EP. 8: Sports Marketing Game-Changer, Jason Bergman, Makes A Win-Win-Win for Players, Brands & Fans!

On Episode 8 of ‘We’re Not Blowing Hot Air,’ we play the field with Jason Bergman – CEO and Co-Founder of MarketPryce, the new social media marketing company whose marketplace connects athletes and companies kinda like dating apps but nobody ever gets cat-fished or has to swipe until their fingers cramp. Considered by some, ‘The Jerry McGuire Agency of Today,’ Jason and his growing team help myriad companies – large and small – strike needle-moving endorsement deals with influential pro and college athletes. Rooted in an innovative strategy with an attractive value proposition and easy-to-use technology, MarketPryce is an accessible alternative to traditional, high-dollar, hard-to-get endorsement deals and other influencer platforms. Learn how thousands of vetted athletes from sports like football, soccer, tennis, hockey and basketball, are hooking up with brands with ease and happiness…err, the way hooking up online should be! And hear how – just months after launching MarketPryce – this cupid’s entrepreneurial matchmaking secured $3 million in seed money, and earned him a spot in ‘Forbes Next 1000’ – all on this episode of ‘We’re Not Blowing Hot Air.’

Subscribe to 'We're Not Blowing Hot Air' wherever you podcast, to elevate your IQ with wellness and business stuff we explore in every episode.

About Jason Bergman:

Jason Bergman is the Co-Founder and CEO of MarketPryce, a two-sided marketplace for athlete marketing based in New York City. MarketPryce has facilitated 2,500+ deals between more than 1,500 professional and student athletes and 350+ companies after launching in January 2021. Prior to launching MarketPryce, Bergman, a veteran of the sports marketing industry, worked on both sides of the athlete marketing equation, assisting brands in finding athletes to work with as well as launching his own sports marketing agency, representing a dozen professional athletes as a sports agent.

@_j_berg_  |  https://www.instagram.com/_j_berg_

MarketPryce:
https://www.marketpryce.com
Instagram: @marketpryce | https://www.instagram.com/marketpryce/
Twitter: @marketpryce | https://twitter.com/marketpryce
MarketPryce Florida: https://nil.marketpryce.com 

Catch Oxygen Plus at @oxygenplus on TikTok and Instagram

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to we're not blowing hot air
powered by oxygen plus I'm Scottand I'm Lauren.
And we're here to help elevateyour IQ on wellness and business
stuff that sometimesmisunderstood,

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Like recreational oxygen.
Yes.
Let's get smarter with thisweek's guest of we're not
blowing hot air.
All right, Scott,

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Here we are in our sports gear.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
We're looking pretty snazzy and I'm representing some
various college and pro sportsaround here.
I'm wearing my Alma mater,couple of seasons of that.
And I mean, I didn't play incollege or anything, but did you
ever play sports?

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, I played basketball when I was a kid.
Um, I played, let's see, Istarted in like second grade, I
think when I was in second gradeand I played through

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Eighth grade.
Where are you going to get?
That was

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Okay.
I was better at defense, Ithink, than I was at offense.
You know,

Speaker 2 (01:07):
I was not good.
I played basketball before highschool and I scored one goal the
entire season people thoughtbecause I was tall.
I'd be good.
But I was more of a balletdancer.
I played hockey two seasons inhigh in high school, but I mean,
were you good enough to getrecruited playing basketball?

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Oh no, no, no.
That's for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Let me ask you this wherever and at recess where you
picked like one of the first fewpicks in a sport.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Yeah, I mean, I was usually so at recess, basketball
and soccer too, that was onethat I, when I played at recess,

Speaker 2 (01:46):
You weren't the last one

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Picked I wasn't the last one picked

Speaker 2 (01:49):
I was the last one Peck.
I used to play football.
Um, and, and my Montessori days,which was like K through 12, but
we only, I mean K through eight,but we are, we only played
football with the boys in theback lot, like from, uh, when I
was in junior high and I was oneof four girls, all the rest were
guys and I was usually the lastor the second to last one

(02:13):
picked.
And of course they would pickthe girls last.
Cause it was a very sexist time.
Yes,

Speaker 1 (02:18):
That's true.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Sure.
That doesn't happen now.
Right.
So, um, but it feels good to getpicked, right?
It feels good to get recruited,which is what we're going to be
dealing with today.
Talking about, um, athletes whoare in high demand and companies
who want these athletes and hownow with the amazing guests we

(02:44):
have coming up, how it's morepossible,

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Right.
If you were going to play aprofessional sport today, what
would it be?

Speaker 2 (02:54):
And I was great at it.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
And it's in pro and not like Olympics pro pro.
I

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Definitely be a golfer.
I mean, that would be it easy.
It's easiest sport.
Really.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Okay.
How about you?

Speaker 1 (03:15):
If I could play a pro sport, uh, that's a tough call
for me because I think like, Ithink as far as pro sports go
like football is kind of thething.
I don't know that I would wantto be a football player though.
I think, I think, I think itwould be basketball.
I think it'd be an NBA player.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
It could be a quarterback and then you're in a
different sort of mindset.
That's true.
I could see you as aquarterback.
Not really like another, likerunning back.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Yeah.
Maybe a quarterback, you know,cause like I don't want to get
hurt.
So the quarterback, hisquarterback is probably my
position.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
It's good for us.
I think if this podcast doesn'twork out, let's just, uh, hire a
coach and get recruited.
Totally.
That would work.
That would work.
Have you ever heard the, youmaybe, you know, this being from
Minnesota, have you ever heardabout what happened with, um,
the former Packers quarterback,Brett fire of who then went to

(04:20):
play for the Minnesota Vikings?
Did you hear this story?
Do you know this

Speaker 1 (04:24):
Story?
Basically the

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Coach or the somebody in management, right.
Didn't play him or didn't like,they kind of allowed maybe for
him to get hurt against anotherteam.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
Vaguely.
Remember

Speaker 2 (04:39):
That?
I just heard about it and thatreally broke my heart.
And apparently that was theonly, only real chance that
Minnesota Vikings had at leastuntil current to really win some
super bowl ring.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah.
There was, there was a lot ofexcitement around that I think
with Farb and uh, yeah, having areal shot.
I think, I think Minnesota fans,Minnesota Vikings fans, uh, our,
are we, we get, we get,unfortunately let down, we get
excited at different points and,and we get let down and it's not

(05:13):
to say anything bad about theteam.
It's just, um, we've come soclose sometimes.
And when those, when those timesare few and far between like you
really, you really get excitedand uh, and then it's it's
recovery for the next, you know,how many ever months.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah.
Well, and I'm, and I am, as I'mleaning more into liking sports,
like pro sports, that is, I findthat like the business decisions
behind it, like knowing thatokay, the coach or the general
manager has these decisions andthe calls that they make really
affect what happens on the fieldand who wins and who takes home,
whatever, like Stanley cup orthe Superbowl ring, like

(05:52):
whatever it is, like so much ofit is business.
Like sports is business is it's.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah.
People forget that.
I mean, pro sports is abusiness.
Like anything else?
Yes.
They're playing a game, but itis a business

Speaker 2 (06:06):
And that's for me, like why I'm starting to like
it.
Right.
Like, cause I like business.
So, uh, and it also speaks towhy one would become a fan.
So some fans really enjoy justthe community, um, that sort of,
uh, engagement with like time,how to spend your time.
And other fans are like kind of,I guess me who like, all right,

(06:28):
what was the strategy behindpicking those players?
And, and that's, what's fun.
And that's also what I think isreally fun about our next guest.
Get ready to become a fan ofwhat's next on.
We're not blowing hot air onepisode eight of we're not
blowing hot air.
We broadcast game changingsports news with Jason Berg,
then CEO and co-founder ofmarket price, a burgeoning

(06:51):
sports marketing company whosemarketplace connects athletes
and companies kind of likedating apps, but it doesn't
leave you wanting.
And nobody gets catfishedimproving on the high priced
ultra exclusive Jerry McGuirekind of agency, Jason and his
team connect companies withinfluential athletes on demand
with an innovative strategy andattractive value proposition.

