Latest / Career Clarity with Athletes: A 2ndwind Podcast with Ryan Gonsalves / 98: Matt Mooney - How to Start a Business and be a Pro-Baller: From Courtside to Founder

Transcript

98: Matt Mooney - How to Start a Business and be a Pro-Baller: From Courtside to Founder · Career Clarity with Athletes: A 2ndwind Podcast with Ryan Gonsalves

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: In basketball it's simple, because there's a direct result every shot, you make it or you miss it.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Soccer is a little different, because you've got the goalie in the way, you've got other players in the way.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Like basketball, you're getting contested.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: But once the shot is off, it's either made or missed.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: So that result ties back to OK, what did that player do well on his made shots?
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: What did he do?
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Didn't he do well on his missed shots?
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: And now the way that technology and AI is moving is perfect timing to incorporate that, to be able to pick up on these tendencies in players and, at the same time, simulate the game.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: So, short term, it's basketball, you know, it's hardware and software.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: And then what we're going to do in the short term as well, is we'll separate the software from the hardware so we'll be able to help players and coaches with their shot without having the machine in front of them.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: We'll be able to, you know, we'll have it somewhere else in the gym.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: But then, you know, long term we'll go into other sports.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: We'll go into volleyball.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Hi, I'm Ryan Gonsalves and welcome to a Second Wind Academy podcast, a show all about career transition through the lens of elite athletes.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Each week, I invite a guest to the show who shares their unique sporting story.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Please join me to delve into the thoughts and actions of athletes through a series of conversations.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Don't worry, there's plenty to learn from those of you that aren't particularly sporty.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Elite athletes are still people after all.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Let's be inspired by the stories of others.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Today's guest is Matt Mooney, a born problem solver.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: So today we're going to sit down to discuss that creative streak of entrepreneurialism and his rise as a founder and an international basketball player.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Matt is the founder of Athletic IQ, a new robotic dummy designed to improve basketball players' defensive capacity.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Now, this was built from a $50 prototype using a cardboard cutout and since then he's secured several rounds of funding using real money, whilst keeping his eye on the prize as a basketball player.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Matt, welcome to the show.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Thanks, ryan, I'm glad to be here, man.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Awesome.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: I'm glad you're on here as well.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: It's been fascinating reading up and sort of learning a bit more about you and that entrepreneurial streak and really how you're managing to balance well this dream of international basketball.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: I think that's absolutely fantastic.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been very difficult, Not going to lie, it's been very difficult to balance the two, but you know I love both, so that makes it a little bit easier.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Yes, I guess it does.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: It's hard, but perhaps a bit easier, to at least get up and know you've got an exciting day ahead of you where you get to mix these, bring these two worlds together I'm in a weird place right now where I'm, you know, trying to figure out what's next for me in my life.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: It's the first time I've ever thought about that.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll dive into that here on this podcast.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: But thinking about, do I have the mental energy needed to focus on the business?
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Or do I need?
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Because because you know, every day after practice, workouts, playing games you know you're tired physically and you know I still need and still want to be involved in the business, but I realize it's difficult to do that and at the same time I still want to be really good at my craft on the court.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: So, figuring out that balance and figuring out and thinking through know, is this, uh, is it time for me to step away from the games?
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: First time I've ever considered doing that.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: But those are the thoughts going through my head right now and at the moment that is a lot going on in your head, and what is it then that has sort of brought that up for you?
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: You know, where's business taking you right now.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Where's playing taking you right now?
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Where's playing taking you right now?
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's a mix of.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: This season's been a tough season and the business is exciting, right.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: So if the season was going great, maybe I wouldn't have thought that I had those thoughts.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: I'm getting older, my body's getting, you know, I've been banged up a little bit.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: You know how it goes.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: So I love the game of basketball.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: I love playing the game of basketball.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: My dream was always to play in the division one NCAA tournament.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: I was really fortunate.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: I played in a national championship and my dream was always NBA and I played a couple NBA games and I've been in Europe the last couple of years.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: So you know, it wasn't ever necessarily my dream to play in Europe, but I realized I can make a really good living doing this and I'm still playing the game I love.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: But you know, recently the season's been a grind and this year was really tough and I just realized, man, I think I'm maybe I'm just holding on to basketball.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: I have to be, I would.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: I'm a follower of Jesus, right?
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: So I think, you know, maybe I just need to surrender this to God.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Like surrender my career I've never really surrendered it and you know that is what I've been contemplating recently is just, you know, am I holding on to this basketball career?
