ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR ATHLETES
Updates, Resources and Links
ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR ATHLETES
Updates, Resources and Links
Entrepreneurship for Athletes
#FromTheCourtToTheBoardroom

Unser Ziel ist es, Athlet:innen dabei zu unterstützen, sich zu ernsthaften Akteur:innen in der Startup-Welt zu entwickeln. Zusammen mit unseren Partnern bieten wir neben Know-how, Einstiegs- und Orientierungshilfen auf dem Weg zur Gründung innovativer Unternehmen und der Abwägung von Entscheidungen über Investitionen in Startups.
Nutze deine Erfahrungen aus deinem Leben als Leistungssportler:in und ergänze sie durch Business Know-how.
Wir vermitteln dir essentielles Wissen und relevante Kontakte, um dich zur Entrepreneurin oder zum Entrepreneur entwickeln zu können. Unsere Begleitung wirkt wie ein Beschleuniger, um das Feuer, das du als Athlet:in hast, auch im Business und Entrepreneurship zu entfachen und zu nutzen.
Wir schaffen für dich eine außergewöhnliche Lernatmosphäre. Genieße den Austausch mit Menschen, die das gleiche Mindset haben wie du.
>> Latest relevant LinkedIn Posts <<
#EntrepreneurshipForAthletes #ThinkingBeyondSports
BEING AN ATHLETE & FOUNDER
Elite athlete and founder? Yes, why not?! And what about focus, focus, focus? Of course, focus is extremely important. Of course, you have to make sure that you don’t get bogged down. But why not try to see if there is more possible – as an athlete? Andreas Bechmann is a good example of this. Just raised € 1.35 million in a pre-seed funding round with Preventio, at the same time as an athlete and decathlete with the highest goals. So there seems to be more possible than one or the other… >> STORY, LINKS & BACKGROUND
BEING A COMMUNITY TO MAKE A CHANGE
How do professional athletes, artists, influencers and investors come together as a collective to connect, empower, educate and invest? In our Entrepreneurship for Athletes Web Class we offered exciting insights from The Players´ Impact. Not to forget, besides education, it’s also about: „From the hottest special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) on the market weeks before IPO, to a lesser-known startup, we get access because companies recognize the value of our investor community.“ >> STORY, LINKS & BACKGROUND
WOLFGANG JENEWEIN – LEADERSHIP & PURPOSE
Purposeorientiertes Leadership ermöglicht ein Umfeld, welches Team-Mitglieder:innen erlaubt, für sich persönlich Sinn zu finden. Im Harvard Business manager 1/2021 haben sich Wolfgang Jenewein, Maximilian Strecker und Anna-Christina Leisin in einem Artikel mit dem Thema Purpose befasst. Im Business wie im Sport entscheidet Leadership über nachhaltigen Erfolg. Wolfgang führt im Video-Clip aus, was es mit ´Extreme Ownership´, ´Positive Leadership´ & ´Kraft der Neugierde´ auf sich hat. >> STORY, LINKS & BACKGROUND
ATHLETES´ POTENTIAL FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP
„(…) the entrepreneur and the athlete are less neurotic, more extraverted, more conscientious, and record a higher risk propensity than members of the reference groups.“ (Study Kathrin Steinbrink) That’s why it can be interesting for athletes to seek opportunities and chances to work with startups to find roles & positions that suit them while they are still athletes. With the assets that athletes have, they can contribute more to the success of startups than just in roles as testimonials and role models. >> STORY, LINKS & BACKGROUND
Latest Updates
CONTENT
Athletes have what it takes
„(…) the entrepreneur and the athlete are less neurotic, more extraverted, more conscientious, and record a higher risk propensity than members of the reference groups.“
Connect, empower, educate
How do professional athletes, artists, influencers and investors come together as a collective to connect, empower, educate and invest?
CONTENT
Athletes as Investors
How do they do it? Do they need to understand the business they are investing in? And, fundamentally, what does it take to be successful?
Top-Notch Speakers II
The Program & Marketing Director of leAD and the Principal & Co-Founder of the ADvantage Fund will introduce you to the world of leAD Sports & Health Tech Partners.
CONTENT
LeBron – Empowerment
We are empowering you as an active or former professional athlete to leverage who you are and what you have accomplished.
Top-Notch Speakers I
Our lecturers from the University of St. Gallen – like Wolfgang Jenewein, Jan Marco Leimeister or Stefan Sander – are experienced personalities with a large network and knowledge that you need as an entrepreneur to be successful.
Further LinkedIn Posts with more Background, Cases and Links

PAPER: ARE ATHLETES THE BETTER ENTREPRENEURS?
Research and earlier studies show that athletes are more suited to entrepreneurship than non-athletes because of their higher risk tolerance. A new study of Lukas Meissner and Finn von Appen gives a strong indication of how much all entrepreneurs can learn from sports entrepreneurs and their risk-handling strategies. In detail, their findings and the conceptual framework for entrepreneurial risk-handling at our Entrepreneurship for Athletes Seminar in Berlin. >> STORY, LINKS & BACKGROUND

BASEBALL PLAYER TURNED NFT ARTIST
After multiple injuries Micah Johnson, a professional baseball player, retired from professional baseball to become a visual artist in 2018. He learned more about NFTs through conversations on Discord and Twitter and then decided to give digital art a try. He sold his first NFT in 2020, an animated portrait of a melanated baseball player titled “.15 Seconds. Then he created his now-famous NFT character, Aku—a young Black boy with dreams of being an astronaut who wears an oversized space helmet. >> STORY, LINKS & BACKGROUND

ATHLETES AS INVESTORS – RUSSELL WESTBROOK
„Russell Westbrook (NBA/pro basketball player) is a visionary and his energy and passion for design, product excellence, and community impact will help propel Varo’s next phase of growth.”
Many other athletes have this type of personality. With their visions they can – alongside and after their careers as athletes – also have a positive impact on the economy and society. >> STORY, LINKS & BACKGROUND

FUTURE OF SPORTS FOCUSED SPACS
„It may be more than just a current trend. While sports team valuations have tended to increase, the coronavirus pandemic will likely impact team values for the next few years. The pandemic has caused teams to lose revenue streams, and has likely impacted team owners‘ other businesses, and reduced the market for prospective investors. As a result, teams need new sources of capital.“ >> STORY, LINKS & BACKGROUND
CareerOnTop - Our Platform
A network dedicated to athletes who want to succeed in a business career.

ONCE FOOTBALL, TODAY ENTREPRENEUR
Athletes have it, the entrepreneurial mindset, like Jason Fox: „Even prior to the #NFL (National Football League (NFL), I’ve always had an entrepreneurial mind and think of creative things that I would want to see in the market or see in the world.“ Today, „EarBuds, which soft-launched in late 2018 and recently partnered with the Fan Controlled Football League, counts the Kansas City Chiefs’ PatrickMahomes & the Cleveland Browns’ BakerMayfield as investors. >> STORY, LINKS & BACKGROUND

SKILLS OF 2025? ATHLETES AS MANAGERS OF THE FUTURE
Our analysis on the “Top 10 Job Skills of Tomorrow” (World Economic Forum) and our findings on competitive sports as a „school“ for future success. It is based on our learnings and knowledge transfer work with athletes. In addition, this analysis and our remarks are the result of the exchange of experiences with employees, managers & entrepreneurs from different areas with backgrounds of success, but also of failure. >> STORY, LINKS & BACKGROUND