Podcasts about Eleven Sports

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾留言 紐約時間-911博物館 鈴木一朗名人堂票選 佐佐木朗希與道奇隊簽約 北極熊向大都會提出三年合約 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 Ozzy 前駐美記者 現布魯克林居民 資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

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小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 十二強觀戰感想 (0:29) GG保健室-手部受傷 (16:24) 轉播中華隊初體驗 (26:50) 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 Ozzy 前駐美記者 現布魯克林居民 資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

Na Misję Futbol zaprasza Radosław Majdan, którego gośćmi będą: Dariusz Szpakowski, TVP Sport; Sebastian Chabiniak, Eleven Sports i Łukasz Olkowicz, Przegląd Sportowy Onet. Eksperci poruszą następujące tematy: Złota Piłka nie dla Viniciusa, tegorocznym zwycięzcą Rodri; podsumowanie El Clasico; los Szczęsnego w rękach Inakiego Peni? Fantastyczna forma strzelecka Roberta Lewandowskiego; Zieliński odpala we Włoszech oraz Manchester United żegna się z Erikiem Ten Hagiem.

Spór PKOL-u z Ministerstwem Sportu i związkami, rola pieniędzy w sporcie, przyszłość Igi Świątek. Komentuje dziennikarz Eleven Sports i redakcji sportowej telewizji Wydarzenia24. 

Jak często zadają sobie pytanie, kiedy odejdzie Mateusz Borek? Tomasz Ćwiąkała (Canal Plus Sport) i Mateusz Święcicki (Eleven Sports) opowiadają Kubie i Piotrowi o tym, za co cenią Stanowskiego, jaki jest przepis na piłkarza i do kogo są podobni z wyglądu. Co sądzą o WAGS? Jakie zmiany przewidują w polskiej kadrze narodowej na przestrzeni najbliższych lat? Których komentatorów sportowych nie mogą słuchać? O tym, czy wypada im się przyjaźnić z piłkarzami, jaki jest poziom komentowania w Polsce i czy dziennikarstwo sportowe jest łatwym zawodem. Zapraszamy na spotkanie z Tomaszem Ćwiąkałą i Mateuszem Święcickim. Podcast WojewódzkiKędzierski ma partnerów komercyjnych. #płatnawspółpraca

【米其林馳加 超越期待 專業款待】✨超專業細心的技師團隊，專業汽車保養服務最超越期待⭐五星級寬敞明亮的休息室，最專業款待現在就到米其林馳加親臨感受

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾留言 (0:38) 球場飲食-澄清湖 (4:28) 奧運感想 (10:04) 臉部傷害處理 (21:07) 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 Ozzy 前駐美記者 現布魯克林居民 資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： G大巨蛋初體驗 (0:28) 聽眾留言 (9:01) 球場美食-新竹 (12:28) GG保健室-前十字韌帶 (16:40) 球員理財觀念 (24:09) 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾留言 (4:35) 天母桃園球場美食 (8:34) 單局多次離譜暴投 (15:48) 偷看暗號爭議 (26:09) 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾留言 (3:40) 斑鳩築巢記 (8:49) 裁判升降與判決挑戰機制 (17:30) 澄清湖球場風波 (22:53) 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 自助vs人工加油 (0:28) 中職投球時鐘觀察 (4:28) 水原一平事件討論 (19:24) 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 清明掃墓小故事 (0:49) 大巨蛋看球初體驗 (7:58) 地震當天的遭遇 (11:57) 花蓮比賽的回憶 (21:58) 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

Wat zit er vandaag in De 7? Ghelamco zit in de problemen. Schulden dwingen het vastgoedbedrijf van Paul Gheysens om gebouwen te verkopen. Wat is er aan de hand? Er is nog altijd geen zekerheid over de overnemer van Van Hool. De Lierse busbouwer geeft geïnteresseerden nu extra tijd om met een hoger bod te komen. En zonder betalen naar voetbal kijken: voor de eigenaar van Eleven Sports kan het niet langer. Hij wint alvast een eerste rechtszaak tegen het illegaal streamen van sportwedstrijden. Host: Roan Van EyckProductie: Job Van NieuwenhoveSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾留言 (1:01) 該不該熱心公共事務 (5:00) 大聯盟球員綽號 (10:27) 國家隊成員待遇 (19:38) 中華職棒排名預測 (28:19) 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾留言 (2:28) 林書豪違反WADA規範遭禁賽 (5:17) 首爾系列賽 (16:28) 大都會場邊特殊活動 (19:54) 新賽季戰績預測 (31:36) 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾贊助與留言 (2:39) 對水手隊的印象 (9:02) 今年球季展望 (15:05) 紐約生活適應狀況 (24:06) 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾留言 (3:40) 超級盃感想 (6:56) 香港自由行分享 (11:21) 梅西對香港比賽缺陣 (17:24) 球員疲勞控管 (23:27) 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾留言 (2:06) Wayne佛羅里達遊記 (6:36) 大都會休賽季目前動作 (17:35) 老梅時間: Mr Met (24:48) 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾贊助&留言 (1:30) 理想的防護員工作模式 (11:49) 未來計畫 (19:26) 國外工作面臨的考驗 (23:05) 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾贊助與留言 (1:35) 昊耕在球隊工作內容 (10:59) 台美棒球各自的優缺點 (24:26) 如何提升台灣棒球競爭力的想像 (28:45) 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 阿耕商場連結：https://myship.7-11.com.tw/general/detail/GM2201111852545 這一集我們討論到了： 阿耕訓練襪使用心得 (0:57) 觀賞美式足球初體驗 (4:08) 亞錦賽大會防護感想 (7:42) MLB年度十大事件回顧 (12:03) Ｇ加入節目感想 (26:57) 新年新希望 (30:51) 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們邀請到了快樂牛肉麵的第二代來跟我們分享有關這間在紐約經營超過二十五年的牛肉麵店的回憶 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾贊助 (2:39) 台灣日印象深刻排名 (7:27) 聽眾問題 (11:40) 主持人 GG 前職棒/中華隊防護員 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

Mbappè comunica al Paris Saint-Germain che non rinnoverà il contratto in scadenza nel 2024, intanto Bellingham firma con il Real Madrid. Ci colleghiamo con Filippo Maria Ricci, che si trova ad Enschede all'esterno dello stadio dove domani sera si giocherà la semifinale di Nations League tra Italia e Spagna. Offerta da quasi 6 miliardi di dollari da parte di Al-Jassim, sceicco del Qatar, per rilevare le quote del Manchester United dalla famiglia Glazer: convocato Gabriele Marcotti, direttamente dall'Inghilterra. Si è risolta con delle semplici ammende la maxi rissa avvenuta al Forum di Assago domenica al termine di gara 2. Questa sera va in scena gara 3 delle Finali Scudetto tra la Virtus Bologna e l'Olimpia Milano, con la squadra di Armani che è sopra 2-0 nella serie: convocato Mino Taveri, telecronista per Eleven Sports. Jokic vince il titolo di campione NBA insieme ai suoi Denver Nuggets, ma non vede l'ora di tornare a casa sua, in Serbia: voliamo negli States da Simone Sandri

It was a full NISA weekend, with all things you'd expect from this crazy league. We debate the Eleven Sports feed out of Rochester, the Mkuruva PK (and celebration), and the goal explosion in Daytona.

This week, we speak with Zeca and Gabe Schray, the new voices of the CFC broadcast on Eleven Sports. We discuss the season so far, their journeys to the broadcast booth, and a little bit about what's next for the broadcast and the team. Enjoy! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/423soccerpod/support

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾贊助與留言 (1:49) 名人堂主題戰艦 (11:22) 甘迺迪機場路跑活動 (26:24) 大都會戰報 (32:52) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

Festa Scudetto rimandata per il Napoli, ma i festeggiamenti sono stati spostati solamente di qualche giorno. Il prossimo match point è alla prossima giornata durante il turno infrasettimanale: convocato Ivan Zazzaroni, direttore del Corriere dello Sport. Nel basket, Treviso si salva in una partita che lascia strascichi arbitrali con Scariolo, coach della Virtus Bologna che non le manda a dire nel post partita. Intanto Curry ne stampa 50 per la Storia in Gara 7 contro i Sacramento Kings: convocatoMino Taveri, telecronista di pallacanestro di Eleven Sports. Weekend di soddisfazioni in rosso nei motori, tra il terzo posto di Leclerc a Baku e la vittoria di Bagnaia a Jerez: convocato Giorgio Terruzzi.Il Benetton Treviso entra nello storia come la prima squadra italiana di rugby a giocarsi una semifinale europea (persa 23-0 contro i giganti del Tolone): convocato Giacomo Bagnasco e Marco Bortolami, allenatore dei trevigiani.

小額贊助支持本節目： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法： https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： deGrom再度因傷退場 (1:53) 張育成鉤狀骨骨折 (5:01) 大都會戰報 (13:36) Maggi苦熬十三年登上大聯盟 (22:57) 運動家可能搬遷至拉斯維加斯 (33:55) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

贊助我們: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言分享: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾贊助與留言 (0:22) 光芒守護者系列賽 (5:18) 大都會教士系列賽 (23:12) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

Alexander Kaufman from the Huffington Post, based in New York, and Rebecca Choong Wilkins join us throughout the programme for a chat about the day's big business stories. There are more reactions to the leaks detected in Nord Stream 1 and 2. Sweden has launched an investigation, and Norway is to deploy the military to protect its energy sites. The EU has promised a robust and united response to any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure. Raoul Ruparel, a former UK government adviser, reacts to the turbulence facing the UK economy. We also hear from Maurice Obstfeld, a professor of economics at the University of California, and former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund. Amazon has unveiled its latest range of own-brand tech devices – including a new one that watches you sleep. The BBC's Alex Bell looks ahead to its release. Also on Business Matters, Shay Segev of the DAZN Group talks us through its recent acquisition of Eleven Sports.(Picture: Hurricane Ian sweeps through Florida. Picture Credit Getty Images).

球衣抽獎: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScbp1X0i6ssiqp9i83g92jadc4IkdrxPWE6BQk_mmxJ59S1Yg/viewform?usp=sf_link 贊助我們: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言分享: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 峮峮穿大都會球衣拍照 (1:26) 大都會戰報 (7:24) SNY與紐約地鐵合作 (17:53) 張育成遭DFA後被紅襪撿走 (23:31) 奕哥熬夜播球初體驗 (42:46) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

球衣抽獎: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScbp1X0i6ssiqp9i83g92jadc4IkdrxPWE6BQk_mmxJ59S1Yg/viewform?usp=sf_link 贊助我們: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言分享: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾留言 (4:19) 大都會時間 (9:18) 奕哥對羅力的回憶 (21:27) 讓Ozzy印象深刻的洋將 (37:12) 紐約地鐵自動售票機即將走入歷史 (43:00) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

球衣抽獎: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScbp1X0i6ssiqp9i83g92jadc4IkdrxPWE6BQk_mmxJ59S1Yg/viewform?usp=sf_link 贊助我們: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言分享: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 祭品文兌現辦法 (1:08) 聽眾贊助與留言 (2:26) 大都會戰報 (8:03) 小號手現場演奏Diaz出場樂 (21:22) 大都會OB賽 (26:58) 福林國小拜訪花旗球場 (33:45) 大都會台灣日感想 (40:57) 台灣日球衣抽獎活動 (52:47) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

贊助我們: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f 留言連結: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾留言 (0:24) 小小廚神回台灣 (8:20) 大都會戰報 (15:02) 張育成時間 (27:58) 守護者隊介紹 (30:39) 大聯盟明年新賽制 (47:15) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

請主持人喝咖啡: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f Firstory留言連結: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾贊助與留言 (1:32) 大都會戰報 (4:50) 張育成戰報 (21:22) 第二屆夢田之戰 (28:48) 大谷十轟十勝 (36:11) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