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: And maybe I am, maybe I'm not.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: But at the same time the business is exciting, but I also realize I need to be more present to make the business become a reality and a success.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: So, just wrestling with those two things, talking with family, talking with my fiance about it, and it's something I'm still thinking about.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I can well imagine Having gone through many things myself.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: I know how I guess taxing at times mentally it is.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: As you go through you know well what comes next and how might that impact on your game.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: So I guess we get to that, this sort of point that you're at right now.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: I'm keen just to understand.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: You spoke there about your dreams of becoming an NBA player.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Can you just help us you know all of us who are listening here just a bit about your career.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Talk to us about you know where did you start and how did you progress through the ranks.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll go through that quickly.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: So I was.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I grew up outside of Chicago, suburbs of Chicago, and you know I loved basketball.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Ever since I was a child that was my sport.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: I played soccer, I played football, played American football, played baseball.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: I just love sports, love competition, but basketball was, was my biggest love and you know I always wanted to play division one, which in America division one is like the best level of college.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: And you got.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: You got your big schools like Duke and you got small division ones.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: I want to play a high major.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Illinois was really where I wanted to play, but they never recruited me.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: So I got one division one offer, actually to the Air Force Academy, which is a military school but it's also a division one school for sports, and because it was my only division one offer, I took it and I quickly found out that the military was different breed of people than myself, we'll just put it that way.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: And I was.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: I have nothing but respect for those who serve our country and, like those who serve, but I want to play basketball.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: So I did a year at the Air Force Academy, transferred to University of South Dakota, really fortunate, had two really good seasons there and then my coach left to a bigger school and I had the opportunity to do what we call graduate transfer and I grad transferred to Texas Tech University for my last season in college and you know we had an unbelievable season.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: We won our Big 12 conference in the NCAA tournament, we made it to the national championship, to the final game, which gave me a chance to have exposure and play on the biggest stage.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you've ever seen it, but Final Four, you know you got 70, 80,000 people there.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: You're playing in a football stadium, so that's the biggest stage for college basketball.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: I'm really fortunate I got to participate in that for college basketball, and I'm really fortunate I got to participate in that.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: And so from there it was okay.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Maybe this NBA dream is something that I can attain, because now I played well on a big stage and I was getting NBA workouts got to.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, there's there's a lot of cool stories within that process, but you know, worked out for 13 different NBA teams ended up not getting drafted.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: But I had some really good workouts and actually had a great workout with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who tie back in later, so the Cavaliers are one of my best workouts.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: I just killed that workout, but I ended up going to Memphis to start the season and I played on their G League team what does the G League team?
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: what does that mean?
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: So in the NBA you know you're at the NBA, but then you've got the level below.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: It is the NBA G League.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: So it's a league that it feeds it.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: It's a developmental league but it feeds into the NBA.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: So basically it's the minor leagues for baseball, soccer I'm sure it's second division, right, and it's a little different because it's not like europe.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: You win your league, you can bump up to first division, right, domestic league, but in america you don't have that system.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: So it's a developmental league.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: But it's where the nba scouts are looking.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: So it's that level right below the nba where you're getting exposure and getting looks.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: And every NBA team has a G League team.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: So I played for Memphis, the Memphis Grizzlies NBA team.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: I played for their G League team, the Memphis Hustle, and I was playing pretty well.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: In the beginning of that season I got a call from my agent halfway through the season.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: He says to me, he says I'll never forget what he said.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: He says Matt, I regret to inform you, you're no longer a member of the Memphis Hustle G League team.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: And I'm thinking well, what the heck does that mean?
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: And he says you know, pack your bags, you're going to Cleveland.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: They just signed you on a, on a contract.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: So you know that was one of the best days of my life and it was uh.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a little more to the story, but I won't get into all of it now.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: So I got to live out my NBA dream a couple of days later.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: My dad was there, my mom was there, my grandpa a buddy of mine, DeJuan Wells got to see my first NBA bucket From there.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: That was the season, that was 2020.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: And that's when COVID hit.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: So COVID ended that season.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: That season unfortunately ended up getting cut after training camp.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: The next season played in the G League, a little bit more, got a 10-day contract with the New York Knicks, and then I went to Spain, to Malaga, which, if you've ever been, it's beautiful but beautiful place it's a beautiful place.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: I don't know about the basketball team yeah, yeah, the basketball team is good.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: When I was there, we were, we were struggling a little.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: You know, they were uh having some issues.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: I came in my first time overseas, so it was, it was okay.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: But from there I went to uh germany briefly, then turkey and now italy, so I'm a world traveler.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Not no england yet, no you need to get in the, the british basketball league, right.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: That might have to be next, before and now Italy.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: So I'm a world traveler.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: No England yet.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: No, you need to get in the British Basketball League, right, that might have to be next.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Before you call it quits.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll see.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: We'll see they're not the British.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you know, the British Basketball League is not considered very good because they're so focused on football out there, I think.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: Anyone who I've spoken to who plays in the league doesn't tell me that, but everybody from the outside tells me that.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: There's certainly some good players and some good teams.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: I know the London Lions is a good team, but that's the perspective from the outside.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's right, which is fair.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: A perspective is someone's reality in many ways.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: For you, then, I'm interested in that shift, because how did you cope with that NBA season being cut?
