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The ROAR Podcast: Ferran Prieto · The ROAR Podcast

• Brice Clinton: In September of 2015, Bagasol sat down with an engineer who never worked at Day in Sports and asked him to help build PAL's version of Magic Johnson Enterprises. The job description? Becapsulated in Barcelona, Spanish in Madrid, and American in the United States, and no investing, startups, and how to lead a team. Nearly 11 years later, Ferran Prieto is still doing exactly that. Fran is the CEO and managing director of Gasal 16 Ventures and managing partner at Everest Advisory Services, where he helps athletes build what comes after their playing careers. He took the long road to get here engineering and supply chain in the automotive industry, Corbett Strategy and Venture Work at General Motors, and four years inside Dan Gilbert's startup ecosystem. In this conversation with Caroline, Ferrand explains why an American star can promote his business the day after a loss, although many European athletes feel they can. He walks through the three pillars of Gasol's 16 ventures: Powell's role in the Olympic movement, the Gasol Foundation's fight against childhood obesity, and an investment portfolio that includes an early stake in the WMBA. He makes the case that women's sports are still undervalued. And he says that when investors evaluate a franchise today, one of the first questions is where the team controls the real estate around the venue. Plus, how he uses AI to evaluate deals, including the time a tool caught, a broken formula, and a proposal spreadsheet, and why a human still hasn't checked the work. I'm Bryce Clinton, and this is Aurora Podcast. Caroline Valvardi: Welcome to the Roar Podcast. I'm your host, Caroline Valvardi, and with me today is Faram Prieto, CEO and Managing Director of GISOL16 Ventures, as well as managing partner at Everest Advisory Services. Welcome to the podcast. Ferran Prieto: Thanks for having me. Caroline Valvardi: So you've had an exciting summer. So before we jump in, I do have to congratulate you on the World Cup. So I don't know if you want to Ferran Prieto: Thank you. Caroline Valvardi: share a couple seconds of your I don't know where you were, what you were doing, or what that means to you, but I imagine it's it's pretty exciting for you this summer. Ferran Prieto: Ver very exciting. it's it's really funny 'cause we I was actually watching the game with a friend of mine, who's not even Spanish. So we were just watching it at his house and that was that was fun. he's he's he loves Spain, loves Madrid, but he loves bullfighting for some reason. but he he really enjoyed it. But the funny thing is, this is the the second World Cup that Spain has ever won on the men's side. twenty ten was the first one, twenty twenty six this one. And those are the two years that I actually bought a home. and I moved to a to a new home. Which is funny 'cause I told when I told my wife that hey, you know, it's really funny that the two years we bought a home, Spain won the World Cup, my wife said, Well then this is the last World Cup Spain will ever win. 'Cause she's that Caroline Valvardi: Yeah. Ferran Prieto: she's done moving. Caroline Valvardi: Yeah, moving is not not that fun, but yeah, I do wonder if there's something to that though. very interesting. Ferran Prieto: I don't know, maybe maybe we need to buy another another home in four years, you know, when we actually Caroline Valvardi: Thanks. Ferran Prieto: host the World Cup. Caroline Valvardi: Very good. Well, congratulations. And this is the one time where I get to my that Ferran Prieto: Thank you. Caroline Valvardi: was my one bloodline left in the World Cup, so I was excited as well. everyone always thinks I'm Italian, but my last name is Valverde. Somebody changed some letters over time. So that was Ferran Prieto: Amazing, I didn't know that. Well congrats to you too. Caroline Valvardi: fun fact. Thank you. Ferran Prieto: Mm-hmm. Caroline Valvardi: I just wanted to make sure we touched on that, but we typically start out the podcast with our guests. by asking you to just tell us about your career journey and what led you to Gasol Sixteen Ventures and everything in between that and and all the other things that you were doing. Ferran Prieto: Sure. So I was I was born and raised in Barcelona. I started my career as an engineer. so I worked initially in the automotive industry. So I worked at CEAD in Spain, Volkswagen in the US. Then I ran a supply chain operation for Vistian, which is tier one supplier in the automotive industry. that was right before I went to went back to the US to go to business school. and then I still went back to to the automotive industry, but on the strategy side. So I worked in corporate strategy, business development. I was part of the team that started a a venture capital fund within General Motors. and then in twenty eleven I worked I left GM to work for Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cleveland Cal Leaders. and I was basically in leadership positions in two two startups within his ecosystem for four years, until twenty fifteen when I met I met Pow through Pau Gasol, through To a common friend of ours who used to run FC Barcelona's basketball division. His name is Salad Alemán, one