20 VC firms around the world. We've created a really good network and a really good deal flow source for ourselves. We are probably looking at 40 to 50 deals a month”.
“I am just trying to screen through it with the small team that I do have. It's been great so far. We've seen some really good exits (…) It is been a really fruitful business to be in. And I love the alternative investment side”.
On his goals as an investor outside of basketball:
“I want to be something bigger than just a basketball player or an athlete. I want to make as much money outside of the court that I've made on the court. So that's one of my goals and dreams. It is to take this thing as far as I can take it as far as investing in, being an entrepreneur and being a business owner and scaling businesses. I love basketball, but I also love the business side of things too”.
“Basketball is on autopilot for me. I can do basketball in my sleep. But this business, that's where the real hard work comes in. And that's what it's been for me. It is just a bunch of hard work and just time putting into it”.
On how he got the entrepreneurial spirit early on in his life:
“I was fortunate enough to have some people in my family that stepped in. One of them was my uncle Kenneth Carter. He's no longer with us today, but he was that person that stepped in and started mentoring me on the business side”.
“And then there was my dad who played basketball. He understood the basketball aspect of everything. And my mom was one of those tough mothers (...) I've always had that entrepreneurial mindset because I've always been interested in business”.
“If this basketball thing doesn't work out, how am I going to be able to be a provider for, not just myself, but my family so that I will have in the future? So I've always had that at the back of my mind with anything that I've done from day one”.
On how he applied his high level of discipline as an athlete to the business side:
“When this thing started when I was 16 years old, it started with me starting to learn how to train as a pro, how to eat as a pro, how to sleep as a pro, how to do everything as a pro. And I took that same approach and put it into the business side. Even with basketball, you watch films and you are always studying. So I'm doing the same thing on the business side each and every day.”.
“Basketball teaches everything that we need in the business world. It teaches us team building, comradery, leadership skills, life skills, and organization skills. It teaches us all of those things”.
How the importance of technologies for him as an athlete and the state of the sports technology industry:
“We're seeing companies just coming out the wazoo. When I first came into the NBA, technology wasn't as big on the NBA side. But nowadays we use technology for everything, to try to monitor workloads, to monitor how much force a guy is pushing off one leg to the other. We use technology to monitor jumps, runs, or hip symmetry. We are also always taking biometrical scans of our flexibility. Technology is definitely something that's changed over the course of time and it's really sped up with COVID”.
“COVID has sped technology up 10 years by far, and we're seeing some of the best technologies that I think we have probably ever seen”.
On how he ended up building his own process to do his due diligence on potential startup investments:
“After my first investment didn't pan out, I started to gain the knowledge and understood that, okay, I need to ask to have access to a data room. I need to do appropriate due diligence, and make sure all the legal documents are up to date (…) If we need to change something, negotiate the terms, or the preferred stocks. So I had to learn and understand that”.
“And once I learned and understood that, then you are not just looking at who the founder was, but you are looking at the team that's behind them. You are looking at their experience, the strategic investors, the strategic advisors, who's on the cap table and how those people on the cap table have something in common. So it is all these different things. It helped me form the analysis and the reports on potential investment opportunities.”
On his investment team:
“I've formed my own team. They help me a lot. I have two investment analysis guys that dive into deals and pop out one page investment analysis reports for me to look at. And then I have my fund manager who happens to be my cousin, which is perfect because she's a developer by trade, but she has an MIT degree as well”.
On how he is always looking to invest in the next big thing:
“When we come up with a conclusion on what companies we want to invest into, how we want to look at the big picture for the next year. For me, I relate to the famous rapper Yo Gotti who is always trying to see around the curve before he gets to the corner”.
“That's that's how we are. We're the same exact way. We are just trying to see the future before everybody else does. So it's not about investing into what's the now, it's about investing into what's going to be the next best thing in the next five to 10 years”.