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: I mean, you just made that dream.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: You'd started, you'd achieved what you wanted to do, which was get some NBA minutes.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: How did you feel when that was, I guess, cut short?
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was devastating.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: The contract I was on I was one of the bottom guys on the roster, right, so I was on an NBA contract.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: But you know I still had to prove myself and you know the way the season was going for Cleveland is we weren't going to make the playoffs.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: So typically, when you don't make the playoffs, they're going to play some of the guys that don't play as much to start giving them looks, see if they belong.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: So you know it was actually the day.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: You know I was unfortunate, though, and you know, blessed in many sense, because the last game of the season I got to play in Chicago, in front of my family and friends, against the Bulls, and I played I don't know 15, 20 minutes.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: That was the last game of the season, right so?
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: But when it got cut, I was devastated because this was my chance, this was my opportunity.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: But you know it's something we can't control, so I didn't dwell on it very long and, you know, thought to myself okay, I'll try to use this time to get better.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: So when I get another chance, I'll make the most of it.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: And so when I get another chance, I'll make the most of it.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: And it didn't work out, but I know it wasn't for a lack of effort.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: And so at the end of that contract going through COVID, you had a short contract at Knicks, but how did you feel then about move overseas?
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, what was going through your mind?
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Did you think the NBA dream was over?
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: You were out of contract in the US.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, tell me, how bad did things get at that point, or was it all positive?
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: no good question.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: I never wanted to go overseas, right, I kind of hung on.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: I played in the g league two and a half seasons because I'm still trying to get to the nba.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: That's the dream, that's the goal.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: You know, overseas was never the dream, but I realized, you know, I still have this talent and this skill set and I need to find a way to make money off it, profit off of it.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: And overseas has really good basketball in many places and they pay well.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: You know nobody pays like the NBA.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: You know there are certain EuroLeague teams.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Euroleague for basketball is like Champions League for soccer, so there's certain EuroLeague teams that you know.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: There are certain EuroLeague teams.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Euroleague for basketball is like Champions League for soccer, so there's certain EuroLeague teams that you know are paying really well.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: But I was afraid to go overseas.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think I can honestly tell you, when I was in Spain I was depressed for a short amount of time, just because I felt so alone.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: I couldn't speak to people.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: There was language barrier, barrier, you know, time difference back home.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Like that was a really tough time, tough adjustment for me.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: But these are experiences that helped me grow and you know I learned from and now I've been to four different countries and get to travel to more through games, so it's a unique experience.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Yes, it is.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: And so, as you reflect I mean here's a here's a moment of reflection for you and I know we opened up with you you know thinking what's next when you think about the NBA career that you had perhaps dreamt of and you think about the breadth of career and travel and cultural experience that you've had.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: Now, when you look at the two, how do you compare those?
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: As you look back, do you think, oh yes, you've got a good outcome, or is there something still inside that sort of pulls you back and thinks how it could have been?
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good question.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: I don't want to live my life with regrets.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: So I think I see other guys in the NBA Comparison they say is the thief of joy.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: I see other guys in the NBA.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: You know, sometimes I wish that was me.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: You know I remember playing this dude in college.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: You know I felt like I was better than him.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Now he's in the NBA, now he's making this money, now he's got this success right.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: But I still, you know, got to be grateful and appreciative of what I did do and the experiences I did get to experience.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: I guess you could say there's probably a better way to say that, but I did get a chance to play in the NBA suit up on the NBA court for two different teams playing the preseason.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: You know, work out for a number of different teams and to live out that dream.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Am I satisfied with that?
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: No, but I think you know, those experiences will help me to teach the next generation, hopefully teach my kids, not saying my kids got to play basketball, but just if he does or if she does to be able to teach them from those experiences that I've had.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: So I think about it time to time, just like I think about.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: We played in the national championship.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: We lost in overtime.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: I think about that game sometimes, but you know, life goes on the sun comes up the next day, it does.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: We're blessed in that way, and one of the things I suppose I'm now super interested in is where you are today and how you are balancing that growing a business whilst still fulfilling this dream of being a professional, a professional athlete.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: So to help get that understanding, just talk to me a bit about your I guess entrepreneurial mindset is is this something that you know was with you as a youngster, or, um, how was it developed?
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: yeah, I've put some thought into that question throughout the years, because some other people have asked me that and I think I think I have to give a lot of credit to my mom and it might not sound like a compliment, but growing up we were not allowed to watch tv, play, play video games, to do all that stuff which at the time I hated.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: But now I realize it's good, because I think it cultivated my creativity, that I had to figure out things to do.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: My parents were not.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: They did not spoil us.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: So I was always also thinking how can I make money?
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: I want this pair of shoes.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: My parents aren't going to pay for it, or maybe they'll give me, you know, five, ten dollars towards it, but I'm going to figure out.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: You know, does the neighbor need me to to pull some weeds?
