May 26, 2022 • 24 mins
In this episode of the PlayBooked Podcast, Chloe touches on Dorian and James’ experience as entrepreneurial collegiate athletes while performing at Stanford. These men connected while on the track & field team while creating a website for college athletes to sell their swag!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Playbooked is a production of I Heart Radio and the
College Athletes Network. Hey everybody, welcome to the Playbook podcast.
I'm your host, Chloe Vie Mitchell, and you were listening
on the College Athletes Network on I Heart Radio. Make
(00:20):
sure you subscribe so you don't miss an episode because
this podcast is different, it's new, and it's exciting. We
talked to college athletes across the country who are cashing
in on the fact that they're now able to make
money off their name, image and likeness. And why I'm
the host is because I was the first athlete to
do that. I learned how to do it at the
n ai level and I started a company. I've been
getting thousands of athletes across the country paid since. The
(00:44):
two athletes today that we have as our guests are
Dorian Simon, a sprinter at Stanford, and James Stevens, who
is a high jumper at Stanford. These boys are absolutely
incredible and they started a company that sells athlete memorabilia
on a website college college fans. These athlete prenewers are
not only helping other athletes, but their mentoring and it
(01:06):
all started when Dorian went viral on TikTok. When I
heard this, this struck home because this was a very
similar start to how I became an athlete preneur as well.
Let's get to know these boys and see what they
have to say. Hey, everybody, we are here with James
and Dorian. I gave them a little intro already, but
I want you boys to introduce yourselves to our listeners. James,
(01:27):
why don't you start us off? Sure, are here at Stanford.
I'm also on the track teaming here with Dorian, majoring
in management science and engineering, and yeah, it's been pretty great, awesome. Dorian. Hey,
my name is Dorian Simon. I'm a junior at Stanford.
I'm sending computer science. I'm a sprint on the track team,
(01:48):
and I'm just excited. Told to you guys about college Fans. Yeah,
I love it. They are the founders, the CEO and
CTO of something called college Fans, and we're gonna get
to that and what they're doing and how incredible their
website is. I was just looking at it and what
their entire purposes on the website. A little later, right now,
(02:09):
I want to talk about what's it like being a
Standford athlete in this day and age. What is your
team's overall mood towards you guys being entrepreneurial athletes. Yeah,
I think our team is very supportive of us. Um.
I think all the way through, Like anytime we talked
to them about what we're going and doing, they're like, yeah,
what can we do to help and sort of how
(02:32):
do how can we benefit And it's it's very easy
to sort of balance ideas off of them and they're
very supportive. So that's been great, awesome. How do you
feel about it, Dorian? Yeah, there whether they want to
be a part of college fans or whether they want
to lift some stuff on our site. I would say
our teams seem super helpful, um, with hoping that every
step of the way. That's really cool And I saw
(02:52):
that as time went on and you guys had developed
what college fans really wanted to be, you brought other teammates.
They're on the track team as well. Correct. So you
have a team of four or five people on your
website and do you plan on expanding in the near future.
I wouldn't say in your future, UM, I don't think
(03:12):
it's something we've really explored enough. UM, But right right
as of now. I think we're good with the team
we have. Nice. That's awesome. Okay, so back to track.
How was your latest season? Are you guys? Excuse me
for being so ignorant? Are you you're going into the
outdoor season right now? Are you not? Yea season like
(03:35):
in preseason? Going into Okay, okay, got it? How's that
going for you? We just had our first to meet outdoors,
a Cardinal classic. Um sadly it was. It was pretty
wet and rainy, but perform pretty well. Good for you, Dorian.
I saw that you are incredible. I mean you as well, James.
(03:57):
But you your freshman year, you broke the record at Stanford?
Am I am? I correcting that? The six? Well? Thank you? Yeah,
that's really cool. How long have you both been? Uh? Well,
why don't you tell our listeners? I've done all this research.
I forget that they may not know. Why don't both
of you tell our listeners what events you run? In? Sure? Even? Yeah,
(04:20):
I'm a sprinter, I run the hundred meter dis the two,
I'm also the four four by one relafe red and
I'm just solely a highjapper. So nice. Nice? How did
you guys get into that? I Um, I I had
(04:40):
to pay a lot of for US when I was younger,
Like in high school, I I was a diver, M
I played water polo, I did football. I did quite
a few for US. But um, track really stuck. I
really enjoyed like the atmosphere, UM, my teammates, my coaching. Um,
so I didn't have just getting recruited for for track
(05:01):
for college and I never turned back. And you just
happened to get an offer from Stanford and just happened.
Incredible school. Yeah, tell me tell me about you, James,
How did you start high jumping? Yeah, so I kind
of did all the sports as well in middle school,
I played hockey, track, basketball, Um, and I just kind
(05:22):
of did track just to do the off season basketball.