This interview features Mike Grisko, CFO and Co-Founder of Atmosphere.  We discuss running an NCAA tourney at age 7, getting laid off during the Great Financial crisis, almost selling the Chive to Playboy, the challenge with professional politeness in UK work culture, raising $150 million in growth capital and quadrupling the team in 5 years, and what he looks forward to next.Subscribe to our newsletter. We explore the intersection of media, technology, and commerce: sign-up linkLearn more about our market research and executive advisory: RockWater websiteFollow us on LinkedIn: RockWater LinkedInEmail us: tcupod@wearerockwater.comInterview TranscriptThe interview was lightly edited for clarity.Chris Erwin:Hi, I'm Chris Erwin. Welcome to The Come Up. A podcast that interviews entrepreneurs and leaders.Mike Grisko:We have this concept internally, like giving up your Legos. Your job description changes every three to six months when you're going through rapid growth. 18 months ago, we were less than 100 people. Yeah, today we're close to 450 employees just at Atmosphere. And so that requires you to change your roles. Some of the things that I was doing back in 2018, 19, 20, it's just not scalable at that level. And so being able to hire great people, reassign tasks and responsibilities is absolutely critical.Chris Erwin:This week's episode features Mike Grisko, co-founder and CFO of Atmosphere. So Mike was born in the south side of Chicago and was the oldest of five siblings. He then studied at University of Illinois and his early career started in finance and consulting, including Pricewaterhouse Coopers in London and Moelis & Company in Chicago. While at Moelis, he met the founders of The Chive and was recruited for his first C-suite role as CFO. Soon after relocating to Austin, Mike partnered up with The Chive's leadership team to co-found Atmosphere, where he is helping to grow and scale the leading streaming TV service for businesses offering free audio optional TV. Some highlights of our chat include running an NCAA 20 at age seven, getting laid off during the great financial crisis, almost selling The Chive to Playboy, the challenge with professional politeness in UK work culture, raising 150 million in growth capital and quadrupling the team in five years, and what he looks forward to next. All right, let's get to it.Chris Erwin:Mike, thanks for being on the podcast.Mike Grisko:Yes, absolutely. It's a pleasure to join you on The Come Up. Really looking forward to getting into it.Chris Erwin:There's a lot of stories to tell here. As always, we're going to rewind a bit and we're going to talk about where you grew up and your childhood. So I think you're a Midwest kid. Tell us about that.Mike Grisko:I am a Midwest kid. Grew up on the south side of Chicago. 103rd and Pulaski for any local Chicago listeners. Was the oldest five kids. My mother was a ER nurse. My dad worked in engineering sales. It was a great spot to grow up. It was very much a blue collar neighborhood. We lived right across the street from Tally's Corner, which was famous for just so many cops and firefighters that had to live within the city limits. My mom was one of seven. My dad, one of four. And everybody lived within a couple miles of each other. So just cousins everywhere. So yeah, it's a fun neighborhood to grow up in. I don't know what your childhood was like, Chris, but it was very Stranger Things for us. You just go on your bike, you'd be gone all day. You just got to be back before the street lights came on.Chris Erwin:Oh, I hear you. I was born in '82, so I'm an '80s, '90s kid. And in the suburbs I was born Rumson, New Jersey, an hour outside the city. And it was about like, you get on your bike and you just travel all around the county and you get into trouble, you find dirt jumps, you go meet up with your friends late night. I remember taking the bikes out at 3:00 AM during sleepovers. It was the best.Mike Grisko:It was the best. Was Chicagoan through and through before. Now residing in Austin, Texas.Chris Erwin:So, okay. Being the oldest... I have two brothers, I have a twin and then a younger brother who's six years younger. And so you're the oldest of five. What was your role? Did you have a patriarch type role amongst the brotherhood?Mike Grisko:Absolutely. Especially my dad traveled quite a bit for work. It was definitely more of a patriarchal role took on but still. We were just very tight knit crew. Still are.Chris Erwin:Getting into middle school and high school. What were some of your passions back then? What did you like to do?Mike Grisko:We were always playing sports. You had the neighborhood crew. You're playing fast pitch against a parking lot wall. In addition to doing sports, it was also a bit of a nerd. Constantly reading, just super competitive in school. It was less about the learning, it was more just getting better marks than anybody who was around me. But yeah, that stuck with me for quite a while.Chris Erwin:Got it. Well, look today, you're the CFO and co-founder of Atmosphere and you've also had a CFO role at Chive. So were you big into the quant side and into mathematics and other science and other similar subject areas?Mike Grisko:Yeah, there's a bit of that. And then I've just always been incredibly fascinated by business and markets. Grew up in the '80s and when I was a... I think it was six or seven, my uncle started calling me Gordon Gekko. I think because I was the only-Chris Erwin:It's a great nickname.Mike Grisko:I know. I think it's because I was like the only seven year old who was running an NCAA tournament and I was doing betting spreads every NFL Sunday going down the line. Yeah. So it definitely makes sense, the career path that I chose, doing finance, doing the investment banking thing and choosing this direction.Chris Erwin:Kind of makes sense because you end up going for undergrad to the University of Illinois where you focus on finance and accountancy. So when you went to school, what were you thinking that you were going to do afterwards?Mike Grisko:When I got down there I wasn't really sure. It wasn't until I actually did study abroad program, which was in Melbourne Australia, which was some of the best months of my life. It was just absolutely incredible. Yeah, the fact that my best friend and I both got full scholarships to go down there was just such a deal. I mean, we got accepted. We just could not believe that they took both our applications.Chris Erwin:What did you get into? Did you do any surfing while you were out there?Mike Grisko:Did do some surfing, played Aussie rules football. We tried to get stuck into everything, just being able to travel and just the people and just such a fun environment. But that's really when I took a step back and started looking at like, "Okay, when I get back, I got to figure out an internship." And that's when chatting with a bunch of folks, really started to lean towards trying to get on an investment banking track. And so it's amazing. Sometimes you do really need to take a huge step away to start to piece that all together and figure it out. Because I really had no clue probably up until then.Chris Erwin:It's funny. It's almost a bit of the reverse, but it reflects your personality and your interests. Typical consultants or Fortune 500 executives or bankers will go on a sabbatical and say, "I don't want to be in these industries anymore. I'm going to go do something different." But you go to Australia, have the time of your life and you're like, "I need to go into hardcore finance. That's the path." I went in a very similar direction. I was an investment banker right out of undergrad too. All right. So that becomes your focus. What's your first internship or your first role in school?Mike Grisko:So I did an internship for Wells Fargo. Got to see the lending side, their corporate lending group, so did a summer of shadowing the analyst doing underwriting. And it was great. This is in the high times of banking. This was in '07. So the summer of '07, everything's riding high. I remember winning the internship competition. So they flew me out to San Francisco with my brother just for first prize for winning this thing.Chris Erwin:He was your plus one? You're like, "I'm going to bring my bro."Mike Grisko:Yeah. Yeah. And it was a very good learning ground, but I still... There's a few guys who I was friends with at Illinois who had gotten into the investment banking side. And so I decided to double down and just... Thanks Wells Fargo, but I really wanted to take a dive into the IB side and learn how to do M&A and capital raise and the rest. I'm sure probably similar sort of path as you. Must have been at least 20 to 30 different places I was submitting applications doing interviews with. Just running through the whole process.Chris Erwin:Yeah, it's a very intense process. But it's funny. Hearing from the people that have interviewed on the podcast, I think back to Michael Cohen at the Whistle, which was acquired by Eleven Sports. He started out as a credit analyst at Wells Fargo in Atlanta, before he went into do investment banking. And we actually worked at the same firm and I started out as a credit analyst at Bank of New York, which is now BNY Mellon. And you, you now run a free ad supported streaming platform for businesses. You started as a corporate credit analyst and then went to investment banking. If you're going to do finance and media, that feels like the path.Mike Grisko:Yeah. It's got to be. It's tried and true then. You got three examples right there.Chris Erwin:So then, okay, you graduate and then you go full time into Lincoln Financial. And you're an analyst there for about a year. What were those early years like?Mike Grisko:It's a mid-market investment bank, heavy Chicago presence. It was a good shock to the system going from your university environment to full corporate world and pretty intensive as I'm sure you remember from your banking days. So I had started in August of 2008 and so I think it was six to eight weeks before Lehman went under. Things looked like they were riding high and then all of a sudden... I just remember being very new, but then also seeing the senior bankers just going ghost white as deals are just being paused or put on hold or it went from they were closing close to a deal a day, M&A or a debt advisory deal, and then it just completely dries up.Mike Grisko:The first deal I ever did, it was automotive wire harness business. I was being spun out of Alcoa. And it was just bleeding money. Went from, if you remember, with all the automotive ODMs just shuttering production, they were like the fifth player in that industry. Basically overnight, they went to negative 80 million [inaudible 00:09:46] and trying to find a partner for that. That was great learning ground. But I ended up getting laid off into that second wave of layoffs they did in March 2009.Chris Erwin:Laid off in March of 2009 after the debt crisis hit. Yeah. I have some stories of what happened at my bank and I'm curious to hear yours. So yeah. What happened to you and what was going through your head?Mike Grisko:It's a big shock to the system. It's a kick in the teeth. It did a couple things. It really hardened me to, "All right, this is the actual professional and corporate world. Nobody's spots guaranteed." And I think it even that much more determined and more resolved to like, "Hey, whatever is next. I know I'm going to have to really outwork everybody else around me."Chris Erwin:I hear you. I joined the workforce in 2005. I was at my investment bank when the 2008 credit crisis hit. And I was still a young professional. And I felt like, "Oh, I'm insulated. This is a tough time for everyone. But I'm young. The leadership's going to take care of all of us." And I remember getting called into the manager's office one day. Everyone at the company's salary was cut drastically.Chris Erwin:And I was like, "Whoa." I felt the impact personally, in a very meaningful way in that day. And I was like, "All right, this is legit. This is the real deal." And I had to make changes to my lifestyle. I actually negotiated down my rent from my apartment in New York City, down 25%. Something I'm actually still very proud of. I built a nice spreadsheet defending that. But it does gut check you and it questions, "Okay. Is there a job for me here over the next year or two? Is my career derailed?" Is my whole future grand plan that I had sorted out in undergrad have to be completely reset?" But I think it's helpful for it to build resilience, right?Mike Grisko:100%. I thought for sure coming out of school, it was, "Hey, do two years to three years as an analyst. Hop over to PE. Maybe go get an MBA. Just follow the very traditional path." But I think that moment really drove me in a very different direction.Chris Erwin:Tell us about that new direction, because I think you end up going to Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Chicago for a few years before you end up at Moelis.Mike Grisko:In that period after getting laid off March '09, basically bottom tick the market. It was slim pickings out there for jobs. I even looked into potentially doing a program to get into medical school and doing a complete 180, picking up some undergrad science credits so I can apply to med school.Mike Grisko:But then by time, two or three months in, I was starting to get some good looks. And I had an analyst role on a corp dev team in Chicago, and then also got offered a position as an analyst at PWC in their corporate finance group, which they were just restarting. And so they had basically shuttered their investment banking practice, but then were bringing it back. And so I was the first analyst they hired in the US and I thought "Here's an opportunity to get it back on track." And a lot of corporate carve outs, cross border M&A was their big MO and huge selling point for me was they committed that, "Hey, you do a couple years here and hopefully we can get you over to London or one of our other international offices to do a two year program," which I ended up doing in 2011.Chris Erwin:So you went to London in 2011 for two years working for PWC?Mike Grisko:Yeah. It was fantastic. I mean the great, great mid-market M&A group over there. It was one of the coolest experiences of my professional career. Just being able to live and get fully immersed in a culture, especially in a professional culture. Anybody who ever has the opportunity, I highly, highly recommend. Because it really just does stretch you and challenge you in different ways. You knew how to do your job, but it's almost like the gravity's just off a bit.Chris Erwin:Okay. I like that. I've never heard that description, but I'm into it.Mike Grisko:All new faces, all new companies, all new lingo, trying to pick that up and then still trying to understand folks who have Manchester accents.Chris Erwin:What was one of the biggest cultural differences in doing business over there that you learned?Mike Grisko:I'd say the biggest one, you don't realize, there's just a professional politeness in the UK. So both with your superior is just not being fully direct with you in feedback. In addition to when you would be delivering direct feedback to analysts. They were offtaken. You might not be getting the full picture. We tend to be a little bit more direct and blunt here in the US than the Brits are.Chris Erwin:Something I think about is when I studied abroad in Spain, I met a guy named Tim Slee, who co-founded an ad agency with Steven Murphy. Shout outs to these guys. They're still very close friends of mine too today. And they would talk about their professional work culture was every day at 5:30 PM, they're hitting the bars. And they are buying rounds for all their clients and all their team. And they're like, "That's just how business is done over here. You drink a lot of pints and that gets revenue in the door." And I was like, "That's a lot to sign up for after a full day." I remember as a banker, I was just running spreadsheets till midnight.Mike Grisko:I don't know how you could socialize or network or do a professional career if you don't drink over there. I definitely learned how to go to the pub for a pint or two, and then be able to go back to the desk and start banging things out in the evening. It was just an incredible experience. My wife and I, we got engaged over during that two year stint.Chris Erwin:You brought your girlfriend who became your fiance on that trip. Okay, got it.Mike Grisko:Yes. That's a story for a different podcast. Having the conversation with her dad about her quitting her job and moving over with me.Chris Erwin:You're like, "I'm choosing her instead of my brother