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

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

Ticketing rumors and happening this week:

1. SeatGeek raised $238m from, essentially, the group that made up the cancelled SPAC. That's a sizable show of confidence. It means more deals are on the way. This late in the game (Series C), raises that size aren't speculative. They are usually meant to fund well-defined objectives which are already in the pipeline. The baseball deal is the most obvious (don't sleep on Ticketmaster making a run too), but we're sure there are more. Rumors of the deal were all over the ticket broker conferences in Vegas in July - even pinning the number at "just over $200m."

2. Rumors are Logitix hired a banker with the plan of making a run at competitors and then flipping the combined entity. Heard it from enough people we believe it to be true.

3. New York passed the "all-in" pricing law where ticket sites have to show the final price with all fees added in. Bad news for many who have built significant businesses manipulating fees through the buy process. Matter of time before we see other states follow. Just the first in what will be many regulations headed towards ticketing (as we discussed here in 2019. Covid simply delayed the inevitable.)

4. Vivid Seats took a dig at StubHub in their quarterly call claiming the competition is overpaying for PPC in an effort to "relive past glory." Back when there was discussion about Vivid Seats buying StubHub, one of the immediate synergies was how, together, they'd have to pay much less in the PPC wars. Looks like it is going the other way. CAC is expensive in the marketplace game.

5. Time kills all deals- part infinity. UCL and Crypto.com were set to do a $100m deal - the largest yet for UEFA. Had a mentor tell me about how he lost his business when they failed to sign the paperwork on time on 9/10/01. We've walk from some deals mid negotiation as better ones have shown up. If you really want the deal, get it done.

Three Things I Learned in Saas, Sports, Tech and Live Events:

Sending kids off to college week! Who we are in the transitions - maybe the most important crossroads of our lives.

One of the greatest pleasures of my life was volunteering with high school kids for 11 years. I got to know them and watch the grow through HS and had a front-row seat while they transitioned into a new life.

Here are the four things I learned about sending a kid to college and how we can apply them to our lives.

1) "Who we are is most important in the transitions" Some of the best advice I've ever heard from a guest speaker: Life is about the transitions. From high school to university, school to the working world, single to married, married to parent, parent to parent of an adult and on and on. Many people get lost in the transitions. They are hard, they are unfamiliar, and they usually come with grief for the last stage which can sometimes last quite awhile. So many people get stuck in place, make bad decisions which will follow them for years, or lose months in the transitions. Mind blowing advice - true for us all. It is most important we know who we are in the transitions. Off to college is the first major transition for most kids. It is a huge change.

2) Water finds its level, but we have to give it time. Some kids find "their best friends" right away. Others feel left out for months. Neither end of the spectrum is good. Who your kids spend time with in the first few months very rarely become their lifelong friends. Remind them jr high and high school were no different by recalling how their besties and groups changed along the way. Give concrete examples. This doesn't change later in life. New job, new social group, new neighborhood, new industry...same advice. Be yourself and give it time. You'll find your level.

3) Set boundaries on the boomerangs. Many kids have trouble with the transition and go home too often. Others have parents who are way too involved. Come home for holidays and occasionally for dinner. Not for whole weekends on the reg...yes, even if there's a high school sweetheart. See #1: We skip this step we risk getting stuck

4) Half the kids will decide, at one point or another, they want to leave or transfer freshman year. Sounds high, I know. But trust me - it's even the ones you don't expect who seem so happy. Big transitions are a lot for anyone. Even the "starting QB" the "valedictorian" and the "homecoming queen." Help them understand how common this feeling is and encourage them to stick it out if the situation is healthy. Also encourage the parents who are usually very worried when it happens. The best advice we can give them: "It doesn't get better. But you do."

To those who are dropping kids off - congratulations! Parenting is the hardest job in the world and you nailed it! Enjoy the season of change for them, and for you, with curiosity and excitement!

What I learned about vacation after 15 years running a business.

Taking a vacation is different for everyone. We all have our own pressures. Taking vacation as an entrepreneur is something I'm still learning to do - 15 years in - from experience and from many mentors.

Here are six things I learned about vacation. Hope they help you skip a few speed bumps along the way:

1) Always take one. No exceptions. Especially in the early years when you can least afford it (in all senses of the phrase). When you start a business it's like "flying a plane with both engines on fire and a broken steering wheel." You're in "the jungle" and you're doing everything. Your most limited resource is time.

And yet, it is the single most important time in your life for you to take one. At least a week.

2) Always leave town and go far enough away you can't go back quickly. Our subconscious is powerful. The amount of information it manages, and protects us from, is extraordinary.

When we take time off at home or near work, our subconscious still knows all of the things we need to get done. That project around the house. That small to-do list item.

If we leave, we can't do those things. And we can relax. It may not feel like it in the moment, but we actually do.