(07:12):
Market price is a hot new playerin sports marketing learn how
thousands of college and proathletes from all the exports
are hooking up with all kinds ofbrands with ease and
satisfaction.
The way hooking up online shouldbe here's the place this Forbes
next 1000 entrepreneur made tosecure his first round of
funding and be the first to knowabout market prices, new game

(07:32):
changer.
That's a win for collegeathletes, businesses,
universities, and fans, all onthis episode of we're not
blowing hot air Jason Bergman ofmarket price.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
How are you doing?

Speaker 3 (07:47):
I'm doing well.
I'm so excited to talk to youguys, and I'm happy that we're
doing this.
I sued feel so under prepared.
You guys have like the coolestmics and headphones and gear and
everything.
Uh, so I hope I can live up toyou guys on expectations, but
you may need to care me ifthat's cool.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
You're already meeting all of our needs and
expectations.
Am I right Scott?
Yeah.
I mean, you have your ownbranded t-shirt of market price
on, so that's looking fantastic.
We stepped up to the plate.
I'm going to use as many sportpuns as possible during this
episode.
Normally they bug me, but I'mgoing to try to slide them in.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
It's going to get interesting.

Speaker 3 (08:27):
I'm excited.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
I really wanted to bring you our best because
that's what you bring every daythat you showed up to your new
company that we're so excited todive into really bad.
Okay, cool.
It I'll cool it, but um, soyeah.
Share about you, Jason, what isyour, your personal background

(08:50):
in sports and what got you intosports marketing or representing
athletes?

Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yeah, of course.
And again, I just wanted to saythank you guys for having me.
Um, I am, I'm so excited and I'msure we'll get into it, but I've
been loving working with youguys, uh, just for the last few
months too.
So I'm really excited to sharesome background, but for me, I
just try to wake up everymorning, step to the plate, hit
a home run every single day.
So I just wanted to get into mysports plan out of that really
quickly.

(09:16):
Um, but my background, I I'vealways been like such a huge
sports nerd and I've been such abig sports fan and, you know,
being the CEO of sports companywas something that I never
really could have imagined.
I just always wanted to work insports.
I thought it was really cool.
Um, and I'm a big person whereif you do something that you
really passionate about, you'renever really gonna work in your
life because you love it.
So I always had that inkling,like, let me try to work in

(09:38):
sports.
Um, I started my career in salesafter graduating college.
So I like Yelp was my first job.
I'm sure you guys have used Yelpbefore where I was calling like
local businesses sellingadvertisements.
Yeah.
It was really hard when you're22 talking to like someone in
their fifties who owns an autorepair shop.
Who's been in business longerthan you've been alive.

(09:58):
The coolest thing from that waslike, if you can sell them on
y'all bads and get money whenyou're that young, uh,
everything else that you sellfor the rest of your career is a
little bit easier.
So it helped me get hopefullypretty good at sales, working at
Yelp and other roles after that.
And um, I got into sports,working at a company called open
sponsorship where I was thefirst sales hire when I was like
24.

(10:18):
And I went from sellingbusinesses, literally going back
to yelp.com, typing in cardealerships in New York, selling
them on memberships all the wayto selling over the course of
three years there to AnheuserBusch, CBS sports, DraftKings,
vitamin shop, and some, someenterprise companies on working
with athletes and working therelike long story short, I just

(10:39):
saw the need for a company likea market price where it's a
two-sided marketplace, wherebrands and athletes could
intersect and actually meet andcome together for awesome deals.
But our business model, I knewit had to be athletes and agents
pay monthly memberships.
So I think the best businessesare started from like fixing a
need and fixing a problem thatyou personally experience.

(11:01):
So I couldn't just snap myfingers and be a professional
athlete and try to test how hardit is to get deals.
I started my own sportsmarketing agency and I
literally, like I say, agency, Imade an Instagram account and
IDM probably like 2000professional athletes.
And I'm like, look, I'd love tobe able to bring you marketing
deals.
Just say yes or no, and we'd beable to work on deals together.

(11:23):
And I got 12 people to say yes,which like the response rate is
pretty, you know, not great, butit was more than zero.
So I was able to like test outbeing an agent and see how hard
it was to be an agent and to seeif I would pay for a service
like a market price that helpsme find more deals.
And the resounding answer wasyes, absolutely.
It's so hard to find the rightperson at a company at the right

(11:43):
time that they're actuallyinterested in doing marketing
when they're want to work withathletes.
That's a good fit for your, foryour athletes.
So I compare it a lot to like adating app because I'm married.
I've never really used a datingapp.
A lot of my friends do still do.
Um, it's really hard to findsomeone who is open to dating
who's into you right now.
Right.
Um, and that's what we reallyhelp athletes with.

(12:04):
So wrapping it all up, welaunched in January of this
year.
So we're wrapping up our 10thmonth.
Now we've just surpassed overlike 3000 deals on the site
close between over 1600 athletesand over 400 companies.
And again, back to the start,I'm a huge sports nerd.
So being able to talk sports andbe passionate about athlete
marketing all day is like adream come true.

(12:25):
And, uh, you know, we're justgetting started, but I know that
was really long-winded so yeah,

Speaker 1 (12:30):
No, no, not at all.
It's so informative and, and,and, uh, very cool that
progression of things going fromYelp and then going into
something like market price and,and, uh, working with athletes
and stuff like that.
So maybe, maybe let's like breakdown.
Maybe you can just kind of likerecap again, you know, the
business model, uh, for marketprice.
And then talk about like, youknow, the value propositions

(12:52):
that it brings to brands andathletes.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah, absolutely.
So our business model, we makemost of our revenue from
athletes and agents paying us amonthly membership.
So it could be as low as$8 amonth for student athletes who I
know we're on a pretty tightbudget, um, up to, you know,$400
a month to bigger agencies thatrepresent a lot of different
athletes.
So they pay us a monthlymembership, sort of like you pay
Netflix, a monthly membership toget access to all their shows,

(13:18):
athletes and agents pass amonthly membership to get access
to all of our companies.
So they get to see anything fromoxygen plus to Allbirds shoes,
to fashion Nova, to CBS sports.
Uh, they're able to seecompanies who have signed up to
market price because they wantto work with athletes today.
So it's the right person at acool company.
That's been vetted by us thatwants to work with athletes.

