"Scrappy Founders" with Kris McCarthy of FanSaves

Today I am thrilled to welcome to the show Kris McCarthy, Co-Founder and COO of FanSaves. Now, FanSaves is a sports tech startup and digital platform that offers fans discounts and deals from sponsors of their favorite sports teams and organizations. They provide partners with unlimited digital sponsorship inventory that is trackable through the FanSaves backend dashboard.

Their product is unique in that it offers partners a true turn-key perk that can be added to their membership benefits, while being fully integratable into team websites and mobile apps. This allows FanSaves partners to drive fan traffic back to their own digital assets, helping drive engagement all year round.

As unique as the innovation that Kris is driving at FanSaves is, his journey into the startup space is just as interesting. Before entering the startup game, Kris spent seven years playing minor professional hockey while winning two championships before transitioning into the front office, serving as the Director of Sales for two minor professional hockey teams back in 2017.

Needless to say, he’s had a view into the world of professional sports from almost all angles, and I can’t wait to pick his brain about what’s in store for Kris, FanSaves and his take on the larger startup ecosystem as we dive headlong into 2024.

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Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

Transcript

Paul Davenport:

Hello and welcome to What The Tech from Boast.ai where we talk with some of the brilliant minds behind new and exciting tech initiatives to learn what it takes to tackle technological uncertainty and eventually change the world. Today, I'm thrilled to welcome to the show Kris McCarthy, co-founder and CEO of FanSaves. Now, FanSaves is a sport tech startup and digital platform that offers fans discount and deals from sponsors of their favorite sports teams and organizations. They provide partners with unlimited digital sponsorship inventory that is trackable through the FanSaves backend dashboard. Their product is unique in that it offers partners a true turnkey perk that can be added to their membership benefits while being fully integrable into team websites and mobile apps. This allows FanSaves partners to drive fan traffic back to their own digital assets, helping drive engagement all year round.

As unique as the innovation that Kris is driving at FanSaves is, his journey into the startup space is just as interesting. Before entering the startup game, Kris spent seven years playing minor professional hockey while winning two championships before transitioning into the front office, serving as the director of sales for two minor professional hockey teams back in 2017. Needless to say, he's had a view into the world of professional sports from almost all angles and I can't wait to pick his brain about what's in store for Kris, FanSaves and his take on the larger startup ecosystem as we dive headlong into 2024. Without further ado, welcome to the show, Kris.

Kris McCarthy:

Yeah, Paul. Thanks so much for having me. Really looking forward to the conversation.

Paul Davenport:

Awesome. I know I gave a little bit of a primer on your background, but I'd love to hear from you. Where are you based? How'd you get into the startup ecosystem in the first place? And really, just tell me about that non-startup background too. I'm very interested to hear about all your experience so far.

Kris McCarthy:

Yeah, definitely. Based just outside of Cornwall, Ontario, so in between Ottawa and Montreal. But I grew up in Ottawa. Have a really unique career path. I always followed... Growing up, I played a high level of competitive hockey and always had dreams, like every Canadian kid growing up, playing in the NHL. And came my draft year when I was 16 and I was playing at a high level and ended up having a devastating knee injury, tore my ACL. And came back the next year stronger, but got hit from behind and blew my knee out again. That shattered my dreams of playing in the NHL and I looked stateside to go to school. My parents were really pushing me to get my education, so.

I ended up going to a community college in Saranac Lake in upstate New York. Did a year there with plans to go to SUNY Potsdam on a two-year program. But at the end of the year, the coach left, I ended up following him. And he went to a prep school, which was in Lake Placid, so kind of did a grade 13 postgraduate if you will. And was looking to get a partial scholarship sort thing in the States. But that didn't materialize, so I ended up going back home for a year, played junior hockey and then actually applied to SUNY Potsdam in upstate New York where I attended university.

Also, that summer I signed a contract to play minor pro hockey in this new league called the FHL. Friend of mine started this new team, and he owns a chain of Greek restaurants in Ottawa which I was working for in the summer. So I actually signed my professional contract, my first professional contract in the back of a Greek On Wheels restaurant. Shout out Greek On Wheels. Kind of a cool story there.

