The Business of Play/Brian Litvack - LeagueApps, Youth Sports, The Anxious Generation ~ Spark of Ages Ep 24

Join Rajiv Parikh on the Spark of Ages podcast as he chats with LeagueApps co-founder Brian Litvack who shares how technology can uplift youth sports organizations. Discover how League Apps has evolved from its humble beginnings to becoming a crucial tool for over 3,000 sports organizations, offering solutions for everything from scheduling to communication. Brian shares his passion for using technology to create positive experiences for millions of young athletes and their communities, highlighting the company's journey and vision for the future.

We examine the nuances of youth sports with a focus on parental behavior and the pivotal role of coaches and community organizers in shaping young athletes' experiences. With anecdotes and insights, we navigate the complexities of volunteer-led initiatives compared to professional coaching systems. Find out how programs like the Positive Coaching Alliance are essential in fostering character development and how youth sports have transitioned into a substantial industry, especially in the digital era where engaging children has never been more challenging.

From the significance of sports in promoting wellness to the inventive ways technology can enhance participation, this episode offers a comprehensive look at the future of youth sports. We tackle challenges like field space utilization and coach training, emphasizing the role of software in creating safe environments. Our conversation takes a whimsical turn as we explore unconventional sports trends, from futuristic drone racing to playful sports trivia, ensuring an insightful and entertaining experience that promises to ignite curiosity and inspire innovation in youth sports.

Brian Litvack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianlitvack/

LeagueApps: https://leagueapps.com/

Tom Farrey: https://www.amazon.com/Game-All-American-Race-Champions-Children/dp/1933060468

Producer: Anand Shah & Sandeep Parikh
Technical Director & Sound Designer: Sandeep Parikh, Omar Najam
Executive Producers: Sandeep Parikh & Anand Shah
Associate Producers: Taryn Talley
Editor: Sean Meagher & Aidan McGarvey
 
#youthsports #founder #entrepreneur #saas #payments #innovation #growth #sales #technology #innovatorsmindset #innovators #innovator #product #revenue #revenuegrowth #management  #founder #entrepreneurship #growthmindset #growthhacking #salestechniques #salestips #enterprise  #business #bschools #bschoolscholarship #company #companies #smartgrowth #efficiency #process #processimprovement #value #valuecreation #funny #podcast #comedy #desi #indian #community

Website: https://www.position2.com/podcast/

Rajiv Parikh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajivparikh/

Sandeep Parikh: https://www.instagram.com/sandeepparikh/

Email us with any feedback for the show: spark@postion2.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Brian Litvack and League Apps
• 1:44 Key Takeaways from this Episode
• 2:11 Rajiv's experience running Stanford Soccer Club
• 2:46 What Sparked LeagueApps?
• 4:23 The Evolution of LeagueApps
• 5:46 Who is the Hero of LeagueApps Customer Journey?
• 7:29 Challenges and Opportunities in Youth Sports
• 8:45 Parents Involvement in Youth Sports
• 10:19 The Positive Coaching Alliance and the Purpose of Youth Sports
• 12:15 The Parent/Organizer Perspective on supporting your kids in youth sports
• 13:23 Business Data on Youth Sports
• 14:18 Getting more kids into sports and off of screens
• 15:54 LeagueApps Mission
• 17:27 Data on Aggregate Health Benefits of Youth Sports
• 18:44 LeagueApps Growth lies in Solving Problems in a Fragmented Market
• 22:30 Innovations LeagueApps is building
• 24:40 The Pandemic presented a challenge and a learning opportunity
• 25:30 Sports as Social & Emotional Learning & Coaches as Teachers
• 28:45 The Anxious Generation & Other Screentime Fears
• 31:00 How Technology can enhance the Youth Sports Experience for Families
• 33:59 Challenges to Innovation in Youth Sports
• 36:07 How LeagueApps works with Influencers Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities
• 38:16 The Evolution of Local Youth Sports
• 39:37 LeagueApps Go-To-Market Strategy
• 45:20 The Spark Tank: Bizarre and Unusual Sports
• 47:10 Round 1: Games of the Past
• 49:32 Round 2: Wild Games of the Present
• 52:08 Round 3: Strange Games of the Future
• 55:28 Brian Litvack's Spark is his Grandfather
• 57:39 LeagueApps is inspired by the words of Nelson Mandela
• 58:47 Project Play & Tom Farrey
• 1:03:10 Credits

Transcript

Rajiv Parikh: 0:07

Hello and welcome to the Spark of Ages podcast. Today we're talking with Brian Litvack, co founder of LeagueApps, a company based out of New York, which is dedicated to empowering youth sports leaders, owners, operators, and admins who dedicate their lives to the players and game, especially investing in the people that make it happen. Brian has been operating and building in this space since he graduated from the University of Michigan, an awesome school. Go Wolverines. Yeah, yeah. Go Wolverines. My son and daughter in law both went there. And our producer. So it's too many. I'm surrounded by

Sandeep Parikh: 0:40

Wolverines and none of you look like Hugh Jackman. So. But

Rajiv Parikh: 0:46

Brian attended the Ross School of Business as an undergrad, and over the last decade, he built the gaps into a company that supports over 300, 300, not 300, 3000 sports organizations. I was working on 300, 000. Probably 300, 000 teams after this episode, after he gets the spark of ages, bump, it'll be 300, 000. It'll be 300, 000, but maybe I could definitely see probably 300, 000 teams, maybe 3 million teams he's processed over 5 billion in transactions. It's reached over 10 million players. Parents and coaches and impacted 250, 000 kids through the nonprofit fund play organization. And just a name drop. A few of LeagueApps investors are MLB Major League Baseball, Julie Foudy, David Robinson, the LA Dodgers, Shane Battier, and Swin Cash. Some of the key takeaways you can expect from this episode. It's a lineup. Yeah, it's an awesome lineup. The num number one, we're gonna talk about the problems in youth sports and how we solve them. Number two, what the effect private equity will have on youth sports. That'll be an interesting topic. And number three, what LeagueApps go to market strategy is and how they authentically drive it. And I'll throw in a fourth, what drives Brian to be so successful and engage with the rest of the world like this, Brian, welcome to the show. Welcome to spark of ages.

Brian Litvack: 2:10

Thank you so much for having me. Excited to be here today.