(13:38):
So, uh, that's where most of ourrevenue come from.
We also charge a 5% fee on thebrand side.
So if you do a hundred dollardeal, let's say we would charge
the brand$105.
We'd hold the money in escrowuntil the deal is completed.
And we would take the$5 as a, aslike a processing thing.
So that's our business modelright now.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
That's so smart.
That's so smart.
Jason.
And I remember, uh, at one pointI asked you, well, why aren't
you making the companies pay?
Why, why is the athlete pain,right?
Like why burden them withanything that they have to shell
out?
Um, which isn't typical of otherathletes spawn social marketing
or, uh, influencer typepartnership platforms that I've
seen.
So do you want to share a littlebit about that because I loved

(14:18):
your answer and I think it'ssomething that will really
actually encourage the athleteand companies alike too, to try
this out.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
Oh yeah.
Um, just to confirm the why wecharge athletes, the monthly
membership.
Yeah.
So the thing is, and we testedout like free trials and it just
didn't work because athletesdidn't have enough skin in the
game where if you're an athleteand you're like, well, yeah,
maybe I'm kind of into it.
Think three steps ahead wherethink of your oxygen.
Plus if you're a brand you wantto find a partner who is really

(14:48):
excited to work with you, right.
They're excited about deals.
And I've seen firsthand, again,working at a company like open
sponsorship, working with a lotof businesses on a day-to-day
basis, they would get into bedand do deals with athletes who
didn't really care.
And it ended up always being abad deal.
The athlete made really badcontent.
The athlete was really hard toreach.
They didn't answer texts oremails because the athlete

(15:09):
didn't really mind.
They just signed up to the sitebecause it was free with market
price.
We're getting those red flagsout of the way right away.
So they don't want to pay as lowas eight bucks a month.
Then they're not reallyinterested in doing marketing
deals anyway.
So the athletes on market price,they're literally investing in
themselves by signing up tomarket price.
So they're there to make money.

(15:29):
They're there to connect withcompanies.
They're there to build theirnetwork, which is really cool.
So they're there with a purpose,which, for brands who are
businesses, right.
I know it comes down to it.
Like athletes are slowly turninginto businesses, but we want to
help athletes have that businessmindset of like, Hey, you're
here, answer emails, text, becommunicative.
And we really help educateathletes.

(15:50):
Um, and we want to also, again,give them full service.
Like we can get into it later,but we have a ton of ad-ons that
are included in that membership.
You have access to accountmanagers that help you with
branding have access to otherpeople that help you a social
strategy.
We help you with financialliteracy, paying taxes,
investing cashflow issues.
So now that they pass them onthe membership, they get access
to all this awesome stuff, notjust doing brand deals.

(16:14):
So, uh, yeah, that's somethingthat, you know, we want to, I
guess, nip the people who don'treally care in the button right
away, where if they don't wantpay as low as eight bucks a
month and it's okay, you don'thave to use market price, but we
want, if you're there, Hey,you're here with us and you're
really investing in yourself.

Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah, yeah.
No, that's great.
That's great.
And, and, and why did, how didyou see a need for this, for
both companies and athletes, youknow, to, to kind of bridge that
connection and make those, makethose connections and
relationships?

Speaker 3 (16:44):
Yeah.
That's a really good question.
Um, and it, I could probablytalk on both sides for a while,
but I think with starting on theathlete side, cause we're there
already, we have a lot ofathletes who, you know, the, I'd
say the, not top 1%, right?
Like LeBron, James Christiana,Ronaldo, Messi, right.
They don't need more deals, buteveryone else does for every one

(17:06):
of those super superstarathletes.
There's a lot of smallerathletes who really want to have
access to connect with coolcompanies.
And they may not have millionsof followers, but they have tens
of thousands, thousands,hundreds of people who look up
to them and trust the athletes.
So for those athletes, how dothey connect with companies?
How do they actually make moneyfrom their name and their image,

(17:27):
their likeness, the access isthe hardest part.
And again, I always go back todating apps because I'm talking
to athletes all day long whereit's like, if you really want to
go on a date and if you're anawesome bachelor, what do you
want to do?
Like walk into bars and just tryto randomly meet people that are
so hard, go on an app and swiperight on people that are also
interested in what you'reinterested in too.

(17:47):
So that zero to one is the partfor athletes.
I've just even seeing what's outthere and having access to it.
So I'm really bullish on that.
Every athlete is able to helpcompanies and they have their
own value for that.
Um, so the access part is whatwe really help out with, with
the athletes side.
And then for the brand side too,it's like, you know, when you
guys for oxygen, plus like it'sabout building trust with your

(18:08):
users, it's about building thatawareness and getting your name
out there.
So why not partner with anathlete where they're running,
they're swimming, they'retraining outside where they
actually could use a productlike oxygen, plus even just
waking up in the morning, right.
And using it to, to improvetheir lifestyle and improve
their training.
If an athlete is using it, maybesomeone hasn't heard of oxygen

(18:30):
plus, but they've heard of anathlete or they've heard of the
NFL, they've heard of the NBAand they know those athletes are
associated with those leagues.
So it's about building trust andfamiliarity, familiarity,
famille, making it morefamiliar.
I don't know if I would say theword.
Um, but it's basically justbuilding trust with, with users
and getting your name out there.

(18:50):
And that's something that is,that is really important.
And especially athletes over,let's say an influencer
influencers, it's their firstjob to create content and
promote brands.
That's how they get paid.
Right.
That's where they make money.
So again, they're really good atit a lot of the times, but how
authentic can that be withathletes?
Their first job is to play theirsport.
It's to practice it's, tocompete in games.

(19:11):
Their second job is promotingcompanies, right.
If they, if they want to dothat.
So if they're using a product,it means they're really
interested in it.
Right.
It means they're really excitedabout it.
So, uh, you know, hopefully forbrands, you know, like you guys,
I know you've been on work-wisefor awhile.
Like take advantage of that andget product into athlete's hands
and just say, Hey, try it.
If you like, it let's be able tostart a conversation because we

(19:31):
know our product is awesome.
It's just about building thatawareness.
So

Speaker 2 (19:35):
It's a win, win, right.
For the brand and for theathlete.
So we love that we haveexperienced it and it's been, we
just started, but Jason, so haveyou, I mean, your launch, you
just launched market price, isthis correct?
January of 2021.
Oh yeah.
Oh my God.
And you have four, you said youhad 4,000 brands and 16,000

(19:57):
athletes.
Did I hear that right?

Speaker 3 (20:00):
Maybe remove a zero

Speaker 2 (20:03):
100.
Okay.
Still that's a lot of people

Speaker 3 (20:07):
We'll check back next year, Lauren and those numbers
will be accurate.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
It's still mindblowing and it's a Testament
to you and the, I think theplatform and the concept of the
business model that you've, thatyou've proven.
Um, but what, what are, can youshare some, like if it's, if
you're allowed to some greatmatches that have already
happened between brands andathletes.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
Yeah, absolutely.
I, I like tent.
I'm like a super sentimentalperson, I guess.
I dunno if that's the right wayto put it, but like, I love the
smaller athletes that wouldn'thave had access to these deals
if it wasn't for market price.
And there's one story thathappened a couple of weeks ago.
And, um, it, it was really coolbecause it's this athlete Troy
burrows and he's like a[inaudible] athlete.

(20:51):
And that's like the lowest, Iguess, division in the NCAA.
And he has maybe a couplethousand followers.
And by no means brands arereaching out to him trying to
get deals.
And he hadn't done any deals upto this point and he signed up
to Mark Price and he's like, Ilove fashion.
I'm all about fashion.
I love to work with fashioncompanies.
So we're like, great, cool.
Yeah, we definitely have, youknow, fashion companies
available on market price.

(21:12):
He signs up in his first threedays.
He closes a deal with thiscompany, Allbirds the awesome
choose company that now hasclothing coming out.
And he got like hundreds ofdollars worth of shoes and
clothes and everything.
And in three days, like 72 hoursand then four days after that.
So in his first week he closedanother deal with this company
called craft and London.

(21:32):
And it's like pendants and likecool necklaces.
And it was just product deals,but I find it so cool.
Cause it's like this athlete oneis like, oh my God, I get to do
deals.
And brands are valuing me.
And then for companies he'swearing those clothes all the
time.
Who does he hang out with otherathletes on the team, in the
college market, right?
Like there's hundreds, if notthousands of athletes that go to

(21:53):
his school that he sees everysingle day where they're now
getting that awareness for freeproduct and he's wearing it all
the time and posting about it onsocial media.
And I just thought it was socool how fast it happened to
like it was literally within thefirst week.
Um, and it just cool forathletes to be able to think
like, well, if I want to dodeals, what am I interested in?
You know, fashion, you getdressed every day.

