Andre Fluellen & Brian Zwerner_E37: Entertain and Inform to Win [11/15/2021]
Andre Fluellen & Brian Zwerner, CoFounders at Beyond the Game Network (BTG) in Atlanta [11/15/2021]
Note: References with links are listed at the end of the show notes.
INTRO:
1:00 Andre talks about his NFL start with the Detroit Lions, and what inspired him to start thinking about how to make a positive impact within the team. He shares how professional athletes have influence but not business acumen. It gave him inspiration to start GTG Network.
3:00 Brian talks about his experience as a Founder and a capital markets investor. Then he started a live stream broadcasting startup. He and Andre were announcers together in the startup. They decided to pair up and build their current venture.
SECTION1: Enpacted
5:00 They discuss the community of business execs with female and male professional athletes. They started talking with Founders across verticals and the 15 investments they’ve made across the past few years. Andre talks about how diversity isn’t minority-only. They create a team environment where everyone wins together.
8:00 Talk about what’s happening in Atlanta. They also share the podcasts and articles they create together. And how the team supports building positive stories to entertain and inform. They share their podcast series — see show notes. They share a story about one of their professional athletes taking a full time startup opportunity.
SECTION2: Odds of Success
16:00 Andre shares how athlete mindsets are perfectly geared toward entrepreneurship — with grit and tenacity. But they help guide their athletes to work toward a process geared toward success. We talk about how their athletes are turning toward becoming startup Founders, and how to model their behaviors for their new careers.
SECTION3: Future of Entertainment
21:00 We break out into gatekeeping in media traditionally. Historically, entertainment was controlled with gatekeeping — whereas today, influencer athletes already have an audience and can distribute everywhere. Athletics and fitness can be highly aligned with the former athletes, as they have a process for fitness in their personal lives. They also focus on finding the right fit for each individual. The startups they back can be a tremendous place for the athletes they work with to create synergies among their community.
30:00 Andre and Brian share their vision for BTG and how they want to transition into an annual live event to learn about what’s going on in the space. They want to create more serendipity in their work, and invest around the themes of DTC Media, Mobile Gaming, and Blockchain / NFT gaming space. They also love wearables and sensors for helping people be their best selves.
SOURCES:
-Beyond the Game Network (BTG): https://thebtgnetwork.com/
-BTG Podcast: https://anchor.fm/sportstechx/episodes/Beyond-the-Game-Network---Athletes--business-executives-partnering-with-startups-ecro1g
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Song Credit: The Croft — By Joakim Karud
[ No Copyright on Music and Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 ]