of the most respected business leaders in Spain. And he connected me with Pau because Pau was looking for somebody to run his business. And me coming from outside of sports, I didn't really know what it meant that he had a business. But when I met with him, Essentially what he said what he said to me was, look, I need somebody that understands my brand in Spain, that understands my brand in the US, somebody who can be Catalan in Barcelona, Spanish in Madrid, an American in the US, who understands investments, who has led teams, who understands how startups work, and help me build my version of Magic Johnson Enterprises. and I thought that was very insightful because he he understood the assets that he had, but he understood what he didn't know. and he needed somebody to compliment his already ex you know, really good team that he had around him, to basically take that to the next level. So that was twenty fifteen, September of twenty fifteen, so it's been almost eleven years now. and it's been a lot of fun. The interesting thing too is as I started working with Pow, I realized that other athletes had the same same ideas and thought about like what am I gonna do when I retire? know. Retired like in my 30s, close to my 40s, and I'm super, super lucky. But I have more than half of my lab ahead of me. What do I do after that? Right. So that led me to start Everest with two partners. Now we basically do different things, but I basically have now Everest advisor services where I advise other athletes as well. Also helping them initially kind of put the right team around them. But also thinking about what else do you want to do when you know when you're not playing and how do we start building something that then you can step into when you retire. yeah, and then beyond that, I'm also I've taught some classes in I taught at Michigan, you know, financial management in the sports industry. this summer I just taught a class at Harvard Business School, which is a lot of fun. and I'm also advised, you know, other you know, I advised a gymnast, for example. I advise I'm involved with the ATP and I'm an advisor to a firm called Cancelo that I was involved with as well. So lots of things all related to sports and all a lot of fun. Caroline Valvardi: incredible journey and just how you early in your career, and then getting so deeply into sports. And so I wanna talk a little bit, because you have this global experience too. so Ferran Prieto: Mm-hmm. Caroline Valvardi: I guess there's a couple parts to this. So one is athletes continue to become business leaders, investors, owners. so it's just kind of across the board, but do you see differences in the athletes that you work with? from different countries, do you see any global differences or the way that they think about or even just the markets themselves when you think about investment or their business ventures? Ferran Prieto: I do. I think I think when it comes to athletes being business leaders, the US is ahead of Europe. I think the mentality in the US is sports is entertainment, but it's also a business. and and people understand, fans understand that athletes can be and you know, they can be business people too. Like I I I give a similar example. Like you can have somebody like Braun James, you know, lose a game s a game with his team and then, you know, make a post about his tequila brand the next day. and nobody bets on that. You know, he has a bunch of different things and that's that's that's completely acceptable. I work with an athlete, a soccer player in Spain who was the captain of of one of the top teams in the Premier League, and He couldn't he didn't feel like he could make a post about anything that was not football. the day before a game, the day of the game, if they lost the day after the game. Like it almost felt like if he if he com if he makes a post that it's not about football, that the team is not doing really well or something, he's gonna get the you know complaints from the fans. So he he didn't feel like he he was allowed to do it. and I think that leads to a lot of athletes in Europe not doing anything publicly about their business and and and their brand when they're not playing until they retire while in the US completely expected that yeah you you know you I want you to perform on the field or on the court but you have the ability to to start a business and people in the locker rooms they talk about you know what team what what startups they invested in or what businesses they have and I feel like there's much of there's much more not just expectation but almost the like the pressure from your teammates about like hey where are you putting your money what are you doing feels like it's more sophisticated and like the the environment is more conducive for for for athletes to be business leaders. In the US, I mean you have examples like you know Magic is you know Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Cody Bryan, there's a bunch of other athletes that have done incredibly well. Andrew Agassiz has done really well. There's a bunch of people that have done really, really well in business. And they become the role models for the next generations. And in Europe, that's still I won't say in its infancy, but it's definitely many, many years behind the