Rajiv Parikh: 2:13

I actually played with some of these apps. Uh, we had a team snap. When I was, uh, on the board of directors of the Stanford soccer club that supported our youth youth group. And then eventually we moved to another application. That's a more local one by Gus. So it was really cool to meet and talk with you about it because I went through all kinds of stuff, working with these applications and how to run a club at scale. So, um, tell us a little bit about. You know, into the story of what got you to start, uh, LeagueApps. Yup. So

Brian Litvack: 2:49

I'm in 2000, all the way back to 2010, uh, we had been working on a different startup that was about connecting adults to play sports with each other in local communities. Uh, it was a problem we were trying to solve for ourselves where you can find a, uh, an extra player on your softball team or a tennis partner, or a group to go running with. Um, and at the time it was, you know, go offline to get out or go online to get offline, but it was kind of the motto of helping use technology to connect people to enjoy, uh, and experience sport. And we, we, we wanted to have more impact and the way we recognize we could through software and technology. Was by helping our super users and our super users of our community where the people that actually organize sport within those communities. So in every town across the U S there's a, uh, there's a full community, vibrant community of parents and kids participating in sports. And then there's usually a half dozen to a dozen people who make it their responsibility. Sometimes it's their full time job. Sometimes it's volunteer to actually organize and produce sport. And we saw them and we recognized no one goes to college to majors in sports logistics in local youth community sports logistics, but a lot of people have incredible passion and philanthropy and influence to want to be able to impact and affect sports within communities. Uh, and we wanted to, and we recognize the opportunity to build the tools. Uh, what I like to say is, you know, we started this to help communities organize sports. Uh, when a decade plus later, we recognize we're a vertical SaaS payments company. Uh, but at the, at the core of it. Was very much taking this mission that we had with our previous company of creating amazing sports experiences and recognizing that by actually being a B2B software platform for a space that back in 2010, didn't really have much software, that that's the way we can have the most impact and the most influence on how sports is organized. And we've been very fortunate that, uh, since that time. Uh, in 2010, we just gradually grown, uh, our, our, our business and our organization, our influence to Rajiv, as you mentioned, we have over 3000 sports communities using LeagueApps to really be the system of record and power, uh, everything that happens within their community from registration and payments to communication, messaging, scheduling, program management, uh, reporting and analytics, uh, websites and mobile apps for the coaches, parents, and players. Uh, and trying to be that core operating system, uh, that a sports community can use, uh, to allow them to do what they want to do and what they love to do, which is actually, you know, create these amazing sports experiences and make sports happen in their community.

Rajiv Parikh: 5:41

That's right. It's really, so the, so basically the idea of this is that if it's totally volunteer run, there may be a, uh, an organization and then they, they let the teams run themselves and each team would create or use a platform like yours and Organize their team that way, right? They'd have their coaches, the rosters, the game schedule, who does what, when. Um, but then, and then there's, but then of course, when you go to a tournament or something, you got to share expenses. You got to let people know about, uh, buying uniforms or the, the, uh, the team parties and all that. Uh, and that's one level, right? And then you end up going up another couple of levels when you actually have an organ, like a, a club level system, right? Right. That's something run by a much by a central organization. The staff is paid. There's, there's all these levels that you're moving kids from one team to another based on certain assessments. So I'm sure it's gotten much like, did you start it from the team level thought or did you start it from like the organizational level?

Brian Litvack: 6:43

Yeah. So, so we really took an approach that the sports organizer. In the community is one of the most kind of unsung heroes and has a thankless job because they have to go out and get permits. And as you mentioned uniforms, and there's a lot of logistics, they have a lot of volunteers, whether they're for profit or nonprofit. And there, if you think about it, each weekend, there's multiple events going on all over the community at different fields where you have to get equipments and you have to deal with families and parents and you have to look at the weather and have all these considerations and they didn't, they just didn't really have much technology. Build for them to help them achieve this and in many ways they were the super users as I mentioned of our community because they were just they were looking for help with promotion. They were looking for help with website. They were looking for help with attracting players. So we saw the benefits that we want to bring them is save them time. Workflow automation. This is what SAS companies are really great at, right? How can we help a sports operator just move information around, collect information, collect payments more efficiently and effectively so they can be on the field instead of doing admin tasks all the time. We wanted them to help them grow their organization. So, you know, we wanted to help them create a better experience for the coaches, parents and players in their organization. And we wanted them to help them optimize their funds, whether that is a for profit organization that's making the livelihood or whether it's a nonprofit or a community organization that just wants more funds to invest back into the program. So that's where we saw that software technology and data. Can have this, you know, more impactful influence in how sports are organized within communities. And then what's nice about software, you can really scale that much more than if you were an operator yourself. And that's where we've been able to partner with 3000 sports clubs or organizations across the country.

Sandeep Parikh: 8:41

My question is, is how do you, um, do you have anything in your app or in your operating system to help these community organizers, these super users, um, sort of protect them from people like my brother, these sideline coaches that yell at the kids to do better. What's wrong with that?

Rajiv Parikh: 9:03

Is there anything to help them for that? Come on, this, this is what I used to say to kids. No, this is what I used to say when I was the coach and when I became the manager of the team, right? Uh, the players play, the parents cheer, the coaches coach, right? So that's one of the messages you have to convey to folks.

Sandeep Parikh: 9:21

Right. And actually Rajiv is not a big perpetrator of this, but uh, I've said some stuff. Okay. You

Brian Litvack: 9:28

know, uh, Cindy, you joke, but the parents, there were exuberance bordering on irrationality around how to behave on sidelines of watching their kids sports, uh, in every community is something that, uh, has room for improvement. across our society. And what I like to say is you can't really sit next to your kid in school and root for them to do well on the test or live vicariously for how they do in science lab. That's right. But you can do that in new sports. And many parents spend as much time with their kids in new sports activities from the age of four or five up until high school. Then any other thing that they're doing with their child, between the child school and their work. So it really becomes a whole family experience. Uh, and I think oftentimes the way parents parent is the way that they act on the sideline and the way that they behave. And, you know, I, I'm part of something called a positive coaching alliance, which is just trying to help. put perspective into most of youth sports is really about character development and self discovery and learning and having great experiences. You know, before this show I was talking about the producer of this show was one of my all time favorite teammates. We played sports together in middle school and high school and those memories and those lessons are as much as I got out of sport. Uh, as, uh, as you know, competitive accomplishments. And I think a lot of times in e sports today, it's about being competitive and excelling is the focus where it should really be about, uh, development, uh, of sports skills and life skills. And then all the amazing things that go with being part of a team that you could take with you in your different parts of groups and organizations. And I think many of the best sports operators want to focus on that. And one of the things that we often work with them is how do you put your core values and the things that you care about most front and center of your organization. So it's not just about, you know, winning or competitiveness or, you know, a path to college scholarship, which oftentimes becomes, you know, you mentioned the show, the problems. I hate to say the problems in our problem. They're just like how you sports has evolved, and we want to make sure it continues to evolve where as many kids as possible have positive experiences. And not evolve in some, you know, way that just because it's a fragmented local industry, uh, it's kind of uneven in those experiences, which, which sometimes happens and which we believe with sports and technology and data, we can have impact and influence on having a ability to make sure that those experiences are more positive for, for all.

Rajiv Parikh: 12:15

It's amazing. I mean, here's, uh, when I got into it. And of course, I have four kids. They're older now. Um, I just thought this be a, this volunteer thing. And then it turns out that there's professional coaching. So I got my kid through a Y. S. O. All four kids actually through a Y. S. O. And then they all went and did various things. Three of them went into the quote unquote club system, and it was just a whole different game, right? And so you're, yeah. And it's a different, you're traveling, you're doing tournaments every weekend, the coaches talk you into, uh, from soccer to futsal, uh, you'd end up doing this whole machine, right? And so, and then I realized with tournaments, it's actually a big industry. So as part of my Sanford soccer club, we have a yearly tournament raised a ton of money for the club for scholarships that we use to pay coaches, right? Cause we wanted. Kids from the community to put, you know, from all over the committee, not community, not just those with money to play. So it's a bigger industry. And I, I say compared to growing my company, this was actually easier. So let me give you some data and then Brian, you can supplement the data.