(22:14):
I hope you've addressed everyday.
Right.
Are you into fashion?
If you're not?
Do you like protein bars?
Do you like, what are like waterbottles?
Like, do you want green juices,tech products, shoe insoles.
Like we have so many differentproducts, um, that athletes can
take advantage of.
We just started working withfive companies just yesterday
that create a new campaigns andit's like a compression company.
It's vegan, pancakes andwaffles.

(22:36):
Um, it's a company that helpsyou with your finances.
And two other ones, I don't know, off the top of my head, but
like, it was all five differentindustries.
And if I'm an athlete, I'm like,man, I'd want to work with all
of them.
So it's just cool for athletesto be able to see that come to
life.
So that's one of my favorites.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
Yeah.
No, that's really cool.
And, and diverse, like, yeah.
You mentioned like the diversityof the companies that are being
involved and how many, how manydeals have you helped make?

Speaker 3 (23:03):
Yeah.
So over 3000 between athletes.
Yeah.
So anything from product dealsto deals in the, it hasn't been
like six figure deals yet, but ahandful in the like five
figures.
Um, so yeah, it's just beenhappening.
That's what happens when you putathletes and brands together,
they want to do deals in the end.
I, you know, in college too,with the college athletes, it's
such a brand new market.

(23:24):
That's been really hot for us aswell.
So there's a lot of collegeathletes who want to do deals
and a lot of brands who want towork with college kids because
it's younger demographic.
I know like when you weretelling me Lauren, like a
younger demographic, you want toreach out to now you could work
with college kids and give themproduct and pay them to promote
your products.
So it's been really cool to see.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
I love co college kids are the best, especially
this batch right now.
I've met a few lately andthey're, um, they're really
awesome.
They're like human beings again.
I think there were a couple ofgenerations maybe.
Um, we, we, we were, at leastour generations had challenges
with communicating, but man,there's some spectacular kids

(24:03):
out there right now and incollege and, and that age group.
Um, so is your team, how has itbeen growing your actual team?
Um, and what is the agedemographic comprised of as
well?
Speaking of, of college kids,you have a bunch of young kids,
old people dish.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
Yeah.
It's a great question.
So like I, if you're, if youwould've asked me like the
favorite part of market price ormy favorite part of starting the
company, it's the team thatwe've been able to build.
And that's the only reason thatwe've been as successful as we
are today.
It's actually really cool today,uh, is the one year anniversary,
one year anniversary of ourfirst employee starting.
So shout out Evan heinous, ifhe's listening, he's our

(24:42):
marketing guy.
So he's probably gonna chop thisup and repost it somewhere.
But, um, I want to shout outEvan, cause he joined us when we
had no website, we didn't raiseany money yet.
He was fresh out of college andhe was actually a former intern
of ours.
And I was like talking to himabout his next role, moving on
from an internship Mark Price.
I'm like, dude, you are way tootalented.
Please stay here and please workfor us.

(25:04):
And now it's been a year andwe've grown from just Evan back
one year ago to now we actuallyhave our 11th employee starting
tomorrow and we have employeesnumber 12 and 13 starting over
the next two weeks and um,potentially 14, two coming soon.
So it's it.
It's been cool.
And what we try to do is findlike what they are passionate
about in terms of the employees.

(25:25):
And another cool thing is likewhen we post jobs, it's less
about the actual job.
If that makes sense, like we'vehad four people apply to
different jobs than they nowhave because their passion was
somewhere else.
Right?
So if someone applied to workwith companies, but they were
really passionate about workingwith athletes, well let's have
them work with athletes becausethen they're going to be really

(25:45):
good at it.
They're going to be reallyexcited about it and really
crush it.
So that's what my job has reallycome down to putting really
smart and talented people whoare really passionate about what
we do in a situation to succeedand help us continue to grow.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
It's cool.
How do you, how do you play thatgame of, of going, okay, my
business is growing.
I need somebody here.
I need somebody here handling X,Y, and Z.
And then you've got some reallygood people that come in and
maybe they applied for we'regoing for one position, but then
you kind of put him somewhereelse.
Like how do you play that game?
It seems like a little bit of abalance in terms of like placing

(26:23):
people in certain positions, butthen, you know, assessing the
needs.
And how do you make those shiftsand, and still like have people
where you need.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
Yeah, that's such an awesome question.
I think the one thing thathelped us is I did all of these
jobs.
Like when we first started, likeI was the athlete sales person,
I was the account manager.
I was the brand sales person.
I was the brand account manager.
I was the marketing manager.
I was the college partnershipsrole.
Like I did all of these jobs andI always tell it to my

(26:55):
employees.
I'm like, imagine like a cup ofwater and you just like pour a
cup of water and then it startsoverspilling cause you're just
like absolutely overwhelmed.
Let's get another cup in thereand let's have someone take some
of that load off of you and beable to help you do more of what
like specialized.
So for example, the personstarting two weeks as a brand
account manager.
So as soon as someone, a companysigns up, he's actually a former

(27:17):
sports agent and Jason Lee toshout him out.
He's a beast too.
So he's giving brands and insidelook into how branch, how agents
think about these deals andhelping brands craft and execute
campaigns.
I've done that job.
Lauren, we've worked together onthat.
So

Speaker 2 (27:32):
First emailed me even to get, uh, I think I said, wait
three months, right?

Speaker 3 (27:37):
Yes, absolutely.
Yeah.
So I, you know, to, to answeryour question, like, it's just,
uh, I like to do the jobsbecause then I know what success
looks like.
Like I want them to the job, Iknow what they should be doing.
It's a lot less throwing them inthe deep end up being like
figure it out.
And I have no idea what good orbad looks like it's being on the
same page with here's what I'vedone.
Here's what works for me now,hiring someone to come in and do

(27:59):
it full time and just crush itright.
And be able to fully trust themright off the bat.
And look, we're eight for eightright now in terms of hiring my
co-founder and I we've beendoing pretty well.
It's eight amazing, talentedpeople and they've been
unbelievable and it's beengreat.
I just hope we keep that in ahundred percent, uh, to go back
to the sports ponds and justkeep hiring really talented
people.
So,

Speaker 2 (28:20):
Well, I think what your role looks like to me is
more of a coach, right?
Like you've played the sport,you've, you know, the ins and
outs of the rules.
And also you're breaking some ofthe rules, which I think is a
Testament to why this model isworking in the actual
marketplace.
Um, and so as in your role as acoach, I mean, that has one

(28:46):
thing that you need is to likepay for the, the jerseys and the
sports equipment.
And you know, all of that totake that metaphor a little, the
extra mile got rolled his eyes,Jason laughed hysterically.
Well, you recently raised someseed money.
I want you to share with us, howmuch did you raise?

(29:07):
What was that like?
I mean really like bringing homea, uh, quite notable figure, um,
share that.