I did all the events hurdles, distance, bid distance, you know, jumps,
and it was great. Um. I didn't really like running,
so I came to a point where I kind of
got really good at high jumping so I wouldn't have
to go run four hundreds for practice. Um. Yeah, that's
really the one that stuck. So, yeah, that's incredible that
(05:49):
it's kind of like me. I wanted to play soccer
in college. I definitely could have gone somewhere bigger and
better for soccer. But I couldn't hang with the conditioning
my lungs. I couldn't. I can't do. It's quite hideous.
So now I play volleyball and there's a lot less running.
But you both our friends, business partners, teammates. How did
(06:12):
you guys meet? Yeah, it was, it was It was cool.
We during like UM during I guess the height of COVID.
We were in like in kind of like athletic bubble
on Stanford's campus and they had the entire sprint team
(06:32):
on one floor U in one of the dorms at
Stanford and UM and we can talk about it later
during like my my TikTok kind of when I started
tiktoking that I was getting like a lot of people
contacting me um on Instagram, and I started like having
my teammates like reach out to like the people who
(06:53):
are contacting me on because there was too many people
to keep up with. And they and they were asking
you questions like how do I go to Stanford? How
do I run faster? That? That's what they were asking you, correct, exactly. Yeah,
they were interesting. Some of them play for both of
them are players and a lot of them are track
athletes and they're interesting like becoming a better athlete UM
or being a being AFFI in college and so I
(07:16):
we kind of started like a little I started like
a little mentorship UM program for these students connecting themost
like college ape Go Stanford UM. And then James m
who's super interested and having experience in in UH startups
and stuff, came to me and I was like, hey,
I see you have a little m v P. We
should we should work together. And I was like, say
(07:37):
list it. Actually, yeah, it was pretty funny. It is
like I think shire coincidence. UM. One of our teammates
was like, you're interested in the startup stuff, So it
was Dorian, go meet with Tom. And that's when Dorian
was starting to work on all this. So I was like, oh,
like I's trying to make something happen. So it's kind
of just worked out. How cool. I love I love
(07:59):
that story and I of that it was. I mean,
you guys go to one of the best entrepreneurial schools
in the entire country, so making those connections while you're
young and while you're on a team is genius. Okay, guys,
we're going to actually head into our first break. I'm
Cloe Vie Mitchell, your host. You are listening to the
Playbooks podcast on the College Athletes Network. You can get
(08:20):
this podcast on all my Heart radio apps. Make sure
to tune in and subscribe there so you don't miss
an episode. Okay, everybody, we are back on the Playbooks podcast.
(08:51):
I am how just Chloe Vie Mitchell, and I am
here with James and Dorian, and we're gonna start talking
about Dorian's TikTok fame. Now you may or may not
know this, but my entire n i L experience college
athlete experience has been enhanced sheerly because of the good
old app of TikTok. That's how you made my first
(09:12):
you know, three grand on TikTok. And going into college,
I realized how much money was in that space. And
because I'm an n AI athlete, not n C double
A athlete, I got a year head start on YouTube
who are obviously n C double A athletes. So I've
been doing this for quite some time. But you guys,
July one realized that you could start college fans. So
(09:35):
let's go to the beginning. Dorian, we're talking a little
bit about how you we're doing this mentorship that kind
of turned into this entrepreneurial ship. Bring me, bring me
through the whole process. So I know how you two met,
How did you get the website, how did you get started?
How did you get the idea? It's genius. Yeah, Um,
(09:57):
I would say once we kind of had the mentorship idea,
it means James started working together. Um, we started thinking
about how we could make it into more of like
a business and how it could have get thing about
scaling it. And then right after kind of like July one,
when we had more flexibility with an I L and
(10:19):
being able to kind of use an image likeness, UM,
we wanted to build something very fast that could then
be able to really help these college athletes with they're
in i L. Like a lot of people were immediately
seeing um like being offers for sponsorships or any anything,
but many like medium dear look deer athletes. Um, we're
still kind of sitting around kind of like I don't
(10:41):
really know what this, what this is, what what to do?
And so we really wanted to build something like it
helped them out, and we want to build something quickly,
so we resake some of our teammates who we numerous
set Computure Science, UM Males, Boaltech, and Kevin Yang who
helped us build blob site or helped me build blow
site UM. And then we reach out to my friend
(11:02):
Carson Lippert who's also on our team, a sprinter UM
who's helping James while the business been a strategy business,
business administration and marketing, and we kind of we just
had like every clean meetings and I did over several
things that we could do that were quick and that
would be very profitable and easy for athletes too to start,
and we kind of came to an idea of like
(11:24):
a line office like sign and sell kind of like
membera bili or a gear And that's kind of how
we got to That started with college fans and how
can I shift shifted and shape shifted into something that
we're doing today. It's absolutely genius. It's it's almost like
a really fancy version of eBay and Craigslist for college
athletes and their gear. So smart. So, James, when you
(11:47):
heard about Dorian and Dorian was like, Okay, call on
the team, James, I guess I guess we can work together.