Everyone: 13:25

So

Rajiv Parikh: 13:25

from, I understand sports youth market. Is a 37. 5 billion industry as of 2022 and is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9. 2 percent until 2030. And if you see how much parents are spending on it, it's understandable. In 2021, 50. 7 percent of youth age 6 to 17 said they participated in a sports team, took sports lessons after school or on weekends. So half. That's right. In 2019, the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services set a long term objective of 63 percent of students playing by 2030. And maybe this additional movement, in addition to what they do in schools,

Sandeep Parikh: 14:11

enables that to happen. So that, that's actually my question coming off this data. Like, I feel like half kids play sports. That's like we can do better. Like I, I just feel like just all those things you mentioned about sports and how incredible they are. There's a, but there's a stigma, right? Of like being a jock kid versus an art kid versus a whatever. I wonder if I don't know how your technology plays into this, but you know, if this is able to encourage sort of, Yeah. Less of that stigma and then maybe drive these numbers up because I mean, there's only really positive benefits to kids playing sports and team sports. I personally,

Brian Litvack: 14:45

yeah. So, so one thing we're very aware of is especially with iPads and cell phones and yeah, the rise of YouTube and the internet that kids have more options now than they did in the previous generations. And those things are pretty addictive and online gaming figures out how to use algorithms to help, you know, keep the attention of kids. So for what we believe is that sports needs to continue to be an engaging experience for kids because they do have other options. And that if we can help the operators and local communities figure out how to best leverage technology to create those, you know, amazing, positive, engaging experiences, that's what will lead to more participation. And to Sandeep, your point, everyone should have some type of sports activity that they can participate in and enjoy, right? Whether you're a super competitive, coordinated athlete or not, that they should have different levels and different sports and the ability to sample. Uh, different types of activities. What makes one of some of the things that makes sports unique is it's, it's, it's both, uh, wellness and, and exercise. And it has this whole team camaraderie, uh, feeling of, you know, being part of belonging of something, right. Belonging. And we, we, we long ago could have expanded into other verticals. Esports are different types of activities, and we really wanted to keep the focus on team sport and go deeper in team sport because that's where we have the most passion having. It's not every partner that we have to us isn't just a customer with an AR score. It is a community. That offer sports, and we take tremendous pride in saying we want to be their partner forever for the next generation, the generation after that. And then when they, when they decide to partner with LeagueApps. Uh, the sports in their community is going to be better or more productive or more effective or more inclusive, uh, than, than not, or than if they went a different direction. And I think that drives a lot. That's our mission that drives a lot of our company. It's as much, you know, we talk about our revenue is based off of payments, processing, all kinds of milestones that we're doing billions of dollars a year. But it's really the number of communities that we serve, the number of operators. And then the number of families that are using our platform to have better sports experiences, uh, is what is what kind of thrills and motivates us to keep on going and keep on, uh, innovating on the things that we can do to help these communities.

Rajiv Parikh: 17:25

That's awesome. And here's a few more stats just for, for you, like to Brian's point, if we got. The full 63 percent of kids or 60 plus percent of kids participating in youth sports, there'd be according to this is according to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, um, 1. 7 million fewer kids with who are overweight or experience obesity, about 147, 000 fewer cases of diabetes, 59, 000 fewer cases of cancer. 145, 000 fewer cases of coronary heart disease. The economy would benefit 80 billion, 26 billion from medical costs, 53 billion from increased productivity. And they'd live an additional 1. 8 million additional year quality years of life. So it's about that quality of life. And I think you hit it, Brian, what, you know, I just listened to a webinar about happiness and happiness is not just getting, having pleasure. But sharing it with others and creating memories, and really, that's what your app enables, right? It makes the life of the vol, the volunteer or the professional, or the, the par, the parents or the organizer much easier. Yeah. So now your company, your company, like you, uh, started it. You built it up, you took an initial round of capital, and then you just, I, I think 2021 is when you, you raised your series B.

Everyone: 18:54

Yep.

Rajiv Parikh: 18:54

So amazing. You know, at least it was announced. You raised 15 million. According to crunch base, I was able to find you're over 37 million ish plus or minus. So, um, you know, awesome. That's obviously based on hitting amazing milestones. So where do you see as your growth path?

Brian Litvack: 19:13

I think we're still in the early innings using a sports analogy of where we can go. And one of the reasons why is that technology is still in the and software is still in the early phase of how much you can really impact the experiences in youth sports. And it's still a fragmented market. There's not tech solutions for every aspect of it. It is complicated. Some of the things that you need to do to organize sports. So we look at all of, you know, again, I'll go back to the problem. Sometimes it's field space. Well, how can you build marketplaces to help, you know, make sure all field space is being utilized in the right way.

Rajiv Parikh: 19:50

That's a huge problem in many communities, right? Like, like. What are the quality of fields? I would imagine is also finding good fields that aren't beat up and crappy. So, uh, at least in a word, uh, in Silicon Valley in a pretty wealthy community. Right. Yeah. I'll be

Sandeep Parikh: 20:04

talking about all your fields are like frigging Dodger stadium. I'm a little better than Dodger stadium. It's like come help LA. Okay. It's like Pebble

Rajiv Parikh: 20:11

beach. No, no. But like you can either. It's fairly inexpensive to use the city fields, right? Which are pretty beat up, or you can buy these feel private fields or even the city feels that are, that are tough turf on them. They're just, uh, it's a, it's becoming to enable kids to play. It gets harder and harder to find these great fields.

Brian Litvack: 20:33

Well, I think it's inefficient. It's inefficient to match the fields with the right teams. You know, there's sports like hockey that you really want efficiency because there's only so many ranks. Sheets of ice out there, but so, so whether it's efficiency of field space utilization, whether it's better coach training, whether it's better safety compliance, uh, which is things from sexual abuse prevention to background checks, like all of this stuff should be part of the youth sports experience. You guys, it's great that you both have great experiences. And again, the, you know, with Anand, uh, your producer, we've had great sports experiences. But it doesn't just happen. You have to put in the conditions of having the right operators, the right coaches, and the right conditions to have a kind of safe, secure, protected environment for kids to play sports in. And, and there's still a lot to be done there. And we have an ambitious roadmap of things that we want to build. Again, we're going to look at it as how to use software, how to use data to help solve some of these problems that in a, in a fragmented market. That every community kind of does sports on their own. There's not that many authoritative associations or governing bodies here in the U S it's actually different than other countries. That it's, it's really local and it's very much falls on these local operators to create a great experience. And sometimes you go town by town, whether you're in the Bay area, I'm on long Island or anywhere in the country. And the sports experience is different. They'll prioritize different sports. So they'll have different level of qualities, right? And it's one of the fabrics of communities. It's one of the last places where people will congregate on the weekends and see each other and actually interact. And no matter what their. political party is or their, their economic class will be playing sports together. So we think that's pretty special. You know, we, we think we can be the partner of these people within the communities who make it happen, uh, in all different ways.

