The Upside Newsletter

This week we had the honor to interview Tim Draper. Tim is an American venture capital investor, and founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson , Draper University, Draper Venture Network, Draper Associates and Draper Goren Holm. His most prominent investments include Baidu, Hotmail, Skype, Tesla, SpaceX, AngelList, SolarCity, Ring, Twitter, DocuSign, Coinbase, Robinhood, Ancestry.com, Twitch, Cruise Auto...

This week we had the honor to interview Matt Miesnieks, the CEO of Living Cities , a leading metaverse platform. Living Cities was launched recently with $4 million in seed funding from DCVC, Eniac Ventures, Anorak Ventures, and Matthew Ball. The company aims to integrate the digital and physical worlds. It’s still stealthy but wanted to come out of the woodwork to begin recruiting talent.  Living...

This week we had the honor to interview Fabien Allègre, Chief Brand Officer at PSG (Ligue 1). 📝Show Notes:  Through this interview, we touched on his background, his role at PSG. Then we talked about what PSG is doing in the NFT/Crypto space. Then we touched on the metaverse space and what PSG’s goals are when it comes to the NFT, crypto, and metaverse space. We also discussed PSG’s goal to build...

This week we had the honor to interview again Dr. Ron Dick, associate professor of sports marketing at Duquesne University in the school of business. Ron also worked for 20 years in sports, including 15 years in the NBA with the Sixers and the Nets, and then four years in the NCAA. 📝Show Notes:  Through this interview, we touched on the 2026 Soccer World Cup in the US, the NHL expected to reach $...

This week, we had the honor to interview Greg Bonnier, the VP of Helight a leading sleep tech company in Montreal. Helight’s second product is a sleep aid device that can emit a pure 630 nanometer wavelength. It has an effect on users’ sleep quality, falling asleep, relaxation, sleep inertia (the feeling of fatigue upon waking), circadian rhythm, and even mood while promoting the secretion of natu...

This week we had the honor to interview Marco Nunez, the former Head Athletic Trainer for the LA Lakers (NBA). Marco worked for the LA Lakers for 12 years with world’s class athletes like Kobe Bryant, Shaq or Lebron James. 📝 Show Notes: Through this interview, we touched on his background, the evolution of the role of athletic trainer, what it was like to work for a top team like the LA Lakers. W...

This week, we have the honor to have Pete DeNagy, President of Acommence Advisors, and founder of IoT America. Pete is also the former GM of Samsung Enterprise. 📝Show Notes:  Throughout this interview, we touched on Pete’s background, the biggest challenges when it comes to providing the best in stadium experience nowadays. We also talked about the capacity issues w WIFI and LTE. We also discusse...

This week, we had the honor to interview Jon Persch the chief commercial officer for American Magic, a US representative for the America's cup team yacht racing competition. American Magic is an American yacht racing team formed to compete for the 36th America's Cup. They represent the New York Yacht Club and were founded by formed in 2018 by principals Hap Fauth, Roger Penske, and Doug DeVos. Ame...

This week we had the honor to interview again Dr. Ron Dick, associate professor of sports marketing at Duquesne University in the school of business. Ron also worked for 20 years in sports, including 15 years in the NBA with the Sixers and the Nets, and then four years in the NCAA. 📝Show Notes:  Through this interview, we touched on Tom Brady's 10 years max contract with Fox, US soccer now giving...

This week, we had the honor to interview Sebastien Audoux the head of Digital Sports Content at Canal +, a leading sports broadcaster. Canal + offers an OTT platform called myCANAL app, which allows Canal+ viewers to have near-live highlights clips, live statistics, the lineups and multi-camera angles. It also allows them to grade sports events they are watching and take live polls. Picture: myCAN...

This week, we had the honor to interview Dr Andy Barr, consultant for the Brooklyn Nets, a top NBA team. Andy is also the Founder of Quantum Performance and previously worked for the NY Knicks in the NBA, NYFC in the MLS, Manchester City, the Saints, Bolton in the Premier League. 📝Show Notes:  Throughout this interview, we touched on Andy's background, his role with the Brooklyn Nets. We also tou...

This week, we had the honor to interview Jake George Schuster, the CEO of Gemini Sports Analytics , a new data science as a service company, which is making data analytics accessible. Picture: Gemini Sports Analytics’ automated machine learning. Picture: Gemini Sports Analytics’ project export. 📝Show Notes:  Throughout this interview, we touched on Jake's background, his company the benefits for...