3) The guilt never goes away, it just changes. In the early years, we look forward to the day we have a cadre of capable team mates we can leave in charge of the store so we can finally take advantage of "being our own boss."

In the early years, I felt so guilty leaving an understaffed overworked team. That guilt would permeate its way into vacation.

Now? Same guilt, different face. I love what I do and working with the team and I feel guilty when I'm gone. It's always there. And you'll learn how to live with it (and be happy).

4) Don't stress the stress

Entrepreneurs are oftentimes hyper-driven. The whole world is a nail - even vacation. When we get on holiday, we need to nail that too. We don't have much time and we can't spend any of it being stressed, sad, sick, etc.

A psychologist once told me "what, only locals are allowed to be stressed, mad or sad?"

My goodness they are so right. If you get stressed on holiday, that's normal.

5) No matter what you do, you'll think about work. That's okay. Especially when it's voluntary. Some of the best ideas we've ever had came on holiday while we were finally away from home and "flowing."

6) Don't burn out on re-entry! When we get back from holiday, all that guilt makes us push too hard. I'm doing it right now, as I'm writing this. Take it easy upon returning. Overdoing it is a terrific way to wipe out gains from a vacation and wear oneself down. Set parameters and know you'll catch up on that to-do list - or at least reach homeostasis once again

Had quite an adventure in Orlando watching our 12 year old son win a silver medal in the Junior National Volleyball Championship in front of a surprisingly big crowd.

12 year old volley is serious business to many these days.

That said, it was a really fun experience and I learned so much about life and work. Here are three things I learned at Orlando AAU '22

1. "You don't want to be the kid everyone is rooting for. You want to be the kid everyone is relying on." A coach said this to me as we watched the later rounds and I love it. Needs no explanation. We know who those people are in our lives, on our teams and in our businesses. The ones we rely on, the ultimate form of trust

2. "All we can do is work really hard at what we want. Practice. Do the extra work. Prepare. Study. And if we do, we just might end up with the ball in our hands when it matters. And that's where you want to be. Where you decide who wins and loses, because you earned that right." A life changing quote I heard last summer and have worked on with our family and team ever since. There is no pressure in the big moment. It's why we do what we do. Its where we want to be.

3. In December 2020 our son had never played an organized game of volleyball. Boys don't usually play that young. We went to Maui where we decided to stay for nearly four months avoiding covid. His twin sister was playing on a team at the time with a tyrant of a coach. Just an awful situation who threatened that if she didn’t "keep up" she couldn't stay on her team (she was 10). So we went out and practiced together every other day for months - trying to keep it fun and 'keep up.' Since Dellan was there, he participated. We worried every day about the situation our daughter was in - so we stayed diligent. We prayed and prayed.

When we got home to the mainland, Dellan really wanted to play on a team. None of the local teams were playing due to Covid, so I called an old friend who had a club team in the south bay - a cool hour+ in traffic - to see if he could go to a practice or two. "He's on the team" was the reply. "And with Covid, there's no traffic so the drive (usually 90 min) will only be 45 min." We agreed to do it just for the three months left in the season.

The team was magical. Incredible families and some of the most overqualified and best coaches I've seen - and I played on a lot of team. And the boys were good. Really good. Dellan was only 10. Most of them were 12 and 13, but they treated him like family and still do.

At the first tournament we weren't allowed inside (covid). I didn't even pay for the live stream as there was no way he would play. He ran out with a beaming smile to tell me about his six aces. My response: "Wait….they put you in the game???"

15 months later Dellan is winning all-tournament awards and silver medals while playing every point of a 12u national championship match against Puerto Rico.

As my good friend Jon Gordon says: "We're on a rock spinning 65,000 mph around the sun. Your entire existence is a miracle." He's right. We control almost nothing. And thank goodness we don't.

From so much negative came so much positive.

Who knew I could learn so much from 12 year old sports.

Three Things I learned in SaaS, Sports, Tech and Live Events:

The death of the modern Pac-12

We knew for years USC leaving the Pac-12 was going to happen - I said it on the radio numerous times. And it finally happened. Here's what I learned from the news and how it applies to our business:

1) Remember "History doesn't repeat itself, people do"? Voltaire's premise applies here. Take the time to read "The Club" about the founding of the English Premier League and you'll see a roadmap for what's happening in college football. The top clubs banding together, the power of revenue sharing, and the jettisoning of many "traditions" at the foot of TV money coming from multiple bidders. None of what's happening is new, it is just repackaged, as Kelly so aptly said in "The Inevitable." There is a blueprint for a formation of a super league were the players weren't unionized - and it is one of the most successful in the world today.

