A New Era in Sports Sponsorships with Ishveen Jolly, OpenSponsorship Founder & CEO

The Work in Sports Podcast - Insider Advice for Sports Careers

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged

Learning at WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast.

In 2015 Ishveen Jolly brought to market her dream of an open

marketplace for brands and athletes to do business.

Brands have messages they want to get out in support of

their products, athletes of all levels are great spokespeople – let's bring

them together in a transparent and accessible way.

Simple right?

Not exactly. There is a lot that goes into taking an idea

and making it a reality, a reality that businesses like Anheuser Busch,

Groupon, The Vitamin Shoppe Draft Kings, Verizon and thousands more feel is

reputable and credible enough to do business with.

The first 4-5 years were about growth and expansion, both of

credibility and business opportunity. Then as the business matures, you get

into a “what’s next” mentality. Do we need to cross into other verticals outside

of sports, like entertainment? Is there new technology we need to develop? Do

we need to change our staffing and our process?

Leading a business as the CEO requires a constant mindset of

“where are we going, vs. Where we have been. There is no such thing as

comfortable. Challengers emerge, technology changes – it's all fluid.

And then, the biggest change of them all. Names, Images and

Likeness legislation.

Think about this for a second, Ishveen’s business

OpenSponsorship, was dependent on a limited number of professional athletes

able to leverage who they are to generate business for other brands.

Now, enter in 460,000 new collegiate athletes able to do the

same.

As of July 1^st, college athletes can use their

name, their image, and their likeness to earn money! This opened up a huge opportunity

for Ishveen and the great folks at OpenSponsorhip.

And, amazingly, it isn’t just the big stars and the big

brands who are making money, for example, Jackson State DE Antwan Owens struck

a deal with 3 Kings Grooming! Hadn’t heard of either before I recorded this,

but I love this, every bit of it.

For long-time listeners you know I had Ishveen on the show

two years ago, she is amazing, I learned so much then. Now we’re checking back

in to learn more about what has happened in the NIL world over the first couple

months of wild west action!

Here’s my good friend, Ishveen Jolly...