The Seed Talk Podcast

Founder Fred Underwood joins the pod to discusses his journey from college basketball to founding Dream Big Tech and building Next Mode. He explains how AI-driven tools can help student-athletes translate sports skills into career readiness, the importance of early preparation, and how technology can support underfunded HBCUs and sports organizations. 

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We have Josh Hansen, co-founder of Rolling Insights, joining the pod today. We discuss how their team has created the API highway for real-time sports data. We talk about Rolling Insights’ journey from startup to data provider, their COVID-era acquisition, and their focus on supporting smaller fantasy apps and research tools.

We dive into the practical use cases — from fantasy projections and betting research to niche sports like darts and emerging women’s leagues — and highlight developer-friendly features such as AI skills, integration help, Discord community, and a free 30-day trial.

We have, Steve Schmidt, founder of First Touch Fuel joining the pod.  We discuss the origins of the First Touch Formula, and Steve's college soccer experience inspired a zero‑sugar electrolyte system made for soccer players. We breakdown the formula and how it stacks up to the current market, practical benefits for pre/in/post training and fourth‑quarter performance, and how he’s building partnerships with players and clubs.

We discuss product rollout, free samples and a PRESEASON discount for players, and dont miss on hearing about the upcoming flavors, and where to find First Touch Fuel online.

This episode flips the usual Q&A as the Sterling Mack answers mid-year questions about LeBron James’s free agency, the brand and business implications of his next stop, and whether the 2020 bubble title carries an asterisk.

We also dive into Jaylen Brown’s trade, athlete-owned media and ventures, and how sports technology—from fan data to real estate—is reshaping player value, sponsorships, and the future of sports startups.

Former Indiana pitcher Chris Squires joins Sterling Mack to share his journey from suburban youth baseball to college closer, a stint in pro ball, and a surprising second act as an MVP and coach in Austria.

They discuss recruiting, role changes, navigating being a Black player in the Midwest, the decision to play overseas, building the Love It lifestyle brand, and advice for athletes facing crossroads in their careers.

In this episode, founders Adriene Bueno and Parul Khosla discuss Arena, a curated matchmaking platform designed to connect mid‑to‑senior level professionals, athletes, and organizations across sports, media, and entertainment. They explain how Arena streamlines introductions with weekly curated matches, enforces engagement to prevent ghosting, and helps members turn conversations into concrete opportunities.

We cover the founder's journey, athlete involvement, upcoming events and mobile app plans, and why curated, intentional networking is becoming essential as the industry grows and converges.

We have Chad Wilton, co-founder of the Peak Conference, joining the pod to discuss launching their inaugural sports technology and innovation event in Las Vegas. We cover the conference goals, partners, and why bringing startups, investors, and enterprise teams together matters for speeding up sports innovation.

The conversation highlights programming like startup pitch competitions, exhibitor opportunities, marquee partners (NBA, FIFA, AWS, Lenovo, NVIDIA), networking tools, and the conference’s energetic approach — balancing business, deal-flow and fun activities for the sports tech community.

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NFL great Shawne Merriman joins Seed Talk to discuss his transition from elite athlete to entrepreneur, building the Lights Out brand and Lights Out Extreme Fighting, and leveraging TV, advertising, and AI-driven tech to grow fan engagement.

He shares practical advice for athletes: find the passion that drives you, surround yourself with the right team and mentors, learn the business before launching, and create solutions that fill market gaps.

Come join Sterling to talk some hoops as the NBA continues to search for the viewership answer as All-Star weekend concluded. Talking the Wuthering Heights review, FIBA video program and finish out with some quick sports tech updates.

Come join the discussion and take a listen. We have the co-founders of Volleybird, which is a groundbreaking new athletic lifestyle subscription service built for racket sports. They are also the Founders of Ruley, an AI referee jargon app that helps fans to understand the ins and outs of what referees are ascribing throughout games.