Ended up going university for four years. Playing minor pro hockey throughout, which was a really unique thing. A lot of the guys that I lived with at school played on the university team and I was traveling back and forth between the cities I was playing. So, a really unique experience. Helped pay for my school. After university, I got the opportunity to transition into the front office and that opened my eyes to the opportunity of working for a professional sports team. Growing up an Ottawa Senators fan, diehard NHL Ottawa Senators fan, I always thought there'd be an opportunity to work in the front office. But throughout my experience in the front office, in minor pro, selling sponsorship, I ran into a pain point selling sponsorship and with fan engagement. And together, my now co-founder and I, we decided to take a run at it. That led up to what we're doing now.

Paul Davenport:

That is so cool. I love to hear that you've had that competitive spirit from the start. Maybe you're NHL dreams and pan out for one reason or another, but you never lost that spirit and that's more or less what's gotten you into the startup space and what's given you the drive to make FanSaves what it is today. I'd love to hear a little bit more about FanSaves specifically. You had mentioned a partner. I believe Shannon. I'd love to know how you guys met, how you guys came together, what were the complimentary skillsets even that you both brought to the table to make FanSaves a reality.

Kris McCarthy:

For sure. I was actually playing in Cornwall, Ontario, so I wasn't playing for the team. And Shannon owned her own marketing company. She was doing some social media for the team.

There was one game, maybe like a third into the season, and a guy hit my goalie and I took him out behind. That actually broke my finger. I don't know if you can see that. I broke my finger in a fight, so I was going to miss 11 weeks. I had pins put in my finger. I had experience in the front office. I went to the owner and told him I could really help on the sales side and the marketing side. So, I became the sales and marketing director from that point on.

And when I first met Shannon, our minds just melded. We were totally on the same page. And from that point on, we kind of took over all the sales and marketing for the team, improved ticket sales, sponsorship revenue. And in the off season, we were out selling sponsorship for actually two minor parole hockey teams. One in Watertown, New York and one here in Cornwall, Ontario.

And the same problem persisted. We were out selling sponsorship to these brands in our community and brands wanted more out of their sponsorship. They wanted something digital, something that could activate their fans while allowing them to collect customer analytics. And we didn't have anything like that. We left a lot of deals on the table because we couldn't satisfy that need that our partners wanted. And we had brands like Boston Pizza giving us boxes of paper coupons. They were a nightmare to hand out. Little Caesars in Watertown.

We looked at this issue, we were like, "Paper coupons can't track data. They're costly to produce. They're a nightmare to distribute." Challenges that are associated with paper coupons and traditional redemption methods. Talking to a lot of our businesses and community and our partners, we said, "There's something here." And when we looked elsewhere in the industry, we found so many teams had the same problems. Both having that entrepreneurial mindset, we said, "You know what? Let's take a run at this. I think there's something here." And seven years later, we're working with teams in over 24 leagues across North America, just partnered with NASCAR, recently backed by Comcast NBC, and just on this incredible startup journey.

I'm so fortunate that I've got Shannon as my co-founder. As you mentioned, we really compliment each other's skills and we're both so passionate about the business. I think that's been a big thing that's really helped drive our success to date.

Paul Davenport:

Yeah, that is awesome. I think you've hit on a few key things that I'd like to just pull a thread on. That point about how you had signed your deal in the back of a Greek restaurant. It's so funny in the startup space because a lot of the times founders and their teams that they get together with, it is all about who you know. But then there's a flip side of that coin too, which I think is more speaking to your and Shannon's relationship. You might have an idea, but you really got to look outside of the folks that maybe have been swimming in your circles the whole time to uncover that talent that's really going to bring your startup to the startup space. Get it from that idea phase into actually being something that will be in market, that will get revenue, that will get users. And it's not just theoretical what you can do, you're actually making a material impact.

It's great that you've had experience in both of those realms. Because I think some founders, they get very comfortable just sticking within again, their crew or their circles that they know. And you got to have imagination and you also got to again, have that energy and bravery. You're starting something new. You don't know the success. Even if there is a acute challenge that is across the industry, you got to be brave and you got to take some risks to get in there. So, I'm glad that you and Shannon found each other. I'm also really glad to hear that it sounds like the best is yet to come with this NASCAR sponsorship, with Comcast backing you. That is all fantastic.