this time. Now I'm going to take my girlfriend on this trip."Mike Grisko:Yeah. And we ended up getting engaged shortly into our trip over there. But in two years, I think we visited close to 45 different cities. We were just so good about travel. It was a lot easier, didn't have kids then, to be very mobile on the weekends. And the Brits are great about taking time off.Chris Erwin:All of Europe is really good at it.Mike Grisko:When they said four weeks of vacation and they're like, "We expect you to use it." I'm like, "Absolutely will."Chris Erwin:Yeah. Maybe you bring that back to the Atmosphere culture. All right. So look, you spend around five years there. And then before we talk about your rise up at Chive Media Group and Atmosphere, you were at Moelis & Co for around three years. Tell us about your work there.Mike Grisko:I was starting to get to the stage I'd done enough smaller middle market deals. Enough corporate divestiture work. Really wanted to start seeing some more higher level capital markets and some larger transactions. And so I started shopping around at some different banks. Opportunity came up at Moelis and I jumped on it. Everything I was looking for just to gain from an experience level, next level on debt and equity capital raise to deals to getting to work on my first restructuring bankruptcy work to working on hostile defense deal with Ken Moelis.Mike Grisko:There was a pretty cool experience that really did give that next level of professional training. And I think that's the one thing like I started to realize being in investment banking, the true value of the relationships that you build, and just being able to sit in the room as well. In the room with the exact team observing and or advising on the actions to take and some of the biggest transactions or moves that they're going to be making. It's a great ground to just really absorb a ton.Mike Grisko:So in addition to like the financial training, the Excel sheets, and everything that comes with deals and running process, the network that I was able to build, just what I was able to observe and absorb, I think for some very talented professionals, both within the bank, but then the executives I got to work with, incredibly valuable. You just cannot replace that and the level of reps that you get in the career.Chris Erwin:I very much agree with that. You think about the 10,000 hours thing and the amount of time I spent creating investor decks and confidential information memorandums, AKA CIMS. And all the financial models, the merger models, the LBO dilution analysis, et cetera, the most rewarding experiences were when we were in meetings or had conference calls with private equity owners or family offices that own these cable, media, and telecom companies. And they're thinking about how do we drive more enterprise value?Chris Erwin:Do we spin this off? Do we go acquire these other companies and do a roll up scenario where there are synergies and thinking about, we have this network of management teams, who do we want to place based on the strategy that we have here? How are we going to finance with debt or equity or some other more alternative vehicles and just to hear the decision making in the rooms. And it was like, where are these men and women? Where are they being slow and calculated? Then where are they trusting their gut and moving really quickly? Just to be a fly in the wall was so valuable for my career.Chris Erwin:And I take a lot of that into the work that I did at Big Frame and Awesomeness in thinking about when Big Frame made a decision to sell itself and the work and the advice that we give our clients now. And often days, I wish I still had access to some of those calls every week. I get it through my client work, but just to be a sponge and just be able to just listen as a mid 20 year old. So valuable.Mike Grisko:Incredibly valuable. Yeah. That's well said, Chris. That's the big thing. And I have so much appreciation for it now. Just having seen both working alongside a lot of incredibly talented professionals in addition to some ones that were making bad decisions.Chris Erwin:Can we steer them the right way? TBD.Mike Grisko:But honestly, yeah. You're able to just listen, observe. You're just kind of building that muscle memory for when things are coming fast, as they really have over the last couple years, in my current role as an operator, it helps you just really break things down into first principles and what are we really trying to drive towards? It's helped make my decision making very formulaic. I think that's incredibly valuable. I like to say that... I'm sure we'll talk about Atmosphere in a second, but operating, whether it's startup, growth company, et cetera. It is a wicked learning environment. The variables are always changing. The dynamics are always changing. And so you're constantly going to be seeing new things. And so the ability to read, react, and adjust is super critical, a really valuable skill set that banking taught me.Chris Erwin:Well, let's talk about that transition, Mike. So your role as an advisor, as consultant, as a banker, now you make a decision, as they say, you go to the line. You go to one of the portfolio companies. So in 2017 you transitioned to Chive Media Group. How did that come to be?Mike Grisko:Well, it's twofold. I go back to the point on network and I got an opportunity to... One of the deals I worked on at Moelis back in 2014, 2015 was advising Chive Media Group. John and Leo Resig co-founders of The Chive back in 2008, starting in 2012, 2013, they really started to catch fire. I mean, it was a true social movement. You had folks wearing Bill Murray t-shirts and Keep Calm and Chive On. Folks wearing the shirts everywhere. So they brought Moelis in to take a look at strategic alternatives. And so over an 11 month period, we looked at everything from buying up smaller competitors to doing [inaudible 00:20:56] recap, to even potentially selling.Mike Grisko:And so we actually got pretty far down the path with Playboy, but Leo and John couldn't get comfortable with the deal and the management team that was there at the time. They decided to pull out. And so that was in mid 2015, but stayed in touch with both Leo and John. And when the prior CFO, who was part of the founding team was looking to move on in 2017, Leo called me up and I jumped at the opportunity. So that's some of the backstory just on how I came across the opportunity. Leo tells me now, I think I was the only person he reached out to.Chris Erwin:He was like, "I think I like this guy, Mike, he was on our deal team. Let's take a bet on him."Mike Grisko:It's very tight interview process, but it goes back to the point that building network from that seed in banking is just incredibly valuable. That wasn't the first time that I was offered a job by a client. You get so close to your clients when you're working alongside them. But this is the one I jumped at. The biggest thing is if you know Leo and John, they're just real salt to the earth humans. And that meant a lot to me. To be leaving banking into something that was a lot more unknown.Mike Grisko:Yeah. I knew whatever happened with the business, they were going to do the right thing by myself and my family. And I think that was the most critical thing I was looking for is I really wanted to jump into an operational role. I'd spent a little over nine years advising CFOs. There was some that I had incredible respect for. There was some I thought I could do that job better. The opportunity to jump right into this was just too good to pass up. And then there was the personal side of this, which at the time we were making this decision, I had a 11 month old son and then my wife was pregnant with our daughter.Chris Erwin:Oh, wow.Mike Grisko:Yeah. So the ability to go into something that had a little bit more flexibility or control over your hours was big for me.Chris Erwin:You were moving too. Because you were moving to Austin from Chicago.Mike Grisko:Yeah. The full go. And I think it's that personal relationship with John and Leo, that we're two feet in. Sold a place in Chicago and moved down to Austin, away from family again.Chris Erwin:Your 30 cousins and brothers.Mike Grisko:Right. Yeah. And rest is history.Chris Erwin:Hey listeners, this is Chris Erwin, your host of The Come Up. I have a quick ask for you. If you dig what we're putting down, if you like the show, if you like our guests, it would really mean a lot if you can give us a rating wherever you listen to our show. It helps other people discover our work. And it also really supports what we do here. All right, that's it everybody. Let's get back to the interview.Chris Erwin:You make the transition. And I hear you on the point of it's all about relationships. I think I was having a call the other day with Jason Rapp from Whisper Advisors who I've just gotten to know. And he had a note that I really liked. He said, "Companies are not sold, they're bought." And I think the implication there is it's about there being a clear strategic fit, but also this notion of there's relationships developed with strategic and commercial partners over time, and more often than not an investment or an acquisition is made from two companies who have many data points, a trend line of building a rapport and a relationship. And I think that also speaks to how executive hirings and placements, particularly at the C-suite level are done. You weren't out of the blue, it was long term relationship building where Leo and John had been exposed to your work. So I think that's important for our listeners to just be mindful of. We always say that. Say start planting the seeds now.Mike Grisko:I think that has been incredibly important. Those relationships and the relationships that I quickly developed with the other C-suite members at The Chive who are now at Atmosphere. You want to be working with good people. It is just so difficult to get a startup business into a true growth path and on a true path to success. Being able to do that with folks that you trust and truly enjoy working with is so critical. It starts at the top. If you want your entire company growing the [inaudible 00:25:02] in the same direction, it really does start with having a cohesive leadership group.Chris Erwin:So let's talk about when you show up, what are you guys working on? What are the goals in 2017, 2018, fast forward a few years, where do you guys get to? And that's going to set up the story for how Atmosphere was incubated, but take us back to that.Mike Grisko:I walked in at a pretty critical time for the company. There was a lot of different initiatives that Chive Media Group was chasing. It became pretty apparent quickly that we couldn't do all of them. The business needed an overall guiding direction and overarching focus. And so my first three months on the job, Leo and John asked me to, "Hey, just give us your full assessment as an outsider." And spent just a ton of time on a listening tour, diving into data. Became pretty clear that we were sitting on something incredibly powerful with Chive TV, which at the time was maybe in a little over 1000 locations and had six or seven dedicated employees to that product line. We knew that we had something incredibly powerful.Mike Grisko:We thought we had something incredibly powerful with that business, but we also had just many other initiatives, everything from original content creation with Chive Studios to some large initiatives, both on the digital ad sales side to a lot of different facets that they were chasing on the e-commerce side. So everything was set up for big strategic meeting in December of 2017. Myself, John, Leo, Eric Spielman, our chief strategy officer, and Alen Durbuzovic, our CTO. And we made some very critical decisions to really lay out, "Hey, here's our vision for the next three years." It included shuttering some business lines, re-orging some groups. All on the guise of trying to take the Chive TV product line and turn it into a real business.Chris Erwin:You start and pretty soon after you start, you're making some very big decisions at the company, contributing to that to allow you guys to focus on where you think the biggest win is. Atmosphere, I think technically founded in 2018, but Chive TV, you guys were working on this probably well before that, is that right?Mike Grisko:Yeah. So Chive TV was the original proof of concept. It was started in late 2014, early 2015 as an audience extension play. As the landscape got more and more competitive competing for eyeballs with Instagram, Facebook, and every other platform, Roku opened up their marketplace for content companies to build apps. And so they decided that technological opening allowed them to build a streaming TV app. And then they also were able to leverage the strong community on The Chive to help get distribution because the content programming, they realized quickly like, "Yeah, this is good for in-home, but this actually works incredibly well in bars and restaurants." And so that was the initial, "Hey, can we build an app? Can we distribute it? Can we actually make this work?" And that's where in the early days, I mean, they're a lot of learnings the guys talk about.Mike Grisko:And so it really teed up into 2018 where we had to go from, "Hey, this is a product with potential. How can we actually turn this into a real business?" That was the big mission of 2018 to see how we could really craft the story around Atmosphere as a platform. So Atmosphere, as it exists today, streaming TV platform for businesses. Over 50 different audio optional channels. We like to say we have a channel for every type of venue, whether you're a pediatric office or gym or a bar restaurant, we got a channel that's programmed for you. Everything from Chive TV, which is now a channel fully owned by Atmosphere to we have a Happy TV channel. We have Paws TV with cute puppies and kittens. We have partner channels such as America's Funnies Home Videos, Red Bull TV, and Disney's X Games. So we have quite a few.Chris Erwin:Mike, you have this content network, you have all these different channels that cater to different offices, different business environments, et cetera. And you make a decision as a company that it's like, "All right, foot on the gas. This is not just going to be an exciting new growth initiative out of Chive. This is its own standalone business that will probably require a separate growth plan, separate capitalization, and more." So when you guys convene, you, Spielman, the Resigs, and whoever else, what decisions do you make to really amplify the opportunity here?Mike Grisko:You summed it up pretty well from you, Chris. It really came down to this business has the ability to be a platform and like an N of 1 platform, the actual network that can tape over this niche of streaming TV for business. That's a big ambitious plan. So obviously would require risk capital to fund it if we really wanted to chase the velocity that we thought was there. It couldn't continue to be self-funded by The Chive and really drive to where it needed to be.Mike Grisko:Putting together that plan, and it was complications. Spinning the business off all of the shared services that were going to be required to spin it off. The conflict of interest was a big issue for VCs who were concerned if they threw millions of dollars into this new Atmosphere, entity in business, if it wasn't going well, would the entire founding team just turn around and go back to working at Chive Media Group and say, "Sorry, unfortunately, that didn't work out." It was a tough one to sell through. And if you remember in 2018, nobody wanted to touch ad supported startup businesses. Everyone was focused on subscription.Chris Erwin:Oh, how the world has changed. Just think of Netflix launching an advertising platform.Mike Grisko:Exactly. There was several times we thought about pivoting and driving resources hard into venues paying subscriptions. But luckily we stuck with the plan because we saw how much leverage there was in advertising to this massive underserved market.Chris Erwin:All right. So when you think about there's the big, exciting stuff to do, which is all right, what's the new growth plan who we hiring for this go raise venture capital, then there's all the administrative stuff of... All right. Yeah. Like you said, allocating shared services, who works on what, how do we communicate that, how do we set up a dedicated legal entity and put the right resources into that? All these little things that you as a CFO probably had to take care of.Mike Grisko:Yeah. And this is also where you and I met. As I'm pulling a lot of this stuff together with the group