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Or you know, there's some some devious things I did to make money at a young age too that I'm not proud of.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: But you know I was customizing shoes.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: I was cleaning shoes and customizing them when I was in high school and college and then I was, like you know, in college I was thinking about getting into the vending machine business because I'm like all right, this is easy Passive income, don't have to do much.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: I realized it was a little more difficult than I had initially thought, so I bought a gumball machine.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: When I was in college, university of South Dakota, I bought a gumballall machine, I propped it in the middle of the student center and, uh, collected 30 and quarters every week, which you know, paid for some meals in college.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: So I always had that kind of I don't know that entrepreneurial mindset, as you say.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: But you know, this is something that is a lot, uh, a lot bigger than just the gumball machine in the student center.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because it sounds like some of those that was born out of necessity, that was born out of a need to get food right on the table for you as you're going through high school, going through college, Whilst you're earning a salary as an athlete.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: What is it then that has inspired you to start creating your own business?
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Talk to me about that, that story, how that has begun yeah.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: so I guess those examples I said you're right there were more out of a necessity.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: But I was also always thinking about problems and solving problems.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: You know, like it started when I was in in high school as well.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: You know I would take long drives, my school.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Like it started when I was in high school as well.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: You know I would take long drives.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: My school was far away.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: So I was always thinking you know, is there a more comfortable way to sit in the car?
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Because I'm driving so far and I wanted to create this headrest that you know was more comfortable to sleep on Right and I would sell it to all these car companies.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: Looking back on it, it's not a very good idea at all, but I started listing out these problems.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: And that's what entrepreneurs do you figure out a problem, you find the solution to it.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: So, you know, when I was in college, I was a finance major to begin and I realized I'm probably never going to use this.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: This isn't what I'm passionate about.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: I'm passionate about basketball, and at South University of South Dakota there was a new major innovation and entrepreneurship major.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: So I was one of the first guys to join that major.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: The other guy that joined dropped out a couple weeks later because he realized, man, I don't really need college, I can just start my own business.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: So he went and started his own business.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: So then it was just me.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: So my professor in that class Howard Haynes is his name, you know he did a really good job cultivating that in me.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: And the first half of our semester, you know our homework was figure out five problems.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: You know, write them down, five problems.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: That's our homework.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: And the second half of the semester go back to those problems, find out solutions to those problems.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: And one of the problems that I encountered in my sport was that when I practice and this is what gave birth to athletic when I practice, my shots are wide open.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: When I'm shooting by myself, wide open shots and shooting with the shooting machine, shooting with the coach, I'm shooting wide open shots, and most players almost all players are.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: But in games, you know, there's, just like in soccer, there's defender on you.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: You know, contesting you, defending you.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: And that's how my idea started is because I wanted to solve that problem in practice.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: And you know, since then it's evolved into something with technology, with AI, you know, helping players actually improve their shot mechanics so that they can become much better shooters, much more consistent, and perfect their unique shooting style.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: That's really cool.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: I love the way that is something you began through college.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: College and well for one, like you say, professor there did a good job of getting, teaching you how to identify problems and then talk you through.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: Or then it sounds like work with you on building out these solutions and you've brought that into something that you know, something yourself.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: You know, you know about it yourself and you're helping to to now solve.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: But I guess the gap that I'm getting is that sounds very difficult to do by yourself.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: So how have you gone about bringing that solution to life?
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: That's been a learning curve for me, right Is how do I bring this to life?
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: I just had the idea.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Now, how do I make this into reality?
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: You know, I realized, okay, this is something that players need, coaches need, that they want.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Nobody else is doing it.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: So how do I capitalize on this idea?
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: So the idea started in 2016.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: I built a prototype with two of my business classmates at South Dakota, and it was a $50 prototype that had a hole in the middle that allowed, you know, the passer to pass the ball through the middle, and it had hands at the top.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: No technology.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: And after we built that, I kind of forgot about it.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: It was in the back of my mind because I was more focused on basketball.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: So, 2020, though, just like you know, we talked about the negatives that came from COVID and you know, not getting to, you know, get that time on the court that I wanted in the NBA.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: But it gave me an opportunity to revisit this idea, because now I had time on my hands, I had a little bit of money in my pocket from my short time in the NBA, so built that, took that prototype to the next level and started from there, but at that point in time.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: It took me about I don't know six months to a year to realize I need some help.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: I need some people who can do what I don't know to do.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: And you know I needed a tech guy.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: I needed someone who has experience running a business, starting a startup company.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: So I was on the prowl for these pieces that could help me.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: I think my role is I got the vision.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: I know what I want the product to do.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: I know the game of basketball, what players and coaches want real business help fundraise.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: You know handle the operations.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: I need somebody with a tech background, knows about programming, who could speak the language to the engineers that were working with contracting.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: So you know it's something I prayed a lot about and you know I found I'm curious then how did you figure out that you needed help?
