Beyond Moneyball

Kirk McKeown spent 20 years in investment management data and research. He has worked as an analyst for investment firms Hunter Global, Tudor, and Point72. In 2021, he co-founded Carbon Arc , which is building proprietary tech that unlocks insights from petabytes of existing data on a pay-as-you-go basis. In this episode, Kirk discusses the existing gaps in data markets, how the Carbon Arc model i...

Ajay Krishna spent his early career working on systematic trading and big data equities research at Citadel, then served as head of data science and engineering at analytics firm M Science. In 2022, he founded streamOS , where he is building an operating system that ties together data across the entire financial ecosystem. In this episode, Jake and Ajay talk about the core ideas and incredible pot...

Erkut Sogut holds a doctorate in sports law, and has more than 20 years experience in the football (soccer) agency business.  Erkut is the founder of GROW, a player representation agency, and the creator of five important industry newsletters - one released on each day of the working week.  His book "How to Become a Football Agent" is now in its third edition. In this episode, Jake and E...

Julie Souza is the global head of sports at Amazon Web Services where she drives strategic innovations in data and analytics, generative AI, and next-generation fan experience.  She has previously served as vice president of business development and strategy for ESPN and Second Spectrum. In this episode, Jake and Julie discuss the power of working backwards, specific ways data is making sports saf...

Michael Parekh is a former partner and managing director at Goldman Sachs.  Today, he serves those same roles at MKP Capital Management, focusing on AI and the 4th Tech wave.  Michael was using the internet in the 1980s, and has closely watched the evolution of all things digital.  He regularly shares his insights with the world on his personal Substack . In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss...

Tim Chen is a managing partner at Essence Venture Capital and part-time advisor to Bessemer Venture Partners.  He was a principal engineer at Grid.ai, which created a high-level interface for the Pytorch deep learning network.  Cloudera acquired Tim's machine-learning-based startup, Hyperpilot, in 2018. In this conversation, Tim and Jake drill down on what A.I. businesses and products venture...

Ben Rosencranz spent several years as a strategy and analytics manager with E15 before signing on with the Chicago Blackhawks.  He is currently using advanced analytics and technology to drive decision making for the team, on and off the ice. In this conversation, Jake and Ben discuss how he chooses which data problems to tackle, the exciting new changes data is bringing to fan experience and enga...

Ken Jee is the head of data science for Scouts Consulting Group.  In addition to advising senior sports executives, Ken also hosts his own podcast, He also hosts Ken’s Nearest Neighbors podcast, which he describes as "a quest to compile the most complete study on sports performance ever created." In this episode, Ken discusses what successful data-driven organizations are doing right, st...

Andrew Ehrenberg is the Head of Business Development at WagerWire.  He has ownership stakes in four sports organization and full partnership in Eberg Capital, where he's making big investments in "disruptive sports wagering applications and the commercialization of alternative sports."  He recently found himself in the Kentucky Derby winners circle after syndicating 25% of the winni...

Ben Alamar became Director of Sports Analytics for ESPN a decade ago after the publication of his pioneering book, "Sports Analytics: A Guide for Coaches, Managers, and Other Decision Makers" in 2013.  Since then, Ben has built and managed analytics teams at StubHub and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and is currently working as a data science manager for Apple.   In Ben's second appearanc...

Hadi Sotudeh ⚽📈 is a doctoral student at ETH Zurich studying team tactical formations such as 4-4-2 and 3-5-2 using tracking data. He has previously worked as a football data science consultant for the Performance & Technology department of KNVB (Royal Dutch Football Association) and placed in the top 1% of contestants at the Paris Saint-Germain’s sports analytics challenge. In this episode,...

Varuna De Silva leads the Machine Intelligence Lab at Loughborough University, applying artificial intelligence to engineering problems.  This work has included the integration of A.I. and sports data analytics to provide insights for national and international teams and clubs. In this episode, Varuna, Alec, and fellow Loughborough alum Jake discuss how universities teach students in the rapidly c...