I'd love to know now the platform itself. If you could tell me a little bit about what makes us such a unique innovation and how you guys are actually making such an impact that you are today?

Kris McCarthy:

Yeah, absolutely. FanSaves is a digital platform that offers fans discounts and deals from the sponsors of their favorite teams. You could think of it as a team's own digital coupon book. Or another way to look at it is think Instagram. On Instagram, you can follow as many pages as you want, but instead of seeing pictures that the team or organization is posting, the fan, you as the user, can get access to discounts and deals provided by that team sponsor. So, what we're really doing is connecting the fans with the sponsors of their favorite teams on a digital way that's trackable for both the sponsor for in-store redemptions, but also for the team to understand how the fans are engaging with their corporate partners outside of the venue, which is a really, really difficult data point to track currently. Teams are able to pull from social media metrics, eyeballs from in-venue, but it's very difficult to actually prove that they drove business into their sponsor's establishments because of their partnership. We track that ROI at the point of purchase, and that's what a really big part of our business is.

During the pandemic, we actually did a research study and we found that 40% of sports fans surveyed were more likely to support a business if they knew they were a sponsor of their favorite team. Yet, 90% of sports fans couldn't name more than five of their favorite team's sponsors. That's a big problem for teams and for the brands that sponsor these teams. If the team's fans don't know who the partners are outside of the venue, they're much less likely to actually engage with them. And that's where we come in, not only informing the fans who those sponsors are through our platform, but incentivizing them to engage with them through discounts and deals.

Paul Davenport:

Absolutely. I think there's actually even more to that too. Just a discovery. For instance, I was looking at FanSaves. I think I had mentioned this previously. I'm from the Boston area. We're a big sports town. I looked at what local teams were working with FanSaves. I wasn't even fully aware that we had a minor league rugby team in my backyard. My mom lives outside of Quincy, that's where they are based. And I'm just looking. My sister played rugby in college. I love watching rugby. I had no idea I could go watch it live, let alone I could go to the gym at a 25% discount because they partner with that rugby team. And I have so many more access points too. I was just thinking this would've been great before Christmas, but I digress. That function was one thing that I found super useful. I actually found out about a sports team here that I didn't know that we had, and I would love to go support them. So, I think that's another one.

And then even your point about attribution. Love that you guys conducted that study. And I think it's a pain point across industries, not even in just the sports sector. I'm in marketing, you know this. Attribution is probably the hardest thing to tie back to and being like, "Okay, who took advantage of this program?" When it's paper coupons, you really can't track that.

Now, I did want to dive into a little bit about how the mission has evolved. What have been some of the changes to FanSaves since you started seven years ago and today? And I know we had talked about some of the future facing things, but allude to that too. What else is on the roadmap for your evolution?

Kris McCarthy:

Yeah. We're gearing up for a big sales year. We more than doubled our sales year over year from last year. And 2022 is really our first sales year. So, really excited about that.

The sports industry is a really relationship based industry. There's a lot of sports business events, sports tech events. One thing that Shannon and I pride ourselves on is showing up, and we always have. Going to a lot of these events, meeting people in person, having a drink and just building that relationship in person goes such a long way rather than trying to get to know someone over a 30-minute Zoom call. That's something that on my side of the business... As the co-founder, I manage the sales, business development and strategy of the company. So, that's something I'm really passionate about. My two biggest passions in life are business and sports. I'm super grateful that I get to combine both of those on a daily basis.

We have big plans for the platform. One of the big pieces of innovation that we're working on right now, that we'll be launching in Q2, Q3, is connecting the sponsors with teams that we're working with. Right now, we have 1500 brands, both national and local, offering deals on our platform and over 80 partners. As we continue to grow, we want to be the middle person between the brands and the teams and organizations that we work with. Through our platform, a big brand could create a deal campaign to one or multiple or many of our team partners that we're working with right across North America. That opens up a new revenue stream for us on the brand side of things. We're a B2B SaaS platform, so we make our money right now currently from our annual licensing fee from the teams organizations. But that's a big piece of innovation that we're working on.

And then, on the team side, we just hired our 10th team member including Shannon and myself. I was thinking back the other day to when Shannon and I just started this company, it was just an idea, and we just hired our 10th employee. So, it's really cool to see our team growth.

