This week we talk the 2023 Super Bowl market, the chaos of the last time the Super Bowl was in Phoenix, the Snake Pit shutdown at the 2008 BCS Championship and some entreprenuerial advice from John Dutton

We've been doing the entrepreneur game for 15 years now. My how time flies. During that time, we've raised a number of rounds, for us and for companies we help advise, and been through a few processes.

There are a lot of ways to raise money- many of which are glamorized. However, at its core, raising money is finding a partner you'll be working with for a long time. Years not months in most all cases if things go very well. Which makes it a two way street.

Sure, you'll read that your job is to "sell investors" much like selling a product. And that's true, but not at all costs. This relationship is far different. Just spend some time reading the horror stories to counterbalance the unicorn love-fests. And remember: They're called unicorns due to how rare they are.

As we've been blessed to spend time with great investors, many of which have no social media or conference presence at all, we've gotten to hear how they look at prospective investments.

Here are the three most common pieces of online advice given to founder we don't find helpful

1. Cash comp + Stock comp + Applause = Total Comp. We all have a finite amount of money, stock, and applause we can spread out on our team. And applause is just as, if not more, important as cash and stock comp. Applause for everyone and you have applause inflation. It means nothing. Too little applause and the scarcity makes it matter more. Applause, for most, has the same impact as cash and stock: It creates jealousy, toxicity, and envy. People will quit if they believe they haven't gotten enough applause (usually in comparison to others). As silly as it sounds - create an applause budget. You're going to need it.

2. The line between genius and insanity is paper thin. So is the line between what people see as a wild success and a charlatan. We've already shared in a past three things that good crooks are likeable. They're also very smart and they blur the line between legal/illegal and moral/immoral. What do Phil Knight, Jerry Buss, Steve Jobs and Sam Bankman Fried have in common? Complete and total lies to their early investors/partners. Knight lied repeatedly about the size and scope of his business to his Japanese manufacturers (then was offended when they lied to him. Hypocritical). Jerry Buss didn't have the assets to buy the Lakers, and he knew it. Which didn't stop him from stretching out to close date with Jack Kent Cook to break the news he was $3m short. Steve Jobs business, Next, couldn't do most of what he claimed when Apple came calling. And SBF? We're about to learn he's the worst of them all but that didn't stop fools and their money chasing a "Sure" (read: " Easy") thing. I had the opportunity to ride in my good friends jet the other day. His most common advice to those around him on finance - "there are no shortcuts."

3. Life happens. Once your team reaches 20 people, there will be someone going through something personally at all times. As you grow, that number grows with you. These things don't get left at home, and we don't want them to- that's unhealthy for everyone. If you start a business, best to plan ahead for the peaks and troughs we all have- your team included. And know you and your team will always have someone to cover for as they go through life's seasons. Give them space and time off and you'll build a trust you'll need later. You don't need 10 hires to do the job of 10. You need 12.

Three Things I Learned In SaaS, Sports, Tech & Live Events:

1. "All I'm doing it laying people off and closing down businesses." - a seed stage VC fund of mine. "We use leverage to fund deals. Leverage is exponentially more expensive now and getting worse."- a Private Equity MP friend of mine. "It's never been a worse time to work at a start-up" - another VC friend. I disagree. There's no better time to join a start-up than right now. If a start-up or growth company are thriving in today's market (and by thriving, I mean making money and solid FCF with good backers), get on board no matter what. Plenty of unicorns get their start in down times and it's easier than ever to identify the good ones. The tides going out and the companies swimming without shorts on are easy to spot.

2. Get while the getting is good. In 2006, the unbeaten USC Trojans played the unbeaten Texas Longhorns in the Rose Bowl in one of, if not the, most expensive tickets of the past 25 years (Seahawks vs. Patriots in 2015 the only other even close). Get-ins were unavailable at kick-off. We worked the StubHub pick-up and people were offering $10k a ticket with no inventory in sight. I was working in sales at the time and responsible for Corporate and VIP sales. There was so much more demand than there was inventory and I made 5% of every sale. The game was made official on December 2, 2005 and very call I made was making money from that day until the game itself on Jan 4th. I had never made more money in my life, so I took no time off. None. Not weekends. Not Christmas. Not New Years. Over the holidays, I was locked in my parents guest room working 14 hour days. Sometimes, in life, the getting is good. Get to getting.