and bringing on lawyers, getting advisors all set, you and I got connected through Jason Anderson and you guys did an engagement for us both to... Well, number one, be that initial test run before we hit the market just on materials and the story, the model, just the entire thing, which was incredibly helpful and just help us. Like most VC fundraising rounds, it really comes down to the product, the team, and the TAM. And so helping us to find that overall opportunity in isolating our unit economics. There was a lot there because again, it wasn't just another enterprise SAS software business that was easy to digest and easy for VCs to give seed/Series A funding.Chris Erwin:I will say thank you to Jason Anderson for that intro. And it was a delight to meet you and Eric nearly five years ago now and have gotten to know the Resigs a little bit. But really, yeah, Mike, you're the first point of contact. I remember working arm in arm with you on some of this stuff. I have an image in my head of one of the financial runway slides of "Here's the traction for what we did last year," which I don't even know if it broke a million. "Here's our five year forecast," which was maybe at the low tens of millions. And the numbers that you guys are putting up on the board today are much bigger than that.Chris Erwin:But you guys were very hopeful, very optimistic. You saw a need in the market, but we also could sense that it wasn't a guarantee. It was a big swing. Chive was a business that had been around for over 10 years. It was time to find a new growth opportunity. And also, not just from a value creation perspective, but I think just for the team and for the brothers of an exciting new thing to dig into. And there was conviction and excitement, but it was clear that you guys were taking a big risk and there was uncertainty. I'm curious to hear the early days, when did you realize you really had something special here? Because you hit some big headwinds during COVID and maybe even a little bit before that, but things did change. Walk me through that.Mike Grisko:So our first headwind that we fought through was we'd agreed to heads of terms with a VC in early 2019 to do our initial funding. And they pulled out. They had internal issues that they had to sort out and they just could not do any fundings. And so we had to go back to our underbidder, who was Charlie Plauche from S3. And Charlie didn't try to take advantage of the situation. He stood up and honored his initial term sheet for the most part. And S3 ventures, if you don't know, Austin based VC, and Charlie was willing to roll up his sleeve, all those things we talked about with the conflict of interest, he and the team were willing to do the work because they saw the big potential. And his read on it, not only was this a massive opportunity, but this is a team that's done it before. And so it's an advantage that they've had The Chive business and been operating successfully for 10 plus years.Chris Erwin:Wow. Yeah. He probably had a chance to bend you guys over a barrel. But instead I think he was probably exhibiting the type of partnership behavior of, "Hey, this is how I'm going to act when you guys are in a moment of need and I'm going to be a resource for you guys and positive asset in good times and in bad." That's a fantastic move on his part.Mike Grisko:And then you flash forward a year, we did a series A extension in bringing on Valor Equity. And we closed that deal on March 6th. And if you remember, I think on March 8th, that was a Sunday that oil tanked 40%. But Jon Shulkin and the team at Valor, they never for a second wavered just on their commitment. And that's a rocky time to be stepping into a new investment, especially one with its end markets being bars, restaurants, gyms.Chris Erwin:Just to be clear, because we glossed over this quickly, when oil had that precipitous drop, that was essentially the week during the massive shutdown for COVID in the US and throughout the world. So the times fundamentally changed.Mike Grisko:Our end users of our service are all out of home venues. And so all subject to lockdowns. It was a trying couple months, but great support from our investors. Having a cohesive team to make some moves to change up the cost structure. And we got through it. Very little turnover and an employee base that was just still so bought into the story. And so to your question on inflection point, really then in Q3 of that year, right around mid August, we really started to see things uptick in the dailies. And so the big question on the business back in 2020, great, we're starting to understand that you can truly build a network in a fairly economic way to get distribution into these B2B customers. Get them signed up, get them to stream. The question was, all right, so if you build all this supply, are advertisers going to come? And that started to be answered in Q3. If you remember, everybody pulled back in the advertising world in Q2 of 2020. As they reassessed, they started to redeploy more and more money into connected TV environments and streaming TV environments.Mike Grisko:And we were one of the benefactors of that, especially in the programmatic open exchange. And so we started to see that coming through in the dailies and then the narrative really flipped. And then in October we did an inside up round. So, it's all of a sudden like now the story was almost flipped with VCs looking to preempt because they saw the traction was starting to build for what we were building.Chris Erwin:And then that leads to, I think in January of this year you announce a blowout round. You announce $100 million in new capital. I think 80 million equity and 20 million in debt.Mike Grisko:Yeah. You flash forward to 2021, which was just one of the most memorable, positive years in my career. But I'm sure there was others that shared that sentiment, but Valor Equity preempted and led our series B raised 25 million in April. And then Sageview led our series C that we've announced in January of 2022, an $80 million round plus a $20 million debt facility with bridge. And so over that three year path, we've now been able to raise $145 million worth of capital and really have been able to put that to work incredibly efficiently in building this network where you go back five years, about 1000 venues. We're now streaming in over 29,000 venues today, reaching close to 40 million people on a monthly basis and generating a lot of ad inventory.Chris Erwin:And just to make this exciting for potential venue partners. If you want to grow your network, people listening to this podcast, what is the value that you bring by putting Atmosphere on their walls?Mike Grisko:Yeah. I like to sum it up as it's better, simple, and free. So it's better content for at least TV. You think TV for business was never broken. It just was never right to begin with. Everything that you see out in bar, restaurant, or gym is content that was built for in-home consumption with audio. It is talking heads. It is entertainment that's going to require the voiceover. We purpose build everything for that audioless experience.Mike Grisko:So it's fast paced. Our news and sports channels, heavy typography that allows the viewer to really just consume visually. So it's better content for these screens and it gives you an alternative to live sports because not everybody is a sports fan and there's not always a relevant game on. And simplicity. There are no monthly contracts. We overnight you a device for free. It is a five minute install process, logging onto your wifi and away you go. And for the venue, it's free. For a free product, you're getting better content to entertain your patrons. And depending on the type of venue you are, we have multi TV locations and single TV locations. So if you're single TV location, such as a waiting room, auto repair shop, you're a car wash, why are you paying for cable? This gives you a cut the cord option in providing entertainment in the waiting room. And then if you're a multi TV location, this is just a great alternative for those other moments.Chris Erwin:I think that sums it up quite well. I like the notion of "It's not broken, it was just never right." So what would you say to wrap up the Atmosphere segment before we go into the rapid fire and we close this out and as a leader, you're at a company like you were saying that at Chive, I think you guys were around 50 to 75 people. Now Atmosphere, it's over 400. What are some of the lessons that you've learned scaling an organization this quickly? How have your responsibilities evolved? What does that look like?Mike Grisko:We have this concept internally, like giving up your Legos. Your job description changes every three to six months when you're going through rapid growth. 18 months ago, we were less than 100 people. Yeah, today we're close to 450 employees just at Atmosphere. And so that requires you to change your roles. Some of the things that I was doing back in 2018, 19, 20, it's just not scalable at that level. And so being able to hire great people, reassign tasks and responsibilities is absolutely critical.Chris Erwin:And what is something as you think about inspiring your team, inspiring the culture there personally. What is something that maybe you do different today than what you did three to five years ago?Mike Grisko:Something our exec team talks about a lot is authenticity. I think if you are just real with people, you show them a bit of yourself, but then also give them an environment that allows them to just come to work as they are. They don't have to pretend to be someone different in a professional setting than they are outside of the office. You give that to them and it just engenders great environment, creative problem solving, and just people with good energy that want to be part of this mission.Chris Erwin:Yeah. I think it's a great mission. I think a lot of people should join the Atmosphere wave. A final note from me, Mike, in the spirit of authenticity to give you some kudos. Something that came across to me when we first met back in 2018 was just, this is a really sharp guy. He's building something exciting in this business, but he also feels very genuine and very grounded. I have always gravitated towards people from the Midwest. I went to grad school at Kellogg in Chicago, have had a lot of team members at RockWater and some of the other companies I've been at from the Midwest. And there's always just something special about them.Chris Erwin:I think you 100% fall into that category. I think of the days where you had so much conviction early on, but you were willing to work so hard to manifest this future that you guys had thought about. And I remember getting late night and early morning emails from you being like, "All right, I've been refining our business model. I think I have a new idea for the TAM. Let's talk through it." You were burning the candle at both ends to really will this thing to life. And it's awesome to see now looking back what you've accomplished for your career. And you guys haven't even had your big exit yet. So I think there's so much opportunity ahead of you and you deserve a special shoutout.Mike Grisko:Thanks, Chris. As amazing as this whole run has been. Yeah. I don't know if I'd want to redo 2017 through early 2019 again. A lot of decisions that we made back then in building this thing out that seem obvious now were not obvious then. It was a lot of rigor and work to really position this thing to set it on the right path to where we're at today. But it's great to see the traction and how far we've come as a team.Chris Erwin:It's amazing. So we're going to move into the final segment, Mike. It's called the rapid fire round. Here are the rules. I'm going to ask you six questions. Your responses are to be brief. They can be one sentence or maybe just a couple words. Do you understand the rules?Mike Grisko:Yep.Chris Erwin:All right, here we go.Mike Grisko:I'm in.Chris Erwin:Proudest life moment?Mike Grisko:Outside of my family and kids being born, I would have to say the proudest professional moment was our last all hands and seeing how big this company has gotten and the number of folks that are now underneath the Atmosphere umbrella is pretty incredible.Chris Erwin:What do you want to do less of in 2022?Mike Grisko:I'm really trying to do less time on my phone at home. The less screen time at home, more time present with the kiddos.Chris Erwin:What do you want to do more of? Well, I guess you just answered that. More time with the kiddos.Mike Grisko:More time with the kiddos and also more sleep. That's been a big thing this year. So far, so good.Chris Erwin:What one to two things drive your success?Mike Grisko:I go back to, after getting laid off, I laid out two rules for myself and it was "Always work harder than the guy next to you" and "Do things the right way." It's pretty basic, but that's always how I attack everything.Chris Erwin:This is one I actually just want to expand on for a second. When you say "do things the right way," just give us a little bit more context there.Mike Grisko:It's treat others how you want to be treated. It's be fair. Work with integrity. That will always get you much further in the end.Chris Erwin:Got it. Well said. All right, last couple here. Any future startup ambitions?Mike Grisko:I actually helped co-found a business last year. Project Bankman. It's a crypto services business that is building solutions for brands on the blockchain. And so we were looking for a solution for Chive Media Group for effectively a branded social token that could replace our loyalty points. Wasn't really one out there. And so we partnered with a gentleman, Gavin Gillis, who is a ton of experience in the crypto space. And we put together a business plan. We're able to raise seed funding and that business is doing incredibly well in signing up new clients, including The Chive and some other financial institutions and airlines just to build them solutions on the blockchain.Chris Erwin:That's awesome. All right. Last one, Mike, this is very easy. How can people get in contact with you?Mike Grisko:LinkedIn.Chris Erwin:Okay. Hit up Mike on LinkedIn. All right, Mike. That is it. Thank you for being on the podcast.Mike Grisko:Chris. This was awesome. Thank you very much. Incredible host. Thanks for making me look good.Chris Erwin:Of course.Chris Erwin:All right. That was a really fun interview with Mike. That has been a long time coming and I'm very glad that we finally were able to make that happen. All right. Quick heads up that our company has a new service offering. We just introduce RockWater Plus, which is for companies who want an ongoing consulting partner at a low monthly retainer, yet also need a partner who can flex up for bigger projects when they arise.Chris Erwin:So who is this for? Well, three main stakeholders. One, operators who seek growth and better run operations. Two, investors who need help with custom industry research and diligence. And three, leadership who wants a bolt on strategy team and thought partner. So what is included with RockWater Plus? We do weekly calls to review KPIs or any ad hoc operational needs. We create KPI dashboards to do monthly performance tracking. We do ad hoc research ranging from customer surveys to case studies, to whitespace analysis. Financial modeling, where we can understand your addressable market size, do P&L forecast. ROI analyses, even cash runway projections.Chris Erwin:We also do monthly trend reports to track new co launches, M&A activity, partnership activity in the space. And lastly, we make strategic introductions to new hires, investors for fundraising, and then also potential commercial strategic partnerships. So if any of this sounds appealing or you want to learn more, reach out to us at hello@wearerockwater.com. We can set a call with our leadership. All right. Lastly, we love to hear from our listeners. If you have any feedback on the show or any ideas for guests, shoot us a note at tcupod@wearerockwater.com. All right, that's it everybody. Thanks for listening.Chris Erwin:The Come Up is written and hosted by me, Chris Erwin, and is a production of RockWater Industries. Please rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts and remember to subscribe wherever you listen to our show. And if you really dig us, feel free to forward The Come Up to a friend. You can sign up for our company newsletter at wearerockwater.com/newsletter. And you could follow us on Twitter @TCUpod. The Come Up is engineered by Daniel Tureck. Music is by Devon Bryant. Logo and branding is by Kevin Zazzali. And special thanks to Alex Zirin and Eric Kenigsberg from the RockWater team.