When you saw that what what was your thought sess like, Okay,
I want to be a part of this is really cool.
I want to change a few things. Tell me about
your part of it. Yeah, sure, So. I think when
(12:08):
Dory and I first met, we were still sort of
talking about the mentorship sort of program which with athletes
UM and eventually so we kind of drifted away from
that UM together sort of at the beginning. So we
ended up UM stumbling upon you know, doing this whole
auction selling sign gear, UM and memorabilia UM sort of
(12:30):
like as a group UM. I don't know, like maybe
a month after we sort of started first started talking
about it UM. And again when we first had our
conversation together, the n C double A still hadn't allowed
UM name, image and likeness. So as soon as that
came out, and of course we were exploring space to
see what we can and can't do, we're like, oh, like,
(12:51):
what can we do right now? Because this is a
sudden change. Is a new market that opened, and we're
like it kind of reminded me of something. My whole
family went to Texas A and M and Johnny Menzel
was selling his signed jerseys when he was playing and
he was making something like dollars a month um, sort
of under the radar black market, selling his how, selling
(13:12):
his jerseys. UM. And so that's kind of like the
first thing that came to mind, and I was like,
he could do that now if he was in college,
and he could be making that legally. UM. So it
was just sort of a no brainer to kind of
go ahead and hop on that train and make a
platform for athletes to be able to do that. For sure.
I think I think it's really impactful that you said that.
And my question to you would be for athletes maybe
(13:35):
like me and not you know, not the big name,
top ten, you know, athletes with thousands and thousands of followers,
do you still think that there's a market for them
on college fans. Yeah, I definitely believe so because I think, um,
a lot of younger children and you know, middle school
and high school really look up to collech the athletes,
(13:56):
no matter how how hop top here, they really are. UM.
So you know, in terms of like a track athlete
at Stanford, it doesn't really matter how well we're performing.
It's because we are a track athlete at Stanford that
people want to see what we're doing. How we're doing
it and really want to look up to us. Yeah,
that's I think. I think many people are honestly surprised
(14:18):
by how many people are truly interested in buying like
the remember Billy. Honestly, I think everyone has someone that's
interested being their fans of port lem And and buying
some sign fear from them for sure. Oh totally. I
always think about my dad has two rose bowl rings,
(14:38):
one he gave to his dad and one that he
wears all the time for the longest, longest period of time.
I would I would sit there and I'd stare at
that big oh you have them ring butt on two
of my fingers, and I would think, I wonder how
much that would sell because he doesn't wear it. He
doesn't wearr He was his wedding ring and that's about it.
And he's even like joked around about selling it. And
(15:00):
so for athletes like him that are washed up or
you are no longer playing in college, is there a
market for them and all of their old gear. Yeah?
So actually, you know, we've we've actually had someone going
to the site who's graduated from from one school um
and you know, wants to put up their gear. The
(15:20):
rules are a little bit different for graduated athletes. It's
actually a little more relaxed, which is nice. But yeah,
there's definitely a market there, especially if you're a professional
athlete you um, you know, if you sign with like
the NFL or and the A, you might have to
limit what you can sell here and there, you gear. Um,
But if you're you know, a track athlete and you're
sponsored by Nike, there's there's less limitations and things like that.
(15:44):
So there's definitely a market there. How cool. Oh my goodness, guys,
this is incredible. Well, we're headed into our next break.
I'm Cloebie Mitchell. I am here with James and Dorian
on the Playbook podcast on the College Athletes Network. We
we'll be right back. Okay, everybody, we are back. I'm
(16:23):
Chloe Ving Mitchell, your host on the Playbooks podcast on
the College Athletes Network. Again, remember to subscribe to this
broad podcast so that you don't miss an episode. So, boys,
let's keep talking about college fans because it's obviously very interesting.
But I want to talk about how difficult it is.
Is it impossible for you both to spend twenty hours
(16:46):
a week on track? Twenty hours a week being a
full time student and being a CFO and CTO of
a company, and how do you manage that? Yeah, I
think it's definitely hard. Um. You know, there's definitely times
where we might have to push one of those things back,
um in any regard. But I think overall we're doing
(17:08):
pretty well. Our time management collectively as a group is
pretty good. And I think being a student athlete has
helped us with that already. Um. So our time management
is nice and we are making progress with what we have.
Um and it's so far, it's it's been going well nice.
Do you guys use like slack? Do you use trell? Oh?
(17:29):
How do you how do you organize your thoughts? Yeah?
We use notion for most of our stuff. Yeah. It's
definitely a learning curve, isn't it being a part of
a startup. There's their programs, there are things Even when
we were first uh you know, really starting playbooks and
hiring people on I had no idea what male chimp
(17:52):
was I learn? What is that? Why is it called
male chimp? Um? Well, what's what's the biggest thing you
guys have learned and that you wished you would have
known at the beginning of all of this anyone. Yeah,
I would say we've definitely learned a bunch with web development,
especially with billion a site that scalable and that of
(18:16):
many hundreds of users are going to be thousands hofully
are going to be using UM day to day monthly basis.
