Tag: Seahawks

The Epitome of a Day One Entrepreneur

(Jason LeeKeenan and Russell Wilson of TraceMe)

At Madrona we meet many outstanding entrepreneurs and innovators. Sometimes we meet them when they are starting a company, like Sujal Patel from Isilon or Jesse Rothstein from Extrahop. Other times, like Aaron Easterly from Rover or David Shim from Placed, we got to know them as “rising stars” at prior Madrona companies before they became an entrepreneur. But, this year we got to know someone who for so many of us we feel like we already knew. Over the months of working with him and investing in TraceMe, we have discovered how much more there was to learn about this amazing Day One entrepreneur and the company he started.

The entrepreneur is Russell Wilson and the company he founded is TraceMe. You likely know him best as the All-Pro, Super Bowl Champion, starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks. And, attributes that have contributed to Russell’s success in pro football are among those that make him the epitome of a Day One entrepreneur. He is customer-centric, passionate about the opportunity, focused, determined and an attractor of complementary talent.

TraceMe Product Showcase. Russell Wislon, Ask Me Anything.

On the talent front, Russell worked with our friends at Pioneer Square Labs to incubate TraceMe and recruited an amazing star in Jason LeeKeenan to be CEO. Jason’s background includes key roles at Hulu in the early years and Zulily. And, while he is warming up to the Seattle Seahawks as a life-long Patriots fan, he deeply understands the TraceMe opportunity and how to build a sustainable company through innovative content. Jason and Russell are building a world class team of software engineers, video producers and content editors at TraceMe to attack this challenge. Madrona is delighted to be partnering with them as the lead investor in TraceMe’s $9 million Series A financing closed in the spring and announced this week.

At the heart of TraceMe is the idea that celebrities and their loyal fans want more direct and engaging ways to interact. We all see clues about this interest in social media experiences that go beyond current channels in platforms including Twitch for gamers and YouTube for live video bloggers. TraceMe is building a platform tuned specifically for celebrities like Russell and their super fans. TraceMe will create meaningful experiences for fans with compelling content, products and experiences.

We hope that fans will download the TraceMe app this week and give it a try. The app is in beta so your feedback will be helpful as the TraceMe team prioritizes new features and content. Similar to how we have gotten to know Russell Wilson better, we hope you will feel closer to him and the things he is passionate about. These include faith, family, football and finding ways as an entrepreneur to help fans more personally connect with celebrities. As opening week of the regular NFL football season kicks off, we look forward to partnering with the great Day One entrepreneurs at TraceMe to help them win big!

Rep the Squad, the Latest Madrona Labs Spinout

Bringing innovation to the $18B sports apparel market

After a year in development at Madrona Labs, our fifth company, Rep the Squad, launched yesterday. The response was enthusiastic (ESPN, USA Today, Geekwire) – as the company aims to power sports passion throughout the country and build community in every city. The latest Madrona Labs spinout follows in the footsteps of companies where Madrona partnered from Day One with the founders (Rover, Redfin).

Rep the Squad is a new subscription service that provides fans unprecedented access to a wide variety of licensed sports jerseys for a monthly membership fee. We believe the company speaks directly to the modern passionate fan who is interested in “access over ownership.” These engaged fans number in the tens of millions and they spend thousands of dollars every year supporting the teams and players they love. Rep the Squad empowers them to rep multiple players, jersey styles, and avoid the pitfalls of player trades or even a child’s growth spurt.

We could not be more proud to partner with co-founders Brian Watkins and Alex Berg. They exemplify the best of what we look for in Madrona Labs spinout founders — passion for the market (sports), deep domain experience (ecommerce), and the proven grit and resilience needed to take an early stage startup to the next level. Brian and Alex worked together at both Ritani and Blue Nile and have brought together an exceptional team of ecommerce veterans.

Together, we have been able to assemble a uniquely Seattle startup team across the board. Local venture capital firms Madrona and Maveron were the first to commit to the $1.5M funding round. Seahawks Pro Bowler Doug Baldwin and Mariners legend Edgar Martinez, who’s number 11 jersey was retired earlier this month at Safeco Field, personally invested. Seahawks All-Pro Richard Sherman, who is a big-time jersey collector and swapper himself, signed on as the Rep the Squad brand ambassador.

One of the advantages of operating a startup studio out of a venture capital firm is benefiting from the broader team and ecosystem. Ryan Metzger, a die-hard Seattle sports fan and Madrona’s director of growth marketing, not only came up with the jersey rental concept, but he also worked with Aaron Wilson and others from our team in the early days to validate the idea and introduced us to CEO Brian Watkins, who he had worked with over a decade ago at Blue Nile. Our process consisted of market sizing, competitive analysis, hundreds of in-person interviews, ad-driven customer acquisition testing, and an in-season Seattle Seahawks minimally viable product (MVP) to test unit economics and operational assumptions. The project benefited from Madrona’s existing relationship with Seahawks players and connections to the NFL Players Association, in which Scott Jacobson serves on their OneTeam Collective board of directors.

One of the advantages of operating a startup studio out of a venture capital firm is benefiting from the broader team and ecosystem.

We are thrilled to be a part of the early days of Rep the Squad and invite you to join us. To get started simply choose your favorite jersey and sign up. NFL season kick-off is just one week away, so what are you waiting for?!

NFL Players Association launches business accelerator with Intel, Harvard, Madrona, others

By Taylor Soper, Geekwire.

For an NFL player, there is a lot more to life than what goes on in between the sidelines on Sundays. Sure, competing in the world’s premier football league is a remarkable achievement. But being a professional athlete also provides numerous business-related opportunities for both current and retired players alike.

Yet for many, the chance to maximize their value and influence — whether it’s inking a marketing deal, investing in a startup, or even joining a company as an employee — can sometimes be a difficult process.

That’s where the NFL Players Association wants to help.

The NFLPA, the union for NFL players, today launched the OneTeam Collective, a new organization modeled after a business accelerator but with its own spin that brings together the power of the NFL with a first-class list of founding partners that includes Intel, Harvard Innovation Lab, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), LeadDog Marketing Group, Madrona Venture Group and the Sports Innovation Lab.

For the full article please go to Geekwire.