Rajiv Parikh: 22:30

So like what you mentioned one, which is a really cool idea, uh, creating a market marketplace for fields. Are there other capabilities that you're building as part of that roadmap to scale, uh, more community features or more, you know, like more. I know you don't want to tip off your competition necessarily, but what direction do you want

Brian Litvack: 22:49

to take? After many years of really focusing on the operator, we're starting to focus in the last few years more on the coaches, parents, and players. So one of the things we're actually releasing in the next month is for, uh, the athletes themselves to log into the app. So we built safe messaging, we built, uh, COPA compliance. We wanted to make sure, though, that the athletes can interact with each other, interact with their coaches. In safe and protected ways so that they can get more. They could be part of the experience more digitally and get whether it's training guys or it's, uh, feedback from coaches or connecting with the other players on their teams and doing that in a way that is, uh, It's kind of compliant with all the safety standards that it needs to be to allow them to have to take their experience with them before and after the game, not just when they're at the field. And what was happening is we had the parents can log in and do everything. But in this world, especially those athletes that are 13 to 18, giving them more opportunity to be able to use and engage with tools to help them, whether it's utility or more and more going to go into engagement and how to enjoy their experience. We haven't solved evaluation and report cards yet, but we think that should be part of every sports experience is where you're getting progress reports or progress evaluations from your coach throughout the season. And one thing is to drag on coaches, like if it's not easy for them to do. It's just like extra work in an already busy life. So how can we do that through voice notes? How can we do that? If you take a photo and mark it up, how can we do it through writing the app? So we're trying, that's one of the features that we're trying to develop is like, what's the real way of allowing coaches to quickly give feedback to the, to their athletes and to their parents so that, you know, a third grader can understand how they've progressed from the beginning of the season to the end of the season, one of the things that we really learned during COVID. So COVID was. Uh, very difficult time for our business. You know, our revenue is all based on transactions process. So that basically went down 96%. And we were always proud that, that, that youth sports was recession proof, but we never took into account, it was not a pandemic proof. So what's happened, you know, COVID happens and there's very little authority and youth sports operators are pretty confused of what to do. Oftentimes county to county, there's different regulations. Are they allowed to practice? Are they allowed to, uh, put together programming. But what came out of covid, which is really special for us, was how much youth sports is social and emotional learning and how imperative it is for the development of kids. And that it was no longer like this extra curricular activity. In many communities, youth sports came back even before school came back as something that we have to make sure our kids are allowed to do for them to kind of live healthy lives. So I think a lot of Sport should be looked at as a form of education and a form of learning. And it's not quite there yet. There's not as much compliance. There's not as much, uh, credentials as there should be, but, but we look at every coach as a educator and as a teacher, and oftentimes the coach is one of the most informed, influential or. Uh, uh, important role models for kids.

Rajiv Parikh: 26:00

It's actually one of the few places where you get truly open and honest feedback. Um, what I saw with my kids as they got older and sometimes the coach would let me hang out in the huddle cause I was, you know, because I was in the club and all that, or, or helping them manage the club was that they would, um, Like the things they would say to my own kid that I could never get away with saying, you know, I would hurt their feelings, but the coach could literally be like totally open with them because they, the kid knew that this is about helping them, helping them win. They were handling criticism in front of, or constructive criticism in front of others. It's just a special experience that you, you don't get in the classroom. Right. In many ways you get, you get on the field. That's really cool.

Brian Litvack: 26:43

One of, uh, in our interviewing process, we look for sports team captains and I brag that we have the most sports team captains as a percentage of employees. It's something like 60 percent of our team has been a sports team captain at some point in their life because that's really to what you just mentioned, you know, how. How oftentimes teammates interact on the sports field would be so productive if they carry that over into the business world that were open and direct and accountable and that is so hard to do. Yes. And then all that. It's so obvious in sports and then, you know, on the field, it's so easy to say, get back to your position or like, if you're tired, go to the sideline. But in business, uh, it's, it's, it's. For some reason, not as, uh, uh, not as obvious, but, uh, we often talk about that parallel.

Sandeep Parikh: 27:32

Well, the goal is not as quite as immediate, right? You're like literally talking about seconds matter when you're on the field, right? Every inch is matter. So, so you can, you can make those calls and you have to make quick calls. That's why, you know, you're able to do that versus tying a bunch of ego into it. You just gotta be in the moment and you gotta be. Looking at the whole field and assessing it and your place in it. And that's why I think you're open to that. Chris. Yeah, Brian, you're talking about the pandemic

Rajiv Parikh: 28:00

and actually, you know, how every youth sport organization's revenue went to zero and the part that's most difficult about it was not just the kids and how they were impacted, but there's a lot of coaches that make their living on sports on youth sports. It's how they live. That's their life. They take care of, they, they really care for these kids. And so. Luckily for us in our soccer club, one of the most satisfying things for me is that because in my role in the soccer club, how we ran tournaments, we raised enough capital with that combined with the government. PPP program were able to pay those coaches during a critical time. So having a product like yours, which helps people organize much more effectively can make a huge difference, especially in tough

Sandeep Parikh: 28:45

times. One thing I want to pop back to, though, Brian, because you sort of we're talking about more engagement and letting the players start to log in, and particularly because we're talking about youth sports. You know, I'm wondering how you sort of toe the line with, you know, more of this parental concern and just larger societal concern about, you know, You know, uh, social media and the impact that it's having on, on, on kids, uh, you know, and you're seeing more and more of like the assembly bill that just passed in, in, in California with the Phone Free School Act. And, you know, this push towards, hey, let's hold back on kids on social media because of its negative repercussions to their mental health and, and how it sort of creates this false, uh, You know, impossible sort of, uh, model to live up to and all that stuff. So I'm wondering how you negotiate, navigate that as you, as you sort of grow your company into being more, uh, you know, uh, having the players have that access.

Brian Litvack: 29:38

Yeah. So I follow a lot of that closely. I really liked reading, uh, the anxious generation by Jonathan Haidt that goes into the, some of these topics. I'm reading that right now. Yeah. And it's very appropriate, right. And some of the lessons it's, it's, but the way I believe it. Technology can be really powerful. Is it if it enables people to get closer to their passions, and I think that's what's neat about our relationship with sport is, by definition, sport is happening, at least how we define it, in real life, on the field, is physical activity. So everything that we're doing is trying to put that front and center and then helping, uh, kids or families, whether it's utility, how to get there or how to commute or how to communicate our engagement of, you know, interacting with coaches prepared for the next game around that actual event or activity. So, so it's less, it's less

Sandeep Parikh: 30:39

about like posting, Hey, we won and now everybody can see my post. Like, is it, is it less about that? Uh, you know, or. I, you know, I'm sort of trying to get a picture of it. Um, cause I can imagine that that would sort of increase the anxiety seeing, you know, everybody doing so well and you feeling like left behind or cause it's more personal in your interaction

Brian Litvack: 30:58

as we go more. So we've been very focused and a lot of these apps are focused on utility. There's a rain out, I need a carpool, I need to get to the game. It starts at three 45. It's at field too. As we get more to engagement where we're thinking a lot about. It's how to enhance the experience. So, you know, how can you give them drills to improve? How can you let them relive the moments that, you know, uh, That are most vivid. How can they communicate or support each other, uh, uh, on and off the field. So we're, we're just going down that path because until you really nail the utility of helping the parent and the kid get to the event and activity, that's what, you know, if you have four kids, that's the, the weekend schedule is like the battle, right?