We're based just outside of Cornwall, like I mentioned. Only about 20 minutes away from the Quebec border. And there's strict language laws in Quebec and you have to respect the language. We recently partnered with another tech company that helped us translate our platform. And the hire that I just mentioned is a partnership success manager that's fully bilingual. So, now we have the pieces to penetrate that market. We've already partnered with four teams in the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League. So, really excited about what's to come. But outside of North America, there's an enormous opportunity in sports. You think of cricket in India and soccer football in Europe and even baseball in Japan. So, really big opportunities there.

But the bigger vision is everyone can be a fan of something. Right now, while we're hyper focused on professional sports, it's where we started, that's where a lot of our network lies, there's a lot of other types of verticals like membership organizations, eSports, festivals, events, influencers, athletes. All these organizations and entities rely on sponsorship, but they all have the same problem of justifying true ROI to their partners. So, the bigger vision is when you come to FanSaves, just like Instagram, you can follow anything that you're a fan of and you can actually not only see who the sponsors of that entity, that person, that organization are, but you can actually get discounts and deals provided by the brands that are affiliated with them.

Paul Davenport:

Fantastic. I want to pull on one point that you started talking to, partnerships. You did mention that you partnered with a tech provider, if that's the right way of phrasing it, to help you with your innovation. Could you tell me a little bit about what these partnerships look like, what you're looking for when you're embarking on partnerships, and how you define these working relationships?

Kris McCarthy:

Yeah. It really depends. I'll give a shout-out to Let's Chat. They're a tech AI platform that does translation services. They're rocking it. They're also a member of the Comcast NBC sports tech family, which we are a part of. So, a great tech partner there. But we also have some really other great tech partners in the sports tech space. Another great company I'll give a shout-out to is Vozzi. They do mass SMS texting campaigns. They work with so many major and minor teams across professional sports.

Another great one is Dash, fan engagement platform. They do digital jersey auctions and other great activations through their platform. So, complimentary to what we're doing but also a lot of mutual clients. So, we're able to work with each other, help make introductions for each other and just open up doors where we can. We see each other a lot of the same events. We were just in Savannah, Georgia, recently, this past weekend at the ECHL All-Star game. And it's super great to catch up with these people every time we see them. We're all on the same journey and we're facing similar challenges. So not only is it great to see them succeeding, but it's also great to be able to talk about those challenges and work them out together. So, those are partnerships on the tech side.

And then we partner with teams. Like I mentioned, we're a B2B SaaS platform, and we onboard the team's sponsors and then the fans app access to those deals when they follow the team's page.

Like I said, another great partner and investor in our company has been Comcast NBC. I'd be remiss if I didn't give them a huge shout-out on this podcast. Because a Fortune 30 company that sees the vision that we're building. And they have an absolute massive platform and massive network, so it's opened up so many doors for us. It's just been an incredible experience going through that accelerator program.

Paul Davenport:

That is so cool. Actually, that was going to be my next question. Talking a little bit about your funding, without giving away too much, I'd love to know about how you guys have been funding your innovation to date. You had mentioned earlier, 2022 has kind of been your first sales year officially. But guys started seven years ago and you've been building a really cool product in the meantime and you haven't lost steam. What has gone into, if not bootstrapping, just making sure that you have everything you need to achieve the growth you want?

Kris McCarthy:

Yeah. First five years we bootstrapped our company. Shannon and I started this company, we like to joke, with a dollar or two in our bank accounts. I don't really remember how much it was back then, but it wasn't very much. It was in the hundreds, maybe the tens, I don't know. We were working on commission for the teams that we were working with. We didn't have that rich uncle or that big savings account to start the company. A lot of times I hear founders, what holds them back from starting their company or executing on an idea is they don't have the funding, they don't know where to start.

One thing that Shannon and I have done I think really well is being really scrappy. We like to consider ourselves really scrappy founders. One thing that Canada does really well is supporting and fostering early stage companies. There's a lot of grant funding out there. There's a lot of support from the federal government to bring on new employees. And there's a lot of loans out there like Futurepreneur for example, and BDC and CFDC. So, we've been able to grow our company in those early days. We did a Kickstarter campaign, we've won multiple pitch competitions, even got a small line of credit from my dad. All these things we had to do to be really scrappy to reach our vision that we always had.