US. Caroline Valvardi: And going back to your point when, we're starting with POW and this cultural competency of understanding those nuances is obviously very important and valuable to understand, in the different markets, how to work with different athletes and and some of those pieces. And so kind of building on that too, I think this is probably a question I, you know, been around and involved in the sports space for a long time and there's a lot know everyone always wants to work with the athletes and how do you get athletes as your clients, whether you're an advisor or an agent or whatever it may be. And so can you talk a little bit about what are those important attributes or or things that when you're keeping an athlete for that long as your client, obviously trust and all of those, but if you can speak a bit to that, just how you keep those relationships, across all the athletes that you work with. Ferran Prieto: Yeah, mean look, I think Pa Pao is the most the the longest relationship that I've had and and basically who gave me my opportunity in the in the sports industry, even if I wasn't looking for it, he gave me an opportunity and I'm eternally thankful for it. I I think with Pau I think what what makes us a good team is we're honest with each other. I will tell him things he doesn't want to hear. You have to pick your moments, obviously. Not everybody wants to hear everything all the time, or you know, you have to pick when you say certain things, but you you have to be honest with them, right? I I think you have to be competent. Like you need to like I feel like I need to earn my job and my role every single day. Like I don't I don't take for granted that he has me around him and that he wants to listen to what I have to say and that he wants to to to pay me to do the job that I do for him. we obviously have known each other for eleven years and and and our families know each other and and our wives. and and and and kids and everything but we're we we're in business first and then we're friends right and i think sometimes like you get in situations in which you have a father or a sibling or a friend doing the role that i do even if they're very competent they have the right you know education preparation experience there's always that personal component where you know you kind of know you cannot in a in a way, because you're you're a family member and in a and I think that generates some different dynamics, you know, in in in my my relationship with Pao is is professional first, you know, personal second. And I think that that keeps us focused on on achieving what we want to achieve on the on on on the business front. And I think with everybody else I treat them the same, you know, like there's obviously, you know, great relationships that I have with people, with athletes that I that I work with and I don't work with anymore, and athletes that I work with. But again, I I always approach every single day as I need to earn my position today and every single day. Caroline Valvardi: Yep. important pieces of that puzzle and those intangibles are critical, when you're working with people at that level and things like that. So can Ferran Prieto: Agree. Caroline Valvardi: can you talk a bit about more specifically what guess all 16 ventures does in Everest Management Ferran Prieto: Mm. Caroline Valvardi: and as you work with athletes, I'm sure every athlete has, looking at different opportunities and how you tailor opportunities that they may be most interested or maybe the best fit Ferran Prieto: Yeah, so Gazal Sixteen obviously has been created, the strategy has been created around, you know, authentically who Powell is and who he is when who he isn't, right? So we we we definitely have to listen to what Powell wants to do. We you know I can advise them on where I think it should go. but it has to ultimately be authentic. Otherwise it's very easily you you can tell very easily when s well an athlete's doing something and he's not really that that type of, you know, that person. so Gazal Sixteen ventures. Has essentially three main buckets of activity. Bucket number one is what I call PAO's role in sports almost as an as an advisor or an ambassador, right? So an institutional role, I guess, within sports. The main activity we have there is PAO as a chair of the athletes committee at the IOC. He's been in five Olympic games, like he he loved the Olympic movement. basically you know creates a a whole lot of responsibilities and kind of location for PAO and stuff like that, but he loves that role. we're also involved with FIVA, we're involved with the NBA, you know, we're involved with a bunch of different activities. We've done stuff with FC Barcelona in the past. And the idea is for us to for for PAO in this case with support of the team, I want to give back to sports, you know, part of what sports gave to me, right? So his role, it's it's almost like I'm serving a role. It's unmonetary for the most part, but it's like how can I support these institutions that gave me so much when I was an athlete? Then bucket number two is social impact. again, anchored by the Gasol Foundation. That basically has a mission to combat child obesity all over the world, which it's almost like a silent pandemic, if you will, because kids