Over the years, we’ve had a lot of conversations with sports business entrepreneurs. One thing they all share is a certain degree of risk tolerance. But even the most daring of them pale in comparison when it comes to this episode’s guest.

At 17 years old, Davyeon Ross left his home in Trinidad and Tobago and headed to Kansas to get his college degree and play basketball. Now Kansas winters aren’t for the feint of heart, most especially for someone who grew up on a tropical island off the coast of Venezuela. Were there some thoughts about going back? For sure. But Davyeon persisted, and in doing so learned a of essential lessons about himself.

Those lessons serve him today as the co-Founder and CEO of ShotTracker, a company that sits squarely at the white hot intersection of sport and technology integration. ShotTracker’s sensor-based system automatically captures basketball statistics and performance analytics in real time, and is currently in use by over 75 men's and women's college basketball programs. Former NBA Commissioner David Stern and Magic Johnson are among the company’s investors.

In our conversation, Davyeon recounts his journey from that small island in the Caribbean to leading an innovative sports tech company. We discuss ShotTracker’s growth and the inevitable pivots that come with leading a start-up company. We also talks about working with coaches, how the company is leveraging its tech to improve fan experience, and why his favorite words in business are “wouldn’t it be cool if…”

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

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