And then in 2023, at the beginning of 2023... 2022, sorry. We got investment from a family office here in the Cornwall area. They came across us because we're also a part of Invest Ottawa, a accelerator based out of Ottawa. They've been amazing and helped us grow as well too. Shannon was asked to speak on a panel. She talked about her experience and growing up in Cornwall and starting a company there. And a founder that was in attendance, her family was a part of a family office. She reached out to Shannon, Shannon gave her some tips and things like that, and it ended up turning into a conversation about investment. They were looking to invest in a female founded company in the Eastern Ontario region. And it just happened to be that we were that.

So, what I would say also is if you don't put yourself out there, there's less opportunities for you to be discovered. And like I mentioned earlier, we show up and we always say yes to opportunities that really makes sense to us. Getting that family office to invest as our pre-seed investors was huge for us, allowed us to really grow over the last two years and increase our annual recurring revenue.

And then, we applied to the Comcast Sports Tech Accelerator. Out of 920 applications from across the world, we were selected as one of 10 sports tech companies to be accepted into the program and the only Canadian company out of the 10. That was something that we were really proud of. And now to have Fortune 30 company on our cap table not only gives us huge amount of confidence as founders, but when we're pitching to other investors, we've got that card in our hand that we can drop and it's instant credibility and such a huge network. They've been such great mentors to us and all the other companies that have gone through the program over the past three years it's been in existence as well. Really great peer opportunities to, again, like I mentioned, connect with other founders, share challenges, have them on our podcast as well. We're all on the same journey, but different paths. I cannot say enough good things about them. I would scream it from the mountain tops. Comcast has been incredible.

Paul Davenport:

I'll say it again. Comcast has been incredible everybody. Scream it from the mountain tops. One thing that I love that keeps coming up in your responses is that you and Shannon are in-person. You're going there, you are meeting with people, you are making those connections. It's not the same necessarily in the funding a startup world where I live in Boast. But we go to all the shows, we have a physical presence with the people that we're trying to work with. In our case it's founders. It's a lot of entrepreneurs who are just trying to find the resources. Not even capital resources, just knowledge to get their ideas off the ground.

And you can have a million Zoom calls, some of them will be great. Email chains, same, a lot can be learned there. But when you're in person on the floor, even if it's at the Eaton Center and it's a huge elevate festival or something like that, you're going to learn so much. And you're also just going to make a more memorable connection. And you're going to find people like those family offices who want to invest in some really cool innovation. It happens organically there. I can't emphasize enough. We were on a road show over the course of the summer. I was exposed to more people than I had in my entire career who I feel like we could really work together and make an impact. And I think that's an amazing strategy specifically for FanSaves too. And I love that you guys are doing that.

Another point I want to bring back is, you had mentioned you guys are scrappy. Absolutely. But you're also being very smart and very tactical here. Like you had said, the Canadian government has so much funding they want to put into innovation. Of course there's a lot of politicking that goes on and a lot of election cycles and promises made and things like that. But by and large, I am so blown away from my seat here in Boston at how much Canada is giving to founders to help fuel their innovation. You had mentioned Futurepreneur, you had mentioned a few of the programs. But even just like the IREP program as a baseline, huge. That is fantastic. We have SBIR here in the States. They're not a one-to-one necessarily, but it's just so supportive in a way that I don't think I've been exposed to elsewhere.

Even those accelerators and incubator programs that you had mentioned. I met a lot of the folks from Invest Ottawa up at SAAS NORTH a few weeks ago. Months ago. It's January, wow. I met them. Such great and such supportive folks. And I think it's a combination again, of that hunger and real energy that I think is seen within the athlete world and also within the entrepreneur world, but also it's something uniquely Canadian. The community really, really likes helping each other out up there. And it's fantastic.