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: What was it that said I can't go down this path by myself?
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: What was it that came to you?
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: yeah, I think.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Uh, I think part of it is.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: I had people tell me, hey, if you're gonna succeed in this, this is a full-time job.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: This is, I mean, you're building a startup company.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: You have to be fully committed to it and I wasn't ready to give up.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: You know, playing basketball.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: I still had a lot of good basketball in me and and maybe I still do I don't know Right, but that was part of it is.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: I realized I need help because I'm still committed to playing ball.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: I don't have all the time and energy that I need to put into this, so I need somebody to help me there.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: But so I think it was.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: It was guidance.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: You know my older brother he's I've been really fortunate my older brother's running the startup company in the fitness space and so he's like a little bit ahead of where I want to get to.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: So all of his mistakes and what he's learned in his process of running a startup, you know he's been able to relate to me.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: My professor, howard Haynes, my financial advisor in Lubbock, texas, preston Tharp, you know just some smart people around me have advised me on these things and you know it just made a lot of sense to me.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: I need people to to surround myself with, to help me with the things that I don't know what to do, got it, and that guidance started to open up your eyes towards the skill set that you had and the skill set that you needed to bring in to help make athletic IQ, make it a reality.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: And you know, the other thing is I think I was.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: You know, maybe it's pride or maybe it's man.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: This is my idea, it's about me type of thing.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: And you know, just to have some humility and realize what do the customers want, what do the investors want.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: And you know, I was CEO for a while.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: But it's like you know how did.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: How do they perceive me as CEO?
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: A young guy that's still playing basketball.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: You know how did.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: How do they perceive me as CEO?
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: A young guy that's still playing basketball.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: You know, are they going to take me seriously?
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: And probably not.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: You know I got to prove myself.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: So you know Matt Mitchell, my business partner he's our CEO.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: You know he's older, has more experience running a business.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Is, you know, going to be doing this full time?
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: Aaron Phillips, our CTO he's a programmer, software engineer, has a lot of success building a company called SitePro that you know is very respected and looked at by investors.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: So you know, giving those guys some equity, bringing them in it, makes my dream become reality.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: If I didn't do that, I would be nowhere near where we are today.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: That's great.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: You use the word yourself there, humility and it demonstrates great humility for you to, I guess, move forward and recognize you can't do it by yourself.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: You know, I think getting to that stage is actually often very challenging, but for you it does seem as though it came through naturally, by having initially the right people around you and then moving in to build a, I guess, a team that could help move you further forward as well yeah for sure.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: during the pandemic I was actually very interested in another, in another guy's startup.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: I became very close to him, without saying any names, and you know I tried to get involved and help him.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: And my older brother actually got involved, tried to help him as well, because we were both passionate about what he was doing and it was in the fitness space and you know, realized, you know, the reason his company hadn't grown is, you know, he'd had been at it for years but he was unwilling to give up any piece of the company, any equity, to say, hey, I trust in you.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: He was unwilling to bring people in to help him with his weaknesses.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: So I think seeing that firsthand helped me realize right then I need to do it differently than he's doing it.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: And if I want my idea to ever get anywhere, I need to bring people in, be able to give up part of my company and some equity.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: And that's okay because in the long run we'll make a lot of money, we'll have a lot of success.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: That's the hope and the goal, that description there, that example is wonderful, because what you're talking about there is, while you're wanting to help somebody, but you're learning from someone else's experience.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: You see where they've gone, the challenges that they faced, and that has helped you to well.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: As I say, accelerate.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Accelerate the learning, accelerate your experiences by looking at others, by listening to others, and that, for me, is really powerful.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: And, look, that's indeed what this podcast is about is listening to stories of others who have gone ahead of you, not to take shortcuts I don't think there are shortcuts but to help accelerate that journey, to accelerate you further forward, to set yourself up.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: And if I ever do a podcast, I'm going to do it like you do it.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: I'm going to learn exactly from the way you've done it, the way you've set it up, because this podcast is really well done and really well prepared.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, you just you learn from other people and you take those experience.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: I think when I coach someday right I've played for a million different coaches it's taking the good from the coaches, the bad from the coaches, learning from all that to try to be the best coach that I can be yeah, that's great, and and so it.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: it sort of gets us to this space where you are now and this challenge, and I speak with many athletes who struggle with balancing their both mental and physical energy between the pursuit of that professional career and setting themselves up through business, through work, through study.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: What's your secret, matt?
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: My secret?