that are not healthy, that are obese, and when they when they become adults, they have a bunch of other issues, you know, cardiovascular issues and things like that. So we the the foundation works across four main verticals: nutrition, physical activity, emotional well-being, and sleep. Then we also have partnerships with like UNICEF, for example, and working with the LUHO. and then the third leg of the school, the third bucket is the SAL 16 Ventures, which is essentially the business arm of everything we do, and that itself has three main activities. One is brand partnerships, so we we have a select group of partners that we work with. So, for example, we work with Fanco Santander. we work with Iberia, we work with Nike, with companies like this that that you know there's a very clear alignment in terms of values where we can add value to them, they can add value to to us, to PAO, to our projects and things like that. Then we have almost an advisory arm. We mostly have Concello which is this financial advisory firm that we work with. and then Powell is involved with Endeavor, which is a nonprofit that supports IA impact entrepreneurs all over the world. He's on the board of Endeavor Spain. And then we have the investment activity, which is a bunch of the deals that you've seen. We've made about 20 investments so far in companies like Terabody, Order Ring, Overtime, the WMBA, you know, companies of that, mostly across sports health and wellness. and then yeah, on the on the advisory Everest Advisory Services, it the the idea is to kind of replicate a little bit that model when athletes are much more mature, right? But it's it's custom, you know, for each athlete. The idea is initially you start by helping them. find right team around them, not on the sporting side, because you know, they usually have like the right agent, the right, you know, but then do you need a tax person in the US? you need a tax person in your home country? Do you need a wealth manager? Do you need, you know, estate planning? Do you need like how do we how do we make sure you have the right team of people around you at the right moment in your career? And as you're becoming mature, as you're making more money, as you're more stable, what do you care about? You know what are the causes that that really that are really authentic to you that you would care about what are the things that you want to explore in in business and how can we build something that's unique to you that makes sense to you you know and we've we've looked at things from esports to you know impact investing and things like that Caroline Valvardi: it's cool to hear the impact investing element of it. You see so many athletes geared more towards that, wanting to have impact, which is essentially how I ended up in the sports mixed use development as a tool to be able to create greater economic impact and local community benefit and all that. So it's really interesting to hear that continuation of so many athletes who are looking to do that and obviously much needed, many, many causes. Ferran Prieto: Yeah. Caroline Valvardi: But speaking just kind of whether it's impact or investing or any type of investment, where do you see the biggest investment opportunities right now as, sports as an asset class continues to grow and expand into new areas? you Ferran Prieto: Mm. Caroline Valvardi: know, so where do you see those opportunities and anything that's surprised you in how certain parts of the asset class are performing or not? would love to hear your perspectives on that. Ferran Prieto: well mean so i i I think sports in asset class is very interesting. there's a lot of of interest now and new funds being created, new you know, new people getting involved. you could argue sometimes like is there too much capital going into sports right now, trying to go after the same assets. So that that's one thing that you know, kind of not concerns me but something we're watching for. Like, you know, are is are some parts of the industry kind of being overheated because there's too much capital chasing too few deals. I think one thing that I've been really we've been really interested in and very bullish on is women's sports. you know you see you know invest in WMBA in in twenty twenty one and and it's really interesting to see how much WNBA has grown. You know, obviously you have this controversy, which I think is completely silly this this season because the WMBA is having the best season in its history. you see, I I mean I cannot share numbers about but commercial revenues have multiplied by you know a nice factor. Same thing with like you know TV rights, you know, like audience has increased, attendance has increased. If you look at the audience of a the average audience of a WMBA game, not just even the superstar games that you know. Reach like almost two million, but even the average audience of a WMBA game is much which almost double, I think, an NHL game, right? So and you look at valuations of NHL franchises versus WMBA, there's a lot of room to grow. there's other assets in women's sports that are really interesting that are growing as well. And and I feel like people are still discovering those. You know, you still there's still too many people that believe investing in women's sports is almost