Everyone: 31:42

Yes.

Brian Litvack: 31:42

Only once all that's figured out, can you sit back and say, Oh, let me see those highlights of my kid or let me, you know, help him get better training or do some drills in the backyard on his own. But I think we look at it very much as how do you connect? How do you connect kids to their passion in a productive and positive way? I will say there is a lot to be learned from e sports. E sports borrowed a lot from real life sports, the name itself, right? Tournaments, teams, uniforms. But I think what I've learned from e sports is that. They quickly iterate to what is most interesting or engaging. They use data in different ways to help them figure out the rules of the game or the way to participate. Uh, kids are often times don't need adult supervision in order to play in events or tournaments. Uh, on some of the gaming platforms, it's oftentimes like, uh, quickly, uh, iterating into like a new version of the game. So I think there are some of those things that actual physical sports need to be more willing and open.

Rajiv Parikh: 32:43

So looking at like engagement metrics or, or sharing metrics, or maybe there's a way they evaluate things, kind of thumbs up, thumbs down as a way of building. We're

Brian Litvack: 32:52

trying to help. We're trying to help a lot of our, our, our organizations understand retention. Like why are kids not playing in first grade when they played in kindergarten and soccer or T ball and how can we send them a message or a survey or figure some of that stuff out because you have a churn problem and they look at me like, what is churn? Is that like a butter, you know, making device or something? No, no. You're losing your kids. They're quitting or retiring from sport at first, second or third grade. Because they didn't have a great experience. Like, how can we learn from that? Was it a coach that wasn't good? Was the field not there? Was it not, uh, fun enough? You know, we're spending a lot of time thinking about T ball. What is the, is that still the best game? Introduction to baseball? Are there other ways to introduce kids to baseball? You know, you, you have to recognize kids brains are wired differently now. And this is what the book says. And they're used to things like more data and used to things like more, Uh, connectivity. So, uh, a sport like baseball that is sometimes more nuanced and, you know, slower paced, when, when is it, you know, uh, appropriate to play nine on nine? And when should you do running bases and home run derbies for the kids, right? I think that's hard for any individual operator to say, I'm going to change the rules of the game in my league, in my town, in, you know, in my state without having support from, without having data or videos or support or other organizations around the country are also going to say, we're all, we're also going to do this because. Well, you know, we did this and we saw kids play baseball every year and didn't churn and didn't leave the program. So I I think there's opportunities to innovate and there's opportunities to create new types of experience for kids

Sandeep Parikh: 34:35

It's about time that t ball gets disrupted It's about You know,

Brian Litvack: 34:41

it's and there's some good there's some good formats That are trying to do that. There's one called quick pitch, which is, you know, different, different rules. But I think what happens, and this is a, to the point of innovation, it's hard for any one local operator to say, we're no longer going to do T ball and all the parents, how can you not do T ball? Every other community does T ball. So if you want to, if you want to innovate in local sports, you either have to have someone who's super entrepreneurial and a visionary, or you have to make it easier for them to do that. You have to have more, more ways of helping them say it's okay to try a different format or a different game. And I think some of the sports that are doing that are the ones that. Uh, that are getting ahead. You know, tennis has done a nice job where there's red ball and green ball and there's different size courts and like everyone kind of follows these rules now. And it's much more appropriate than having a four year old trying to play on a full size tennis court. So I think for every sport, there's ways of reimagining the experience so that kids can enjoy it at an age appropriate level so that they they are getting the most out of it. Uh, and then as they grow and as they learn, you know, they can play with different rules or different size fields.

Rajiv Parikh: 35:52

Yeah. It's a, it's a great innovation. I mean, even in soccer, they went, went four V four, seven V seven, nine V nine, then 11 V 11. Right. There's so many, and you can share those best practices and experiences because you have a wider platform where you can show people what worked and maybe have training videos. You find that up, like there are influencers and athletes that, you know, That involve itself with league app as part of that, you have that MLB tie up. Are they, are they helping you? Are they partnering with you?

Brian Litvack: 36:20

Yeah, I think ML, major league baseball, and I want to speak for them is very invested in the future of the game. And I think they're able to take a longer term view. Of what is positive. And one of the things we work with them a lot on is their ability to provide baseball experiences in underserved communities. So they have a program called RBI, which is reviving baseball in inner cities. They have, uh, uh, academies in, in certain communities. And what they're saying is we want to expose baseball to all these different types of communities. And we've helped them set up, you know, the, the infrastructure. Sure. And work with those operators in those communities to help make it easier for them to provide baseball. And they, MLB provides a bunch of resources, a bunch of training, a bunch of like, uh, uh, uh, uniforms and, and equipment, uh, in order to help more communities have opportunities to play, uh, play baseball.

Sandeep Parikh: 37:14

They've had a huge reduction. I mean, ever since the heyday of the seventies, eighties, right. Of African American players. I mean, just like a huge drop off. Um, and so, I mean, I imagine that's why they're pursuing this initiative, right? Yeah.

Brian Litvack: 37:30

What they're doing is saying, if, if, if we don't get involved, who will? We have the ability and influence to have impact on how kids participate with the game and with the sport. And they're doing that in a bunch of different ways. And, uh, I think it's good for community. It's good for business. It's good for the next generation of baseball fans. Uh, people, kids who play sports are more likely to be, you know, consumers and fans and, and, uh, of the sport, uh, moving forward. So the way to evolve sports is for those that have the most, uh, often, and we work with many of the professional sports leagues because those are the most resource and the most sophistication. Often also have the most ability to influence it. And I think for the past generation, it was left to towns and local municipalities to run sport. And what happened is a, a, a, a swell of private enterprising, entrepreneurial, innovative individuals came in and said, Oh, I could, I care more. And I'm so passionate about this. I want to make it my livelihood. And rather than being an educator and a coach on the side, I'm going to do this full time. And they've done a great job of like providing better, more modern sports experiences than often the talent leagues are, are some of the existing organizations. I think what has happened is they've often had to go up market to competitive and travel and club, because that is the best thing. You know, business supported opportunity, and I think it's left a little bit of a void, really quality experiences that are more recreational and more in town or more on social emotional development. And I think that's that that can be another opportunity that I'm eager to see filled by. Uh, innovators coming in and saying, how do we create great team experiences that don't have to tie into competitive or travel or, uh, kind of expensive investments in order to participate.

Rajiv Parikh: 39:26

So Brian, um, part of, so you got into the, there's multiple levels, right? There's the more professional organizers. There's the, there's the recreational side. There's multiple levels. So when you think about it, but you, now you guys have numbers to hit, right? You have investors, you have numbers, you have growth to hit. You serve the community as part of that. What's your go to market? How do you, how do you enable your team to hit growth? What kind of goals do you set for them? And then what kind of marketing strategies and tactics do they use to grow the business?