3. We're all playing a rigged game. Take the time to read about FTX, Binance, and the madness in the crypto world this week. Start here. https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX/status/1590709166515310593. Then here: https://twitter.com/jaltucher/status/1590539401712787456. What they were doing wasn't technically illegal, but my goodness it should have been. Enjoy the mayhem. What a story. Money is all that matters to too many people. Then again….that's not new news to any of us - think Matthew 4.

1) You live in the future - and you'll get used to it. As a career progresses, there are fewer short term wins. There's always a bigger goal down the road. The goalposts are constantly moving. And when you hit that big goal? You'll have moved onto the next one months before. Find the wins in the day to day and learn how to be gracious when others congratulate your team on a month/quarter/year/decade gone well. Most of what I'm working on today won't come to fruition until April '23 at the earliest - if even then.

2) You get to choose the pillbox. In Against All Odds, greenhorn soldiers are lamenting having to be first to charge the beachhead in Southern France as they believe it would be safer to be in a later wave. To their surprise, the Marne Men, vets of prior beach landings, take their place and choose to go first. Why? "If you go first, you get to choose which pill box to attack. You don't like the look of the first one? Choose the second. But if you're in the later group? You don't have a choice. You have to take what's left." A terrific analogy for startups looking to disrupt a market. Yes going first is really dangerous, but your options on customers and partners are more open.

3) There's always a Jordan. And if you're a Winklevoss, it's a Zuckerberg. My son learned a life lesson in fantasy hoops when he forgot to hit mute on his mic during the draft and Jordan heard him talking to me about our late round sleeper pick Bojan Bogdanovich. Jordan snatched up Bojan quickly,, who has had a season far above where he was drafted. If you dare to have ideas, to take a chance, and to try to build something, there will always be a Jordan. I have a few of them (hi!) who watch, read, copy and weasel every way they can. Keep your mouth shut or use their sliminess to your advantage....like "letting slip" your interest in a player, staffer, or market you're not really interested in.

The Three Things I Learned In Saas, Sports, Tech & Live Events:

(Apologies for the poor sound quality on #2)

1. Authenticity has demolished the status quo. In everything. One word took over the day at our summit conference two weeks back: authenticity. Kenny Smith shared the secret to how Inside The NBA has stayed so relevant for 22 years with a number of stories about honesty and authenticity. There are no scripts and they have freedom to be themselves - he even told a funny story about hazing Shaq in his first week. Ali Kreiger and Ashlyn Harris shared how athletes are empowered to be their whole selves and partnering with companies who support their individuality. And nearly every guest commented on one aspect of the entire event we so carefully hoped would shine through: authenticity. People trying their best to help each other - faults, differences, and everything. Be nice. Be honest. It can work. At least that's what we're trying.

2. How you cancel on someone matters. For some, the business world is a playground of connections made by wealthy parents or the like. For others, rolodex's are built by cold outreach. As we came up, we were cancelled on over and over. It happens. We didn't "matter" to them (Still don't to many). But the pendulum sometimes swings. There are a number of people who treated us like dirt now trying to sell us their products and services. Some even confused as to why we won't take their calls (remember, they're more important than us). If at any point you decide to cancel on people last minute, no-show a call or blow off the in-person for a phone call, know that bridge is likely burned. I've been as guilty as this as anyone, even though I was advised early to "network down too." Great advice. We have no idea who can help us down the road.

3. Scoreboard. Back in the LA Kings days I rolled in late one morning and started talking crap online in my fantasy league before getting to work. Little did I know my boss' boss had quietly pulled up a chair behind me. Took me a minute to notice, and the whole pit was watching by the time I did. "Gonna do any work today Knopp?" Busted. But I had a card to play. I pointed to the sales standings on the wall where I was #1 and #1. "Scoreboard. You're at the wrong desk." He laughed (he's a great boss and still a friend). We all screw up. A lot. Amazing how those who put in the work get a lot more understanding. Results matter.