like charity. even this week I I I don't wanna I don't wanna give this this a lot of oxygen, but even this week somebody said in an interview that you know the WNBA is losing like fifty million a year or something. And it's like people don't know those numbers, they just make them up anything that they know, and like people assume that all women's sports are money losers. It's just like charity. good for them. If that's what they believe, great, you know. But but it there's a lot of opportunity, a lot of upside valuations are still low compared to where they can get to. so I think that's that's really interesting. another area, not because I'm talking to you, but sports anchor into real estate in sports anchor and theme industries. I Caroline Valvardi: I didn't even have to ask the question. Keep going, yes, yes. Ferran Prieto: I look, I think it's I think that's super interesting, right? More and more when people look in when investors look into buying into franchises of any sport, they wanna see if the team owns the real estate or not. You know, if there's beyond the stadium, is there other real estate around the stadium? Can I build an entertainment industry? the NBA, when they think about MBA Europe, they don't think j they don't think just about the teams. They think about real estate around the teams. You know, are they gonna are you gonna invest in the arena? Are you gonna have any real estate around the arena? How are you gonna activate the real estate around the arena? there's a lot of opportunity there. And I think almost now with valuations going so high, the monetization that comes from owning your own stadium and monetizing your own stadium, you know, is becoming more and more important. I think MotoGP is very interesting as well. you know, Liberty Media bought it, I don't know, maybe over a year ago. And the valuations are low. It they're not really transacting, there's only two teams transacting. but the valuations are low compared to where we where I believe they can go just based on the potential of the sport and the fact that the product on the on the racetrack is incredibly compelling. it's just not well known for especially for the US public, for example. It's very well known in Europe, very well known in Asia. But for example, in the US, still a lot of room to go. And then some startup leagues are interesting too. I feel like there's a lot of startup leagues that are not gonna make it, but there are some that are really they're really interesting. So we're spending some time looking at some of those as well. Caroline Valvardi: Right. And do you spend more of your time in certain markets than others or is it dependent on the athlete that you're working with or how do you look at it, geographically and the opportunities by market? Ferran Prieto: We so specifically in the case of PAO, we look at markets and assets in which we can provide value, right? So we we have looked at opportunities in in in in in sports like cricket, for example, which are incredible. I mean, not many people know that valuations in the cricket league in India are north of a billion, you know, but but they are. and it's a it's a massive market, it's a massive sport with like massive meteorized deal. but but something that's hard to know, how can we add value in in in those sports, right? Think about other places like NBA Europe, where you know PAO's name has been thrown around in multiple places connected to NBA Europe, that's an obvious space for us. PAO, an NBA legend from Europe, one of the best European players of all time, has a role to play either at the league level or team level and clearly adds value. If you look at things like soccer in Spain, for example, we have a role to play. If you look at things in LA, for example, we have a rope. We have role to play, right? So it's always trying to find opportunities in which the specific athlete has an unfair advantage to be able to secure an allocation to the deal in a role beyond maybe the the investment that they that they put in. So that's kind of what we always try to look for: is where where can we have an unfair advantage where our name, our expertise in our connectivity, you know, puts us at the front of the line to be able to be involved. In some places where we're just one more check, we we we tend not to get involved just because, you know, if we're just a money provider, then that's probably not the right opportunity for us. Caroline Valvardi: Powell specifically the way you describe him seems very hands on And I guess you have a lot coming up as you're hitting the LA Olympics and there's all these things, Ferran Prieto: Mm-hmm. Caroline Valvardi: you know, the investment side, but then all the other leadership roles and all that stuff too. so yeah. Ferran Prieto: yeah, he's he's gonna be very busy for sure. Caroline Valvardi: Yes, I don't know, it's like a lot lot coming up. And I guess the twenty is a twenty thirty World Cup is Spain. Ferran Prieto: Yes. Caroline Valvardi: so I have yeah, okay. So yeah, 'cause even around the real estate, as people are preparing for for what that looks like, World Cup and all the infrastructure has been, yeah, interesting. So we've been in some of the some of those conversations. So as Ferran Prieto: Yeah. Caroline Valvardi: you talk