Speaker 3 (29:14):
Yeah.
I, my favorite part, Lauren isevery sports metaphor.
You're like, you look over atScott and you're like, did you
hear that?
And he's like, yeah, of course

Speaker 2 (29:22):
I want his approval.
I think it's just that I wanthim to think I'm funny and

Speaker 1 (29:27):
All judgment on the sports bonds from this side of
the table.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
I'm just picturing what I'm raising.
So we raised$3 billion and I'mlike, every time we drop like a
mic drop statue, I just lookedto the investors like you see
that one?
Yeah.
3 million.
Yeah.
Well we actually funny enoughset out to raise$2 million
initially.
So we were trying to raise$2million because we had planned

(29:53):
out great, like with$2 million,what we could do with that and
how many people we could hire,what roles we can fill.
And I was absolutely confidentin, you know, again, not to get
too off track.
Cause I promise I will answer.
There's a thing called productmarket fit when your product
fits the market.
But there's another thing calledfounder market fit.
And I think we have that whereI've been on the brand side, I

(30:16):
was the first agent ever onmarket price.
So I know the needs of ourusers.
Like I have it down pat, becauseI was them.
I was in their shoes.
So we have such a good feelingfor where brands struggle, where
athletes and agents struggle.
So the next people we wanted tohire to answer your question
earlier, Scott, like we know whothose people need to be.
We know what needs to get done.
So$2 million here's who we couldhire and it would go all to

(30:38):
hiring.
And we met a group of investorsand they loved us and they were
like, great.
Yeah,$2 million is fine, butwould you be open to taking$3
million from us?
And you know, it, of course theytook up a little bit bigger of a
chunk of the company, but forus, well, I was thinking it was
like, well, more money.

(30:59):
Isn't always great.
Cause then we give up more ofsomething that we have.
We have, we only need$2 million,but, and I Al college athletes,
right?
July 1st was the first time everthe college athletes can do
this.
So it is an absolutely brand newmarket where we don't know
what's going to happen next.
So what don't we want, if we seean opportunity in the market,
when we want the, like the ammoto go get it and to put people

(31:21):
there and we raised money amonth ago, we already are going
off track in a good way, wherewe started a business called
market price, Florida subsidiaryof market price to help unite
different college communities.
And we have someone who'sstarting November 15th to help
run that.
So that's something that, uh,you know, pitching asking for$3

(31:42):
million is a lot, um, seeing inyour bank account is a whole
nother thing.
I like couldn't believe it, butit's kind of a proud moment.
And the fact that like greatpeople trust us, but it's also a
kick in the butt of like, okay,this is real.
Let's go, let's go do this.
Right.
We're not a bootstrap startupanymore.
People trust us.
And you know, people aredepending on us.
So it's that little extra like,you know, not that I need it

(32:05):
cause I'm working 24 7 anyway,but it's the extra kick in the
butterflies.
Okay, let's go get this.
Now we can go.
There's no excuses.
Nothing's holding us back.
Let's go capture this market andreally dominate.
So you're

Speaker 2 (32:16):
In the big leagues.
Is that fair to say?

Speaker 3 (32:18):
Yeah.
Yeah, it's not.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
And everyone was thinking it, everyone, everyone
listening was, Let me know youare, you are, it is remarkable.
Jason, I think, I mean, I was, Iwas a fan of yours before even
hit that level of success.
Um, that's probably why you likeme, you know, I'm not just like

(32:43):
a fair weather fan.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
You are on fire today .
I got to say on fire right now,

Speaker 3 (32:54):
Future this Lauren, I'm not even getting,

Speaker 2 (32:57):
This is our future, but we, we saw you.
We saw you on the cover ofForbes for Forbes 1000 next
1000.
Is that ma butchering that one?

Speaker 3 (33:09):
No, that was it 1000.
So it's like the next thousandentrepreneurs who are going to
take over the world, I guessmaybe.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
What was that like where your arms crossed in the
picture?
I can't remember.
Like,

Speaker 3 (33:21):
Yeah, they were, my wife was doing the photo shoot
on our phone and I'm like, okay.
They asked us for a photo.
We can't just have like a randomcrappy cutout picture.
You know, like the old Facebookphotos, like that's what I had.
So I was wearing the shirt andI'm like, okay, great.
Let's go outside.
And she's like, these photoslook bad.
I'm like, no, I need, we need toget something out there.
Right.
So I did the CEO crossed arm.

(33:43):
Look that, you know, he goes,you're in business.
Right.
You have to have one of those.
Um, but that was cool too, butthings like, honestly it's
funny.
Cause it's when we submittedthat, it said we raised$250,000,
which we raised in November whenthat came out, we had already
raised$3 million.
That's how fast things have beenmoving for us.
And I feel like it's been greatbecause we've been moving so

(34:05):
fast.
You know, like a year ago I hadanother job.
I was a full-time employee atNielsen and now we have 11, 12,
13 employees starting over thenext couple of weeks.
We've raised money.
We've grown up to this point.
We've, we've done so much in thespace.
I'm just excited for like,what's next?
Cause I feel like we're stilljust getting started.
So, uh, no, the Forbes next 1000was awesome.

(34:26):
And again, it gives that extravalidation, you know, like we
have some cool athletes on theside.
We have some cool brands on thesite, but if someone's never
heard of market price, I don'tblame them where this new.
But if they see the CEO stamp toForbes, cool.
You know what Forbes is, right.
Oh cool.
This company may be cool.
Let me look into them and spenda couple extra seconds on their
website.
So all that validation doesreally help us.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
Oh, for sure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh, and, and uh, how, so youmentioned, you mentioned back in
July, I think you said, uh, thatthings changed for the college
athletes and, and what they'reable to do.
So can you talk a little bitmore about that and then how
that is affected market price?

Speaker 3 (35:07):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
So on July 1st and there's been,I'll do a long story short, I
guess about for hundreds ofyears, college athletes could
not do marketing deals.
They couldn't monetize theirname, image and likeness.
So brands couldn't pay themmoney to promote their product
brands.
Couldn't send them free productathletes.
Couldn't even, let's say you'rea tennis player.

(35:28):
You couldn't teach tenniscourses to people who wanted to
pay you for tennis classes orelse you would lose your
eligibility and you may getkicked out of school.
Like that's how crazy it is.
Right?
And, but, but at the same time astudent could do tutoring and
get paid to tutor, but a tennisplayer couldn't teach tennis
classes.
So the acronym and I L standsfor our name, image and

(35:50):
likeness.
And again, student athletes andformer student athletes and
people in the sports world havebeen fighting for this much
longer than we've been around atmarket price to allow college
athletes, to make money fromtheir name, image and likeness.
Because again, to put like thecherry on top, it's not even a
cherry like college sports makesbillions of dollars every single

(36:11):
year.
And the student athletes seeszero of it.
Colleges make billions ofdollars selling jerseys with
athletes names on the back,student athletes make zero of
it.
So it's just really not fairthat student athletes couldn't
even get free meals, you know,from like a local deli or free
product.
Right.
Um, so July 1st, the NCAA passeda interim policy where any

(36:31):
college athlete D one D two Dthree could make money from
their name, image and likeness.
And that's something we'remarket price is, is pretty set
up to really help.
So college athletes can then,and like, I remember the first
week, like it was yesterdaybecause it was just me as an
employee.
So I was reaching out tohundreds of student athletes
over the weekend that keptsigning up and I was kept trying

(36:53):
to reach out to them and havecalls.
I didn't have enough time in theday.
And I'm like, okay, great.
We need more salespeople.
Like we need someone.
Um, and it was a punch in theface cause it was, it literally
happened June 30th.
They made that decision the daybefore.
And that was something that weweren't really ready for it in
terms of like we had just me asa sales person and account
manager, but now, you know,we're ready to take on tens or

(37:13):
hundreds of thousands ofathletes.
And um, you know, we've reallybeen helping these student
athletes take advantage of thislegislation, even if it's just
talking to companies andbuilding their network because a
lot of these student athletesare not going to go to the pros.
They're not going to be making aliving, playing their sports
that they are now ranked now incollege is their maximum just

(37:34):
really like that's where most ofthe attention is on them.
This is their max excitementfrom brands.
So why not allow them to takeadvantage of it

Speaker 2 (37:44):
Unlike you alluded to earlier?
I mean, they can learn even howbusinesses work and how they can
build their own personalbusiness.
They can, they have exposure tosomething that's bigger than
them that even as could turninto an internship and a job or
some interest in a differentcareer.
I mean, I think the connectivitythat this offer the market price
offers an athlete, especially astudent athlete is pretty

(38:05):
awesome in that, like, you don'thave to be locked into anybody.
There's a simple, easy way toconnect to multiple different
brands.
And of course the brands loveit.
I mean the more the merrierathletes choose from and work
with.
Um, and, and so you mentionedthe part of the seed money, kind
of that extra, extra bump thatthe investors wanted to give
you, that you went and launchedmarket price, Florida.