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: If I have a secret, it's the Lord, my faith, that's.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: The secret is to lean on God.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: There's a lot I don't understand, don't know.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: I lean on Him a lot.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: And then community, having great people around me that I can bounce ideas off of, that can help me think through things and pray for me, right, because I'm in this tough season of life right now where you know for the first time ever it's kind of scary but it's man, maybe you know I hang it up, maybe I stop playing basketball.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: So the secret is also, you know, more practical things is to get a good amount of sleep, to eat right, because it takes energy to, to be able to go to the gym and perform and play and get extra reps in and then at night be on some calls and to do all that.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: And, uh, you know I got a great, great community, I got a great woman by my side supporting me.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: So you know, all that stuff helps me out yeah, that's right, and you know I love that.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: That talks about that mental toughness.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: You know you brought in there.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: Faith helps you along that way, as does that community, and you talk about that physical energy through getting a good night's sleep.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: I'm curious perhaps about some of the, I guess the actual normal activity.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: I'll say just the, probably the boring stuff.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: But what does a week look like for you?
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: How do you mix your day between the training and working on the business?
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: Can you describe that for a day or a week?
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: it's changed a little bit since I came to italy.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: So I was playing in in turkey the first half of the season and, uh was really fortunate got picked up by a good club here in Italy, aquila Basket Trento, and so it's shifted a little bit.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: But you know, typically, you know nowadays, I'll get up, make a smoothie bowl Every morning, I usually make a smoothie bowl.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys have you had smoothie bowls before, or acai bowls.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: I have not had a smoothie bowl, no.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're missing out, man.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: The world is missing out on the smoothie bowls.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: No, yeah, you're missing out, man.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: The world is missing out on the smoothie bowl.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: It's fantastic.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Put a little granola on top, maybe some fruit, some honey, it's really good.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: So I get up, make some breakfast, try to get to the gym early typically an hour early get some treatment, get in the weight room, do some mobility maybe a little earlier if I got lift that day We'll have film practice get some extra shots up, take an ice bath.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: It's nice, the facility we have now.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: We got sauna, ice bath pool, so I'll probably get out of there around 1.30, 2 o'clock.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: Come home, usually my fiance has food prepared for me, which is great.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: When she's not with me, it's different.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: I usually go out to eat, pick something up, bring it back home, just because that cooking takes energy to have to do all that and clean the kitchen afterwards.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: So it's really nice.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: That saves energy and time for me.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: But then the evening is usually when I have calls scheduled.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: So I'll get together with my business partners, talk about what steps we need to take for the business, what we've got planned for the week, what we've got planned for the short term.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: And then right now we're in the fundraising mode.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: So it's all about fundraising.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: It's getting on calls with investors, trying to get exposure and do more podcasts this is the second one that I've done, but trying to do more of these.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: So I appreciate you getting me on to do this.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: And then you know, we're working on getting LOIs.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: So just that pre-sale phase, getting on calls with coaches asking them if they can sign LOIs, telling them more about the business.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: So there's just a lot that goes into it.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: Every day there's there's tasks that need to be completed and people to talk to.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: So that's typically what my week looks like.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: And then at the end of the night, maybe a little something that's relaxing, that's mindless, and then try to get to bed at a good hour 11, 12, sometimes a little later depending on what practice is, but 11, 12, and I'm a guy.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: I need a good nine hours of sleep.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: Some guys can do less, but I think for me right now, with what I got going, I need a good nine hours.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what a day.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: And it does sound.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: You know that is two, two full-time jobs that you're working through there.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: What's the most challenging part of that routine for you?
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the most challenging part, I think, is compartmentalizing.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: Right, it's when I'm in basketball this is basketball Like sometimes I'll be at practice thinking about the business.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: It's like, no, no, you're in practice right now, like you need to focus on this because this is your job, this is what you're getting paid to do.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: And you know, sometimes I'm in business thinking about you know the game I got coming up this week and how I'm going to defend.
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: You know my matchup and you know different things like that, right.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: So I think the compartmentalizing piece is something that I'm getting better at.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: But it's difficult because you know both things are present in my life and you know the thing that's helped with me is in my business.
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: Partners know I won't take calls.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: I've tried not to take calls the day before games and obviously on game day.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: You know those days my mind is really getting locked in ready for the game.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: But the rest of the week I really try to hammer out everything I can with the business.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: I like that.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: You know, what you've spoken about is closing out the evening by switching off from sport or from or at least from your career in basketball or from the business something mindless.
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: Getting a good night's sleep.