請主持人喝咖啡: https://pay.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f FIrstory留言連結: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 大都會戰報 (3:02) 賽後更衣室氛圍 (8:54) 地鐵大戰票房 (14:31) 交易大限補強目標 (19:40) 聽眾留言 (34:47) 宏翰對彭政閔的觀察 (37:44) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

請主持人喝咖啡: https://pay.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f Firstory留言連結: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾贊助與留言 (2:13) 大都會戰報 (9:42) 全壘打大賽 (14:31) 明星賽趣事 (22:39) 彭政閔專訪 (30:47) 主持人訪問後感想 (42:15) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

請主持人喝咖啡: https://pay.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f Firstory留言連結: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： Wayne台灣快閃之旅 (0:31) 聽眾留言 (6:43) 大都會戰報 (13:06) Keith Hernandez日紀念活動 (18:29) 張育成戰報 (37:02) 明星賽名單討論 (43:24) 全壘打大賽看好人選 (52:44) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

請主持人喝咖啡: https://pay.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f Firstory留言連結: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾留言 (0:25) 大都會戰報 (4:57) 張育成加入光芒隊 (25:43) Manfred的改革與運動博弈的發展 (33:57) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

請主持人喝咖啡: https://pay.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f Firstory留言連結: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： Bobby Bonilla日 (0:32) 特殊聽眾贊助 (7:51) 洋基驕傲日活動 (9:49) Ozzy訪問小小廚神朱如茵 (11:49) 大都會戰報 (25:25) 張育成本季二度遭DFA (34:14) Freddie Freeman開除他的經紀人 (39:03) 延伸閱讀: 1. 台裔朱如茵10歲稱霸小小頂級廚師美國版 超強抗壓性令父母驚豔 https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202206260032.aspx 2. 台裔小廚神朱如茵懷念台灣夜市 視江振誠為偶像 https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202206260045.aspx 3. 江振誠邀約 台裔小廚神朱如茵迫不及待返台圓夢 https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202206280011.aspx 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

請主持人喝咖啡: https://pay.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f Firstory留言連結: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾留言 (0:37) 大都會戰報 (7:12) 道奇跟洋基先發輪值比較 (17:53) 張育成道奇系列賽現場觀察 ft. 林宏翰 (25:27) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

請主持人喝咖啡: https://pay.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f Firstory留言連結: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 端午節記憶 (0:36) 大都會戰報 (3:26) deGrom該如何調整 (16:12) 張育成轉隊至海盜 (25:41) 大谷被洋基打爆衍生出的話題 (32:51) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

請主持人喝咖啡: https://pay.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f Firstory留言連結: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 大都會上週戰報 (2:03) 大都會是否需要交易應急的先發投手 (10:03) Lindor是否一直都是高低潮明顯的選手 (14:59) Diaz的喇叭歌 (18:10) 令人印象深刻的出場樂 (20:44) 張育成遭守護者隊DFA (27:44) Anderson與Donaldson事件討論 (33:55) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

請主持人喝咖啡: https://pay.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f FIrstory留言連結: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： 聽眾留言 (0:23) 大都會戰報及傷兵潮討論 (11:44) Lindor低迷的五月 (23:50) 雷神與黑暗騎士的近況 (27:32) 紐約自家球星的生涯十字路口 (34:25) 張育成近一週未出賽 (37:12) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

請主持人喝一杯咖啡: https://pay.firstory.me/user/the7linepod Firstory留言連結: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckqg24etogr6s0866xocx0v0f/comments 這一集我們討論到了： Ozzy芝加哥遊記(0:53) 聽眾留言(7:51) 大都會戰報(17:23) 張育成上場時間討論(20:23) ps. 錄音完後張育成就被放入IL 鈴木誠也是真貨嗎(32:20) 主持人 Ozzy Yin 中央社駐紐約記者 三十年資深棒球迷 我大奕哥-江奕昌 前職棒/中華隊體能教練 Eleven Sports中華職棒賽事講評 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ychiang100 專欄-江江隨筆: https://www.sportsv.net/authors/ychiang100 工作洽詢: keith0156@yahoo.com.tw 開頭音樂 "Cool As Blue - intro A'' Music by Jay Man | OurMusicBox Website: www.our-music-box.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/ourmusicbox Powered by Firstory Hosting

