Start here: Founders

Meet the founders turning youth-sports problems into products, and hear how they found their first customers. Start with these conversations, then put the market context alongside your own next move.

On The Faceoff

Faceoff

Episode 4: James Kelly & LitZone — Broccoli on the Pizza

He grew up in Brooklyn, taught middle school in Brownsville, and watched eighth graders check out at "mitochondria" — not because the science was hard, but because the word was. So James Kelly left the classroom and built LitZone, a sports app for kids in third through eighth grade that sneaks daily reading and math practice into kid-friendly sports news and fantasy football. No ads, no chat, nothing scandal-driven. This fall it passed 5,000 users, almost all from fantasy football, with schools, families and after-school programs all paying.

Listen

Faceoff

Episode 2: Rob Thompson & GamePlanU — The Third Wave

An All-American on the offensive line at the University of New Haven. A season of pro ball in England. Then the NFL, where Rob Thompson managed NFL Youth Initiatives and was part of the team that launched NFL FLAG. After that came an Arena Football front office, Radio Disney, private equity and a run of companies of his own. Today he's the founder of GamePlanU, which builds commercial pathways for college athletes, sports innovators and content creators.

Listen

Faceoff

Episode 1: Gayle Jones & FuelBoxx— Everything But Nutrition

Four Emmys. Twenty-five years producing the NBA on TNT, multiple Olympic Games, the NFL and HBO Sports. Six years running brand video at JPMorgan Chase. And then Gayle Jones's daughter — a soccer player since she was five — got cut from the top level of her club, and Gayle knew why before anyone said it out loud: a growing body that nobody was feeding right.

Listen