Jessica Gelman has been an influential player in sports data ever since co-founding the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference all the way back in 2008. She is currently the CEO of Kraft Analytics Group and minority partner in the Utah Royals of the National Women's Soccer League. Jessica has designed analytics to build high-performing teams, but also to optimize ticket sales, merchandising an...

Keith Goldner is the Vice President of Data Science, Sports Modeling & Innovation at FanDuel, one of the largest sports betting platforms in the U.S. Keith has over a decade of experience as a consultant with numerous national franchises, as well as contributing analysis to ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and the Wall Street Journal. In this episode, Keith explains why it’s crucial to eliminate sing...

Zack Scott is the founder and CEO of Four Rings Sports Solutions and adviser for Gemini Sports Analytics. Over the past 20 years, Zack’s data-driven leadership has directly contributed to four Boston Red Sox world championships. He spent one year as General Manager of the New York Mets, and he has advised the Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Tigers, and 2023 World Series champion Texas Rangers. In thi...

Suds Gopaladesikan is the director of football intelligence for Italy's Atalanta BC. Mathieu Lacome is the head performance and analytics officer with the Parma Calcio football club in Italy, where he develops on-pitch and scouting strategies. Both teams are greatly outperforming their squad costs and operating in a sustainable manner. Together, Suds and Mathieu bring incredible perspective o...

Matthew Lynley has been a journalist covering the tech industry for more than a decade. Four years of this career have been spent covering analytics and data science - tools which he personally used. He is the founder of the Supervised newsletter that aims to help decision-makers sort through the hype and reality of AI tools and the future of big data analytics. In this episode, Matthew goes over...

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is a data scientist who put his Harvard PhD to work at Google, as well as consulting for numerous Fortune 500 companies.  His first book, Everybody Lies, was a New York Times bestseller and an Economist Book of the Year.  Almost the entirety of his new book, Who Makes the NBA, was written over the course of a single month by leveraging AI data tools. In this conversation,...

Matt Ober is an extremely accomplished data leader turned venture capitalist. After leading Bloomberg's data operations for years, Matt served as chief data scientist for the $20 billion hedge fund Third Point, where he led development and implementation of data and analytics strategies for the entire firm.  He is currently general partner at Social Leverage, an early stage seed investment fu...

Miles Adkins has spent a decade in the data science world, from hedge fund investment models to his current position as A.I. and Machine Learning specialist at Snowflake cloud computing.  He has served in both administrative and customer-facing roles, and is intimately familiar with the successful implementation of data strategies. In this episode, Miles, Jake and Alec discuss what it was like at...

Achille de Rauglaudre is a Sports investor and advisor.  Mathieu Lacome is author of the book "Football Intelligence" and the head performance and analytics officer with the Parma Calcio football club in Italy, where he develops on-pitch and scouting strategies.  Together, Achille and Mathieu bring a substantial body of knowledge and experience to the table. In this conversation, we disc...

Self-proclaimed data nerd David Spezia served as one of the original Field CTO's at Tableau, was the Principal Sales Engineer at Snowflake during the largest IPO in software history, and is now a Distinguished Architect at Salesforce. His specialties include problem solving with technology, data visualization, and information system design and architecture. In this conversation, David, Jake a...

David Hardoon is an executive with more than two decades of international data science experience in multiple fields.  In the financial sector, he headed up data and AI strategy for the central bank of Singapore and UnionBank of the Phillipines.  In academia, David has served as an Honorary Senior Research Associate with the University College of London for many years.  In industry, he currently s...

Jordan Morrow is the founder and owner of Bodhi Data. Since 2019, he’s won 7 awards for his work on data, analytics, and AI. Bodhi Data is aiming to transfer skills in these fields to individuals and organizations that will allow them to make data-driven decisions without becoming advanced data professionals themselves. In this conversation Jordan, Jake, and Alec discuss the incredible pressures t...

Andrew Madson is the Senior Director of Data Analytics at Arizona State University, while also serving as professor at three other universities.  Andrew is a solutions-focused analyst, specializing in machine learning, statistical analysis, and data visualization. His team at ASU is working to bridge their academic research with industry for real-world impact. In 2023, Andrew founded Insights X De...