This interview features Michael Cohen, CEO at Team Whistle. We discuss being denied by a Goldman Sachs recruiter, when wearing a suit can be bad for business, being on the launch team of Whistle Sports, why the movie The Martian inspires his leadership, executing an M&A roll-up strategy and going from $0-100M in revenue, exiting to ELEVEN Group, and learning how to “play it where it lies”.Subscribe to our newsletter. We explore the intersection of media, technology, and commerce: sign-up linkLearn more about our market research and executive advisory: RockWater websiteFollow The Come Up on Twitter: @TCUpodEmail us: tcupod@wearerockwater.com---EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Chris Erwin:Hi, I'm Chris Erwin. Welcome to The Come Up, a podcast that interviews entrepreneurs and leaders. Michael Cohen:The presenter started off his presentation, and he said, "None of you in this room are going to get a job at Goldman Sachs right out of school." Sort of the most deflating thing ever. I've been preparing for this for an ungodly amount of time. And I was so angry for so long, but what I took away from that has stayed with me for my entire career, because what he then went on to say was, "I didn't start a Goldman Sachs. I started at X company. I then went to Y, then over to company A, and ultimately got to where I am today as a managing director at Goldman Sachs." And his point was that not all career paths are linear. You have to have different experiences along the way that ultimately allow you to become a better managing director at Goldman Sachs, or wherever you were going. Chris Erwin:This week's episode features Michael Cohen, CEO of Team Whistle and chief transformation officer of ELEVEN Group. Michael was born in Long Island and grew up with parents who worked in tourism and technology. He decided to migrate to Atlanta for college, kicked off his career in a financial training program at Wells Fargo, but he soon returned to his home turf in New York City to be an investment banker, where Michael learned how to tell stories with numbers. Of note, this is where we first met and actually worked together for a few years. Chris Erwin:Michael's career then progressed into private equity and strategy consulting, but he left to take an early bet in digital media and helped launch Whistle Sports in 2014. Today, Michael is the CEO and has spent the past year integrating the business into its new owner, ELEVEN Group. Some highlights of our chat include being denied by a Goldman Sachs recruiter, when wearing a suit can be bad for business, why the movie "The Martian" inspires his leadership, executing an M&A roll up strategy and going from zero to a hundred million in revenue, and learning how to play it where it lies. Now I've known Michael for over 15 years, and he's one of my favorites to share industry notes with and riff about all things creator economy. Telling his story has been a long time coming, so let's get to it. Chris Erwin:All right, Michael, thanks for being on the podcast. Michael Cohen:Chris, thanks for having me. Been a long, long time that we've known each other, so I'm excited to chat with you. Chris Erwin:Yeah. This has been a long time coming. I think I've been asking you to be on the podcast for almost over a couple years now. There was some assumed perhaps missed emails or lack of responses or who knows what, but finally able to make it happen today. Michael Cohen:I take the fifth, but I'm glad I'm glad to be here today. Chris Erwin:All right, Michael. I've known you for a long time. I think dating back to 2006. This is ... I know. It's pretty crazy to say that. It's almost over 15 years starting in Wall Street finance into the world of digital media. A lot to talk about today, but let's start where you grew up, if there's any glimpses into your early career. Let's rewind a bit and tell us about where you grew up and what your household was like. Michael Cohen:I grew up in Long Island in New York, a nice, quiet suburban town called Jericho. I have an older brother and my two parents as well. The town was a very small town. Everybody knew each other, which was great, but also a little bit of a bubble. And so I think having grown up in that environment, it was something that I liked a lot, but also knew it was something I needed to get out of and experience the world a bit different. And I think part of my childhood allowed me to do that. My mom worked in travel, which allowed us to go to all different places. Some I appreciated at the time. Some, I certainly did not as a kid. Whish I could go back and appreciate some of those more, but again, this is well before we had digital cameras, let alone Instagram. Michael Cohen:You couldn't experience a culture the way you potentially can today through Instagram or other apps. I got to have a feel for other cultures around the world through that lens. And then my dad worked in and around technology for his entire career, which was pretty awesome. He traveled to Japan a lot. And I would always ... We went to the consumer electronic show, when CES was actually consumer electronics, or at least more prominently consumer electronics. I would inevitably have some new gadget. I remember a small, little TV that had a massive antenna that I got channel two on, which was great, super exciting as a kid. And then I definitely had the first MP3 player, which I think it was called the Diamond Rio. Chris Erwin:It could hold five songs? Michael Cohen:Yeah. It literally had I think five songs. You could upgrade the memory and you might get eight songs. It was literally the coolest thing ever, but you'd use it to go for a run because you had a Walkman. That was the only other thing. And if you do more than a 20 minute run, that's kind of it. But I think being around my mom and dad who were both working, gave me a strong appreciation for hard work and work ethic. I think both of the industries that they were in gave me perspectives that I probably wouldn't necessarily have had. I'd say my older brother, in terms of work ethic, not to say he didn't have great work ethic, but he is wildly smart. And he didn't actually have to work all that hard to do really well, which, on the other hand, I believe I'm somewhat smart, but also had to do a lot of hard work to keep up. That's just something that's always driven me. Chris Erwin:Michael, I think you have many moments of great intelligence, so don't cut yourself short there. All right. With your mother in travel, your father in tech, did you have a sense of what you wanted to do as a kid? Did a lot of people in your community work in New York City? Did they work in finance? What were you thinking about your careers you were preparing for college? Michael Cohen:Yeah, we had a lot of different folks in the neighborhood. Some worked in finance, some accountants, a variety of folks that worked in different industries. I think for me, business was something that was always an area where I wanted to focus. I knew I wanted to be a business man at that time, follow predominantly in my dad's footsteps and be able to work with a great company and travel, be a part of important meetings, a big team. All that stuff was important to me. Exactly where and what that meant was certainly TBD. Again, we didn't have internet, and all that stuff wasn't as prevalent as it is today to sort of understand all the options and choices. Chris Erwin:And actually, a quick tangent to that ... As a kid, what were your hobbies? What were your passions? What did you do outside the classroom? Michael Cohen:Played a lot of sports. I grew up in a neighborhood that after school, all of us would get our bikes. We'd go to a park. We go back to the school. We'd play pick up basketball, roller hockey, baseball, you name it. We were out until dinnertime. And that was just awesome, being able to always be playing sports. And then at home, I would say because I was able to get exposure to a lot of the technology, I probably had the latest and greatest computers, these massive machines, and got to tinker around with that. So played on the computers. I probably had the first CD burner that existed, and turned that into a little entrepreneurial business in high school, selling CDs. Chris Erwin:Burned popular CDs that you would buy at the time and sell them to your friends? Michael Cohen:There was a very popular dance mix. I don't remember what it was, but it was one of those things that ... I don't know if it was Tower Records or one of those [inaudible 00:08:06] things that you get 22 songs or something on. And it's a mix. I had this CD burner. My friend and I, we started selling these CDs for a few bucks to our friends. It was a nice little side hustle back in high school. Chris Erwin:Okay, so there's a little bit of an entrepreneurial bend in you. I see that. You decide to go to college, and you go to Emory university in the south. What were you thinking when you went to Emory? What was the plan there? Michael Cohen:It was interesting. My brother had gone to Emory. I went down to visit him, Emory in Atlanta, Georgia, early 2000s. The "dirty south" was really having a moment in terms of growth, in terms of pop culture, a really awesome vibrant place. I think for me, having grown up in more of a smaller neighborhood where I knew a lot of the people, I think feeling like a bigger fish in a smaller pond was something that was more exciting. And I think looking at Emory, looking at the curriculum, the school wasn't super small, but at the same time, it would give me warmer weather and the ability to feel part of the movement in pop culture happening at the time. Chris Erwin:And so from there, you end up going into finance, right when you graduate, which I think is around 2005. And I think you end up at Wells Fargo. What was your thinking there for your first role out of school? Michael Cohen:I'll back you up a little bit. At Emory, I majored certainly in business, but with a concentration in finance and marketing. And again, I had always had the desire to be a leader, wanting to be the head of a company someday. Didn't know exactly what that meant at the time, but that was always something that was important to me. I remember going to a ... The school had put on a road show of meeting different investment banks. I got to go to Goldman Sachs, the cream of the crop. I remember this so clearly. I had my suit on, I had studied, I had the vault guides. I knew every question that could be answered. I was ready, and the presenter started off his presentation. And he said, "None of you in this room are going to get a job at Goldman Sachs right out of school." Chris Erwin:Why are you there? Michael Cohen:I'm like, "Well, this is sort of the most deflating thing ever. And I've been preparing for this for an ungodly amount of time." I was so angry for so long, but what I took away from that has stayed with me for my entire career, and it's something I pass on. Because what he then went on to say was, "I didn't start at Goldman Sachs. I started at X company. I then went to Y. I went then over to company A, and then I went to company B and ultimately got to where I am today as a managing director at Goldman Sachs." And his point was that not all career paths are linear. You have to have different experiences along the way that ultimately allow you to become a better managing director at Goldman Sachs, or wherever you were going. Michael Cohen:Fast forward, that stuck with me. I didn't get a job at Goldman Sachs and actually, for the first time in my life, I decided to take a different road. I stayed in Atlanta after I graduated when a lot of my peers were moving back to Manhattan and New York. Again, Atlanta during this time was really booming, and I was excited about the city. I worked for Wells Fargo in their corporate banking group, where we were lending money to large Fortune 500 companies. Michael Cohen:It was a really interesting experience because it was so foundational in terms of learning and the training program that Wells Fargo had. It was just an incredible training program, got exposure to a lot of different people, a lot of different industries that we were covering. And it really gave me a very solid foundation. Ultimately, it was something that I would say, started to lay a very strong finance acumen for me down in Atlanta. I stayed down in Atlanta for a year after graduation and worked at Wells Fargo. It was a two year training program and my focus was all right, it's not investment banking, but maybe I can complete this training program in one year versus two years. So I completed all the training requirements. Chris Erwin:This is actually where we have a lot of overlap. Right after undergrad, I also started my career as a corporate banker. I went to the Bank of New York. It's now known as BNY Mellon. Similar to you, we were lending to Fortune 500 companies across a variety of industries. So paper manufacturing, TMT, energy and utilities, and much more. I remember spending a lot of time pouring over financial statements and getting into all the details. I learned a ton. Follow up question for you, Michael, is what did you like most about the training program? Michael Cohen:What was great about the training program is that, and I remember this so clearly, they taught you how to hold your plate and a glass at a cocktail dinner. They taught you how to answer the phone. And you think about these soft skills that you take for granted today. Most people don't even use a phone anymore, let alone know how to actually pick up the phone. Go to a cocktail party, how you're supposed to hold the glass on the plate with one hand so you have the other hand free to shake someone's hand. Little fun things that you learned outside of just the core finance and accounting. Michael Cohen:But what was interesting, and why I ultimately decided to move back to New York, was it was a little too slow for me in Atlanta at the time. Still very much a nine to five attitude in that city in terms of where I was, and the opportunity to advance as fast as I would've wanted. This is when I got the opportunity to move to New York, and I landed a job at Waller Capital, which is where you and I had worked together. Chris Erwin:I remember that first meeting where I think you had just joined within the past handful of months. This is I think in 2006, and very similar experience to you, incredible training program at Bank of New York, learned a lot from the leadership there, but wanted something that was more faster paced. Wanted to jam in the hours while I was young in my twenties. I remember coming to an interview at night in the office, and this was a small office, at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, or one rock, and meeting at the upstairs meeting room. It was in the dark. I walk in and I think we do a 45 minute or hour interview. And I was like, "Wow, look at this guy. He's got a similar background to me, but he's super sharp. He's very confident. And you got me very, very excited about the role." The interview I had was okay. Chris Erwin:But I guess it was good enough to give me the job, because I remember getting an offer letter shortly thereafter and then joined the company a few weeks after that. I'm curious, one of the things we talked about before was building three legs of the stool. Each of those legs being finance, operations, and strategy and leadership. What do you think that you got out of your experience at Waller Capital? And then you moved to The Cypress Group thereafter, what was the financial acumen that you were really building at that point? Michael Cohen:I think it was a few different things. It was a core foundational skillset in corporate finance and accounting, which is really understanding how the numbers work, how an income statement, a balance sheet, a cash flow, not only how that works, which I think I learned in Wells Fargo, but in investment banking and at Waller capital was more of how it's applied. Because what we did was we were advising companies ... As you know, you worked there, but we were advising companies on raising capital to support their businesses and more often selling the companies. Helping them with the most important moment of their lives to sell them to somebody else. How do you write a story based on these numbers and present them to the marketplace? I think that was ...What I learned there was really the combination of how to use numbers to tell stories. And certainly learned a massive attention to detail. Michael Cohen:You talk about Jeff Brandon, who we both worked with. I remember what he said to me. He goes, "In our business, 99% right is a hundred percent wrong." And that's really stuck with me. The detail side of that, because what he was trying to say was one wrong number calls out your credibility to a client, to a potential buyer. And it's cast judgment, cast doubt on the rest of the financial model. So we really, the threshold for being correct was there was really zero tolerance. It taught you how to double check, how to triple check your work, how to work with others, like yourself, to ask questions, to make sure that you were approaching things the right way. Michael Cohen:I would say the storytelling with numbers, the attention to detail, and then again, work ethic. Because we worked long hours together to ultimately be able to deliver for our clients. And you had to find a solution. I'll give you an example of that, which was, we had a pitch, it was a very large pitch. We had done the pitch deck. We were all ready. Again, Waller Capital was media and telecom. I don't think we hit that early, but we spent a lot of time focused on cable companies. These cable companies, if you zoom out of a map of the United States, it's like a puzzle. There's pictures of this map that we would often use in our pitch decks to show how some different assets, where a strategic fit of different areas. Well, that needed to be part of a physical pitch deck. Michael Cohen:And unfortunately the files were so large that they couldn't print out. Again, this is '06, so didn't have these great printers that you can buy off the shelves today. And I had said to the managing director, "Look, sorry, there's just nothing I can do. It won't print. It keeps jamming. It won't print." And the response was like, "That's just not acceptable. I need this for a pitch tomorrow morning. It's got to be at my house in Greenwich by 4:00 AM, because I've got a 6:00 AM flight." So, okay. And I've got my new shoes on, my new suit, my investment banker gear. Meanwhile, I'm living on a couch at this point, and I go down to the financial printers on Wall Street, and begging them to take this file. The financial printers were the people that actually printed out all the 10Ks, all the SEC documents that had to be physically printed back in the day. Michael Cohen:I begged them to find a way to get this file open. Ultimately after going to three different ones, I found someone that was able to print it. They printed it. I bartered with them, so instead of charging with me, we said, "Hey, the next virtual data room that we use will go with you." And I took a black car all the way to Greenwich. I dropped it off. My feet were all blistered up. Ultimately got home, got a couple hours of sleep, and back in the office by nine o'clock. While going through that, I was obviously fairly frustrated and tired and exhausted, but it taught me that every problem has a solution. You just have to work it hard enough. I think those three plus years at Waller Capital really instilled a core foundation in how I work, and not only what I know, but how I work and what I really am able to do. Chris Erwin:Very well said. After investment banking for a few years, you then head to private equity. You head to the Cypress Group and Torque Capital. Tell us about experience and what the training was there that was setting you up for the rest of your career. Michael Cohen:Wat was really interesting coming out of Waller Capital after three years was, I don't know how many different sell side mandates we were on, but probably, 30, 40 over my time there. Sell side is when, as you know, when you're selling a company to the marketplace, so you're representing a seller and you're going out and you're positioning them to a marketplace of buyers to ultimately sell it. Now, what was really fascinating for me, and what I wanted to do, was go on the opposite side. Okay. You sell the company, now what happens? A buyer buys it, what do they do now? How do they operate it? And Cypress Group was a two and a half billion dollar private equity firm. I would say they were focused on diversified industrials and manufacturing. Michael Cohen:And for me, what I wanted to get next in my career was a broader exposure to the economy. No better way to do that than getting more involved in industrials and manufacturing. The other side of it is I wanted to be involved in the actual operations of the company. Cypress was sort of nearing the end of its fun life, but really was focusing on portfolio operations. It would give me an opportunity to really roll up my sleeves, work with various executives in each of these companies that they had owned, and literally be on the front lines of operations. And I think that was an incredible experience, particularly because the fall of Lehman Brothers happened during that. When you have exposure to everything from automotive companies to kitchen cabinets during a recessionary period, how do you operate those businesses? Michael