Sports media has drastically evolved.
Over the past few years, many multimillion-dollar sports brands have been built off social media alone.
Playmaker HQ is one of them.
Founder Brandon Harris leveraged his hoop experiences, marketing skills, and many growth tactics to take the company from an idea to a 25 million acquisition in 2023.
Now he’s focused on taking the brand to the next level through compelling shows that feature some of the world’s most entertaining athletes.
In this interview, we discuss the early days of Playmaker, how the acquisition with Better Collective came about, and his advice for other founders who might be looking to sell their company.
Hello, who are you and what is the name of your company?
Brandon Harris: My name is Brandon Harris, and I was the founder & CEO of Playmaker HQ, which was acquired by Better Collective for approximately $25m in July 2023.
I have only worked in sports my whole life.
Growing up, my dreams were NBA or bust, and though I fell way short there, I spent my 20s launching and growing companies in sports, with an intense focus on making up for my first dashed dreams.
To stay close to the sport, I first founded a basketball training company called Next Level Basketball which my old partner Jay Ramos & his partner Serg Arzanov have continued to grow and recently built a beautiful facility in Hollywood, FL.
After that, I went into marketing and e-commerce, first with ad agencies then with a basketball apparel brand called Hoop Culture where we grew from 0 to millions of dollars in revenue.
In the marketing of Hoop Culture, I built a great network in media and discovered massive opportunities in the network building and media space.
This inspired me to create Playmaker, which was built around sports media and growing powerful communities that could be monetized through multiple lines of revenue including e-commerce, sponsorship, and programmatic.
What was the process of getting the company off the ground?
Brandon Harris: I was not very thoughtful at the beginning – it was a race for me.
I was focused on growth and accumulating audience, monetizing the audience, and then investing more in growth.
I woke up every day looking to close sponsorship deals and then used that money to build our assets so we could charge more.
The first couple years were full heads down grinding on growing this network of assets into the tens of millions of followers, believing that I would one day flip these assets for an attractive payout.
At the time, others were doing what I was doing, but I was early.
Around that time Whistle Sports would be launched, then Overtime, then Wave, who were all initial customers who would buy sponsorship posts on my platforms to grow their audiences, and then eventually would become our larger, well-funded corporate competitive set.
My goal was to grow fast, iterate quickly, and build asset value while maintaining full ownership and freedom to operate how I saw fit.
Where that focus led me to change every year. First to Instagram, then Snapchat, then Twitter, and YouTube platform growth and IP development.
How is the company doing today and what does the future look like?
Brandon Harris: The company today has really matured since the acquisition and is making incredible shows with some of the most entertaining athletes on the planet including Shaq, Jalen Brunson & Josh Hart, Udonis Haslem & Mike Miller.
We will be able to announce several more soon.
I have been able to lead the launch and development of all these shows personally as President & Chief Content Officer of Playmaker HQ at Better Collective, which has been an exciting new path for me.
The economics of the shows can be very attractive as our partnerships with the athletes monetize with social platform revenue, sponsorships, e-commerce, & events.
As the shows grow and build incredibly engaged communities, each line of revenue grows.
The platforms created by podcasts can be incredibly powerful, as evidenced by some of the recent 9-figure deals for the top creators in the space.
Through starting the business have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
Brandon Harris: I have made countless mistakes and have been lucky to learn from each.
There’s certainly an element of luck and timing in any success story.
Ultimately, if you have high output, solve problems quickly, and learn fast, you can accomplish anything with enough time.
Most of the best and worst decisions I made involved people. Great and bad hires. Attractive vs confusing deal structures. Good and bad marriages with investors.
One thing that really stands out is if I could start over again I would not be cheap on key hires.
An A-Player will almost always be worth it with enough time and opportunity.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, you’ll often get what you pay for when you hire someone because they’re lower cost.
Revenue-generating hires are make or break, so you better do proper diligence and get it right.
I had so many advisors over the years, some of whom were great and others who weren’t. Sometimes even bad advice helps you find clarity and make an opposite decision.
There are so many know-it-all founders, and you need to make decisions ultimately, but if you’re not open-minded and listening to smart, experienced people and at least considering what they say, you’re doing everyone a disservice, especially yourself.
The balance between being decisive and fast vs also being thoughtful and responsible is challenging, which is why it’s so key to surround yourself with smart people who are genuinely in your corner and have been where you want to go.
What advice do you have for founders looking to raise capital?
Brandon Harris: Fundraising is so hard, especially in this industry.
Seek out experienced advisors who can help you develop your pitch and plans before you go out to investors. Strategic investors are always going to be healthier than big VCs. Friends and family can be great and they can be toxic- some money isn’t worth the cost or stress, especially if you need to change the path you think is best to accommodate their needs.