Brian Litvack: 39:56

So, so ultimately we believe, you know, we can partner with all types of organizations and one of the things we did, uh, uh, early on, and that has really evolved as we started something called fun play, uh, with the idea that any organization that shared our values and had great principles should be able to use LeagueApps, whether they can afford it economically or, or have budget to invest in it or not. So, uh, that gives me a lot of pride that. Any organization can usually gaps and cost is not going to get in the way and we've developed a fun play and we give a percentage of our revenue and resources to supporting that. And we have hundreds of organizations now in our front play group, and many of them are the most inspiring because those are the ones that truly are mission oriented and are doing this. Uh, without any type of like profit motivation or or even, uh, uh, or even resource to kind of do the things that they're able to accomplish. That being said, uh, we, we, we find that the organizations that recognize the value of technology. Are often the ones that are getting ahead. Sometimes that's in sports, sports like lacrosse and volleyball. They're often like quick to recognize what works and make those investments. We, we have, uh, we we've, we've recognized over the years that a direct approach. Connecting, having a sales and partnerships team connecting directly with the operators within the community. Getting to understand what they do and why they do it is the best way to open up a discussion around how technology can, uh, can, can help provide a solution. As you can imagine, they're not sitting around saying, Oh, today I'm going to do another demo of another platform as part of my job, you know, no, no one thinks that, but the three questions I like to ask any operator is, uh, how'd you get into this, you know, how'd you get in involved? Uh, what makes your organization unique and where do you want your, this organization to be five years from now? And I feel like when I asked those three questions to a sports, one, they'll open up and you'll just see the passion and the care, right? And then two, when they answer those three questions, you can usually then connect back to how better software and a better partner can help them achieve those goals, can help them be the unique organization they want and can help them, you know, uh, uh, connect back to. Why they got involved in operating sports and they all are so proud of that story, whether it's because a family member or community or something that they wanted to do. What I often say is anyone who's really good at organizing sports, even if they're, you know, doing it profitably can make a lot more money doing something else. And then no one got into it because they're like uncle forced them into it after college, right. Or when they went professional, when they started their professional career,

Rajiv Parikh: 42:41

no, no Indian, no Indian parent ever said you must be a coach. Well, at least not, yeah, they say doctor, a lawyer, engineer, but they won't say that or in some names case, a comedian. I mean, not many Indian parents say that,

Sandeep Parikh: 42:57

not a ton. Yeah, no, that's not, that was never on track. There's a glow about. Uh, when they, uh, these Indian parents introduced their kids and they're a doctor and, uh, uh, an engineer, they're never like, my son, the podcast, I just look at him. He's a great podcaster. You love his voice.

Rajiv Parikh: 43:20

But you know, you see those parents on the sideline now and they are coaching their kids. Yeah, yeah. I think we're seeing a lot. They're acting as refs and they, they know, they see the value of this. Uh, of getting involved like that. So that's some of your, your, like, that's their sales strategy, right? Go and understand the goals of the different organizations, open them up, and then get them into a conversation about how your capability helps. And what, what if they already are using someone else? What if they're using one of them?

Brian Litvack: 43:45

Once we get them to a demo, which we do over zoom is about an hour. Then we are, you know, we know what our conversion rates are from there. So a lot of it is. Building rapport and relationship to get them to open up to share it, where we can then better understand their pain points or where their workflows are collection. A lot of times they have issues collecting. No one wants to chase down parents who didn't pay for their kids with sports, right? So we make a lot of that seamless and automated to do it in a way where, you know, it. The funds get collected in the right way without having to like show up at people's house. Uh, what we see is, uh, we go out to fields, we go to tournaments, we go to conventions, we go to conferences. We do a lot of thought leadership. We have our next up event coming up in New York city where we'll have 400 sports operators. So we'll, we'll, we'll, you know, our, our sales and partnership team are mostly former athletes, our coaches, our, uh, Uh, um, uh, sometimes like volunteers and communities. So the, the, the most of those initial conversations are a lot more about the organization and their vision for it than around, you know, functionality, uh, that they need in the platform. And, and, and we think that's pretty cool, right? Ultimately we want to be a partner and a teammate to their organization. Wanna have slick features, you know, that they may or may not use.

Rajiv Parikh: 45:02

That's awesome. So you, you, you have a very clever way of getting 'em to learn and then a great way to get 'em to switch potentially from other things or maybe upgrade. And uh, it's a smart way to, smart way to go. To use existing or, or former players, coaches, et cetera, to engage.'cause they can relate to each other easily.

Sandeep Parikh: 45:20

It's time now, Brian. I mean, this has been fun and joyful, but it's now, it's now time to put, you know, your metal to the test. So, uh, welcome back to our, to our dear listeners, our fellow entrepreneurs, the men and women that are in the arena themselves working on their own businesses. Uh, we're going to put Brian and Rajiv. Into the spark tank. This is where two founders enter and one will let you say they might need a little help to find their footing It's like a start a pitch but with higher risk of face planning today We're gonna we're ditching the spreadsheets and lacing up our sneakers because we're putting your knowledge Brian and Rajiv Of bizarre and unusual sports to the test. Okay, that's the category in one corner We've got Brian Litvick, the CEO and co founder of LeagueApps, the mastermind behind the youth sports management platform that's giving local sports leaders, the tools they need to reach the championship. And in the other corner, we've got my brother Rajiv, who's the guy who's run four marathons, but also managed to throw out his back while sneezing. So that's a true story. I'm rooting for you, Brian. I, even though. Even though you're a Yankees fan, um, but don't worry, I

Brian Litvack: 46:30

tip my hat to you. I'm about to run my first five K. So four marathons is quite impressive.

Sandeep Parikh: 46:34

Yeah, pretty, pretty awesome. All right, let's, let's go. So here, I'm

Brian Litvack: 46:39

just, I

Sandeep Parikh: 46:41

see what you're doing. I see all the answers will

Rajiv Parikh: 46:44

change, you know,

Sandeep Parikh: 46:45

we're going to be serving here. Here's how this works. We'd be serving up three descriptions of unusual sports. Two of them are true. One is a total lie, uh, like a rides career. So let's. Let's see who can spot the corked bat, like the one Bucky Dent definitely used. Uh, and who's gonna be swinging with the real deal. Alright, those are my two Yankees. Man, those were good. Those were good disses. Those were good disses. Thank you, sir. Thank you so much. Uh, round one. This is about, uh, bizarre and unusual games of the past. So. Number one, plunge for distance was an actual early Olympic sport where competitors would dive into a pool and try to glide underwater without moving their limbs for as long as possible. The record was an astonishing 63. 5 meters. Number two, Scurryball, a popular medieval sport involving teams of players riding donkeys and attempting to herd a flock of geese into a designated goal using only their voices and hand gestures. Number three, during the Mughal Empire in India, Emperor Akbar had a slife sized Parcheesi board built in his courtyard where his courtesans served as game pieces and moved according to the rules of giant dice. Akbar said, Two, two of these are true. One of them is false. One, two, or three. Here we go. Wait, wait. So PL for, or you wanna review, go Plunge for number one is plunge for distance. Number two is Scurry Ball, the medieval game with riding donkeys. And number three is the uh, Lifesize per cheesy board in India. Ready? 3, 2, 1, let's see your answers. Uh, so Rajiv, you have guessed Plunge for Distance. Brian, you have guessed Scurryball as the false answer. Well, guess what, ladies and gentlemen? Moving out to an early lead is our visitor, Brian Litvag. Well done, well done. Yes, Scurryball. It's not a real sport. I know it sounds really fun to get on a donkey. Uh, and I feel like crunch for distance was

Brian Litvack: 48:49

like half of my third grade swim class was going as far as you can in

Sandeep Parikh: 48:53

the water. So it used to be an Olympic sport. Crazy. Um, tug of war was an Olympic sport too. Just a little side. As I was doing my research and I was like, I didn't really like that.