Cohen:It's one thing when you can't stop selling kitchen cabinets. It's another thing when home builds are cut in half, and you've got a massive manufacturing line needs to be retooled or relooked at. And so how do you fix that? I was able to go to many interesting places similar to our days in Waller Capital, driving around the country and various markets, and get on the manufacturing floor. What I remember very clearly are two things. One, the first company I went to that we owned, I was wearing a suit, tie, nice shoes, clearly bringing a New York aura to this company that was in Tennessee, I believe. And it was like, who is this guy? What is he doing here? How can he possibly help me? Michael Cohen:I quickly learned culturally, you can't get things done by decree. What I quickly did was, the next day I changed. I was no longer wearing a suit. I was a little bit more suitable, but I started just asking questions and listening. What I took away was, what are the biggest pain points that the CEO has, that some of the senior managers have. And ultimately I came away from that trip knowing that if I could solve some of those pain points for them ... And some of them were fairly easy. Some of them were, "Hey, I need just better communication between the board and us," or, "Hey, there's this issue that keeps popping up." These were fairly simple, but it just required connecting of dots to do. And I did that, and what was magical out of that was the respect and credibility that I was able to get. Michael Cohen:From that point on, I was able to acclimate and get involved in these companies in a way where I started to be able to understand truly what would move the needle for them as operators, versus me wearing a New York private equity hat. And that was probably the most fun I had ever had. It really reinforced my desire to really be an operator. I had now investment banking, private equity experience. After two years ... Private equity was a two year program. You signed two years, and then you're typically off to business school or you do something else. Ultimately, I had asked the head of the private equity firm for his advice on what I should do next. I said, "Hey, should I go to business school?" Michael Cohen:I had taken GMAT. I had done well. He was a big golfer. He said, "Play it where it lies." He goes, "You're sitting in the fairway. Why would you go to business school? You've already got the education. Everything you would've gotten, you've seen. You've been operating. You've been operating through these tough environments." And this was about the time where we saw an opportunity in the market to create what I would call a lower middle market distressed fund that would focus on these smaller companies that were forgotten during the post Lehman era, that were still extremely valuable, had a lot of asset value, again from manufacturing, whether that was equipment or what they were doing, but just were victims of the challenging environment. Going in, helping to restructure those, bringing those back to life, was awesome. It was the best. After two years, I joined a couple of folks there. Michael Cohen:We created this vehicle called Torque Capital Group. It still exists today. We made a couple of investments. I was really part of the very beginning of a fund, the very beginning of the investment that we made, putting together a hundred day plan, living in places like New Hampshire and outer Georgia, really working with the operators on what is this next iteration of the company. That was just such an incredible experience. What I took from that was ultimately, I was more excited about the top line growth side of things, the innovation that was happening in Silicon Alley. That then led me to the next stage of the career. Chris Erwin:Few interesting notes there. One, in terms of really listening, and being aware, and understanding the cultural nuances when you're working with different companies or leadership ... I feel you on that because I remember you and I used to do this. We used to do the cable tours when we were in banking, and I would show up to the middle of nowhere, Missouri or middle of nowhere, Wyoming to a cable head end, where we were representing the seller. The private equity company, their buyer, and their leadership and diligence team would come out. They'd all just be in general outdoor work gear. And I'm showing up in a suit, slacks, nice leather shoes. I was totally the odd man out. I thought that dressing nice like that would get me respect in the room, or respect in a situation because I was typically 20 years younger than everyone else that was there. Chris Erwin:That was not the case, and I learned pretty quickly that I got to adjust the wardrobe. And I got to listen more to the people that are around me if I'm going to have an impact in this situation. I think that's very right. And your boss, I think at the Cypress Group said, "Play it where it lies." Probably around that time, it's 2011 for you, I decided to go to business school because I think I realized I was making a change where I wanted to change geographies. I wanted to change roles. I wanted to change industries, and I felt that I didn't have the right skillset and I didn't have the right plan. I needed to reset and take two years to get the operating experience that I needed. Chris Erwin:It's funny, we took two different paths, but ended up in pretty similar industries thereafter, and pretty similar roles that have diverged over the past few years. It's just funny to kind of reflect on that. All right, so then after Torque Capital, we're going to get shortly to your rise in digital media at Team Whistle, but I think there was a quick stint of strategy work that you were doing. Tell us quickly about that, and then we'll get to your current role now. Michael Cohen:So now, I've got the finance acumen under me, I've got the operational acumen under me, and I see very clearly what I need next, which is more of the strategy work that was missing. What I was looking for at the time was, do I jump into a startup and take some sort of role that's ... I think at the time everyone coming from private equity or MBAs was looking for a business development role, or a strategy role within these companies. I got some really great advice from an angel investor who introduced me to the CEO of Fahrenheit 212, which their whole mantra, how do we take an existing asset, existing distribution channels, existing marketplace position, and how do we leverage that to create a new product, a new technology, bring that to market and ultimately build a startup within a Fortune 500 company? Michael Cohen:I was advised by this angel investor who said to me, "Go talk to Fahrenheit. I think this is a great bridge that will ultimately get you into more of that operating role, that startup role, but this is a great place to go. You'll have the ability to work with large Fortune 500 companies that you've been working with, but you'll also be able to help them work on new products, new innovation, very exciting activities." And so got the job where I was an engagement manager. My role there was to lead different engagements. I got the opportunity to work with everyone from Citigroup, to Samsung, and a number of others in between, but big companies and big challenges that we were trying to tackle for them. One of the best pieces of advice I got from the founder, a guy by the name of Jeff Valletta, stuck with me. He said, "Free yourself from the fear of failure." Michael Cohen:What he was saying was a couple things. One is, in innovation, you're going to fail sometimes, but if you play your hands scared, you're never going to innovate. The team that we built at Fahrenheit was there to support you. So it was one, the team around you is here to support you, so don't worry about you failing. And two, don't worry about the product failing because you're going to learn from it. And it was about iteration. It was a great environment to frankly, retrain my brain because in banking and private equity, when you hit a wall, you think about how do I financial engineer around this? How do I cut it? In innovation when you hit a wall, that's opportunity. Michael Cohen:It took me a number of months to sort of retrain my brain on that notion that this is opportunity, and so how do we innovate around it? How do we innovate through it? What does this mean in terms of opportunity? That to me was an incredible experience. I was at Fahrenheit for about a year, and then I left and ultimately started my own consulting company. And why did I leave? Well, something interesting happens when you work with Fortune 500 companies and you deliver them, at least in my experience there was you deliver them this great strategy. You deliver them this great idea. They sign off on it. Two things happen: one, the person who's the key stakeholder gets promoted and it's no longer their problem. Or two, they decide to take it internally. They're like, this is great. We're going to run with it from here. The idea of me getting to build a startup within a Fortune 500 company was not really a super viable path. You're able to bring the strategy to life, but often, they're going to run with it on there. Michael Cohen:So obviously lots of internal stakeholders, lots of different things you need to do. And being inside the company was how they were able to be successful with it or take it. But at that point, I was very confident in the skillset that I had built. And so I started my own consulting company called, Who Is M. Cohen Ventures. Chris Erwin:Can I just ask why, Who Is M. Cohen? Michael Cohen:A friend of mine was more advanced in the social media space at the time than I was. In terms of branding and everything, I was like, "I need a Twitter handle. What Twitter handle should I do?" I couldn't redo my AOL handle from high school. So he's like, "What about who is M. Cohen? There's so many Michael Cohens out there. What about who is M. Cohen?" And so I took that as my Twitter handle, and then I just started branding a lot of other things with it. I liked it. Chris Erwin:Hey listeners, this is Chris Erwin, your host of The Come Up. I have a quick ask for you. If you dig what we're putting down, if you like the show, if you like our guests, it would really mean a lot if you can give us a rating, wherever you listen to our show. It helps other people discover our work, and it also really supports what we do here. All right, that's it. Everybody let's get back to the interview. Chris Erwin:After Fahrenheit and after Who Is M. Cohen Ventures, you joined what is now known as Team Whistle back in 2013. I'm curious to hear, from your point of view, how you ended up making this transition. Because I do remember when I was graduating from Kellogg, I was working for a company called Pritzker that actually invested in Big Frame and Awesomeness. I joined Big Frame back in, I think July 2012. I remember increasingly getting calls from you being like, "Hey Chris, I see you're working at Big Frame. You're in the YouTube MCN world, what's going on there? What are you doing? How are you building?" And I remember the frequency of those calls really ratcheting up. I think there was an eventual call I got from you, which was, "Hey, I joined Whistle." And I thought that was awesome. I loved having one of my financial brethren making the move into digital media where there's going to be some more quantitative focused minds and strategy minds entering the mix, which we needed. But how did that come to be from your side? Michael Cohen:I was doing the consulting thing as Who Is M. Cohen Ventures. One of my clients was the Whistle, and I was doing consulting for probably six months. I had a number of clients, probably had five different clients. And I wasn't sure whether I was going to just keep building a consulting company or do something else. It would actually, frankly, gave me the opportunity to date a lot of really interesting companies. I worked with small seed stage companies, some more funded companies, and some actually Fortune 500 companies as a consultant. But, I would say what got me to join Whistle was two things that happened. One, I would come home and I would talk to my wife and she said to me, "What's interesting, you talk about all your clients. When you talk about Whistle, you say, we. When you talk about your other clients, you say they." It was a really interesting, subtle observation that she had made. Michael Cohen:And then too, Chris, as you know, back in time, this was a wild west. Not many people knew what YouTubers were. It was probably the only platform that had creators. I don't think the term influencer was coined yet. And then Disney comes in and buys maker studios for a billion dollars. I sit there and say, well, one, there's a great team, a small team, but really interesting people that are here. And then two, there's just got some validation in this industry that perhaps there is some validation coming from Disney. Michael Cohen:At that point, John West, who was the founder of Whistle, said, "Hey, we got to raise some money, so I can't have my finance person as a consultant. So you going to join? You can create a consulting company anytime in your life. There's not going to be many opportunities you get to join a company at an early stage like Whistle." And he's a great salesman and a great mentor and friend, so I jumped on board. At the time it was called The Whistle and that began the nine plus year journey that I'm still on right now. Chris Erwin:Got it. When you first joined, what was the mandate? Was it, "Hey, Michael, we need to raise money. Let's get the model and the deck together"? And then the money's raised, what was your mandate immediately thereafter? Michael Cohen:They had raised some seed capital. Really I joined in 2013 and I would say our public launch was January 1st, 2014. And the premise of what we were trying to do was if you were to reimagine ESPN today, how would you do it? That was the question that we were asking ourselves at the time. It would be very different than what was happening back then. Traditional media, in our view, underserved today's generation. It was mostly a one way broadcast directly to you from the old guys with gray hair, talking about the glory days, talking about this scandal, that scandal. And, when I came on, the mandate was to help figure out what's the initial strategy that we want to take this on. Our view was, looking at how ESPN came to be and studying it, was ESPN came to be on the back of cable and satellite providers. They bought sports rights and, again, they sold them and then sold it to Telcos and had licensing fees and all that type of stuff. Michael Cohen:Our view was that the next company was going to be built on the back of social media company. Instead of cable and satellite, you're going to have the Facebooks, the YouTubes, et cetera. But our view was that instead of sports rights, it was going to be social influencer rights. And so the first step of what we did was we created a sports MCN, like a Big Frame before us, or a Maker, or Style Hall. All these others that were either generalists, or they were very vertical focused, Style Hall being more fashion and beauty. Tastemade, being more around food. Michael Cohen:There was still room for sports. The first thing that we did and that I was part of, was really trying to come up with that strategy. Once we landed on the MCN strategy, which, our view at the time we came after a number of other companies, was instead of this actually being the destination we're trying to go to, it was more of the vehicle. Michael Cohen:And what I mean by that is, we would create this MCN, we'd have a lot of creators under our belt. It would give us access to tons of data, which would then give us the ability to learn more about the audience and then figure out how best to serve that audience. So I would say the initial part of me coming on was helping with the capital raise, putting the deck together, putting together a financial model. But in order to put together a deck in a financial model, you of course need the business strategy. Looking back nine years, it's very easy to tell a linear story on what we did, but between us that's BS. We all know building a company is not a linear story. So that was the first piece of coming on. Chris Erwin:When you launch in January of 2014, did the launch go as expected? What surprised you? Michael Cohen:We were so focused at the time of being a very good for you sports media company that we launched Dude Perfect, as I'm sure many people know, one of the largest creators in the world. I think they were only 2 million subscribers on YouTube at the time. Now they're multiples of that. They were one of our launch partners and a number of others were. We had PR around it. It was great. And then we're watching YouTube videos and we see you can block certain categories that you don't want to run ads. Our whole premise was certainly no alcohol, only really positive advertisements that could go on it. We didn't want soft drinks. We didn't want certain junk food. I think we got served a Pepsi ad or something, and it caused a whole panic of are we having sugary drinks? Michael Cohen:Are we allowed to have sugary drinks? Are we not allowed to have sugary drinks? And I think that was a funny moment. But at the time the rally cry was build our subscribers, the subscriber network, on subscribers being on YouTube. We had different targets that we ran after to bring creators on, to hit a certain subscriber threshold, which, was more of a proxy for the size of our audience and how we would be able to monetize it. But I remember that early on, it was getting a little over spooked on a very non-controversial ad that ran in pre-roll on YouTube. Chris Erwin:Yeah. And I have to ask, what was it like for you to start working with creators for the first time? For me coming out of finance, so venture capital, business school, Wall Street. I was very accustomed to working with private equity leadership, sophisticated investors, C-suite executives from the companies that we were representing. Transitioning into this intersection of digital media technology and entertainment, working with creators and personalities, working with the representatives that manage them. That was an entirely new world for me, both working with those talent and the reps in house, and then also out of our building as well. Did you have a lot of creator exposure early on at Whistle? Michael Cohen:I would say I wasn't leading the creator efforts. We had an awesome person named Julie Kikla who came from YouTube that helped us launch that. Dev Sethi then came on, who I know has been on your podcast here, but definitely got exposure to the different creators. I would say that my diversified experience in the past very much helped me for how to navigate, how to partner with these creators, who very often were not sophisticated businesses. And certainly at the time they weren't. First and foremost, they're in incredibly talented, innovative creators that they're most suited to creating incredibly engaging content. The monetization side of it was where we came in to help them. Michael Cohen:And so trying to apply a commercial acumen to a creative acumen often was easy to meet with challenges. But I think my prior experiences ... Where the story in private equity where had to really acclimate to the people around me, working in the strategy roles, and having empathy for what it's like to be in a larger company, what it's like to be in a smaller company, understanding both a commercial desire, but also a creative of desire, and how that all works together. I would say it gave me the tools to have a lot more empathy for it. Certainly didn't prepare me for the world of mom-agers and dad-agers, and how intensely passionate those folks are about their sons, their daughters, but I was prepared. But I've learned a lot in terms of how to partner. Chris Erwin:So phase one, with the initial launch of Whistle, call it the MCN stage, and some learnings there. And then I think there was a decision where working with the team, you guys then enter phase two, where you're investing in intellectual property, audience growth, capabilities. This is I think where you transition from Whistle Sports to Whistle. Tell us how that came to be. Michael Cohen:We went from The Whistle to Whistle Sports. We started off as The Whistle. When we launched, we were Whistle Sports. It was important to make the point that, we were Whistle Sports. We weren't well known at the time, so making sure that the name stood for what we were was important. As we evolved, and as we studied the data, we learned that sport was being defined very differently for this generation. We were focused more on a YouTuber generation, I would say, mid to late teens, the mid to late twenties. We learned a lot from them and really no greater learning than they are really defined by the intersection of multiple passion points. Sports fans today are very much, yes, I may be a ravenous sports fan, but I also care about the pop culture aspect. I care about the music aspect. I care about the culinary aspect of it. Michael Cohen:Very often today we're taking it for granted, because on Instagram you can see an athlete out partying on yacht, and what they're doing behind the scenes. You see them walking their dogs. You have such a more intimate exposure. I think at the time, again, it was really only YouTube was the platform that had the most