This week, we had the honor to Dr Brian Moore, the CEO of Orreco , a leading Sports & Data Science Platform, which is blending Data Science and Sports Science to generate customized indicators of injury risk, optimal training load and recovery strategies. Orreco also recently launched a new app called @thlete tailored for athletes that helps them analyze their sleep, nutrition, load and much more....

This week we had the honor to interview again Dr. Ron Dick, associate professor of sports marketing at Duquesne University in the school of business. Ron also worked for 20 years in sports, including 15 years in the NBA with the Sixers and the Nets, and then four years in the NCAA. 📝Show Notes:  Through this interview, we touched on Tom Brady’s return, the beginning of the MLB season, March Madne...

This week we had the honor to interview a group of sports performance experts. * Marco Nunez, former head athletic trainer for the LA Lakers (NBA). * Karam Al-Hamdani, Head Athletic Therapist at CF Montreal (MLS). * Alexi Pianosi, Strength and conditioning coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL). 📝Show Notes:  Through this interview, we touched on the Djokovic saga and whether or not athletes sho...

This week, we had the honor to interview Victorien Tixier, CEO of ScorePlay, a leading next-gen CMS that powers sport clubs digital channels. ScorePlay is a leading startup that enables clubs to centralize distribute and monetize media photo and video content. Here is a diagram illustrating ScorePlay’s solution: Picture: ScorePlay 📝Show Notes:  Throughout this interview, we touched on Victorien’s...

This week, we had the honor of interviewing Padraig Harrington, a world class European professional golfer and former world’s #3. Padraig Harrington is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, the PGA Tour and the PGA Champions Tour. He has won three major championships: The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Championship, also in 2008. He spent over 300 weeks in th...

This week we had the honor to interview again Dr. Ron Dick, associate professor of sports marketing at Duquesne University in the school of business. Ron also worked for 20 years in sports, including 15 years in the NBA with the Sixers and the Nets, and then four years in the NCAA. 📝Show Notes:  Through this interview, we touched on the MLB Lockout, the metaverse, the Russian/Ukraine situation, t...

This week we had the honor to interview a group of serial entrepreneurs & investors on best practices for successful exits. * Adam Cheyer, a serial entrepreneur, co-founder and inventor of Siri (sold to Apple), and co-founder of Viv Labs (sold to Samsung). * Jay Eum, co-founder & Managing Partner at GFT Ventures, and co-founder of TransLink Capital. * Sean Harrington, a serial entrepreneur, and fo...

This week, we had the honor to interview Dave Hancock, CEO of Apollo , a leading Athlete Management Systems (AMS) vendor. Dave Hancock’s background: Back in 2006, Dave has worked for Chelsea Football Club as their Head Physiotherapist. Then in 2008, he became the first English Performance Director in the NBA for the New York Knicks. And then in 2010, Dave was honored to be asked by the English FA...

This week, we had the honor to interview Massimo Marinelli, Executive Board Member of Aser Ventures , a leading investment platform specializing in sports and technology. Aser Ventures are not tied to a particular stage or scale of investment, from incubating new businesses to working with globally known names. Aser invests in potential, and helps its partners to do the same.  Total number of inve...

This week, we had the honor to interview Chelsey Rushworth, Senior Vice President of Global Sales at LiveLike , a leading engagement platform for sports and entertainment. LiveLike is a technology company dedicated to empowering digital experiences that enable deeper fan engagement, increased retention rates, and new monetization opportunities. LiveLike’s audience engagement platform and gamificat...

This week we had the honor to interview Eddie Jones, the head coach of England National Rugby team. Eddie Jones is an Australian rugby union coach. Eddie Jones previously coached Australia between 2001 and 2005, taking the team to the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final. He was an assistant coach for South Africa when the Springboks won the 2007 Rugby World Cup and from 2012 to 2015 he coached Japan, leadi...

This week we had the honor to interview again Dr. Ron Dick, associate professor of sports marketing at Duquesne University in the school of business. Ron also worked for 20 years in sports, including 15 years in the NBA with the Sixers and the Nets, and then four years in the NCAA. 📝Show Notes:  Through this interview, we touched on the NCAA & Sports Betting, the NIL, the NFL playoffs, the Djokov...

This week we had the honor to interview a group of sports performance experts. * Marco Nunez, former head athletic trainer for the LA Lakers (NBA). * Pierre Barrieu, Director of high performance at Toronto FC (MLS) and FIFA High Performance Expert. * Alexi Pianosi, Strength and conditioning coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL). 📝Show Notes:  Through this interview, we touched on load managemen...