UM is we have to worry about things such as security,
worry about trolls, were worry about UM people like making
sure people are having secure payments. So it's been super
interesting kind of talking. I was a good team discussing
(18:37):
best practices, best like strategies of how to prevent certain
things and make sure that users having a clean and
and uh salt experience when on our site. So I
would see like there's been an amazing journey learning a
bunch of stuff of pulling those sites and whatnot. But
for you guys, has it been a difficult process finding investors?
(18:57):
And how has that been for both of you guys?
As y'all businessmen too. You don't have this lengthy resume
with people to vouch for you, right, So how how
has that been? Yeah? So as of now, we're actually
not looking for we're not actively looking for investments only
because we're really not really not running in a negative. Um,
(19:18):
we run ads for for some of our some of
our stuff that we put up on the site. But UM,
other than that, we really don't have to pay for much. UM.
Down the line, you know, we will, we will, we
will probably be looking for investment UM. And being Stanford
students is a big helps. So I'm sure down the line,
(19:39):
will will definitely be able to I think if we
look for it. But right now it's not our pressing concern.
That's good, that's great that that that part raising money
is so hard, but you, like you said, your Stanford
students very driven and obviously smart, so it won't it
shouldn't be too hard of a process. I've seen also
(19:59):
that you don't have a woman on your team. I
think in the near future you guys need some female
energy on your team. I'm I'm going to get you
guys to join Playbook College Fans ex Playbook Collab. Could
you imagine? Could you imagine anything happened happened? I'm there,
(20:22):
I we already have the app. We just need to
whoop you guys in so for our listeners. UM, you
guys know what Playbook is. It's a It's an app
for college athletes to go on and get paid. And
so when I heard about your idea and I was
talking to Kayla my dad who's the CEO, he freaked out.
He was like, that is genius. Oh my, Like I
(20:42):
told you at the Rose Bowl ring to my my
brother has my dad's old helmet with all of the
scratches and everything that we I played dress up with
that thing. And when he heard that, that's the first
thing he said. He's like, oh my gosh, I would
have loved to sell my helmet right out of college.
He could have made some such money, you know what
I mean, so much money, Oh my gosh. So having
(21:05):
this platform that you guys have come up with, I
just I feel like it's it's a space that's untapped
and you're just gonna do so well. And where do
you see this in time years? Well, what do you
see in five years? Yeah? Question. We want college fans
to be a place to empower college athletes to be entrepreneurs.
(21:28):
And in five years, ten years from now, College jens
Wool will be a place for fans who look connect
with athletes. Um whether it's from member bili, or whether
it's from mentorship, or whether it's for for training, polo
stands will be away for athletes and for fans feel
connect to each other because we're we're here to empower
college athletes to entrepreneurs. I love it. I love it
(21:52):
well you guys. It has been such an honor talking
to both of you. And before we sign off and
Sarah goodbyes, I want to just give you the floor
for the last you know, three minutes, four minutes. And
what would your advice be to younger self or men
like you when they were about to start college. UM,
whether it's for mental health, whether it's business advice, whether
(22:14):
it's how to run faster or jump higher, go crazy?
The floor is yours, I think for me, you know,
just push through with whatever you want to do, UM track, academics, business,
whatever that is. Just keep working towards it and you
will see results, I think. And in all of those categories, uh,
(22:35):
you know, throughout school and throughout athletics and what I'm
doing here. You know, just as long as I'm keep
pushing through it, even if I fail, I'll learn from
that and I can keep going. And I think that's
the most important thing. I love it. Marian, What about you? Yeah,
I would say be sure to be patient. It's definitely
a transition into college when you're it's a new environment,
(23:00):
new stressors, new people, m new school. Just be patient
whether it's gonna you're taking on, and don't be afraid
to make mistakes and to fail, fail often so you
can succeed. So wonderful, right, that's perfect, Especially in the
n I L space too, You're gonna make a lot
of mistakes before you realize who and where and what
(23:23):
is worth your time. Well, boys, I appreciate it, and uh,
great podcast. You're rocked. What awesome young men. I'm so
excited to have too incredible businessmen as friends as well
as knowing two guys that go to Stanford. Are you
kidding me? That school is incredible? So I hope you
guys enjoyed this podcast. To make sure to follow me
(23:43):
at Chloe Vie Mitchell and all of my socials. Be
sure to also subscribe to this podcast on the College
Athletes Network, on the I Heart Radio app, or wherever
you get your podcast so you don't miss an episode.
Because we have athletes like Dorian and James who keep
blowing us away and educating us on the n I
L Space. If you are interested in using the College
(24:03):
Fans website or getting in contact with either Dorian or
James Mature to check out the descriptions that you can
find all of their information there by. Guys talk to
you soon. Playbooked is a production of I Heart Radio
and the College Athletes Network. For more podcasts from my
heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Playbooked is a production of I Heart Radio and the
College Athletes Network. Hey everybody, welcome to the Playbook podcast.