The Three Things I Learned In Saas, Sports, Tech & Live Events:

1. Don't let fear make tough decisions for you. Do what you think is best for your company even if it is wildly unpopular - like going back to the office 4 to 5 days a week if you believe that's what your company needs (not all do). We get comments of amazement all the time when doing zooms and people see we're fully in the office four days per week - including Friday- for the majority of our team (not the vast majority, but the majority. We were considered overly WFH friendly prior to Covid). All of the company leaders say the same thing: "I'd love to get our people back but they refuse to come." There are two sides to the WFH argument - and I understand and respect them both. Many times in these conversations, it's very clear the leadership believes being back in the office is the best thing for their business, and not for nefarious reasons like a lack of trust. We tell them all the same thing: If that's the case for you and you want your team together, pull the trigger. If staff leaves, they leave. That's okay. It may be better for everyone. FWIW, nobody left us. Not one.

2. You don't have to like your teammates (maybe try not to punch them in the face though Draymond?) to have a winning culture. Culture is top of everyone's mind. I sat in six final interviews this week and it was either the first or second question from every candidate. As it should be. Culture is oxygen to your business. But…a great culture doesn't mean everyone is friends - or even friendly. And it definitely doesn't mean there aren't heated moments. Respect matters. And you can work with someone, dislike them, and respect the heck out of them. Here's NBA Champion Richard Jefferson saying the same https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1578464718817136640. It sounds easy, but far from it. It's hard to watch as teammates feel left out or aren't part of the in-crowd. We all want utopia. In business, however, utopia isn't everyone being friends- it's everyone being independent and themselves - in ways others like and in ways they don’t- and knowing they have that freedom.

3. Dave Roberts was cheated. You will be too. (and I was raised a Giants fan). The 111 win dodgers were bounced early in the playoffs (again) and it has been an ongoing stain on Roberts and Kershaw's reputation as postseason winners that they've failed to win a full season World Series. The same pair who lost a 7 game world series, and another world series, to teams caught, and punished, for cheating. If you choose to win the right way, you have to believe in yourself and your purpose enough to be cheated and know how the world will treat you. Because nobody else cares and all they'll point to is the fact that you lost - even if they won't call the cheaters winners either. Who would have won the 7 Tour De France's Lance Armstrong (and Jan Ulrich) cheated in? Nobody remembers. Does anyone recognize Aaron Rodger's Cal Bears as a legitimate claim to a spot in the national title game the year USC was disqualified (They lost once in the regular season- at USC)? How about the 2002 Sacramento Kings? Is Doug Christie a champion? Or is he a "choker" for throwing up two airballs in a game 7 which likely wouldn't have happened?

The things of this world are promised to the people of this world. If we live for more, we'll have to accept that, from time to time, we'll lose and it won't be fair. As Papa Knopp said so often: "Fare is what you pay to ride the bus."

On October 5th 2009 we got our first big break. CNBC reporter, and now friend, Darren Rovell posted an article featuring a stat we'd pulled from a number of early customers: our estimation, based on our numbers and experience, that companies wasted 43% of their tickets.* https://www.cnbc.com/id/33182576

The article did so well, I got a phone call at 5:30am the next day asking if we could go live on CNBC to talk about the number. It was our first big break

I'd done live TV before, for StubHub (sideburns and all) but never anything with stakes like this. We were treading water, just a year removed from losing our angel investor but we were signing up customers. The kind of validation a spot on CNBC provided could really help us launch the company.

I called a mentor, David Carter, who did TV and media regularly, and was a friend of Darren's who made the introduction, to ask him for help. He gave me three pieces of advice. I think about and share them with new hires often.