Ultimately, if you can avoid taking on significant investment, I’d recommend it.
You retain control, and successful exits/outcomes are easier since you don’t need to hit gaudy valuations and likely can live a lower-stress life.
Sometimes funding is needed, but I would avoid raising more than you need. If you can find former founders who exited in your space and can help you along the way, these are the best possible investors. It’s worth offering them very attractive deals.
Keep in mind that cash flow often cures all and there are many ways to finance growth with non-dilutive financing.
Business credit and loans, advances, and other offerings are available if you’re generating revenue. If you aren’t, you probably will struggle to raise investment no matter what.
Ultimately, investors want to understand the market, the problem you’re solving, your competitive advantage, comps for a successful exit, and how they’re going to 10x+ their money.
If you can’t sell them on 10x, their money is better invested in the market. The biggest thing is always going to be the jockey, the CEO, the team- nobody is investing if the founder is inexperienced and the investor doesn’t believe in them to accomplish the goal.
What are some predictions you have for the industry over the next year or so?
Brandon Harris: Sports media, broadly, will always evolve.
We are certainly seeing athlete and influencer-led content thrive more and more – fans want to get the stories directly and spend time with their favorite personalities.
Layering more IRL experiences is certainly a trend that fans are loving.
I think we will continue to see the decentralization of sports media where now every show, podcast, and channel can be its own business.
The industry was once dominated by a few big players and now those who have the communities and attention hold the power.
As smart TVs and phones continue to develop there’s so much room for innovation layering experiences together: betting + tv, social creators + live games (alt casts and celebrity games/events), league creator programs, digital fan experiences, startup sports leagues being a few examples of areas that can still evolve so much.
Are there any particular tools, software, or resources you use to be more productive?
Brandon Harris: I’m not a big “tools” guy.
I pretty much live in Google Suite: docs, sheets, slides, meets, drive, email, and Adobe Creative Suite.
Of course, we have many tools across the business in finance, analytics, and project management- as you grow these are more & more necessary, but it’s not an area I view your choices being make or break.
What advice do you have for founders trying to build a team and hire talent?
Brandon Harris: Don’t be afraid to offer aggressive compensation packages including vesting equity for A Players, but make sure the skills and experience are transferable.
Don’t be overly impressed by company names, some of the employees at the biggest brands operate at a much slower pace than you need at startups and won’t want to get their hands dirty. Do check the references and hire very carefully.
Ask for real case studies and really dig into experiences in interviews.
LinkedIn is great for sourcing applicants honestly. Ask investors and advisors about people in their network.
What advice do you have for founders trying to sell their company?
Brandon Harris: Keep your finances, contracts, and processes organized and documented.
Don’t cheap out on your M&A lawyers.
Optimize for profitability where possible when you’re ready to start the process since often valuations are simply multiples of your EBITDA.
Try to start the process from a position of strength and not a position of need or desperation. It’s usually not worth the risk of being greedy and chasing huge unrealistic numbers. If you have a great offer and you can get yourself and your investors and employees a great outcome, that’s rare and you should avoid risking that unless you have extreme confidence that you’ll be able to do better soon.
There are great firms who can help you sell your company who can not only help with marketing and package your offering, but also with finding acquirers, negotiating, and working through due diligence.
There’s so much that can go wrong in the process, and so many factors that contribute to your payout- it’s well worth the cost of having true experts and professionals in your corner.
Often, you can take a look at acquisition press releases to see who the big M&A firms are in your industry.
How did the Better Collective acquisition come about?
Brandon Harris: Better Collective has been a respected and aggressive top acquirer in sports media and the sports betting affiliate category for a long time and they were always near the top of our list of potential acquirers.
With our goal always being to find a great home for our brand and team, we got to know all potential acquirers in the space over the years as a matter of strategy.
With our significant momentum and expertise with athletes, building communities, and creating premium storytelling content built for social platforms, and Better Collective’s new goal of becoming the world’s largest Sports Media group, there was a very clear and natural alignment. Ultimately, after many conversations with BC’s team, as well as a generous offer with significant upside for our shareholders as well as great compensation structures for our entire team, we were able to come to terms in the summer of 2023.
We think it’s been a great marriage so far and 100% of our investors profited on their investment, with some even getting a 10x return on their investment. It was a great outcome for all parties.
Where can people apply and find out more?
Brandon Harris: You can follow me personally Brandon Harris on LinkedIn or @BrandonHarris on Instagram.
The best place to find open roles at Playmaker and Better Collective is by applying via our LinkedIn pages.
Please make sure you’re following @Playmaker on all socials to see the latest with Playmaker including new athlete show launches, events, and other fun content and opportunities.