(38:29):
I'd love for you to share moreabout, uh, specifically, which I
believe is your Alma mater inGainesville, correct?
The Gators.
Okay.
I used to have a Florida Gatorshat and it was one of my first
ball caps that I wore.
It was blue.
It had like a nice stitched inCigna, like of the Gator.
I just liked the Gator.
I don't know.
So, um, share more about likewhat your, what what's happening

(38:51):
in Gainesville, Florida now and,and how, how Mike market price
is doing yet.
Another new, phenomenal thingthat is going to really change,
not just how brands and athleteswin, but now there's another, it
truly is a win-win when we'renow alumni and fans get to be
part of the deal.

Speaker 3 (39:08):
Yeah.
It's actually, well, one lovethe enthusiasm Warren, you're a
rock star and you know how toget me so excited about doing
subtle shout out to the Gatorsand love is different.
It's it's amazing.
So I was like, should I say itnow?
Or should I say it at the end?
I'm like, no, I can't, you can'tkeep giving us love and then me
not thanking you for it.
So thank you.
It came out of a need.
So I am former Gator and ourinvestors are actually former

(39:32):
Gators as well.
Most of them.
So it's Gator founded Gatorfunded, which I thought was
pretty cool.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
And that should be on the website by the way, on which
we can give a shout out at theend as well.
But it is N I L, which we knowhis name, image and
likeness.market price with ay.com case.
You wanna check it out whileyou're listening.
So

Speaker 3 (39:56):
Thank you for the plug.
I didn't even have to bugmyself.
Uh, so, so yeah, so Gatorfountain gate are funded, but
the, the biggest thing is, likeI said earlier in the episode,
like we are obsessed withsolving our customer's problems.
We could do a lot of differentthings, but you need to focus on
the problem, right?
Like who, what, what, what arepeople struggling with?
Because if no, one's strugglingfrom it and you build a solution

(40:16):
for it, no one's gonna use it.
Right.
And I've seen that firsthand.
So what we were able to see andour investors are pretty close
with the UFL athleticdepartment.
And we heard that, you know,it's really hard to recruit now
because coaches now, instead ofsaying, Hey, come to us because
we're in Florida, there's nostate tax and it's great.
And we have this history.
It's like, these kids are like,how can I make money?

(40:38):
How can I monetize my NFL?
What opportunities can you giveto me?
So the athletic department,because of that policy that was
passed July 1st, they can'tcause compensation to go to
athletes.
They can't help them get paid.
They can educate them and maybepoint them in the right
direction, but they can'tfacilitate deals.
And it's a really tricky grayarea and it's tough for athletic

(40:58):
departments.
So what we found was a problemis not just the us, but I've
been speaking with a ton ofdifferent athletic departments.
They're like, we need somethingto point to.
So when a college recruit says,why should I choose F they could
say, you can be part of thisprogram and make money.
Here's a program that you can dothat we're not associated with,
but we know of, and we can help.

(41:19):
Um, and that's something that wewanted to make up market price,
Florida, where we got thatproblem.
And I was like, okay, how do weput a solution to this?
What does that look like?
So out of thin, air my team andI thought of a good way.
And actually I to shout outAshley comer as well.
So she's an account manager onMark Price.
She's also former Gator.
She's our chief Gator officer.
Um, she actually came up withmost of the idea.

(41:41):
So I want to give her absolutelycredit for it.
Um, but it's a win, win, win,win, actually.
And it's a way for alumni todonate money to Mark Price,
Florida.
So for alumni, they want to getmoney into student athletes
hands, but they can't just paythe student athletes that's
illegal.
So the pay market price,Florida, and what we do is we go
out to local businesses.

(42:02):
So local coffee shops, localdallies, local restaurants,
local hair salons, and for free,they could sign up to a
bi-weekly raffle.
So once every other week wechoose one local business to win
a raffle.
And again, it's free to sign upwhen you win, you get promoted
by UAF student athletes.
And again, it's free promotionon social media.

(42:22):
They get tagged on Instagram andTwitter and they're able to get
that promotion for free, right?
So it's a free lottery ticketfor student athletes, same
thing, free to sign up.
And once every two weeks we sendthem an email saying, Hey,
here's the winner of thisraffle.
Here's what you have to do.
Here's how much money you canget paid.
Yes or no.
Do you want to promote it?
So path lights passively can seenot only opportunities, but like

(42:46):
local opportunities to wherethey live of local cool
companies, where you guys havesaid how important a network is.
I could not agree more for theselocal athletes.
They have the most say in themost notoriety in their local
communities.
So how can they monetize that?
How can they connect to thoselocal businesses through market
bars, Florida?
And it's a, win-win win another,the fourth winners for the

(43:06):
athletic department.
So now in recruiting battles,coaches can say, Hey yeah,
market price, Florida.
They paid out thousands ofdollars to athletes.
So if you come here, you canparticipate in that for free.
So we give them role.
So it's really a no loss foranybody.
Uh, and again, it's like thiscame about a month ago and it's
already, I mean, shout out ourtech team for building a fully

(43:28):
functioning website.
That looks awesome too.
So it's just really, that's,that's the team, right?
Getting really smart people in aroom and figuring that out.
So it's been a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (43:37):
Got seriously, did you get goosebumps?
I got goosebumps.
You were telling me that youreally, I can tell you it kinda
hurt, Like almost.
And then I feel like it's sofreaking beautiful.

Speaker 1 (43:50):
Yeah.
Just the, the con that wholeconnection, you know, figuring
out a way to make that work andhave like that outlet for the
alumni is to help the studentathletes and stuff like that.
And, and working, working aroundthe system and getting it to
connect is that's so cool.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
Change the institutionalism of colleges.
I mean, already that the NFL hasshaking that up.
You can't stop some, an athletestudent athlete from making
money, but you can't give it.
So now we're, it's aredistribution of power, which
I'm a fan of.
And I think that's just so, socool and watch out every other
university.

(44:31):
Cause, um, I guess just likeGatorade Florida's now brought
us another, another game-changernobody noticed that was another,

Speaker 1 (44:45):
Is that, is that, uh, are you, are you looking to
bring this to other collegetowns?
Are there schools, things likethat or is this, is this kinda
like the beta test?

Speaker 3 (44:55):
Exactly.
Yeah.
So we don't want to expand tooquickly just because, you know,
we, we want to dominate thismarket and then expand.
We want to start a little bitmore in a niche market where, I
mean Florida, like university ofFlorida raised what,$45 million
last year from donors.
So it's a big enough market forus to start in.

(45:15):
And it's so new that we'realready learning where like, for
example, just yesterday welaunched like a raffle to get
alumni to want to donate.
So instead of just donating toget money into the hands of
athletes, for every$50, theydonate, they can get a chance to
win.
It's a Kyle Pitt signed helmet.
So he was the fourth overallpick last year in the draft.
He's former Gator and he isunbelievable.