I'm your host, Chloe Vie Mitchell, and you were listening
on the College Athletes Network on I Heart Radio. Make
(00:20):
sure you subscribe so you don't miss an episode because
this podcast is different, it's new, and it's exciting. We
talked to college athletes across the country who are cashing
in on the fact that they're now able to make
money off their name, image and likeness. And why I'm
the host is because I was the first athlete to
do that. I learned how to do it at the
n ai level and I started a company. I've been
getting thousands of athletes across the country paid since. The
(00:44):
two athletes today that we have as our guests are
Dorian Simon, a sprinter at Stanford, and James Stevens, who
is a high jumper at Stanford. These boys are absolutely
incredible and they started a company that sells athlete memorabilia
on a website college college fans. These athlete prenewers are
not only helping other athletes, but their mentoring and it
(01:06):
all started when Dorian went viral on TikTok. When I
heard this, this struck home because this was a very
similar start to how I became an athlete preneur as well.
Let's get to know these boys and see what they
have to say. Hey, everybody, we are here with James
and Dorian. I gave them a little intro already, but
I want you boys to introduce yourselves to our listeners. James,
(01:27):
why don't you start us off? Sure, are here at Stanford.
I'm also on the track teaming here with Dorian, majoring
in management science and engineering, and yeah, it's been pretty great, awesome. Dorian. Hey,
my name is Dorian Simon. I'm a junior at Stanford.
I'm sending computer science. I'm a sprint on the track team,
(01:48):
and I'm just excited. Told to you guys about college Fans. Yeah,
I love it. They are the founders, the CEO and
CTO of something called college Fans, and we're gonna get
to that and what they're doing and how incredible their
website is. I was just looking at it and what
their entire purposes on the website. A little later, right now,
(02:09):
I want to talk about what's it like being a
Standford athlete in this day and age. What is your
team's overall mood towards you guys being entrepreneurial athletes. Yeah,
I think our team is very supportive of us. Um.
I think all the way through, Like anytime we talked
to them about what we're going and doing, they're like, yeah,
what can we do to help and sort of how
(02:32):
do how can we benefit And it's it's very easy
to sort of balance ideas off of them and they're
very supportive. So that's been great, awesome. How do you
feel about it, Dorian? Yeah, there whether they want to
be a part of college fans or whether they want
to lift some stuff on our site. I would say
our teams seem super helpful, um, with hoping that every
step of the way. That's really cool And I saw
(02:52):
that as time went on and you guys had developed
what college fans really wanted to be, you brought other teammates.
They're on the track team as well. Correct. So you
have a team of four or five people on your
website and do you plan on expanding in the near future.
I wouldn't say in your future, UM, I don't think
(03:12):
it's something we've really explored enough. UM, But right right
as of now. I think we're good with the team
we have. Nice. That's awesome. Okay, so back to track.
How was your latest season? Are you guys? Excuse me
for being so ignorant? Are you you're going into the
outdoor season right now? Are you not? Yea season like
(03:35):
in preseason? Going into Okay, okay, got it? How's that
going for you? We just had our first to meet outdoors,
a Cardinal classic. Um sadly it was. It was pretty
wet and rainy, but perform pretty well. Good for you, Dorian.
I saw that you are incredible. I mean you as well, James.
(03:57):
But you your freshman year, you broke the record at Stanford?
Am I am? I correcting that? The six? Well? Thank you? Yeah,
that's really cool. How long have you both been? Uh? Well,
why don't you tell our listeners? I've done all this research.
I forget that they may not know. Why don't both
of you tell our listeners what events you run? In? Sure? Even? Yeah,
(04:20):
I'm a sprinter, I run the hundred meter dis the two,
I'm also the four four by one relafe red and
I'm just solely a highjapper. So nice. Nice? How did
you guys get into that? I Um, I I had
(04:40):
to pay a lot of for US when I was younger,
Like in high school, I I was a diver, M
I played water polo, I did football. I did quite
a few for US. But um, track really stuck. I
really enjoyed like the atmosphere, UM, my teammates, my coaching. Um,
so I didn't have just getting recruited for for track
(05:01):
for college and I never turned back. And you just
happened to get an offer from Stanford and just happened.
Incredible school. Yeah, tell me tell me about you, James,
How did you start high jumping? Yeah, so I kind
of did all the sports as well in middle school,
I played hockey, track, basketball, Um, and I just kind
(05:22):
of did track just to do the off season basketball.