about these opportunities and how you're evaluating them, how is data and AI shaping the way that you evaluate deals or advise athletes and the companies that you end up investing in or partnering with in any way. and for us At Surge, we have our ROAR, that's the name of this podcast, is our data analytics platform has become so critical to all the decision making around because we also are expanding into investing in the types of companies that will what we say animate and scale a mixed use district. So it could be the hospitality or experiential type of companies, all that data and when you talk about women's sports, having more data now to be able to say that that is a real good investment and yes, not just charity, so how do you use data and AI and I don't know if any of that is shifting as things evolve or making it easier in certain ways for you to look at deals. But I would love to hear you talk a bit about how that works for you guys. Ferran Prieto: I mean we try to get smart with every deal that we look at and and make sure that we that we capture our knowledge in a way that allows us to then look at when we look at a new deal, we can basically compare, you know, for example, when you look at a WNBA franchise and you look at valuations, and people are like, I mean, the last three franchises, like Cleveland, Detroit and Philly. sold for 250 the franchise franchise license c fee is that too high well depending right if you compare potential rubbing you compare audience you compare where the league is going and you compare that to other leagues like the NHL maybe not right if you compare it to what WNBA was three, four years ago then it seems very expensive, right? So it's you you need data like that to be able to look at every investment in context of other things that allow you to make an informed decision. that's how you look at, you know we look at for example investment within a sports with a sports industry or sorry we within a league and you look at valuations And you compare that valuation with another valuation of a sim of a different league, and you look at the different dynamics of that league, whether the league distributes revenue to the team or not, whether it's a big media deal or not, whether it's coming, you know, how you know governance of the teams. So all of those things play a role in the way we look at investment opportunities, and you just want to make sure that you are as informed and The nice thing about you know AI is it allows you to capture a lot of those those lessons and then as you look at new deals you can basically almost take advantage of all the other deals that you looked at in the past and and be able to identify things that make a specific deal unique and maybe more appealing than than others. Caroline Valvardi: it's just the important reminder because everyone's going a million miles an hour the younger generation too, this Ferran Prieto: Mm. Caroline Valvardi: is just kind of how they'll grow up with things, seeing how they end up using these tools, but also that reminder of yes, the human layer and critical thinking and catching things that there are often mistakes. So yeah, Ferran Prieto: Bye. Caroline Valvardi: I think that's always always a good reminder. Ferran Prieto: I feel like we we were lucky that we grew up, you know, having to develop critical thinking, but now have the ability to to use tools like this to be more efficient. I always I always think about how is it gonna how is this gonna impact my kids' growth and education and then how's it gonna impact their you know the the future prospects. But that's probably a conversation for for another podcast. Caroline Valvardi: Yes, yes, yes, yes. so as we've been talking about all the getting in a little more technical conversation, wanna bring it back Ferran Prieto: No. Caroline Valvardi: to what has brought you the most joy in your career in sports. You have been on this incredible journey doing so many cool things and working with the best athletes of the world and surrounding yourself with people of incredible accomplishments. And so I I'm sure There's some things here that the audience may be very interested in and what has brought you joy and whether it's a specific investment or projects that you're working on or other highlights from what you're doing now or Ferran Prieto: Yeah. Caroline Valvardi: or previous roles. Ferran Prieto: You know, one thing that's amazing about sport. So I I I love the automotive industry when I worked in the automotive industry because people love their cars. You know, not I mean, not every car, but there are certain cars that, you know, people love. I I I had a chance to work on the Corvette program when I was a GM. and that was a lot of fun. And I remember, for example, when the the chief designer, you know, took me to the the bottom of the design studio and then lifted like a tart and showed me the managing cred, you know, years before it was it it was it was shown to the public. So that was I was thrilling. in sports what I find extremely interesting is the passion. the passion that people have with the sports team and I think even more in even more so in Europe than than in the US, right? Like I remember growing up and like I knew so many people I'm a Barcelona fan. So many people that