(45:37):
So he's like a former Gator,great word.
Any Florida fan knows whocockpits is, but if you donate,
you can have a chance to win asigned helmet.
That was a test that we thoughtof yesterday that we executed
yesterday.
We're trying to learn, and wedon't want to expand too fast
because we want to iterate andjust be able to, to nail it
before we expand to otherpeople, maybe like university of
Minnesota who knows that couldbe school number two.

Speaker 2 (45:59):
Oh yeah.
Or, you know, I'm wearing otherfew other like universities that
I might've dropped in on aswell.
Um, we do have a right toScott's right.
We have some signedparaphernalia that plus has
acquired over the years.
Um, so do you want to hold upthe, the baseball?
So we have a bunch of people whohave signed this baseball.

(46:20):
We don't know who has beenaround for awhile, but it's,
it's probably, uh, a baseballteam in Minnesota.
That might be a thing.
We could look that up.
We could rent.
We'd be happy to raffle this offany time, Jason,

Speaker 3 (46:33):
And then all by random people,

Speaker 2 (46:37):
Random people, I'm sure there's like some sort of
product in it.
Um, oh, this looks like an oldwarehouse person[inaudible] plus
team.
So going once going twice ahundred dollars on market price

Speaker 1 (46:57):
Plus alumni,

Speaker 2 (46:59):
Um, I think I'm going to sign next.
It looks like there was aDerrick and a Cody.
Um, you're definitely not, butwhat's this one, Scott,

Speaker 1 (47:07):
Uh, this is an oxygen plus t-shirt signed by Sidney
rice.
Whoa,

Speaker 3 (47:15):
Wait.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
Yeah.
The former biking.
And then he went to play for theWashington team.
What are they called?

Speaker 3 (47:21):
Washington football team.
The

Speaker 2 (47:23):
CNC Hawks.
Yeah.
So yeah, we could probably wrapthat off.
I mean, so it's funny.
We used to go after these bigname players and you know, like
you said, they already have somedeals.
They already, they already haveall that access.
And um, but what I love is, isthe heart of the college, right?
Like the people in college, likethere's nothing like going to a

(47:47):
college game versus a pro game.
It's a very differentexperience.
Yeah.
So I love that you brought thatto us every, literally everybody
in one way or another a marketprice can, can make sports
better.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
Exactly.
Yeah.
And, and help the kids, uh, youknow, really take advantage of
their notoriety.
That's something that's reallyimportant too.
So if they make a big play, ifthey have a big community, if
they have a big following onsocial media, monetize it right.
And take advantage of it, whichthey couldn't do before.
So, uh, yeah, it's been a lot offun.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
Well, you know, Jason, I see you as both like
being humble that also a hotshot.
I mean, what you found a way tohelp young athletes and
companies like level thisplaying field.
Um, do you have anything likepersonally, how, how does that
really move you?
Okay.

Speaker 3 (48:38):
Yeah.
Uh, I think that's a really goodquestion.
Um, I believe everyone is thehero in their own story.
It's one of my favorite quotesfrom Reed Hoffman.
He's like the founder ofLinkedIn and it's something for
me thinking internally.
And then we get to externally,like, I just think it's awesome.
Like I've been working 24 7 onmarket price since over a year

(49:00):
ago.
Right.
And it's something that I loveand I could see myself doing for
the next years.
Um, partly because we'regenuinely helping a lot of
people out there.
Like when I read testimonialsfrom brands and athletes and
agents who are like, I'mobsessed with market price and I
love what I'm doing and I'mhaving so much fun using it.
And it's really helping me out.
Like those are the coolestthings.

(49:20):
Like we had, um, professionalsoccer player and he's in like
the USL, which is not a reallybig popular league.
And he's like, you wereliterally changing the game for
us.
And I read that and I get chillsand I'm like, this is awesome.
Like, this is just really cool.
Like we're genuinely helpingpeople, um, do really, really,
really cool things.
And it's a bonus that it'ssomething that I'm passionate

(49:40):
about.
And I think that gives us anedge up of like, it's a problem
that, look, I've been an agent.
I've never been an athlete.
That's struggling to know whenmy next paycheck is coming in.
And, you know, being able to bea college athlete, I've never
been in those shoes, but I spokewith enough where I'm able to be
like, great, well, here's how wecan help you.
Um, and here's how we can be areal resource for something that

(50:01):
I am, I'm really passionateabout.
And again, going back to theteam, like being able to build a
team that is equally aspassionate, they're 110% bought
into the mission.
Like that's the coolest thing,because I get, like, we had a
team meeting.
We have, um, every Friday wetalk about, uh, the biggest win
of the week and the biggest lossof the week.
So everyone's comfortablesharing a big loss, right?

(50:23):
Like you're allowed to talk,like if you're not losing, then
not, we're not growing.
Right.
You have to

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Plan, right.
If you don't lose her

Speaker 3 (50:32):
And no one bats a hundred percent.
Right.
So, uh, you know, we want to, Igot to learn.
Yeah, Exactly.
And, you know, we had one of ourfirst sales guys.
And he's like, I just, I know Isound like Jason, but like I'm
having so much fun doing this.
I'm like I had such a good week,like doing this.
I'm like, that's exactly like Ihad the biggest smile.
I thought my face was gonna falloff.

(50:53):
Cause I was smiling

Speaker 2 (50:55):
A true coach and a gentlemen.
I just thought that soundedgood.
We can edit that part out later.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
What, uh, what, what's your ultimate vision for
stop throwing things around.

Speaker 3 (51:19):
Yeah.
Uh

Speaker 1 (51:21):
What's what's your, what's your I'll re-ask the
question?
Just so we can start overbecause I messed up.
Yeah.
Um, what's your ultimate visionfor market price?
Where do you see it?

Speaker 3 (51:33):
Yeah.
So it's a question that is likean interesting one.
I will answer it a promise, butwe don't think more than I
purposely like don't plan outfeatures more than like three to
six months at the most inadvance.
Because if we're focusing onlike three or five years down
the road, we're not going to bein business in three to five
months because we're notlistening to our customers

(51:56):
today.
Uh, so that's something I reallyam passionate about.
Like Mark Price, Florida, if weplanned out 12 months in
advance, what we're going to be,we wouldn't have done that
because we wouldn't have had theresources we wouldn't have
planned for it.
So I think staying close to theground, especially in such a new
market gives us the competitiveadvantage because we're so
mobile, we're so agile and wecould, we could shift would that

(52:17):
being said, um, I see this as alot bigger than just athletes.
So I'm super bullish on thecreator economy in general,
meaning, you know, even like theiOS update, right for apple, the
privacy purposes, like brandsare spending a lot less money on
Facebook.
On traditional digital ads.
Digital media spend was like$53billion last year.

(52:37):
I want to say influencermarketing was like 2 billion.
I think those are going to startto even out where companies are
going to be able to lookelsewhere and start investing in
athletes, but also justtraditional creators and
influencers.
Um, so market price was actuallysupposed to be initially sport
fluence.
I actually thought it was reallycool as a name.
And then I'm like, it's reallykind of corny.

