28. Brian Verne | Wave.tv (sports media)

Brian Verne is the Co-Founder & CEO of Wave.tv. 
Brian grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and has been in and around sports his entire life. After playing baseball throughout college and looking for another opportunity to compete in the professional world, he discovered startups and has be working on various businesses over the past decade, all at the center of sports and media. As he consistently heard the traditional sports media companies talk about decreasing fandom for younger generations, he knew there was an opportunity. What he knew, that they missed, was that fandom has never been stronger - it just shifted to the rapidly emerging social and digital platforms. This was the key insight that inspired Wave.tv. 
Today at Wave.tv, Brian and his team are building a next generation sports media company. They produce content across 20 brands, including Break Ankles Daily, for basketball lovers, Dingers, for baseball fanatics and Oddballs, for all the sports you didn’t know you needed. Their content is specifically created for those digital and social platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, TikTok, and Youtube because that’s where the next generation of fans are consuming content. Over the last 3 years they’ve gone sport by sport, and fandom by fandom to build their impressive portfolio. It’s a fairly simple playbook, but one that they have executed masterfully as they've seen parabolic growth in 2020.
Tune in to hear Brian's story!
EPISODE TOPICS: 

• (2:25) Wave.tv snapshot today
• (9:44) Background and founding story
• (12:18) First steps to launch Wave.tv
• (15:14) Intellectual property and partnerships
• (18:55) Customer acquisition and marketing
• (20:21) Future of sports media
• (23:17) Big growth moments
• (26:00) Hiring
• (27:40) Investor pitching advice
• (30:45) Mentor advice
• (33:38) Advice to younger self
• (35:15) Biggest challenges
• (36:10) Brian's wellness stack
• (39:09) Exciting trends
• (41:05) Brian's startup manifesto
• (43:01) Brian's founder nomination

Wave.tv - wave.tv

• Follow Brian (@brian_verne // @brianverne) on Instagram // Twitter // LinkedIn
• Follow Wave.tv (@wave.tv // @wavetv) on Instagram // Twitter
• Brian's learning and resource recommendations 

The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com 

• Follow The Founder (@founderpodcast) on Instagram // LinkedIn // Twitter

Don't have time to listen to the full episode? Read the 5-minute version here