I did all the events hurdles, distance, bid distance, you know, jumps,
and it was great. Um. I didn't really like running,
so I came to a point where I kind of
got really good at high jumping so I wouldn't have
to go run four hundreds for practice. Um. Yeah, that's
really the one that stuck. So, yeah, that's incredible that
(05:49):
it's kind of like me. I wanted to play soccer
in college. I definitely could have gone somewhere bigger and
better for soccer. But I couldn't hang with the conditioning
my lungs. I couldn't. I can't do. It's quite hideous.
So now I play volleyball and there's a lot less running.
But you both our friends, business partners, teammates. How did
(06:12):
you guys meet? Yeah, it was, it was It was cool.
We during like UM during I guess the height of COVID.
We were in like in kind of like athletic bubble
on Stanford's campus and they had the entire sprint team
(06:32):
on one floor U in one of the dorms at
Stanford and UM and we can talk about it later
during like my my TikTok kind of when I started
tiktoking that I was getting like a lot of people
contacting me um on Instagram, and I started like having
my teammates like reach out to like the people who
(06:53):
are contacting me on because there was too many people
to keep up with. And they and they were asking
you questions like how do I go to Stanford? How
do I run faster? That? That's what they were asking you, correct, exactly. Yeah,
they were interesting. Some of them play for both of
them are players and a lot of them are track
athletes and they're interesting like becoming a better athlete UM
or being a being AFFI in college and so I
(07:16):
we kind of started like a little I started like
a little mentorship UM program for these students connecting themost
like college ape Go Stanford UM. And then James m
who's super interested and having experience in in UH startups
and stuff, came to me and I was like, hey,
I see you have a little m v P. We
should we should work together. And I was like, say
(07:37):
list it. Actually, yeah, it was pretty funny. It is
like I think shire coincidence. UM. One of our teammates
was like, you're interested in the startup stuff, So it
was Dorian, go meet with Tom. And that's when Dorian
was starting to work on all this. So I was like, oh,
like I's trying to make something happen. So it's kind
of just worked out. How cool. I love I love
(07:59):
that story and I of that it was. I mean,
you guys go to one of the best entrepreneurial schools
in the entire country, so making those connections while you're
young and while you're on a team is genius. Okay, guys,
we're going to actually head into our first break. I'm
Cloe Vie Mitchell, your host. You are listening to the
Playbooks podcast on the College Athletes Network. You can get
(08:20):
this podcast on all my Heart radio apps. Make sure
to tune in and subscribe there so you don't miss
an episode. Okay, everybody, we are back on the Playbooks podcast.
(08:51):
I am how just Chloe Vie Mitchell, and I am
here with James and Dorian, and we're gonna start talking
about Dorian's TikTok fame. Now you may or may not
know this, but my entire n i L experience college
athlete experience has been enhanced sheerly because of the good
old app of TikTok. That's how you made my first
(09:12):
you know, three grand on TikTok. And going into college,
I realized how much money was in that space. And
because I'm an n AI athlete, not n C double
A athlete, I got a year head start on YouTube
who are obviously n C double A athletes. So I've
been doing this for quite some time. But you guys,
July one realized that you could start college fans. So
(09:35):
let's go to the beginning. Dorian, we're talking a little
bit about how you we're doing this mentorship that kind
of turned into this entrepreneurial ship. Bring me, bring me
through the whole process. So I know how you two met,
How did you get the website, how did you get started?
How did you get the idea? It's genius. Yeah, Um,
(09:57):
I would say once we kind of had the mentorship idea,
it means James started working together. Um, we started thinking
about how we could make it into more of like
a business and how it could have get thing about
scaling it. And then right after kind of like July one,
when we had more flexibility with an I L and
(10:19):
being able to kind of use an image likeness, UM,
we wanted to build something very fast that could then
be able to really help these college athletes with they're
in i L. Like a lot of people were immediately
seeing um like being offers for sponsorships or any anything,
but many like medium dear look deer athletes. Um, we're
still kind of sitting around kind of like I don't
(10:41):
really know what this, what this is, what what to do?
And so we really wanted to build something like it
helped them out, and we want to build something quickly,
so we resake some of our teammates who we numerous
set Computure Science, UM Males, Boaltech, and Kevin Yang who
helped us build blob site or helped me build blow
site UM. And then we reach out to my friend
(11:02):
Carson Lippert who's also on our team, a sprinter UM
who's helping James while the business been a strategy business,
business administration and marketing, and we kind of we just
had like every clean meetings and I did over several
things that we could do that were quick and that
would be very profitable and easy for athletes too to start,
and we kind of came to an idea of like
(11:24):
a line office like sign and sell kind of like
membera bili or a gear And that's kind of how
we got to That started with college fans and how
can I shift shifted and shape shifted into something that
we're doing today. It's absolutely genius. It's it's almost like
a really fancy version of eBay and Craigslist for college
athletes and their gear. So smart. So, James, when you
(11:47):
heard about Dorian and Dorian was like, Okay, call on
the team, James, I guess I guess we can work together.
When you saw that what what was your thought sess like, Okay,
I want to be a part of this is really cool.