(52:58):
And I knew if we were sportballoons, we couldn't expand
outside of sports.
So we needed a company name thatwas, you know, just not specific
to sports, but we see sports aslike the foot in the door.
Like let's make a name forourselves.
And then let's be able to be aplace where anybody can find
endorsement deals and anybodycan build their network.
And anybody can be able to,whether it's getting paid to do

(53:20):
a post, getting free product,doing an equity deal, starting a
business.
Uh, I know I see it less as adating app in the longterm and
more of like a LinkedIn wherepeople can have profiles and
actually connect, uh, you know,for endorsement deals.
So I I'm super bullish on marketprice too.
Uh, I, I, you know, I think wehave the team for that.
So it's just being able to, uh,you know, continue rolling along

(53:42):
and, and grown at a crazy pace.
But I hope that helped answeryour question.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
It's great.
It's great foresight.
I mean, cause why, why are weall boxed in?
And we talk about this a lot,like at our company, you know,
it like what's the line fromsport to shopping, to, um,
getting your car changed.
I mean, all of that is reallyabout living life.
And so why would we limitourselves by just being
pigeonholed in like one sort ofcategory?

(54:05):
So all the power to you on that,I think more, the more and more
wellness needs to be a part ofour life in general, in the U S
and of course, across the world.
Um, speaking of wellness, Jason,you've been working, you said 24
7 for about over a year.
Um, how do you take care of yourown health?
Are you staying healthy so youdon't get all burned out and

(54:27):
angry?

Speaker 3 (54:28):
Yeah, that's a really good question.
So I make sure our team, like,I, like, I don't know if that's
the story.
I don't even know the right wordfor it.
I don't get angry cause I'm notreally angry person.
But if our team is

Speaker 2 (54:37):
Obviously I didn't mean that, but you might get
burned out if you're notsleeping or eating or doing
things for yourself that arehealthy.
Like

Speaker 3 (54:46):
Exactly.
So we'll exercise.
That could be a different story.
I need to do that more, but, uh,sleeping, I try to get eight
hours of sleep, I for our team,right?
Like that's something where I,I, I make sure the team isn't
working after like five 30.
So like if they send me a slackmessage or an email or
something, like I'm just notanswering it.
I would never email them afterfive 30.

(55:06):
And if someone's working where,like we had a sales guy and he
had a call like at night, likeseven o'clock and I'm like,
Peter, what are you doing, dude?
And he's like, I love it.
I just want to talk to them.
And I'm like, no, like you'regoing to burn out.
I think being a founder of abusiness is a little bit
different where I make sure myteam isn't and I know it's not
really leading by example andI've come to kind of accept it
where like, I want my teammaking sure that we know it's a

(55:28):
marathon, not a sprint.
I know I can do this foreverbecause I've been doing it for a
while.
And there really are no signs ofburnout.
Like in the slightest, ifanything, it gets me more
excited doing new things, likemarket price, Florida.
And you know, even things likeworking on the weekends during
the week, Monday to Friday, Idon't really have any time to do
much.
Right.

(55:48):
I'm managing the team and I'mdoing patching holes, right?
Like a boat with holes in it.
I'm trying to patch.
So the weekends are more insteadof working in the business,
working on the business andallow me to think a little bit
more and have a little bit moretime to think as an executive
versus as an employee.
So, uh, I think it gives us acompetitive advantage, but, um,
you know, one thing I've had tolearn is like being selfish with
time, you know, and there's notenough time in the day.

(56:11):
That's the most scarce resourcefor any founder.
So just being aggressive withlike, where is the best leverage
use of my time?
Where can I help market pricemove the fastest right now it's
hiring and managing.
But, uh, you know, that probablychanges on a daily basis.
So yeah.
Again, I don't know if Ianswered your question, but I
hope it gave you some insight.
Like I'm good.
Um, I'm even better than when Istarted.

(56:32):
Uh, but I make sure that myteam, at least, like, I know
they're bought into it.
Like, that's the importantthing.

Speaker 2 (56:37):
That's good.
But you eat well.
I mean, you're eating healthy,right?
You take vitamins or somethinglike that.

Speaker 3 (56:43):
Yeah.
Well that's thanks to my wife.
She's amazing.
Can have a podcast on her out.
I so lucky that she is like thebest cook in the world and uh,
yeah.
It's, it's amazing.
So eating healthy, I appreciateyou guys asking me.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
It takes a team will care about you, man.
Right.
Scott was worried.
I sensed him.

Speaker 1 (57:01):
I was, I was very concerned.
No, no.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
Well, we're big on wellness.
We always have tips and wealways like talking about them.
So if you ever have anything youwant to know about, we are,
well, I think well connected insome, some hacks and stuff, so
really reach out.
Um,

Speaker 3 (57:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
Yeah.
Well, Jason, let's maybe pointout if you could, uh, places
that people maybe can follow you, um, websites, you know, how
they can, uh, just see whatmarket prices up to and, and
what they're doing.

Speaker 3 (57:34):
Yeah.
So following up on, uh, Lauren'splug earlier, uh, our, our main
website, mark price.com is ifyou're watching the YouTube
video, it's just spelled on myshirt, but it's market price, P
R Y C E because we're a startup,we have to have a Y it's gotta
be something funky to it.
Um, that's where you can learnmore to find me, uh, you know,
find me on LinkedIn, JasonBergman, or it's at Bergman

(57:55):
tweets on Twitter.
Uh, and yeah, reach out, go onour website and learn a little
bit more.
But if you have any questions, Imean, my email too is just
[e-mail].
So any questions or want toconnect, feel free to reach out.
I'd love to,

Speaker 2 (58:10):
And then also market price, Florida and I l.market
price with a y.com just to makesure I got that.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
Okay.
Yes, absolutely.
Thanks Lauren.
No,

Speaker 2 (58:19):
Thank you.
I mean, I think everyone isgoing to be inspired by this and
hopefully listen to it again,share it with their friends.
I think that this is just likein a world where like, there's a
lot of big startup money withlike in Silicon valley and other
things.
It's just, it just is like abreath of fresh air really to
have this sort of innovationhappened with manageable, like

(58:41):
team growth, size and funding.
It just seems like it's just,it's kind of the way that
startups should be.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (58:46):
I think even, even if you're somebody that isn't a
sports fan necessarily just thefact that it's something that
makes those connections, youknow, for young athletes, you
know, trying to, you know, starttheir career or further their
careers and, and uh, just, justthat function of the company.
I think it was really cool.

(59:08):
And anybody that you know isinterested in business or, uh,
has their own startup or anentrepreneur or an aspiring
entrepreneur, I think it's,it's, I think it's pretty cool
and, and inspiring, you know,just the story of putting it
together.
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (59:24):
Kids are going to want to be like you.

Speaker 3 (59:26):
Yeah, I hope so.
And you guys too, you guysstarted an awesome company also,
so take some time to patyourselves on the back, but uh,
now it's been it's, it's beenreally cool.
And, uh, yeah, again, ifanyone's listening to then has
any questions on even startingyour own company, even if it's
outside sports, I'm more thanhappy to help.
So reach out.
I, I make sure to get back toeverybody who reaches out to me,
um, and when you raise money,it's actually a lot of people we

(59:47):
reach back out, but I try tomake sure to, uh, to hit
everyone back and up wherever Ican.

Speaker 1 (59:52):
Awesome.
Well, Jason, thank you so much.
We really do appreciate yourtime and it's such an awesome
story and we wish you all thebest in the future.
Can't wait to see what happensin the next three to six months.

Speaker 3 (01:00:04):
Yes, same year, same year.
But thank you guys so much.
Let's do it again.

Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
Go rate and review.
We're not blowing hot air.
So more people are aware ofwellness and business stuff that
deserves more oxygen andsubscribe to our podcast.
So you never miss an excitingepisode.

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
Thanks for listening.
But before we go check out thisepisode's featured artists,
Grammy award winner, andmulti-platinum selling music
producer Michael blue with hissong.
Bring it on England.

Speaker 4 (01:01:39):
[inaudible] we smash smooth.
We have fast[inaudible].