if Barça lost, they didn't have dinner that day. Like they were upset, they went to bed. When when Barça won, they were like the happiest they could ever be. And that that that level of almost like a religion, you know, it's it's it's it's I don't think it exists in any other industry. so it's really interesting to see the passion of those people up up close when you're when you're in the industry. The other thing that I find fascinating to me, and that's an opportunity that I always mention to athletes that I work with, they don't understand how much they are looked up to by fans, but not just kids. I've seen adults, I've seen executives, CEOs of multi-billion dollar. I've seen them up close when they interact with POW, and they are like little kids meeting the idol. That doesn't happen in any other industry. Athletes have a superpower, which is like they achieve things that mere mortals can only dream of. And then watch them on court, they watch them on court, on the field or on the racetrack. and they can only look in awe, right? That that opens up a lot of opportunities. So what I've what I've been really excited about is how can you channel that level of passion in the sports industry? To help athletes, you know, achieve interesting things beyond what they do on the court, right? And I think with Powell, that's kind of what we've been trying to do, right? Powell is such an admire figure that that he has a lot of doors open to him because of what he's done on the court and because of how much people look up to what he's done in the court. And obviously, like he is able to then carry that a lot on the court. in terms of speaking investments that brought me joy. you know, and and and I I want to talk about investments that we've that we've completed, that we've closed. I think the double UNBA was one of the best ones. I think it it was amazing to be part of that group of investors that that really believed in a league that was twenty five years old so it's been around for a long time. but again a league that people were like, You know, they lose money, it's all the franchise that are like they're worth nothing. You can buy a franchise for nothing as long as you take over the debt and the expenses. and then you see what the league has achieved now. I think I think this WNBA All-Star Weekend, where we were both at, I think it had a higher audience, higher attendance, and maybe higher audience than the NBA's All-Star Weekend. you know, so Obviously, the NBA like Mina Maz had too much valuations and and and media rights and everything, but but the WNBA is achieving incredible things. It's I would say it's almost the most mature and most accomplished women's sports leagues in the world. so watching it up close, watching how the team, the the what the team within the league has grown and what they've achieved, and how the franchises are growing and how many. it's been incredible to watch and and and I feel very fortunate to be able to be part of that of that team. but yeah, I mean as a summary, I think being able to work in the sports industry, you know, I I I've had a chance to go to Wimbledon. I've had a chance to to go to F1 races, to go to Moji B races, to go to, you know, soccer matches, to I mean it's it's it's it's such a dream. I've been to every All-Star game since since I've been with Powell. it's such a you know such a blessing to be working in an industry like this. I I feel like I have a dream job. So you know it's one of those things I keep telling my my family I'm gonna enjoy this for as long as it lasts. You know, I'll try to make it last as long as I can. But it definitely is a great job. Caroline Valvardi: Thank you for sharing all that. And reminder, when did you invest in the WMBA? Just trying to get the gauge of like all 'cause it's I mean, it just in the past few years it's obviously accelerated but just the Ferran Prieto: Yeah. It was in it was in twenty twenty twenty two of early twenty twenty Caroline Valvardi: Well. Ferran Prieto: two. Caroline Valvardi: I've been to the past four WNBA All Stars so I think twenty Ferran Prieto: Mm-hmm. Caroline Valvardi: twenty two if that I think that was the one in Vegas maybe, and then I feel like within a year each year since then it just continues to explode. so yeah, that's very cool. Ferran Prieto: Yeah. No, and if you look at the how many games are being played now in big arenas, you know, like before, like it's almost like you could barely fill like a small arena and and now like the the the the and it's just again, you know, people like players like Caitlin Clark have done a ton for the league, but the league was growing before them, right? So it's it's been growing for for a while. I feel like you know There's so many another thing that leagues like WMBA do really well is they are able to elevate players like, you know, Kevin Spark is the obvious one, but like, you know, AZ Fad and and and and so so many incredible players. Kelsey Plum, Candace Parker, they've been Lisa Leslie was, you know, one I mean, there's so many incredible players throughout the years that the WMBA is getting better at elevating. and that that generates that also level of of interest in in the game in the league. So Caroline Valvardi: And then the other point, the difference between you