1) "Shave and put on a pair of pants!" The levity and humor helped quite a bit in the moment. The moment felt too big. The reassurance from a mentor helped clear the pressure - a little. Do the little things you can control. Rehearse. Take notes. Get there on time. Be easy to work with. And, of course, don't forget to shave and the pants.

2) "You know this better than anyone so there won't be any 'gotcha' questions." We can get overwhelmed by high profile moments. Trust the work we've done when opportunity knocks. In this case, I had very little time to prepare. I got the call at 5:30am and was on the air, live, at 8:30. it was an hour drive.

3) "Enjoy it. You worked really hard for this and have been through a lot. It's going to go really fast. Take a breath and look around at just how far you've made it." Advice for every second of building a company. Back then, that moment was everything. Now, it feels like forever ago. I was so nervous, I didn't enjoy any of it. Wish I would have. What a moment it was for us. That clip helped launch our company. An unexpected, and very appreciated, blessing.

Darren helped launch our business. And David was there to walk us through the moment. I hope the same for you.

* In the 13 years since this appearance, we've grown to over 30 million tickets per year and the 43% number has turned out to be spot on

** Yes, the company's name was Corporate Events Group - amongst other names over the years

*** We used the title "Vice President of Business Development" b/c there were only 8 of us and we didn't want to look so small on national TV

**** Yes, I've lost 25 pounds since then. But that's a whole other three things.

Three Things I Learned In Saas, Sports, Tech, and Live Events

1. "Just because you're doing a lot more, doesn't mean you're getting a lot more done." Great quote by Denzel. Such a double edged sword on this one. It is true. Hustle culture creates busy and busy can be counter productive. But: stuff needs to get done. A lot! And if it doesn't, our startups don't last long and die a death by a thousand brainstorming meetings. Like anything else, the answer is in the middle. It isn't quality vs quantity. It is the balance of both alongside a commitment to get busywork out of your business - for you and your team.

2. "In order to learn you have to understand what you don't know…..and most people don't understand they don't know s**t and so they're f***." Draymond Green with some colorful language. Maybe if we listened to him, starting with leadership, we could replace the bias holding us back, the finger pointing and the tribalism with constructive discourse in business and in life. https://twitter.com/anthonyVslater/status/1348041758928564227

3. Many are bracing for attendance and viewership numbers for week 2 of the NFL. It has been the one sport not hit heavily post-covid. There is fear that changes this weekend even in the face of huge Super Bowl ad numbers. The NFL's power comes from balance. Here's hoping the bottom half teams show viewer resilience and positive attendance trends.

Three Things I Learned In Saas, Sports, Tech & Live Events:

1. Quiet quitting isn't new. Been hiring staff 20+ years and there's always been the "do just enough" group. More power to them on their new marketing slogan. Now we're not saying anyone needs to burn the midnight oil or work weekends/holidays, we've covered that here before. And too often there are extremes cited in a rational discussion. But, in general, you don't want quiet quitters anywhere near your start-up. Create policies, processes and reporting which will flush out the "quiet quitters" quickly and know it is a competitive advantage. Things break. Competition happens. Nobody wants to be on a team with a misaligned person. It is toxic to everyone. Remember, you work for them, not the other way around. Is that the kind of person you want to work for? For us? Quitting quietly is a sure fire way to fail loudly.

2. Serena Williams at the US Open highlighted a current trend we talk about often: Yes, customers are willing to pay a lot, often times more than we think, for the stand-out premier events. However, too many second tier events and content providers are creating way too much VIP hospitality and now they can't sell it. Companies are simply paying much more to go to the higher profile events. Festivals, in particular, are feeling the impacts of oversaturation. So much for that $4.7 trillion in pent up demand and excess savings we all heard about during the pandemic. Spending didn't come anywhere close.

3. "Give me all of the problems, give me all of the pressure and that's where I would like to succeed." When Pete Carroll started at USC, where he was the fifth choice for the job. He knew it, and addressed the media as such. No surprise he went on to win multiple national championships and a super bowl. https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/34459646/take-note-lincoln-riley-how-pete-carroll-made-usc-college-football-magic-again