Pepper Hamilton Emerging Growth Group Sponsoring Beyond the Game Event Presented by The Players' Impact
Pepper Hamilton's Emerging Growth Group is excited to support the Beyond The Game event presented by The Players' Impact.
What if you knew your career would be over in just a few years and there was nothing you could do about it? This is exactly the future every athlete faces and, whilst many of us believe that athletes stay in the sporting system post-retirement in either a coaching capacity or sports journalism role, the fact is less than 20 percent of athletes end up choosing this route. Instead, entrepreneurship is by far the most popular route for an athletes career post-retirement, yet entrepreneurship training is rare. A special Beyond The Game event presented by The Players' Impact on January 9, 2019 in Las Vegas is seeking to improve this training.
Beyond The Game is a peer-to-peer based event centered on the athlete investor, the athlete entrepreneur and the athlete-in-transition. Athletes, more than ever, are doing business off the field, executing their ideas and investing in others. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in structured meaningful conversation with former athletes and executives who are experts in their respective post-athletic fields. The event will be co-hosted by Ray Austin, NFL veteran and co-founder of the Fan Controlled Football League, and Bonnie Bernstein, ESPN/CBS veteran and founder of Walk Swiftly Productions. Featured speakers and huddle hosts include Isaiah Kacyvenski, NFL veteran, investor and founder of Will Ventures; Marques Colston, NFL veteran, entrepreneur and founder of Dynasty Innovation; and Amobi Okugo, MLS player and author of Frugal Athlete.
The Beyond The Game concept was developed by The Players' Impact, a group of 100+ investment and entrepreneurial-minded professional athletes investing in and building businesses together led by Tracy Deforge.
The event will also see a first-of-its-kind startup pitch competition for current and former athletes who have founded a startup. They will pitch in front of an audience of their peers. The winner of the competition will win coaching from Journey Partners, a guaranteed pitch for capital to The Players’ Impact community and a spot to present at the NYC Huddle, a group of sports industry executives who help startups via one intense half-day session.
The companies selected to pitch in Las Vegas are:
- Earbuds - The social music app that offers friends a way to connect and create shared moments. Co-founded by NFL veteran Jason Fox.
- WePlayed - An intelligent, video platform that brings sports back to life by consolidating, activating and socializing the massive, distributed library of content that remains after the competition ends. Co-founded by NFL veteran Paul Zukauskas.
- Athent - A financial planning software for athletes. Co-founded by Olympic track athlete LaVonne Idlette.
- CX Labs - A new way to train, educate and experience sports by integrating emerging technology such as AR/VR with training and education. Co-founded by NBA veteran Rashad West.
- Play Easy - An online booking resource for all athletic events and practices. Co-founded by NFL veteran Sean Flaherty.
The event is sponsored by Beck Bode Wealth Management and Pepper Hamilton LLP and hosted by the Fan Controlled Football League.