data that you could get followed by. Facebook's started to get in it. But we learned from the data that there was a white space that we could create content in that was more what I would call sport attainment. As we were talking to a number of our advertising partners, they said, "Look, your name's Whistle Sports, but you're not sports. Sports is, what I would say, classically defined as what an ESPN is doing, what a Bleacher was doing, a Turner was doing at the time, you guys are more entertainment. The content you're creating is more entertainment. And if you focus on sports and entertainment, that's a much bigger pot that you can focus on. So have you thought about dropping the name sports when you're going from your go to market standpoint?" Michael Cohen:We started to test it, and all of a sudden we are getting lots more RFPs, lots more inbound interests, lots more PR opportunities, because we were really defining a new category. And early on, I would say in that category definition, people that would say to us, "You're trying to be everything to everyone. You're really sitting in this middle bucket." What we try to convey and what is true today is that no, no, no, that's a category of our own. So trying to define us in yesterday's boxes is not the right way to approach it because we're creating a new box for ourselves. And so that began really where we were consciously investing in our own content, building a diversified network of platforms. We wanted to be diversified across not just YouTube, not just Facebook, as many platforms as possible, not wanting to have the risk of being tied to any one platform in particular. Chris Erwin:How was your role changing at the company as you were rising up and as your business was evolving? Michael Cohen:As we start to invest in our own product, I got the opportunity to expand my role and oversee that. Now, I wasn't running production, but I was overseeing the production side of things. My role was really focused on, at this point, not only how we operate internally, but the product that we're creating. I think one of the approaches that I took to it was, very often in media companies, there's a separation again of this creative and commercial, and there's a tension, there's a massive tension. And there's often like a wall in true editorials, environments or newsrooms, there is a wall. In our world, my focus really was about trying to align commercial and creative again. And that was something that has really been important throughout my career is trying to get people to see and understand certain things from different perspectives. Michael Cohen:I would say one of my strong abilities is to help connect dots that people aren't readily seeing. And so why commercializing a piece of content is important to our ability to do new and interesting creative endeavors. It was really about trying to align the product and revenue needs together so that we're able to create really cool, compelling content, but we're not creating content for content's sake on a gut or a hunch. We're doing it because it is somewhat grounded in, "Hey, this is a commercially viable type of thing that we can be taking to market." I spent a lot of time on the product side, and our product being content for the most part. Chris Erwin:After this point, I think you enter what you describe as phase three, which I think began in 2018. This is a bit of the inorganic plan, or this is where you're starting to exercise some of the skills and abilities that you learn from finance, banking, private equity, and you conduct an M&A roll up strategy, enhancing your capabilities by buying other companies. I think there's three specific acquisitions that you led. And I think as you described, you're starting to marry live sports and entertainment in a more meaningful way. Tell us about that point of the company. Michael Cohen:This is really, again, focused on IP, audience, and capabilities. I think at this point, as we're building the company, our focus is okay, we have a creator network, which is awesome, and we can help those creators continue to be successful, both in terms of helping to monetize, but also in terms of bringing them into the IP that we're creating. So that creator network, the creators that are a part of our company still to this day are still core to everything that we do. Now we're creating our own IP and we're monetizing it mostly via both indirect programmatic revenue and then direct sales. As we keep expanding into IP and keep expanding into this entertainment area, we saw that there were opportunities in 2018. Really, if you remember, I think this was sort of the nuclear winter of digital media. Michael Cohen:We had little things, which they were on top of the world and then a Facebook algorithm shifted. And they went out almost overnight. We had Mashable, which was as a darling at the time, which was frankly fire sold. And this then began I think Cambridge Analytica around the time, lots of scandals around social media, video, compression in CPMs. And so we saw an opportunity that there were a lot of companies that had raised a lot of capital. They had a choice to make. They didn't necessarily get to the scale that they wanted to be. And so the choices were, we shut down the company, we raise more capital from other investors, or we partner with someone else that can potentially get us to the promise land. And so we saw that opportunity that most people would probably want to choose the last piece. Michael Cohen:Many investors were tired by 2018. The tolerance to put more capital into these companies was few and far between. The desire, and frankly, the PR nightmare of shutting down was not something that people wanted to do. And so we started to be very smart in terms of, okay, if we were going to build this vertical, or build this capability ourselves, what would it take us to do? How much capital would it take? Or, who's out there that we can go and take a look at? The first company that we had gotten introduced to was a company called New Form. New Form was based in the LA ecosystem. Whistle was still primarily focused in New York and we knew if we were going to be taken seriously in the Hollywood ecosystem, we really needed to have a studio. Michael Cohen:And so this is again, the time where lots of streaming platforms are coming out, new types of mediums are being created. And so we bought New Form. They brought in a strong slate of IP that they had already created. They already had a number of distribution partners. Some that we had, some that they had. They had scripted, we had unscripted. It really made us a very strong studio. The who's who around the table gave us a pretty strong signal to the market in a market that frankly was very challenged. We brought in the skillset to integrate these companies, and then be able to do more of them. We then got an opportunity to look at a company called Vertical Networks. Vertical Networks Brother, which was the largest Snap discover channel at the time, but the problem was they couldn't get off of Snap. Michael Cohen:They didn't have ... Both from a capital standpoint, and just from a capability standpoint, they just weren't able to scale off platform to other platforms as fast. Well, we already had the other platforms within our distribution, but we also didn't have as much on Snap. So was a nice little partnership where we were able to come in and take a look at Brother, work with a lot of the existing people on that team, rethink what Brother was, reformat some of the shows. That really gave us more of the IP and audience. So now we've got both. We've got IP from both New Form, we've got IP from Vertical Networks. We've got a much bigger audience coming from Vertical Networks and the Brother. And then, what we realized was, okay, now we've got more IP, more audience. We need more capabilities to take this out into the marketplace. Michael Cohen:So we acquired an agency called Tiny Horse that was based in Charlotte. The premise of that was really adding more capabilities that we could bring out to our brand partners, that we could help different distributors and other partners with subscriber acquisition, because so many different streaming platforms coming out. How can Whistle not only use their audience, whether those are paid marketing, or inventory buying, other types of strategy work, and identity work that we could do to help these different companies navigate what I would call the digital transformation. We brought that skillset in. We built a very strong company that had this nice puzzle coming together of IP audience and capabilities, serving a younger demographic with a great suite of partners. Chris Erwin:A couple quick beats before we get into the rapid fire to close this out. So now you have this incredible platform. You started to put the puzzle pieces together for a really exciting new build, a new growth strategy for the company. And then at this point, I think you guys sold to ELEVEN Sports in 2021. What's the quick story there for how that came to be? Was the M&A all with the intention of, "Let's put the pieces together because we're going to run a sales process for the company," or was the acquisition unplanned? Michael Cohen:John West, our CEO has a great saying. He said, "Companies are never sold or bought." So we never thought about putting ourselves up for sale. We had raised a lot of money over the years, and really we had now, to your point, put together a lot of these puzzle pieces and it was really about fueling growth. We went out into the market in 2020 to raise some additional capital to, I would say one, continue to weather the COVID storm that had impacted a lot of media companies. But two, be ready with a war chest to capitalize on opportunities, capitalize on what we already were building. And then other opportunities coming out of that. Ultimately got a number of different term sheets from mostly debt providers because we did not want to focus on diluting the company, and then ELEVEN Sports had put in an offer to buy the company. Michael Cohen:ELEVEN was someone that we had known well. Their main investor was Acer Media backed by a guy named Andrea Radrizzani. He sees the world in a different way than most, and frankly, very aligned to the way we see the world. ELEVEN was focused more outside of the United States. They're more of a sports, live rights, more of their focus and they operate in a number of markets outside in Europe and Asia. They saw what we had already been seeing. Sports was being defined very differently. And so what we saw was together, we could unlock the power of live sport and on demand entertainment, and win a lot more hours of the consumer. Michael Cohen:If we could better serve the consumer, ultimately we would be able to monetize in more ways. When you start to put these pieces together, you really are creating a global sports media and entertainment company that plays across live and non-live, and both with an entrepreneurial spirit that can continue to be more scrappy than others out there. Our board, John, myself, we all recommended that this was the right opportunity that together we could get to a much more meaningful outcome for all stakeholders. We could better serve our partners, better serve our audience. And ultimately of course our shareholders. Chris Erwin:It's an incredible story, Michael. I have to ask, looking back on all this, you've helped the company raise over a hundred million dollars in capital. You've helped take the company from zero to a hundred million dollars in revenue. Going back to the beginning of this interview, the through line of building the three-legged stool. I need finance, I need op, strategy and leadership. Do you think that this is the ultimate culmination of all of your hard work? Do you look back at this and be like, "I did it. I'm content"? And then second, I want to hear about what are the two or three key learnings about how you are now a better executive from this experience and what you will take with you going forward? But let's start with the first one. Michael Cohen:First of all, it's definitely not I. The most important thing that I learned is it's always we, never I. I tried to take blame for the failures and would want the team to take, and have asked the team to always take credit for the wins. I don't think you can be a leader in today's environment by being an I person. In terms of looking back at the last nine years, the thing that stands out for me is adaptability is the reason that we are still alive and kicking today. John, our founder, he has a saying, and I think it's been attributed to Darwin, but we'll do that. "It's not the strongest or the biggest of species that survive. It's the ones that are most adaptable to change that survive." That's really been our operating mantra. Between that and a nice quote that I love from the Martian, the movie and the book, it says, at some point everything's going to go south on you and you're going to say, this is it. Michael Cohen:This is how I end. You can either accept that or you can get to work and that's it. You just begin. You start to solve problems. You solve one problem after the next. And then if you solve enough problems, ultimately you get to come home. He was on Mars. And that's just been a mantra of ours. Again, goes back to that very first experience in investment banking, was solve the problem. There's nothing that can't be solved by an incredibly talented team that we've built at team Whistle. I'm lucky to have the privilege to work with all these great folks. And it's been fairly humbling experience. Chris Erwin:Do you feel on this almost 20 year journey, partially satiated? This is what I set out to do? Of course, with a whole team around you to make it happen. Because this kind of impacts how you're thinking about what's next. Michael Cohen:Yeah. I do feel somewhat satiated. I think I felt it probably for a little bit after the acquisition. For me throughout the journey, I started as EVP of finance and operations, I then took on the COO title. I then took on the president title, and then ultimately took on the CEO role. I think each one of those was a milestone that I had. Okay. Have I arrived? Okay, have I? And that's ... Being able to appreciate that in the moment is something that I probably wish I spent more time appreciating in the moment of having arrived at that and celebrating that. Michael Cohen:I just thrive on searching for things that haven't been done, doing them, working with a great team, getting to be challenged every day, and working again in a media and telecom space. This intersection of media tech and commerce, it's so dynamic. And so there's always a challenge every day. For me, the satiation come from the challenge, the constant challenge. Maybe that's right, maybe that's wrong, but I'm enjoying what I'm doing now, and continuing to build. And that's what's fun for me, is the opportunity to continue to be challenged and built Chris Erwin:Final question before rapid fire. In terms of what's next, with the acquisition, you have been leading the integration and transformation of the company. Your chief transformation officer of ELEVEN Sports. Are you coming to the end of that process? Is there a lot more work to do there? And what are you thinking next for you? Michael Cohen:It's been an incredible opportunity. Mark Watson, the CEO of the ELEVEN group, and Andrea's also involved. The whole team have been great. Getting the opportunity after selling your company to help lead an overall transformation effort, not only integrating your company, but working with their company as well has been a really incredible experience. Getting to reimagine, rethink the strategy and how we evolve it. I think we're only getting started. I don't think transformation necessarily starts and stops. There's certainly some infrastructure building, some tactical things that we had to get done. Now we're able to actually just keep executing on that plan of winning more hours of the consumer, whether that's through different types of content, different types of products we're putting out, different types of distribution. That's the fun of it. I would say the journey continues, and as long as I'm being challenged and having fun, and get the opportunity to work with great people, that's something that keeps me going. Chris Erwin:Well said. In closing, I just want to give you some kudos. I've known you longer than most people in my professional career over 15 years. And I think you are a big part of what sold me, "I'm coming into investment banking," and also getting my foot in the door. Just like you, all the skills that you learned there was what I learned. And that is what allowed me to get into business school, and then to join the whole digital media revolution and Big Frame and Awesomeness, and actually hire our old bank to represent Big Frame in the sale. Chris Erwin:You are a big part of that, Michael. I give you a ton of kudos for that. I think our relationship's been a fun give and take where you got inspired by some of the things that I did, and that was a catalyst to your entry into Whistle, but then you just took it to a whole other level and it's been really awesome to see. I've learned a lot from your rise up. I think you even brought in our advisory firm to help you when you were looking through some different VOD strategies a few years back. So very thankful for that. And it's just been a delight to know you professionally and personally. I think there's much more fun to come for both of us going forward. Like we said in the beginning, we're going to have to do some outdoor activities or some sports or something like that next time we hang out. Michael Cohen:I'm all ready for it. And I appreciate the kind words, Chris. All I would say is right back at you. It's been a great friendship, a great partnership, and we're still in the early innings, to use the sports analogy. Chris Erwin:Let's get into the closing rapid fire questions. Six questions, the rules are as follows. You can answer in one sentence or in just a handful of words, keep it short and sweet. Michael, do you understand the rules? Michael Cohen:I believe. Chris Erwin:All right, let's kick it off. Proudest life moment? Michael Cohen:Becoming a father. Chris Erwin:What do you want to do less of in 2022? Michael Cohen:Zoom. Chris Erwin:What do you want to do more of? Michael Cohen:In person discussions. That fuels my energy. Chris Erwin:What one to two things drive your success? Short answer. Michael Cohen:I would say just a relentless desire to learn and to be challenged, and to work with great people. Chris Erwin:Advice for media execs going into 2022? Michael Cohen:Know your audience, know your partners, serve them well. Don't future chase. Chris Erwin:Any future startup ambitions? Might we see Who Is M. Cohen Ventures coming back into the mix? Michael Cohen:I would say I've always had the entrepreneurial itch, and there's a lot of good ideas out there and great people to partner with. For right now, I'm focused on leading team Whistle, continuing to lead the transformation office at ELEVEN, bringing a great outcome to all stakeholders. But let's revisit this in a couple years, because I think there's something there. Chris Erwin:Maybe you can come lead the sports media division at Rockwater. It's an opportunity. Michael Cohen:Maybe. Chris Erwin:All right, Michael, this is the last one. Pretty easy. How can people get in contact with you? Michael Cohen:Always up to chat. You can email me. You can hit me on Twitter. Text message me. LinkedIn as well. I'm always up to collaborate, meet smart, great people, help make introductions, connect people. Chris Erwin:All right. Awesome. Michael, this was a ton of fun. Thanks for being on the show. Michael Cohen:Thank you, Chris. Appreciate you having me. Chris Erwin:All right. That was a really fun interview. As I said at the beginning, I think I've been trying to interview Michael for the past couple years, so thrilled that we could finally make it happen. All right, but a few quick points before we wrap up. We just had an awesome executive event at Gjelina in LA a few weeks ago. We brought together various livestream commerce executives for a panel. Included Popshop Live, Stage TEN, and MARKET. That was a lot of fun and the Gjelina rooftop never disappoints. It was great to see a lot of you there. We do have another executive event coming up in New York in early November. More on that to come, but there'll probably be an event in advance of that as well, maybe around VidCon, so stay tuned. As always, if you want to attend our events or learn more or interested in being a sponsor, ping us at hello@wearerockwater.com. And then we always love to hear from our listeners. If you have any feedback or any ideas for guests, shoot us a note at tcupod@wearerockwater.com. All right, that's it, everybody. Thanks for listening. Chris Erwin:The Come Up is written and hosted by me, Chris Erwin, and is a production of RockWater Industries. Please rate and review this show on Apple podcast and remember to subscribe wherever you listen to our show. And if you really dig us, feel free to forward The Come Up to a friend. You can sign up for our company newsletter at wearerockwater.com/newsletter, and you could follow us on Twitter @TCUpod. The Come Up is engineered by Daniel Tureck. Music is by Devon Bryant. Logo and branding is by Kevin Zazzali, and special thanks to Alex Zirin and Eric Kenigsberg from the Rockwater team.