162. Dennis Crowley, Co-founder and CEO of Street FC

Today, I'm joined by Dennis Crowley, co-founder and CEO of Street FC, a tech-enabled street soccer league.

Street FC is building the world's biggest football club, organizing 5v5 street soccer games on hard-court surfaces in urban settings. Scheduled and monitored through its app and Discord channel, it runs games in NYC, Austin, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Minneapolis, with plans to expand to 20 cities by the end of 2023. 

In this episode, we discuss Dennis's experience using technology to bridge digital and real-life communities, plus Street FC's growth plans for soccer and beyond.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Dennis's journey from Foursquare to creating the "SoulCycle for soccer"
• How Street FC leverages playing surfaces as billboards for brands
• Street FC's strategic plan to grow to 20 cities by 2023 

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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:14 Dennis's background
03:43 Bridging the gap of digital and physical worlds
06:50 Why Street FC exists
09:49 How the community works
12:53 Street FC expansion
15:07 Getting more people to play soccer
16:39 Growth strategy
19:26 Merchandise and branding
23:50 Discord community
26:06 Soho House for soccer
27:57 International expansion and evolving into other sports
29:06 The fun and hard parts about start-ups
31:10 Conclusion