I can't not give a shout-out to the SRED program. Obviously, that's Boast's bread and butter. What's so awesome about that, and I'm not going to throw shade to the US because we also have an R&D tax program, but it is money that innovators are spending themselves and they deserve to recoup, to double down on that innovation, and to literally just put back in. You'll get even more SREDable activities by taking advantage of SRED. It's a virtuous cycle. Some advice to founders out there too, whether or not you're taking advantage of the SRED program today, it is something I can't recommend higher enough. It's going to play at a different stage in your startup lifecycle than the grant programs will. You do have to take advantage of those grants I think at the start to get off the ground. But all of it is there. And to your point earlier, you got to be scrappy and you got to just go for it. Similarly, with the Comcast Accelerator too, go for it. Don't leave any stone unturned here. It's important to you and you want to get that funding.

Kris McCarthy:

And I just want to echo something that you said there. SRED funding is so important to us. And again, shout out to our pre-seed investors. They've been amazing partners and so supportive of us. Not only them, but even investors that we speak to, we make a point of saying, "If you give us a dollar, we'll stretch that dollar." With SRED funding, we can enhance that funding so that we can come back to the company that money that we're spending on innovation. I couldn't recommend it any more than you can. It's such an important part of our business. And yeah, it goes hand in hand with the grant funding.

Investors in Canada are generally more conservative. We've been talking to a lot more American investors for additional higher rounds like seed and series A. We've been building those relationships. When I talk to American founders, I always praise the government's ability to help startup founders at that early stage. And there's so many interest holders involved with that. Accelerators, we've been a part of a few of those like I mentioned. And pitch competitions that give early stage founders the opportunity to present their platform or their business. You don't have to pay. It's free advertising. That was one of the strategies that we did early on. We've been a part of over 50 pitch competitions. We've won multiple of them. And everyone that we go to, we are introduced to someone that can help our business, whether that's an advisor, a new client, a partner.

If anyone's listening out there, definitely three strategies that have really helped us grow, especially in those early three to five years. Getting on podcasts just like this, getting your brand out there, repping, but also sharing content that can help other people. And your LinkedIn strategy is something that I'm very passionate about and documenting our journey. Pitching. So many opportunities out there, both local, regional, national, and international. We went to Berlin, Germany and pitched at the Get in the Ring international pitch competition representing Canada because we won the regional competition here in Ottawa. But also, accelerator programs. Every accelerator program is a community. It's a community of founders, interest holders, investors. And we've been fortunate enough to be part of a few of those programs. Those are just a few things that have helped us grow during the early stages. And we have a lot of growth strategies for beyond. If anyone's listening out there, you're just starting your business or you're looking for help, those are some strategies I would definitely recommend.

Paul Davenport:

Absolutely. And again, to your point about exposure, that is an awesome way to get broader brand exposure, but also just exposure with the communities that you want to be involved in.

I'm also going to echo that point you had made earlier about SRED and just applying for all the grant funding. When you get to that next stage of growth and you're looking for some investors, they're going to want to know that you're being smart about your costs, that you are stretching that dollar as far as it can go. When they give you money, it's not being wasted. It is going to be recouped if it can be, and it's going to double down on driving innovation. And I think that if it's something you're not taking advantage of, that's going to be glaring. Because they're going to be like, "There's still money out there and you don't have to hand over equity yet if you don't want to." They might not say that to you, but I think that's kind of the inkling. So, just echoing that again.

Take advantage of it all. Apply for those pitch competitions, apply for those programs, get that exposure at that early phase. And again, you might find people who might even want to join the organization. The DNA of your team might change in the process, but it'll be for the better, I think, in a lot of those situations. So, I love all of that.

What is your take on the current state of startups? What are some strategies beyond, again, applying for all those programs, taking part in all the pitch competitions, getting that exposure, but strategies for startups or founders who may be apprehensive going into 2024 given headlines are frequently doom and gloom about the economy and about the state of funding and about VC generally? I know you had mentioned it earlier too. Canada's known to be a little more conservative. People look offshore. But what are some words of wisdom for folks who might be a little worried going into the new year?

Kris McCarthy:

Some of the biggest companies have come out of downturns and recessions. So, just do it, just start. What you don't know, you'll figure out along the way. The common analogy is you jump out of the airplane without a parachute and you figure it out on the way down, or you figure out how to launch a parachute on the way down. I think that's really true.

