The Game Plan

This special weekend addition pod comes on the heels of our guest's official launch of his latest business endeavor, The Wine MVP.

Will Blackmon played 14 years in the NFL, including time with the Packers, Giants, Seahawks, and Redskins. His ability to learn new defensive schemes while in the NFL has translated well to his interests off the field as he has become a quick study in the world of wine. He is one of the first NFL veterans to achieve Level 2 Sommelier Certification.

Listen in as Will shares the story of how he first got into wine, led by veteran teammate Charles Woodson. We also learn how The Wine MVP came to be and what's in store for the future of Will's business in the wine world. Both wine novices and experts will enjoy this episode as we ask our guest to share some of his favorite bottles and winemakers.

You can follow Will Blackmon on Twitter and Instagram @willblackmon, and be sure to check out The Wine MVP at https://thewinemvp.com/.

Follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!

NBA veteran and Clemson alum Trevor Booker joins The Game Plan to share his perspective on investing, and the importance of surrounding yourself with a team you can count on.

On this episode, we caught up with Trevor moments before he officially announced his retirement from the NBA. Conversation topics include his role as a partner at JB Fitzgerald Venture Capital, thoughts on why college basketball players should be paid, and which teammate Trevor learned the most from during his NBA career.  We also discover our guest to have been the first active NBA player to own part of an MLS team.

For the first time, we also hear from a guest how some team officials looked down upon off-court business interests, as Trevor shares a unique story from his playing journey.

You can follow Trevor Booker on Twitter and Instagram (@35_fitz), and check out JB Fitzgerald Venture Capital at www.jbfitzgerald.com.

Follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!

Just in time for the NFL draft, 12-year NFL veteran and TV football analyst, Mark Schlereth, joins The Game Plan from Denver, CO to discuss everything from why the NFL Combine is flawed, to the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur and investor.

3x Super Bowl Champion, Mark “Stink” Schlereth is best known for his esteemed career in both professional football (Denver Broncos, Washington Redskins) and sports media (ESPN, FS1), but did you know he once negotiated his way out of the grocery store stocking fee for his “Stinkin’ Good” brand green chile sauce? Listen in as Mark recounts the exhilarating feeling of closing his company's first customer to the challenge of being faced with a deal-breaking financial reality.

In this episode we talk with Mark about how lessons learned on the football field have influenced his post-career success, and how his perseverance and ability to bring teams together have helped in any setting. Not to be missed, we learn about the time Mark attached a weightlifting plate to his body in order to make the Redskins' roster.

Lastly, we dig in on Mark's new endeavor, "Mark's All Pros", a platform for discovering, vetting, and rating companies for hire.

You can follow Mark Schlereth on Twitter and Instagram (@markschlereth), and be sure to check out Mark's All Pros at https://marksallpros.com/.

Follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!

Detroit Pistons guard Langston Galloway joins The Game Plan to discuss how his passion for sneakers has helped him make his own mark on the game. The 6-year NBA veteran also shares how he is making the most of the suspended season due to the Coronavirus to sharpen his business skills and grow his company, LG Kicks.

In this episode we explore what it takes to balance interests on and off the court as an active player, and how an experimental mindset can lead to success. Our guest also details the unique partnership he has with Q4 Sports, as we see how he is able to amp up his performance footwear through custom paint jobs while keeping street cred with a shoe collection that goes as deep as his 3pt range.

Sports fans, sneakerheads and entrepreneurs will especially enjoy this episode. As an added bonus, make sure to tune in for perspective on how Galloway is approaching his upcoming free agency.

You can follow Langston Galloway on Twitter and Instagram (@LangGalloway10), and keep up with the latest with LG Kicks on YouTube.

Follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!

The Game Plan welcomes its first Major League Baseball veteran; Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Award winner and Chairman & Co-Founder of Greenfly, Shawn Green.

Shawn Green spent 15 years as a Major Leaguer, including time with the Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Mets. In this episode, we discuss how Shawn showed an early interest in technology during his playing career, and how he would use that passion to develop skills off-the-diamond each offseason. We also explore how someone who made over $100M during his playing career finds the drive and motivation to build a venture-backed SaaS company.

Investors and entrepreneurs will find this conversation especially interesting as we take a deep dive into the Greenfly product, and discuss Shawn's experience in the founding of the company, bringing on a Co-Founder, and raising over $14.5M from funds like Alpha Edison, Elysian Park and even Tim's fund, TACK Ventures.

While we recorded this conversation prior to the Coronavirus crisis, as a content management platform, the Greenfly product is especially interesting to explore during this time of distributed teams and remote work.

You can follow Shawn on Twitter (@shawngreen15) and Instagram (@15ShawnGreen), and keep up with the latest on Greenfly via Twitter (@Greenfly) & LinkedIn (@Greenfly, Inc).

Follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!