I want to change a few things. Tell me about
your part of it. Yeah, sure, So. I think when
(12:08):
Dory and I first met, we were still sort of
talking about the mentorship sort of program which with athletes
UM and eventually so we kind of drifted away from
that UM together sort of at the beginning. So we
ended up UM stumbling upon you know, doing this whole
auction selling sign gear, UM and memorabilia UM sort of
(12:30):
like as a group UM. I don't know, like maybe
a month after we sort of started first started talking
about it UM. And again when we first had our
conversation together, the n C double A still hadn't allowed
UM name, image and likeness. So as soon as that
came out, and of course we were exploring space to
see what we can and can't do, we're like, oh, like,
(12:51):
what can we do right now? Because this is a
sudden change. Is a new market that opened, and we're
like it kind of reminded me of something. My whole
family went to Texas A and M and Johnny Menzel
was selling his signed jerseys when he was playing and
he was making something like dollars a month um, sort
of under the radar black market, selling his how, selling
(13:12):
his jerseys. UM. And so that's kind of like the
first thing that came to mind, and I was like,
he could do that now if he was in college,
and he could be making that legally. UM. So it
was just sort of a no brainer to kind of
go ahead and hop on that train and make a
platform for athletes to be able to do that. For sure.
I think I think it's really impactful that you said that.
And my question to you would be for athletes maybe
(13:35):
like me and not you know, not the big name,
top ten, you know, athletes with thousands and thousands of followers,
do you still think that there's a market for them
on college fans. Yeah, I definitely believe so because I think, um,
a lot of younger children and you know, middle school
and high school really look up to collech the athletes,
(13:56):
no matter how how hop top here, they really are. UM.
So you know, in terms of like a track athlete
at Stanford, it doesn't really matter how well we're performing.
It's because we are a track athlete at Stanford that
people want to see what we're doing. How we're doing
it and really want to look up to us. Yeah,
that's I think. I think many people are honestly surprised
(14:18):
by how many people are truly interested in buying like
the remember Billy. Honestly, I think everyone has someone that's
interested being their fans of port lem And and buying
some sign fear from them for sure. Oh totally. I
always think about my dad has two rose bowl rings,
(14:38):
one he gave to his dad and one that he
wears all the time for the longest, longest period of time.
I would I would sit there and I'd stare at
that big oh you have them ring butt on two
of my fingers, and I would think, I wonder how
much that would sell because he doesn't wear it. He
doesn't wearr He was his wedding ring and that's about it.
And he's even like joked around about selling it. And
(15:00):
so for athletes like him that are washed up or
you are no longer playing in college, is there a
market for them and all of their old gear. Yeah?
So actually, you know, we've we've actually had someone going
to the site who's graduated from from one school um
and you know, wants to put up their gear. The
(15:20):
rules are a little bit different for graduated athletes. It's
actually a little more relaxed, which is nice. But yeah,
there's definitely a market there, especially if you're a professional
athlete you um, you know, if you sign with like
the NFL or and the A, you might have to
limit what you can sell here and there, you gear. Um,
But if you're you know, a track athlete and you're
sponsored by Nike, there's there's less limitations and things like that.
(15:44):
So there's definitely a market there. How cool. Oh my goodness, guys,
this is incredible. Well, we're headed into our next break.
I'm Cloebie Mitchell. I am here with James and Dorian
on the Playbook podcast on the College Athletes Network. We
we'll be right back. Okay, everybody, we are back. I'm
(16:23):
Chloe Ving Mitchell, your host on the Playbooks podcast on
the College Athletes Network. Again, remember to subscribe to this
broad podcast so that you don't miss an episode. So, boys,
let's keep talking about college fans because it's obviously very interesting.
But I want to talk about how difficult it is.
Is it impossible for you both to spend twenty hours
(16:46):
a week on track? Twenty hours a week being a
full time student and being a CFO and CTO of
a company, and how do you manage that? Yeah, I
think it's definitely hard. Um. You know, there's definitely times
where we might have to push one of those things back,
um in any regard. But I think overall we're doing
(17:08):
pretty well. Our time management collectively as a group is
pretty good. And I think being a student athlete has
helped us with that already. Um. So our time management
is nice and we are making progress with what we have.
Um and it's so far, it's it's been going well nice.
Do you guys use like slack? Do you use trell? Oh?
(17:29):
How do you how do you organize your thoughts? Yeah?
We use notion for most of our stuff. Yeah. It's
definitely a learning curve, isn't it being a part of
a startup. There's their programs, there are things Even when
we were first uh you know, really starting playbooks and
hiring people on I had no idea what male chimp
(17:52):
was I learn? What is that? Why is it called
male chimp? Um? Well, what's what's the biggest thing you
guys have learned and that you wished you would have
known at the beginning of all of this anyone. Yeah,
I would say we've definitely learned a bunch with web development,
especially with billion a site that scalable and that of
(18:16):
many hundreds of users are going to be thousands hofully
are going to be using UM day to day monthly basis.
