The Players' Impact began life as a Twitter account.
Tracy DeForge and Jason Lavender, both veterans of sports tech, noticed there was a lack of access to business education and resources specifically targeted to athletes. Twitter was the first step to fill that gap—and "a lot of athletes responded," DeForge said.
"Before you knew it, we were at a significant size because of athletes we were talking to on a regular basis regarding early-stage investment opportunities," DeForge told BostInno. "But there were also questions like 'How do you read a term sheet?' and 'What does valuation mean?'"
DeForge and Lavender wanted to develop a more robust solution. Enter The Players' Impact, affectionately known by its members as TPI. Launched in May 2017, it's a platform built exclusively for professional athletes: current and retired players of all different sports, as well as Olympians. It's open to athletes in multiple countries, leading to the name "the Global Locker Room," which TPI describes as a comprehensive digital platform providing resources targeted to support athletes in entrepreneurship, investing and business.
"I think a lot of athletes are on top of their game professionally, but when they're no longer in the game—or they're in a different game—they're not sure, and they're not as confident with what they know and don't know," said DeForge, who now heads up TPI as CEO. "Giving them this peer-to-peer environment of like-minded, high-achieving individuals provides them a comfort level to learn."
Take it from a decades-long veteran of this space.
DeForge worked on the business side of the NHL and MLB.com in the early aughts before helping launch Accrue Sports and Entertainment Ventures, a strategic investment and advisory firm focusing on the intersection of sports with media and tech. She has also served as an advisor and mentor for Women in Sports and Events, the Techstars Sports Accelerator and the sports innovation hub Stadia Ventures.
"We've been in the sports tech space long before sports tech was sexy," DeForge said. And as a Massachusetts native, it's important to her that TPI be based in Boston, which she calls "a perfect hub for sports tech companies."
One longtime investor on TPI's platform is Iman Farrior, the national program manager at real estate tech company Compass. She is also an advisor to TPI; she and her husband, former NFL linebacker James Farrior, were among the organization's earliest investors. Iman Farrior said they have been working with DeForge and her team since 2016, before TPI made its official launch.
"We are heavily in invested in the market and were relatively heavily invested in real estate, but we hadn't really made many angel investments or VC investments until we were introduced to TPI," Farrior told BostInno. "[Without TPI,] I don't know if we would have had the same deal flow we've had. The opportunity probably would not have been as attractive."
Farrior said a major benefit of TPI is its events. Over the last year and change, DeForge and her team have put on a series of what she calls "tentpole events" at the intersection of sports and investment. At the NBA All-star game in February 2019, TPI held a Shark Tank style casting call for all of its athlete founders. In June that same year, TPI held a live pitch event tied to the NBA Draft.
TPI now counts more than 200 athletes on its platform and growing, with players like defensive tackle Dominique Easley investing in the TPI portfolio. And working alongside DeForge as partner and managing director is Marques Colston, a former NFL wide receiver.
TPI is also expanding into the real world beyond just its events. In November, TPI launched a chapter in New York City. It's currently planning to launch a chapter in Boston as well.
"I think the beauty of TPI, as opposed to other investment vehicles, is that there's really no minimum to participate," Farrior said. "We have people who have been able to put in $2,000 or $3,000 and people who make large, six-figure investments. Whatever comfort level athletes have with investing, they're able to dip their toes and slowly ease their way in, rather than being forced to put out a major outlay early on."
Disclosure: Tracy DeForge was an executive in residence at American Inno, BostInno's parent company, from April 2016 to March 2018. She has not been involved in the company's operations since then, before this author was hired.