touched on again earlier is the between European market and the US and just that balance between the fandom in Europe is so deep and the passion so deep, but balancing with i some of the business side, like you're talking about very early in the conversation about LeBron James being able to talk about, a business deal after losing a game. we can get into that on a Ferran Prieto: Spe specifically tequila. I s I said specifically tequila, alcohol. Caroline Valvardi: Yeah, yes. Ferran Prieto: Like it for a European athlete to advertise an alcohol brand, that's that's very complicated. Caroline Valvardi: Yeah, so it's it's interesting because you in the position that you're in trying to help yeah athletes invest in those types of deals, but at the same time keeping that level of passion. So it's kind of interesting. Ferran Prieto: Yeah. Caroline Valvardi: yeah, in interesting to contrast. But to Ferran Prieto: Mm-hmm. Caroline Valvardi: I don't want to hold you too long, but did want to get into I like to ask this question of a lot of our guests. just around Ferran Prieto: Mm-hmm. Caroline Valvardi: leadership and obviously you are an advisor and probably even well beyond business for a lot of the athletes and others that you work with. And so would love to hear you talk a bit about what you prioritize most as a leader. whether business or even beyond that, because there's so many elements beyond business, life and all that. But and anything Ferran Prieto: Yeah. Caroline Valvardi: else too that, maybe the leaders that you've had in your life that you've learned from. Ferran Prieto: Mm. Okay. I would say, you know, people that I that I manage, for example, and in and the team, I guess also team ventures, I I I work with with with all of them. I try to be I don't give them all the tools and all the support that they need to do their job well, right? I try to be I try to encourage them, I try to support them, I try to be, you know, like a mentor and and almost I wanna say a shoulder to cry on, but if something's not working, I want them to be able to come to me and say, Hey, you know, can can you help me with this? And I always wanna be available to them to make sure they do their job well. if they're not doing their job well, I need to be honest with them and say, hey, this is not working. Like let's let's do something to fix it. so I always try to be honest, but at the same time try to be supportive and understanding, right? Sometimes the circumstances in which they do their job are not ideal. And you acknowledge it and say, look, I know it sucks. Let's get through this together and let's, you know, let's get through to the other side. You know, that's that's the way I think about it. I always try to give them credit too. if if a specific member of the team is leading a project and they do a really good job, I I try to be, I try to give them credit and and and say, look, this is, you know, this person did a really good job and they deserve the credit for this. So I always try to to do that. and then in terms of what I tell my, you know, my clients or my athletes, athletes that I work with, or athletes. People like you know, Frederick Richards, a gymnast, who I who I help and and advise, but I'm not, you know, it's it's more of a friend, friend, friendly relationship. you know, it's more likely to take advantage of this moment, take advantage of the moment that you are at right now where you're competing at the highest level in your sport, where people know who you are, and people want to meet you. You know, take advantage of that and and and don't wait until you're done with your sport because very quickly people will not remember. Who you are and they will not care. so take advantage of that, of that, of this moment to build what you want to build for the rest of your life. that's that's kind of the way I I approach it. You know, again, when athletes have an incredible platform to build what they want to build for themselves, not what people want them to build or what they want, or what people want them to say, but what they want to say and what they want to build. And and they just my only advice to them is. Take advantage of it, you know. I I I mentor a couple ATP players and one of the things I tell them is I look at the ATP schedule and say, you know, how many cities are they gonna be in this year competing? Can you find time in each city to at least have a coffee with somebody, you know, that's an industry that you care about or that, you know, maybe has a job that you think you want to have in the future. Reach out to them, give them a couple of tickets for the match, and then have a coffee with them. Yeah that's a superpower athletes have that they need to take advantage of if if they wanna start thinking about what Caroline Valvardi: great pieces of advice. And unless there's anything else that you wanted to touch on before we go, we can close it out there. and super appreciate you coming on and sharing all your insights and perspectives and exciting stuff ahead. So we'll have to have you come back as things continue to evolve and once we get to the Olympics and all that stuff. So Ferran Prieto: Any a anytime, happy to come back anytime. Thanks so much for having me, Caroline. Caroline Valvardi: Right. Thank you so much.