Brian Litvack: 49:01

Scurryball is a game that needs to be invented. It needs to happen. I think, yeah, it's a different form of innovation. It sounds amazing.

Sandeep Parikh: 49:09

Let's add it to the app. Yeah. Uh, I'm a motivated league organizer and how do I

Brian Litvack: 49:17

did you invent scurry ball? Like, where would you read about a false sport for this game? This is better than Quidditch.

Sandeep Parikh: 49:23

Okay. I did. I did invent scurry ball. Yes, indeed. I got some spare donkeys, Brian, if you want to try it out. Okay, here we go. Um, all right. These are wild and unusual games. That was the past. Here's, we're now in the present. Um, so number one, bossa ball is a mix of volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, and capoeira played on an inflatable court with trampolines on each side of the net. Number two, wife carrying is a sport that originated in Finland where male competitors race while carrying their wives on their backs. The winner is determined by the fastest time. Statement number three, canine ultimate Frisbee. Is a sport where humans and their furry friends play Ultimate Frisbee together. The dogs, of course, are always the receivers because they obviously can't throw. Uh, alright, so those are your three current sports that maybe or maybe do not exist. Number one, bossa ball, the mix of all these sports with trampolines. Wife carrying, the sport in Finland. Or canine Ultimate Frisbee, two of these are true, one of them is false. Please, don't throw. Give me your number, 1, 2, 3. Okay, so, you both definitely think that K 9 Ultimate Frisbee is correct. Rajiv thought bossa ball was not. And Brian thought wife carrying was BS. Well, guess what? You are both wrong! So, it turns out, yes, you can play a rousing game of bossa ball or wife carrying. But you cannot, in fact, yet. I don't know if I didn't, maybe I invented another sport, playing canine ultimate frisbee. That's an obvious sport. No, I think that maybe players would get the

Rajiv Parikh: 51:07

dogs messing

Sandeep Parikh: 51:08

with each other. Maybe that's what it is. Well, like, how would you get the dog to stop, like, exactly where they caught the ball, or the frisbee? Anyway, I think it would be complicated. They catch it and drop it. Yeah, I guess it's good training would have to be a part of it too. Yeah, that's true. Brian, why do you think

Brian Litvack: 51:21

If you told me husband carrying was the sport, I would believe it because my wife takes care of everything and helps the family get by, so I give her the credit there, but wife carrying just seemed like, uh,

Rajiv Parikh: 51:34

Unbelievable. Archaic

Brian Litvack: 51:36

and too, too. Oh yeah. Archaic.

Rajiv Parikh: 51:39

I just couldn't imagine it happening in Finland.

Brian Litvack: 51:41

Like how would you see it happening in other places? Official sport, wife carrying just seems like something to escape the escape. The, you know, elephants are hyenas.

Sandeep Parikh: 51:51

Yeah, exactly. I think, I think maybe that's how it originated. And you're right. I think in 2024, it should be spouse carrying, uh, and, you know, political coups. It was spouse

Brian Litvack: 52:00

carrying.

Sandeep Parikh: 52:01

It's time to title nine this thing and like, let's get representation of both sides. All right. So maybe that's another thing your app can work on. Right. So, uh, round three, these are wild games of the future, meaning that these are new sort of new sports that involve. Technology in really wildly interesting ways that are happening. Two of these are happening. All right. Um, so number one, the XO games, those still experimental athletes have complete competed in battle bots meets MMA style competition with XO skeletons that enhance their physical capabilities. So if you watch battle bots, you know, now you put the humans in there,

Everyone: 52:37

that kind of thing,

Sandeep Parikh: 52:37

a statement to. Is drone racing, drone racing, so pilots navigate high speed drones through complex obstacle courses competing for the fastest time, uh, and the races are often viewed through a first person view goggles, giving spectators an immersive experience as if they're flying the drones themselves. Number three is augmented reality dodgeball. So AR dodgeball players where AR headsets that overlay visual targets and power ups in the real world environment. This adds a new layer of strategy and excitement to the classic game as players can dodge virtual projectiles and unleash special abilities. So one of these is false. Two of them are true. Again, a quick review. One is the exoskeleton game. Two is drone racing. And three is augmented reality dodgeball. Your answer is in three, two, one. All right. Well, you both answered the same thing, which essentially means that Brian is going to be our Victor. Uh, but you both, you both thought exoskeletons was the BS push for a winner. Will you allow Brian?

Brian Litvack: 53:44

I mean, this is nepotism at its worst right here.

Sandeep Parikh: 53:49

I'm not allowing it. I'm asking the competitor, if you want to, if you want, if you want, if you want to give them the opportunity.

Brian Litvack: 53:55

To get I I'm gonna keep three. That's okay. You know what dodge ball you can take take three. Dodge has has tiebreaker. Guess what? You're gonna

Sandeep Parikh: 54:01

win anyway. Let him do it.

Brian Litvack: 54:03

I thought 3D dodge ball seems so great. I hope it's a real thing.

Sandeep Parikh: 54:07

I'll go all or nothing and do ar dodge ball ar dodge ball. Well guess what, Brian? You doubly won Exo intelligence are indeed the false one. So two to nothing. You take it Yes. Ar dodgeball like actually exists and I'm telling you I wanna play this. This sounds so fun. It seems great.

Brian Litvack: 54:25

That's it. That's an example of a more engagement for already amazing game.

Sandeep Parikh: 54:30

Yeah, exactly. So they wear these air headsets and wrist sensors and then they can interact with virtual energy balls and shields and like all these things that you can power yourself up with, but you're moving your body around. You're playing actual dodgeball. I'm like, I want to play that tomorrow. That's awesome. Um, so very cool, but congratulations to Brian. You have entered the arena and you have, uh, Victor

Everyone: 54:52

Victor.

Sandeep Parikh: 54:53

Well done. I love when my guests win.

Brian Litvack: 54:56

You want to be able to leave this show with, you know, pride in my professional career of operating sports by winning the sport trivia contest. So Rajiv, thank you for going easy on me. And Sandeep, thank you for, I don't know where you get a question bank of fake sports, but you, you've done brilliant.