UM is we have to worry about things such as security,
worry about trolls, were worry about UM people like making
sure people are having secure payments. So it's been super
interesting kind of talking. I was a good team discussing
(18:37):
best practices, best like strategies of how to prevent certain
things and make sure that users having a clean and
and uh salt experience when on our site. So I
would see like there's been an amazing journey learning a
bunch of stuff of pulling those sites and whatnot. But
for you guys, has it been a difficult process finding investors?
(18:57):
And how has that been for both of you guys?
As y'all businessmen too. You don't have this lengthy resume
with people to vouch for you, right, So how how
has that been? Yeah? So as of now, we're actually
not looking for we're not actively looking for investments only
because we're really not really not running in a negative. Um,
(19:18):
we run ads for for some of our some of
our stuff that we put up on the site. But UM,
other than that, we really don't have to pay for much. UM.
Down the line, you know, we will, we will, we
will probably be looking for investment UM. And being Stanford
students is a big helps. So I'm sure down the line,
(19:39):
will will definitely be able to I think if we
look for it. But right now it's not our pressing concern.
That's good, that's great that that that part raising money
is so hard, but you, like you said, your Stanford
students very driven and obviously smart, so it won't it
shouldn't be too hard of a process. I've seen also
(19:59):
that you don't have a woman on your team. I
think in the near future you guys need some female
energy on your team. I'm I'm going to get you
guys to join Playbook College Fans ex Playbook Collab. Could
you imagine? Could you imagine anything happened happened? I'm there,
(20:22):
I we already have the app. We just need to
whoop you guys in so for our listeners. UM, you
guys know what Playbook is. It's a It's an app
for college athletes to go on and get paid. And
so when I heard about your idea and I was
talking to Kayla my dad who's the CEO, he freaked out.
He was like, that is genius. Oh my, Like I
(20:42):
told you at the Rose Bowl ring to my my
brother has my dad's old helmet with all of the
scratches and everything that we I played dress up with
that thing. And when he heard that, that's the first
thing he said. He's like, oh my gosh, I would
have loved to sell my helmet right out of college.
He could have made some such money, you know what
I mean, so much money, Oh my gosh. So having
(21:05):
this platform that you guys have come up with, I
just I feel like it's it's a space that's untapped
and you're just gonna do so well. And where do
you see this in time years? Well, what do you
see in five years? Yeah? Question. We want college fans
to be a place to empower college athletes to be entrepreneurs.
(21:28):
And in five years, ten years from now, College jens
Wool will be a place for fans who look connect
with athletes. Um whether it's from member bili, or whether
it's from mentorship, or whether it's for for training, polo
stands will be away for athletes and for fans feel
connect to each other because we're we're here to empower
college athletes to entrepreneurs. I love it. I love it
(21:52):
well you guys. It has been such an honor talking
to both of you. And before we sign off and
Sarah goodbyes, I want to just give you the floor
for the last you know, three minutes, four minutes. And
what would your advice be to younger self or men
like you when they were about to start college. UM,
whether it's for mental health, whether it's business advice, whether
(22:14):
it's how to run faster or jump higher, go crazy?
The floor is yours, I think for me, you know,
just push through with whatever you want to do, UM track, academics, business,
whatever that is. Just keep working towards it and you
will see results, I think. And in all of those categories, uh,
(22:35):
you know, throughout school and throughout athletics and what I'm
doing here. You know, just as long as I'm keep
pushing through it, even if I fail, I'll learn from
that and I can keep going. And I think that's
the most important thing. I love it. Marian, What about you? Yeah,
I would say be sure to be patient. It's definitely
a transition into college when you're it's a new environment,
(23:00):
new stressors, new people, m new school. Just be patient
whether it's gonna you're taking on, and don't be afraid
to make mistakes and to fail, fail often so you
can succeed. So wonderful, right, that's perfect, Especially in the
n I L space too, You're gonna make a lot
of mistakes before you realize who and where and what
(23:23):
is worth your time. Well, boys, I appreciate it, and uh,
great podcast. You're rocked. What awesome young men. I'm so
excited to have too incredible businessmen as friends as well
as knowing two guys that go to Stanford. Are you
kidding me? That school is incredible? So I hope you
guys enjoyed this podcast. To make sure to follow me
(23:43):
at Chloe Vie Mitchell and all of my socials. Be
sure to also subscribe to this podcast on the College
Athletes Network, on the I Heart Radio app, or wherever
you get your podcast so you don't miss an episode.
Because we have athletes like Dorian and James who keep
blowing us away and educating us on the n I
L Space. If you are interested in using the College
(24:03):
Fans website or getting in contact with either Dorian or
James Mature to check out the descriptions that you can
find all of their information there by. Guys talk to
you soon. Playbooked is a production of I Heart Radio
and the College Athletes Network. For more podcasts from my
heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Host
Chloe V. Mitchell
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