2) Punishments are never forgotten by anyone- schools, universities, staffers, teammates, customers, and partners. The NCAA came down on USC with paper-thin reasoning in the early '10s. Regardless what anyone thinks about it, Trojan nation has not forgotten. If there is a future for football without the NCAA's oversight in the form of super leagues, USC would be quick to participate. I'm sure the Trojans don't feel any sympathy for the left behind Pac-12 schools who kicked them when down. The negative is louder than the positive- both in the present and the past. Our team, customers, partners….they don't forget these things. Don't do crappy things to people then expect them to forget it later - won't happen.

3) A rising tide may lift all boats, but not all boats have the same value. Ignore and get rid of those who put self-interest in front of the overall good immediately. In "The System," written in 2014, the authors go into detail on the TV money negotiations for the Pac-12. In the book, Washington State, and their AD Bill Moos, band together with other schools to deny USC and UCLA's requests for a bigger share of the annual payouts. There was precedence for a healthy league where the biggest markets got paid more - see #1 - but that precedence, and the health of the league, was ignored as Moos negotiated in his universities own self-interest. WSU spent the new windfall on a stadium renovation and a splashy new coach - Mike Leach at $8m per year. In our businesses, there will be those who bring exponentially more to the table than others - be it departments, offices, divisions, or individuals. If they aren't being properly rewarded while seeing the bounty of their hard work given to less deserving team mates, they're going to leave. There's a number of reasons USC and UCLA left, but I believe this domino to be an important one

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

On Quitting

The great resignation, companies pulling offers, Gig workers and recessions are all in the news these days. Today, what I've learned about quitting - both in my experience and seeing others.

1. The stigma of labeling someone a quitter can be weaponized to enable bad actors and further encourage their poor behavior. "Nobody likes a quitter" or "they can't be trusted/counted on." The fear of being labeled a quitter hangs over so many trapped in a bad situation. And there's merit to that stigma in certain situations: life and death, crucial moments, etc. However, if you signed up for one environment and find yourself in another - leave immediately and ignore the fear and slander. Most who quit these situations have only one regret….they waited too long. I quit my college volleyball team at the end of the regular season and before the playoffs. Just terrible optics for someone who played a lot. It wore heavy on me for a long time. I knew I was quitting end of season for the entire year and that the environment was awful for me. My dad encouraged me to stick with it - and I did. But, eventually, even he saw that staying was no longer healthy. Ten freshman joined that team together in one of the school's historically best recruiting classes in 1997. I was the third to quit - and the first who was getting heavy playing time - starting the majority of the matches. In the end, only one player finished all four years.

2. Get all three sides of the story and use the stigma to your advantage. When we hired a crucial team member nearly a decade ago, our reference calls didn't go the way we anticipated. One of the references, given to us by an investor, had worked with this person and told us a very detailed story of how they "quit," why it was so wrong, and why we can't trust the candidate. Most hiring managers would stop right there. Red flag. Not us. Of course, we discussed with the candidate and got the other side of a story. But that's not enough. We hunted for others involved. Why? B/c they are quitters out there. People who do leave for selfish reasons and do so terribly which makes it easy to be overly cautious in a scenario like ours. We got all three sides of the story, hired the prospective teammate, and they've been one of the best teammates I've had in my lifetime - both in and out of work- for a decade.

3. Do it the right way. There is so much vitriol toward businesses today. Much of it is deserved. However, like anything, sentiment is too often formed by the outliers. Companies doing crappy things happens. Same with employees doing crappy things. The fall out of quitting in a selfish way just isn't worth it - no matter how justified it is. I've read about people "putting in for their two weeks of vacation then giving two weeks of notice" (that's happened here) amongst others. Not every company executive is a heartless billionaire. If, unfortunately, we find ourselves in a poor situation, it's best not to sink to their level. I hated the team I quit. Nearly everything about it. So I walked. I shouldn't have. I've seen too many people do the same in their careers b/c it feels great in the moment. Like a sugar rush that wears off quickly and leaves us to ponder what kind of person we want to be to others. Yeah, I hated it, but not all of it. We've had people leave here guns blazing. It is very rare, but it has happened in our 15 years. Some in front of the whole pit. Others threatening to sue. Others actually suing. And others trashing something about us publicly. What's unknown: how many of them reach out years later to apologize and mend fences personally. It's the vast majority - believe it or not.

It's okay to quit. There are only three ways out of a job: 1) Quitting 2) Termination 3) Tragedy.

We all prefer 1.

Remove the stigma from "quitting" - for you and your team- by replacing the word with "leaving." To quit simply means "to leave, usually permanently." "Giving up" has its own dictionary entry.

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

1. Time kills all deals. SeatGeek and Red Ball called off their $1.35b SPAC deal which looks like it will lead to the SPAC getting dissolved (they have until August to merge with a company). In 2017, we had a company try to acquire us. Diligence lasted three months and we still weren't much closer to getting a deal done. Though I wanted to continue, the board had run out of patience and voted to kill the deal. Push for short diligence periods and, when you do, be overly prepared and disciplined. The longer the time period, the more that can go wrong. And that can sour relationships. It did in our case.