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: Compartmentalize your thinking, your thoughts, and I like that very real, actionable sort of thing to do, which is simple as blocking calls.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: You know, when you know that you need to be in game mode, you're able to have people who respect that, so people within your team who are able to say, okay, let him be in game mode, let's make this work, and I'm sure that's beneficial for you, beneficial for the team, but then also for your business partners, because you know, whilst you're in the game, whilst you're playing, that's a good thing for the brand as well.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you know I owe it to my team, I owe it to my organization to give them all I got right.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: You know they're paying me to be a certain player on the court to perform right.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: So you know they're paying me to be a certain player on the court to perform Right.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: So I owe it to them.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: Like I can't, I can't let the business get in the way of of how I perform on the court and sometimes you know it's difficult because there is a lot of mental energy that goes into it.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Like I'm the type of guy I need to be moving, I need to be active, right.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: Like the mental is almost more draining for me than the physical, right, so you know the business stuff it is.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: It maybe takes more energy to do that, to be on calls, to be alert, to be focused, cause my personality is like, yeah, I'm thinking about different things at once.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: So that compartmentalizing is is really key for me.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: But you know, the other thing I'll add is I've been really, really blessed with my two business partners right now, Aaron Phillips and Matt Mitchell.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: Like these are two guys I trust you know wholeheartedly.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: Like you know, it's been really great for me, as I don't have any concerns with these guys and maybe you know some people listen and say that's naive, but you know we've got a really great strong relationship.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: So I trust these guys.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: When I'm, when I'm focused on hoops, like I know they're doing what they need to be doing and you know they they are just really smart, really wise.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: They they know how to.
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: If I'm not there all the time, they know how to get things done.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: And you know, like Matt Mitchell, he's running the day-to-day operations.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: So we're on the same page.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: You know Aaron and I are on the same page.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: We got a great dynamic going right now.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: And you know, I think, for other athletes listening.
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: What I like about that is it enables you to compartmentalize, it enables you to continue to focus on the game, on, like you said, being your best when you're on court, be it training prep, as that is, and, like you said, being your best when you're on court, be it training prep as that is.
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: But the importance, though, is on that team that you have on court, but this team that you have within your business as well, that allows you to keep well, quite simply, excelling at the two things right.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly Because I'm not worried about them, I can focus on hoops, knowing what needs to get done is getting done, like these guys are taking care of what they need to.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: You know, aaron's going above and beyond.
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: He's testing out new motors for our, our arm.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: Right now, we're getting our camera modules out.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: You know these are details I haven't talked about, but you know things are happening behind, you know, behind the scenes, while I'm playing basketball, and we stay in constant communication.
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: So in the sense that your career, your basketball career you say you you're approaching that, that decision point.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: You're trying to think about what's next for you there From a business perspective.
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: You're at the start of that dream.
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: So where's next for the business?
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: You say you're in fundraising.
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: Where do you want that to go?
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: What do you dream of for that organization?
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: What do you dream of?
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: for that organization.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so you know, for the business it's been a grind right.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: You know you're fundraising, you got something you totally believe in, but you got to convince other people that it's going to be the success that I think it's going to be and that we think it's going to be.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: So, you know, yesterday actually we had a conversation with the guy who you know.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: You get these guys that come in and talk a big game but, you know, it seems like he's very, very able to fund our round.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: He's a big basketball guy, loves the idea and has a lot of connections because, you know, he sold his company, for you know what he threw out?
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: There was 150 million and now he's looking for something to do.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: He loves basketball, he loves our idea, he wants to invest, he wants to bring other people in.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: So you know, this could be the guy that helps us get to the next level.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: I don't know, we'll see, but my dream and my vision with this is, you know, number one is to glorify God, and I want this business to bring glory to God.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: I want it to, as cliche as it sounds, make the world a better place With the money we make and the money we make our investors, hopefully we make the world a better place, but really it's to help every basketball player improve and reach their potential.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: I was really fortunate I had my dad, who's no longer with us.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: He passed away a couple of years ago, but I had my dad growing up to teach me how to play.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: He was in the gym with me all the time.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: He taught me how to shoot Right and you know a lot of kids don't have that.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: So you know this is something that can really help those kids.
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: It can help players.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: It can help parents and coaches better help their kids as well and teach their kids you know how to improve upon their shot.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: But you know, the dream is we start with basketball.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: Basketball is our wheelhouse right now.
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: We have something that is able to simulate game conditions but also has the AI to help players improve upon their shot.
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: You know all these other companies.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: We compare it to a radar gun, right?
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: A radar gun.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: You know it can tell you how fast the car is going, but it doesn't tell you how to make the car go faster.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: So what we're doing is actually helping the car.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: We're telling you how to make the car go faster.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: So what we're doing is actually helping the car.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: We're telling you how to make the car go faster, right, instead of just telling you the result.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: You made this many shots, missed this many shots and you know those basic details.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: We're actually looking at a player shot and understanding what he's doing well when he makes shots, what he's doing well when he misses shots, or what he's not doing well, sorry when shots right.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: So now you can figure out what each player is doing right and help them to perfect their unique shot mechanics.
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: Because in basketball it's simple, because there's a direct result every shot.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: You make it or you miss it.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: Soccer is a little different because you got the goalie in the way, you got other players in the way.
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: Like basketball, you're getting contest.
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: Different because you've got the goalie in the way, you've got other players in the way.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: Like basketball, you're getting contested.
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: But once the shot is off, it's either made or missed.
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: So that result ties back to okay, what did that player do well on his made shots?