Rajiv Parikh: 55:15

It's the power of, power of, uh,

Sandeep Parikh: 55:16

creativity. So they've got it. Creativity. And I won't tell you that it's also a part of the power of AI. But, uh, yeah, a lot of fun. All right.

Rajiv Parikh: 55:26

So Brian, a few more questions for you. We'll go really quick because I know we're coming towards the end. So super quick answers. Um, we a lot of times we ask our guests to name a historical event or person or movement that inspires you. And at what point you mentioned a person named or mentioned poppy. What about you up?

Brian Litvack: 55:48

You know, my grandfather came to America as an orphan. Uh, and he never got the straight story of how as a four year old, you get on a ship and go through Belgium and come to the US. And it was like a bunch of fuzzy details that would like mystify me my whole childhood, because I was like, I'm not, I don't get to, you know, a European country by myself. And I went on to start a shoe manufacturing business in Brooklyn that my father then ran. And I three kids and eight grandchildren. And, uh, I was always just amazed at that, that life journey of his. And I think it always instilled in me, uh, wanting to be an entrepreneur and wanting to start something from nothing. So, uh, that, that was always, always to me, my path, uh, and much from the influence that, Uh, he had on my life, so I'm very fortunate to have a role model like that. Um, by the time I knew him, he was just like an old poppy who was giving me candy and playing sports and buying me presents. And it was hard at the time to like, uh, uh, understand, like, you know, how hard he worked at life to get to that point where he could be like a retired, happy grandpa. Uh, but as I got older, I just learned more about, uh, all the things he did, not just for himself, but for his family and, uh, for my father. And, uh, it always kind of rubbed off as. Uh, I wanted to challenge myself in ways where I can achieve some of the things he achieved even though I was able to grow up in, in such a fortunate, uh, and loving family and household.

Rajiv Parikh: 57:28

That's awesome. Uh, okay. That's a fantastic answer. I love that. I was going to say Nelson

Brian Litvack: 57:34

Mandela. We've had a Nelson Mandela quote in our office, uh, of every office we've had. What's it? What's that

Rajiv Parikh: 57:40

quote? What's the quote that has the

Brian Litvack: 57:42

power to change the world? It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite us in ways that little else does. Uh, so it's, it's such a powerful thing. And if you hear his whole story, not just how he used rugby, but how he played soccer when he was in prison. And, uh, there's such connectivity of sport with, uh, some of the things that happened in that country and how he used that to bring people together and unify. That really is just such a great depiction of how sports is so much more than just the game and how it can kind of bring people together. So. That's a, it's a

Rajiv Parikh: 58:13

beautiful movie. Uh, that. That movie of that, it was just a fence. It got me. I was in tears watching it. It was just a, how he was able to get the country to unite over rugby, which was a game that was a symbol of oppression and how we use that to really change. Bring the country together, uh, post the revolution there or post him taking power. So that's really awesome.

Everyone: 58:39

It's

Rajiv Parikh: 58:42

just incredible. Okay. Last one. Who in your field do you admire and why?

Brian Litvack: 58:50

Trying to figure out if I'm in the youth sports field, if I'm in the software, uh, sass things, right? Pick one of each. What is the industry? Uh, uh, in, in, in youth sports, there's a journalist named Tom Ferry who started the Aspen Institute Project Play. And I think he does a really good job of telling it how it is, what's happening in these sports. And then whether it's not good or bad, he just takes the intellectual curiosity of, let me explain how this world and industry has progressed. And anytime I speak with him, uh, I learn quite a bit. And I think he's just kind of put the narrative and articulation and stellar brought thought leaders together. So. I appreciate that people like him have come into youth sports and have looked at what we can do there. So, uh, check it out. Project play is, uh, they have a summit every year. Uh, that's, that's pretty awesome and pretty neat, uh, what they do. Uh, and then, uh, in the software space, you know, I'm, uh, I, I, I'm a, uh, a student in the game for vertical SAS and how software can be done in specific industries. So I love to follow companies like toast and I've had the chance to talk to their CEO, my body, uh, which does it in the fitness and wellness space, uh, and a bunch of others that just like have such. To, to what I said before, truly understand that they're serving the market that they're in more than they're a software company. Uh, and I want to take a lot of some of the innovations that they had and bring that to you sports. Uh, and that's super exciting to me. So, uh, there's probably five or six CEOs that have spent time with me in the, in the, you know, the vertical SAS, SMB software space that, uh, there's so much to learn from them and to continue to learn from them. And, uh, uh, there's, uh, uh, there's a wealth of knowledge out there that's being published these days of, of where else you can build software for, uh, You know, entrepreneurs and SMBs and people who've never had software before that can really make a huge impact in those industries.

Rajiv Parikh: 1:00:55

Yeah, I think what you're talking about with software, you have to create, even though it's B2B software, you are, you have to have a very consumery type of experience. And I think you totally nailed it with, uh, with, you know, toast and, um, You got to know your

Brian Litvack: 1:01:11

customer's problems so deeply and what it actually means. And like the features in our platform that are most valuable are ones that you would never understand. It's about someone making a tryout team and automatically being formed on a team and the information going with them and the payment carrying over that saves like hundreds of hours of time and, and aggravation. So, uh, I think taking pride and just, like, really understanding the space that you're in and building software for that space, uh, is, uh, is, is something that, you know, when they, when I often get asked what differentiates you, they want to hear some huge answer, like, we have video highlights that automatically get created through AI. And it's often about features that no one would understand unless you are a sports operator yourself.

Rajiv Parikh: 1:01:55

That's right. It's the, it's making it super easy, super engaging, enabling the next use. So, uh, it's hard to do that well. And so kudos to you for thinking about those types of applications as well as the focus on youth sports. So, um, you know, Brian, really happy to have you on the show today. It was a real thrill to learn from you and have you there. Kudos to your, to our producer Anand for. Um, you know, thinking about you, one of your best teammates ever and he must have had a similar experience to, to wanna bring him, bring you here. And so, uh, I, I really hope you succeed. For me, the, for my, you know, my kids are older, but that those youth exper youth soccer or youth sports or dance experiences or choir experiences with my kids were my favorite experiences of just sitting with them, driving with them for hours, sometimes coaching 'em on the field. And, uh, it's great that you've. Built a platform to make it much easier because I've actually operated that from a league level and it can make all the difference in the world and how you're The satisfaction of the the satisfaction of the organizer and the coach really matters in this so kudos to you Thank you so much. Brian

Brian Litvack: 1:03:04

Thank you guys All right knocked it

Rajiv Parikh: 1:03:07

out of the park that was amazing Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the pod, please take a moment to subscribe To rate it and comment. You can find us on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and everywhere. Podcasts can be found.

Sandeep Parikh: 1:03:24

This show is produced by myself, Sandy Parikh and Anand Shah production assistance by Taryn Talley and edited by Sean Mara and Aiden McGarvey. I'm your host,

Rajiv Parikh: 1:03:32

Rajiv Parikh from position squared and AI enabled growth marketing company based in Silicon Valley. Come visit us at position2. com. This has been an FNF production. And we'll catch you next time. Remember folks, be ever curious.