Three Things I Learned In SaaS, Sports, Tech & Live Events Podcast
The Three Things I've Learned in sports, tech and live events is the podcast for entrepreneurs in software as a service, technology, sports business and sponsorships professionals.
My name is Tony Knopp and I've been working in Saas, tech, sports and live events for just over 20 years now where I've been surrounded by super impressive people who have taught us quite a bit and invested in us as we make mistakes and iterate in tech, sports and live events.
Each week, we share what we learned either this week or from our twenty years at the Dodgers, LA Kings, AEG, StubHub's very early days and here at TicketManager where we've exited multiple businesses.
We hope you enjoy our insights and those of our guests!
- Update frequency
- every 9 days
- Average duration
- 4 minutes
- Episodes
- 156
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
Three Things: Four times NOT to reach out to execs to sell or network
The First RFP: When it got really real...
Three Things: Why we take sides - How to exaggerate when doing deals - Great leaders repeat themselves
Three Things: The new force majeure - Hospitality at the Olympics - Performance based sponsorships
- Companies have found a way to get a form of force majure into their contracts - and it is genius. Knowing a pandemic clause is too ambiguous, they are adding tiers of spend based on the allowed atten…
Three Things: Be careful what we answer to - Why success is obvious while failure is unique - No rental cars on Maui? What does that mean?
Three Things: What I learned from selling a boxing sponsorship to a gentleman's club
Three Things I Learned in Saas, Sports Tech & Live Events
What I learned selling a boxing sponsorship to a gentleman's club*
In 2004, STAPLES Center hosted an HBO fight and we were contracted to sell…
We are not our jobs and how identity can wreck havoc on founders - Respect the customer's process in sales - Never root for a candidate
1. Our job is not our identity. I played volleyball at a very high level growing up- for Nike, then USC and the U20 US National team. So did my sisters. The whole time, my dad would tell us "You are …
What would you do? The time we were broke and got a miracle $350k check in the mail....by mistake
Would You Keep The Money? In early 2009, we were bootstrapping and close to the edge. We had ~$60k in the business. Total Then one day, a customer (a Fortune 100 company) sent us a check, by mistake,…
What I learned about business in 15 years with my best friend - our puppy, Hula
Tough week as we said goodbye to my best friend of 15 years, our puppy Hula. Who was with us for the entire thirteen year plus run of our business.
1. Ignore the odds. Hula was born a runt who became…
Piss soaked fight in the men's room week! What happens when the fight comes to you in business
1) Don’t pick fights. Better yet, avoid them at all costs. You never know what the other side has in them and the winner never wins without a cost. In business, too many big companies underestimate s…
Mistakes we made while building what became an award winning culture
Here are four things we learned in building a team who wins culture awards over and over*
1. We learned to stop focusing on how people *should* think and started understanding how they *do* think. In…
What our feeds are doing to our ability to think and act - The laws of power state winners win while losers lose - When analytics goes wrong
Three Things I Learned In SaaS, Sports, Tech and Live Events 1) The algorithm isn't helping young entrepreneurs. There are many influencers offering soundbites tailored to get attention or get you to…
People Vote With Their Feet - Brands Have Incredible Power in Live - Tell Your Loved Ones You Love Their Scars
Three Things: GameStop, Wall St Bets & Super Bowl Tickets- We've Seen This Short Game Before...So What Next?
Chaos broke out this week when a group of retail investors took to a reddit message board to play a massive short squeeze on Wall St hedge funds using options on highly shorted companies GameStop, AM…
The arms race heats up in sports property consulting - Private equity impact on sports and Super Bowl tickets - Don't sell out. Ever.
Why everything a leader says is scrutinized - Why teams take the credit (and is a good thing) - and how flossing applies to your remote work strategy
Three Things I Learned In SaaS, Sports, Tech and Live Events
1) "The only thing I could ever give him credit for is hiring me." Many give little credit to those who enabled their success. I was the s…
10 Years to $10mm ARR - How to negotiate with channel partners - Why internal competition is necessary
Three Things I Learned In SaaS, Sports, Tech and Live Events
1. "10 years to 10m ARR." The social media gurus talk often about the growth rate needed for your saas to be a unicorn. Don't get too rope…
How to cope with the urge to quit. How to assure we don't miss the next big thing. The best snippet I saw in 2020
- Everybody wants to quit sometimes, especially in the very early days or hard days which many experienced for the first time in 2020. And that's normal. If handled poorly, however, it can be terminal …
How to handle stress and decision making during chaos
How Did You Know When To Start Your Own Business?
We explore what led us to start our own company including
- The most common question asked is "how did you do this." Truth is, I dont know. The answer I keep coming back to: we were willing to make a lo…