2. Superstars are forced into the booth. They rarely go willingly and, when they do, they stay as close to the game as they can. (or they un-retire…looking at you Tom Brady, Brett Favre, and on and on). If your sales candidates goal is to be a manager as soon as possible and to get away from a number, run. The great ones want to lead, manage AND sell. They can't help it - because they love it.

3. It's difficult to face the music once you've played the tune. A close friend now sober 23 years offered sage advice on how others see a tough road in front of them when making the right decision while offering counsel on a personal friend's quandary and decision making. Screw-ups happen in business. We've had plenty. And it is hard to face the music once you understand it was a mistake that was, in fact, all your fault. Always telling the truth has done us well in such situations. Partners and customers want to trust you. Being accountable and honest in a world where many aren't goes much further than you may think. In some cases, it can even strengthen a relationship

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

1. If you want to finish first, first you have to finish. Saw this on F1's Drive to Survive and it rings true in business. Recession and inflation are the words of the week with all kinds of doomsdayers out and about. They may be wrong and they may be right. Doesn't matter. If we knew that answer, we'd be on somewhere on a beach earning 20% right now. Orlando Bravo, founder of much loved and similarly reviled private equity fund Thoma Bravo shared how businesses many businesses getting flogged in the public and private markets haven't changed at their core, just the valuations have. He's right. As usual. Chasing growth is as tempting as it gets. Trust me. It's a constant pressure from your board and investors. Finishing first is the goal so of course we have to push the limits. Just don't do anything stupid to wreck the car. Even if you see others succeeding doing so (albeit incredibly rarely). Gotta finish - as we've covered here before.

2. Avoid the friends who are only your friends if they think they're better than or above you. And know they're out there. My 6th grade son learned this the hard way in a tournament last week when he took a late lead against his 8th grade "friend" deep in the playoffs. The behavior from there showed him their friendship wasn't what he thought it was. It was hard to watch. Tears from "losing a friend" are more than any match. In our careers, we will have bosses, mentors and co-workers we care about. Sometimes, they'll be so nice to us if we're "below" them and will be the first to turn on us if that perception changes. Then, some can get pretty nasty. It's part of the game. Find the good ones and be thankful for them while being prepared for the Succession treatment.

3. History doesn't repeat itself. Humans do. One of Voltaire's most famous quotes comes to mind as we've had some market turmoil. Free cash flow is the "new" buzzword - which is hilarious as it is about as old a discipline as there is in business. And I can tell ya'll from experience, the early stage VCs weren't asking a thing about cash- it's all growth and fit all the time. It's up to you to know when to flip that switch. We argued constantly when our board member never wanted us to have more than 11 months of burn in the early years and I wouldn't go below 18. Just wasn't a need at the time. Reminder: Growing a strong business is an outlier. It ain't just the moonshots that are that far out on the standard curve.

The below email is real.

It was sent as a response to one of our salespeople

Three things I learned selling to (and around) a$$holes in 20+ years of enterprise selling. (and what to do to avoid being one of them).

1. Ignore them. If we had a nickel for every company where some bully told our team pretty much anything from the below list, we'd be retired. Especially the "don't contact us, we'll find you" part (And this came from a marketing person). Our ability to go beyond these objections are why we've had the success we've had. Be respectful and continue to professionally sell into the business. Even when they threaten you multiple times and make bold claims.

2. Their team usually doesn't like them either - which means there's an opportunity. When we come across a bully/a$$hole*, we tag them on LinkedIn to get an alert when they change jobs. The minute they leave, we call the team around them as there is usually an opportunity quickly. If someone is that mean to a total stranger who is just trying to earn an honest wage, they're even worse to those around them.

3. Defend your team against them. Every now and then, especially in the early years, one of these bullies will call to complain and ask your company not to contact them. It's clearly not anyone's intent to bother anyone - we'd make no money doing so. But, from time to time, the same person will hear from us a few times as people will forward what we do to them. Nearly every time, it is from a company who interrupts our days as well. A major bank did it to us twice. The same bank who interrupts the games I'm watching with ads, mails me weekly, emails me more often, and calls constantly. Be nice. Remind them this is how business gets done and nobody is trying to annoy anyone. And yes, we'll take you off every list we just can't guarantee you wont have a co-worker see value in what we're doing and send it to you. That we can't stop.

We all get cold-called and emailed. It's just a part of doing business. The great thing about cold outreach: they're really easy to ignore and there are tons of tools to do so. Being a jerk to someone just doing their job isn't going to accomplish anything. Be nice. And ignore those who aren't.

One of our most popular posts is "Why We Cold-Call Even Though It's 'Dead'". In it, we share the incredible friendships and opportunities which came from cold calling. Yes, it comes with downsides. And dealing with A$$holes is just one of them.