The Game Plan welcomes its first international guest! a 17-year football icon and La Liga legend, Gaizka Mendieta, to talk about life after football and the challenges his businesses are experiencing in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.

We discuss a range of topics including the differences between professional sport in the US and Europe, and what it was like to garner one of the largest transfer fees of all time (€48m in 2001). Mendieta talks about the rise of his playing career during the “golden era” of Valencia FC, and his experience playing in both Seria A in Italy and the Premier League in England. Not to be missed is the conversation about his passions beyond football and investing, which include how he became a DJ and the effort that goes into staying connected with fans.

Please follow Gaizka @GaizkaMendieta6 on both Twitter and Instagram to keep up with his all moves off the pitch.

Follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!

Nine-year NFL veteran and Pro Bowl Running back, Justin Forsett, joins us on The Game Plan to discuss why he believes all the CPG brands price gouging during the coronavirus crisis are destroying their long term brand equity for short term gain, and why his brand, Hustle Clean, has a very different approach to generating strong customer LTV.

Along the way, we discuss Justin's journey in the NFL, players he looked up to as mentors for life off the field, what it's like being cut or fired multiple seasons in a row until you find a breakout season, how he thinks about customer discovery and the user journey "at the point of sweat" and his principles on hiring for integrity, grit, and values.

Please follow Justin’s Brands, Shower Pill & Hustle Clean, on Twitter and Instagram and follow Justin on Twitter (@JForsett) & Instagram (@JForsett) keep up with his all moves beyond the football field.

Follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!

TWENTY-year NFL veteran Matt Stover joins The Game Plan to share the story of his transition from two-time Super Bowl Champion to empowering athletes, entertainers, and other philanthropists to easily set up and administer their own charitable organizations.

In this episode, we’ll hear what it’s like to move with an NFL franchise in the dark of the night (Cleveland Browns) to a new city (Baltimore Ravens). Matt also talks about how the role of a placekicker is often an isolated position, and how that independent sense of diligence and drive has carried him to success in the development of the Players Philanthropy Fund (“PPF”). He also discusses the impact Ray Lewis had on his approach to life on and off the field.

In 2002, Stover and his wife formed the Matt Stover Foundation, which is dedicated to improving the Baltimore community and helping those in need through a variety of programs, outreach, and support. The administrative burden of managing a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, as well as hearing about the same pitfalls and challenges teammates faced in setting up their nonprofits, led Matt to start the PPF. We go deep on why PPF needed to exist, and all of the ways customers are utilizing its services today.

Please follow Matt’s company, the Players Philanthropy Fund, on Twitter (@PlayersPhilFund) and Instagram (@playersphilanthropyfund) to keep up with his moves beyond the football field.

Follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital.

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news and updates, to recommend guests, and for bonus content!

Nine-year NFL veteran Derrick Morgan joins The Game Plan to share with us the impact investing he is doing in his hometown of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, his NFL home of Nashville, Tennessee, and other metro areas throughout the US.

In this episode, we discuss how a season-ending ACL injury his rookie season prepared Derrick for life after football, and just how ahead of the game Derrick was by developing a diverse, well thought out investment portfolio early in his career. We’ll also learn how early investment mistakes drove Derrick to educate himself, leading to the sophisticated investor and fund manager he has become today.

In 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act laid the groundwork for Derrick's post-career investment focus. Derrick knew he wanted to help out the communities like the one he grew up in. Through the 2017 tax reform, “Qualified Opportunity Zones” (QOZ) were created which provided a way to defer taxes on capital gains by investing in low-income areas designated by the Governor of each state. Derrick took advantage by establishing the KGDMN Impact Fund; an opportunity zone fund built to deliver attractive returns for investors and generational transformation for communities.

Please follow Derrick on Twitter and Instagram (@dmorg91) to keep up with his moves beyond the football field. 

This episode of The Game Plan features 24-year-old Matt Flanagan, a second-year tight end in the NFL, who is keen on commercializing medical technologies when his football career comes to an end. Flanagan went undrafted in 2018 but signed with the Washington Redskins where he played alongside great tight ends like Vernon Davis and Jordan Reed. 

Before the NFL, Matt played at the University of Pittsburgh and Rutgers University before that, where he studied biology and biotechnology. This offseason, Matt is finishing his MBA at the University of Pittsburgh focused on tech commercialization. 

With Tim away this week, Matt and I chatted 1-on-1 about: 

Please follow Matt on Twitter (@MrFlantastic) and Instagram (@funkmaster.flan) to keep up with Matt on his career in the NFL and beyond. 

Follow co-hosts Jay Kapoor (@JayKapoorNYC) and Tim Katt (@Tim_Katt) for all things sports, media, tech, and venture capital. 

Follow The Game Plan on Twitter (@thegameplanshow) and Instagram (@gameplanshow) for show news & updates, to recommend guests, & for bonus content!