I think there's so much happening around AI which is a really cool space. The sports tech industry where we swim, lots of exciting innovation happening. Teams that have done things so long the traditional way are looking to enhance digital platforms, AI. Data capture is so important to understand all aspects of the business and for sponsors to be more informed on how their dollars are being spent. Those are just a couple industries can speak to.

It's really exciting. It's a really cool community to be a part of. There's so much help out there. There's so many people that are there to support you. It's such an incredible, rewarding journey. I'm just so blessed that I came across Shannon, my now co-founder, and this pain point that we're solving, and we've been on this incredible journey together, and it's just been so rewarding.

My 2 cents, my word of advice would be, if you have an idea out there, just start. Doom and gloom side of things is, 80% of businesses fail and startup life is not for everybody. But at the end of the day, it's like I said, the most rewarding thing I've done in my life. And I couldn't be happier.

Paul Davenport:

Yeah, and you got to take that risk. And just to echo your point, I think there will always be an excuse to not start. You can always point to a challenge in the economy or a challenge in the larger ecosystem that you can be like, "Oh no, well, not even going to try." Just do it. Just try. There's always going to be that doom and gloom. It's always kind of the headline. At least that's been my experience working in the industry for the past few years. It always seems like there's some kind of tragedy on the horizon. But no, businesses still make it happen and some really, really cool innovation has come about.

Now, you had mentioned also about getting that exposure on podcasts. I know I'm not the only podcaster in the room. Give me a little bit of details about the show you guys have going over there.

Kris McCarthy:

Yeah. Back in 2020, everything shut down in sports. Our teams weren't playing, businesses were closed. And everyone was sheltered at home, no one was out spending money. So, we didn't have a lot of content to share. We had talked about it for a year or so about creating our podcast. And we had created a brand previously called Living the Startup where we had a blog. We featured documenting the journey, startup life, the wins, losses, and the lessons learned along the way. We decided to start this podcast as a way to connect with other founders and help share their journey, but also peel back the curtain of startup life and just learn from other entrepreneurs and their experiences, but also be able to share their stories.

Started small. Did all the editing ourselves. We didn't really do a ton of editing. We loved the authenticity of the ums and ahs and the different way people speak and stuff like that. About 10 episodes in, we partnered with Staples Canada and they became a great partner of our podcast, sharing our content, but also featuring us on their website. That really gave us a lot of confidence and credibility towards the podcast. And since then, we're up to over 80 episodes now where we've been able to feature great founders.

A lot of times we are introduced to founders or they reach out to us or whatever, and we get on a call. There's no synergy between our businesses. We're all on a different journey but facing similar challenges, so it's really cool to be able to offer them a platform where we can share their story and also learn from their experiences too. So yeah, great way to create content.

We still put out episodes almost on a weekly basis. If anyone's interested in learning more about that, you could check out Living the Startup. Right now, we're on SoundCloud. We're migrating over to Anchor and all the major channels. It's been a really cool side project that turned into something that's given our company credibility. People come across the podcast and they'll be like, "Oh, what's fancy?" It's definitely something I think anybody can do if you're an expert on a topic or if you're an opinionated or if you have great energy like yourself. It's always cool to talk to other founders.

Paul Davenport:

Absolutely, Kris. I'm going to say it again. Anyone listening to this podcast will want to listen to Living the Startup. It's some inspiration that we got when we embarked on What The Tech to begin with. I can't thank you enough for joining us for this episode and for coming onto our show. But again, all of our audience, there are so many resources that you can find over on that feed. I'll be sure that there is a link in the show notes too for everybody to subscribe. But Kris, this has been fantastic. I cannot thank you enough.

Kris McCarthy:

No, time flies when you're having fun.

Paul Davenport:

Exactly.

Kris McCarthy:

If anyone wants to learn more about my story, I'm always happy to talk to other founders or students and give them my perspective and experience on our journey. Connect with me on LinkedIn, very active on the platform and pushing out content. If you want to check out FanSaves, fansaves.com. We're on all the social platforms. Download the app if you want to check out some sports teams in your area.

Paul Davenport:

Awesome stuff. I love it, Kris. Thank you so much for joining us on the show. Again, I'll make sure there's links to everything that Chris just mentioned in the show notes too. I'm so excited for what FanSaves is going to be up to in 2024 and can't wait to watch along. And again, listen on Living the Startup.