On his favorite startups that he invested in:
“One company that I'm super excited about is Oxefit. It is like Tonal. And I'm an investor into Tonal and it's at a 10 x right now. The founder of Oxefit has exited out of three different companies before and all of them were over a billion dollar companies”.
“The founder of Oxefit is a software guy. He created this Tonal on steroids. They have two hardware products. One is a commercial product and the other one is a residential product. It sits up and it has force plate technology. It does skiing, it does rowing, it does pedal boating. They also have Pilates as well. And you can lift weights on it. It does everything. And you never have to preload a free weight”.
“I think Oxefit is a multi-billion dollar company. I think they've already sold within the first year or two years 1500 to 2000 units. So they're building a great consumer base. They're located 10 minutes from my house in Dallas”.
“One of my other favorite companies is Coco Delivery, a food delivery service that delivers food through drones or robots on the street. And then I like Shoot 360 which is another basketball analytics and technology company who gathers data in real time from a screen”.
“Another company I like in my portfolio is called Huupe, which is basically built a screen inside of a backboard that tracks all of your data and gives you workouts. You can also play action games where you're shooting against another person. You can FaceTime with people, you can watch Games or Netflix on it while you are actually working out”.
One of my other favorite portfolio startups is a Canadian startup called Plantiga that built smart insoles. It is a really good company (…) What we did was that we connected them with another startup I invested in called Move. Jamal Crawford invested in them too. So we've connected those two together to try to see if we can get Plantiga to build a Move insole with an insert in it. So the idea there would be to have Move insoles for kids capable of tracking the kids’ steps, and force while using them”.
On the best coaches he played for:
“I have three favorite coaches. First there is Nate McMillan. He was good to work with. Doug Collins was also a great coach. I think from a preparation standpoint, Doug always had you prepared, he always made sure that you were three games ahead in preparation. I think the biggest thing was that he always worried a lot. But he was a great coach. He gave you a role and what he's seen in you as a player and he tried to maximize those efforts in your role”.
“And then obviously there is coach Pop (Gregg Popovich). Obviously he doesn't have the same teams and the same players that he's had in the past, but he's done a great job at building those young guys up over there. For example, I don't think Dejounte Murray would be Deonte without coming through the Spurs system”.
“Pop’s team does a really good job of not only preparing you, but challenging you on a day-to-day basis. Everything is always a test. They're always trying to break you to see how far you can go, and I think that type of preparation has always been great”.
On the best player in the NBA that he has ever played against:
“I'd probably say the smartest individual is Lebron (James). And regarding the best player as far as scoring, I would say Kobe. And then if we're talking about the hardest player I've had to guard I would say Carmelo Anthony when he was in his prime. By far”.
“Carmelo was almost unstoppable. He was so hard to stop. Everything was orchestrated and ran for him. So he is going to run off three or four screens, so you are going to get bumped by three or four guys before you even get a chance to guard him”.
On how he is paying close attention to the investments made by other NBA players like Steph Curry and Andre Iguodala:
“I pay attention to a lot of the other guys in the NBA and their investments in their funds because it’s cool to see what those guys are investing in. Obviously being in the Silicon Valley, the Warriors have really good deal flow. So for example Andre Iguodala and Steph Curry and all those guys have really good deal flow”.
“But I think I pretty much get all of the same deal flow because I am tapped into the Silicon Valley and California area, as well as in New York and all the different places. So I have a pretty good network where I don't have to depend on other guys for deals”.
On how he is sharing investment ideas with other NBA players:
“It is really guys in the NBA just hitting me up for deals, texting me to ask me “Hey, what do you have on table nine? I might send them five deals and say, look, this is what I'm looking at. This is what I'm thinking about as far as check sizes of deals because a lot of guys in the NBA don't have what I have in place. I've built my own family office. And a lot of guys don't have that”.
[post_title] => Upside Chat with Thad Young, NBA Player (Toronto Raptors), Investor, Entrepreneur, and Philanthropist
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[post_modified] => 2023-07-06 01:14:43
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