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: What did he do?
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: Didn't he do well on his missed shots?
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: And now, the way that technology and AI is moving, it's perfect timing to incorporate that, to be able to pick up on these tendencies in players and at the same time simulate the game.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: So, short term, it's basketball.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: You know, it's hardware and software.
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: And then what we're going to do in the short term as well as we'll, we'll separate the software from the hardware so we'll be able to help players and coaches with their shot, you know, without having the machine in front of them.
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: We'll be able to.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: You know we'll have it somewhere else in the gym.
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: But then, you know, long term, we go into other sports.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: We go into volleyball.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: You know, with the hardware it's easy to contest at the volleyball net.
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: American football with kickers.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: You know, maybe there's an application with soccer.
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: I need to talk to with more guys like yourself, ryan, about how we can make that happen.
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: So that's the short term.
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: Long term, yeah, I like it.
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: I like the way you've got that vision, the way it builds and the excitement that that's visible, you know, for me to see and everyone who'll be watching that excitement from you comes from there, you know.
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: Last couple of questions then really is when you think about where you are now, as much reflecting on your situation around.
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: You know what perhaps could you, could you have done certain things better to prepare yourself for this transition.
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: But it's more about if someone comes to you and asks you that question.
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: A 20 year old, an 18 year old comes and says, hey, matt, I've got a long career ahead of me, but what do you think I could do to help best prepare me for that life after sport?
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: How would you approach that question?
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, great question.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: Oh, really, a lot of really good questions.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm a big believer in finding your purpose and doing what I think is twofold.
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: I think life is twofold it's doing figuring out what our gifts and talents are and pursuing those.
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: You know, pursuing a career that can help us maximize our gifts and talents and then, at the same time, is figuring out what breaks your heart and try to help in that area.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: So those two things, but on the side of that we're talking about it's our gifts and talents, right?
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: What is, you know, what are we good at?
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: Because that's our gift to the world, that's what's going to make us excited to get out of bed every day.
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: You know, and I realize that not everybody has that luxury because, for whatever reason that you know, they got to put food on the table.
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: But at some point I think it's really important to, yeah, figure out what you enjoy, what you're good at, because we're all good at something, we all enjoy something, and to attack that and, you know, just try to be as good as you can possibly be.
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: You know everybody says you can't fear failure.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: Like failures, failure is going to come.
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: We might look.
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: I know the possibility we might fail with the company.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: I got cut from the NBA, you know, lost in a national championship.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: I missed a lot of game winners.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: I made a lot of game winners.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: You know that's part of part of life.
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: But if you don't go after it you're going to have regrets Like I think that's worse than, far worse than failure.
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: Far worse than not attaining your goals is having regrets that you didn't even get a chance to try it.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: So one of my favorite quotes is go after a dream destined to fail without divine intervention, and you know it's really just whatever it is, you got to go after it, even if it seems too big to go after.
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: You got to go after it because otherwise you live seems too big to go after.
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: You got to go after it because otherwise you live your life with regretting.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: And I've seen that happen one too many times.
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: Matt, thank you very much for joining me on this podcast today.
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: It's been a really enlightening conversation for me just listening to your background, but then also your approach to building teams, to going about your dream, to having the courage to live overseas.
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: You know something that I think you've shared some real actionable insights to those that are listening, so I really appreciate sharing your story today, matt.
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much.
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: Thank you, I appreciate the opportunity to share it and you know I've really enjoyed this conversation.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: Like, really well done, awesome questions.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: It's been really fun to have this conversation.
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: Really well done, Awesome questions.
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: It's been really fun to have this conversation with you, ryan, brilliant.
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: Thanks very much, matt.
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: Oh, actually, before we go, I should just say people are going to be listening to this and they're going to want to reach out or get in contact with you.
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: Where's the best place to follow your story and get in touch?
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so thanks for giving me this opportunity.
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: Social media, you know I'm on Twitter, instagram, pretty much those two Matt underscore M underscore Mooney.
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: My email, you know, if they're interested in the business, in investing or in helping in some way.
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: My email is Matt at athleticio, but athletic is spelled A-T-H-L-E-T-I-Q.
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: Sometimes people think it's athletic IQ, but that's actually the brilliance of Aaron Phillips.
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: He said you know we're going to combine IQ and athletics.
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: You know intelligent training.
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: So, mattatathleticio, if they want to email me Brilliant.
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: Matt.
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: Thanks again.
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: Thanks, ryan.
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to the Second Wind podcast.
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: We hope you enjoyed hearing insights from today's athlete on transitioning out of competitive careers.
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: If you're looking for career clarity for your next step, make sure you check out secondwinio for more information or to book a consultation with me.
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: I'd like to thank claire from betty book design, nancy from savvy podcast solutions, and cerise, from copying content by Lola, for their help in putting this podcast together.
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: That's all from me.
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: Take it easy Until next time.