Stoppage Time Special: When Growth Changes the Game

This Stoppage Time edition of the Pitch to Pro podcast features a focused look at the role of vision in entrepreneurship, regional development, and professional sports ownership, all through the lens of Northwest Arkansas’ rapid transformation. In this short segment from Episode 45, we revisit a conversation with Ross Cully that highlights how NWA’s explosive growth has forced local leaders to recalibrate their benchmarks, no longer comparing the region to peer markets it has now surpassed.

You’ll hear reflections on what it means to think beyond the present, both for cities and businesses. As NWA evolves, local leaders are wrestling with the need to plan infrastructure and policy around who the region wants to become in 20 years, not just who it is today. That forward-thinking mindset also parallels the entrepreneurial journey, where taking leaps before others see the potential is often what sets long-term success in motion.

Ross shares the early days of building The Harvest Group, a story filled with grit, risk, and the necessity of persuading others to believe in a vision that didn’t yet exist. These same principles carry over into the creation of Ozark United FC, where club founders are again being asked to forecast trends and commit to an idea ahead of the market.

This clip captures the tension and excitement of growth, the burden and privilege of leadership, and the deep need for clarity of vision, whether you're shaping a company, a sports club, or an entire region’s future. It’s a snapshot of the ideas driving NWA’s momentum and the people courageous enough to lead it.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Stoppage Time edition of the
Pitch to Pro podcast.
This is a highlight reel ofsome of the best moments from
the show so far, and every otherweek we will be bringing you a
special five to seven minutesegment featuring the best
stories, tales and moments ofthe podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
I had a different guest, mervyn Gibourage of the
University of Arkansas EconomicCenter for Research and
Development, and they'veactually had to change their
countries of benchmark, you know, with the NWA Council and all
of that, because we kind of hadsurpassed a lot of it and it
made us look really good and wewere kind of patting ourselves

(00:40):
on the back and it was like,okay, our comparable markets now
have shifted and changed and weneed to set our sights higher.
And I think that is a definitemoment where it's a signifier of
kind of the growth anddevelopment of NWA and kind of
where it's at.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
For sure.
Yeah, and I think you knowwe're talking to in essence is
vision and something as anentrepreneur that I've had to
learn a lot about and experience.
And I think when we think aboutour area that's growing and
changing, that's anotherimportant thing for us to have.
Many of us who've lived here along time have grumbled about

(01:18):
the change.
It's more traffic, it's this,it's that.
The other way to look at thatis to look forward with vision
of the good things that arecoming.
I think this enterprise, ozarkUnited, is really one that takes
vision to see not what we havebeen as an area, not even maybe,

(01:38):
where we are, but where are wegoing, and to see that and get
ahead of that and, as aninvestor, having vision and
spotting trends and hitting thattiming.
The point you just made arecritical and you've spoken about
this before on the podcast.
But when you think aboutprofessional sports, a lot of

(01:58):
people look up at the headlinegrabbing valuations of the
Lakers or all the differenttransactions that happened
Celtics, mavericks and say kindof duh, like I would have made
that move if I had theopportunity.
But if you rewind and you readthe whole story, a lot of the

(02:19):
people when they got in to thoseteams it was not a no-brainer,
I mean, and there was a lot oflaughing and naysaying and, you
know, eyebrow raising when theygot into professional sports.
But when you spot trends, whenyou have vision and you hit the
right timing, that's whensometimes magic can happen.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
And I think you're spot on and you know we'll talk
about.
We'll dive a little bit moreinto that, into soccer,
specifically in NWA and in theleague.
You obviously had some visionand some grit to you know.
Get to where you are now withHarvest Group.
Talk a little bit about youknow that journey and lessons
learned and maybe some parallelsthat you might be able to to

(03:02):
draw for any entrepreneurs outthere listening or or you know
folks thinking about vision andNWA and I mean there's, there's
some intense.
You know I had Nelson Peacock onthe on the podcast early early
days and some of the decisionmakers for the area.
You start thinking about thingsthat impact people's lives as
an entrepreneur and a CEO,impacting the people's lives of

(03:24):
your company based on decisionsthat you make.
It's a heavy burden and notsomething to take lightly.
Right, and having vision andforesight to do the best that
you can with the informationthat you have.
That was something that hithome for me in planning city
infrastructure and who do wewant to be in 20 years?

(03:44):
You have to start planning forthat now.
Talk more about that from yourlens as a builder and an
entrepreneur.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
You know, my Harvest Group journey has been a 20-year
journey, and so there's severalchapters at this point, and I
think that's helpful as we thinkabout building the club here as
well.
But in the early days you'rejust scrapping and you're trying
to survive.
You're figuring it out as yougo, you're hopefully surrounding
yourselves with as much wisdomand counsel as you can.

(04:12):
But it takes some people to seethat vision and take a leap of
faith, to take a chance tobelieve what they can't see, to
have the same vision that youhave.
And so for us, that was earlyclients, early employees that
decided to, you know, believe inus even though we had no office

(04:33):
, you know, we had no income,you know, obviously, at the
start.
And so those early days, eachstage has exciting parts to it
and hard parts, and sometimes wecan look back with nostalgia
and it becomes mythology.
But those early days can bereally, really hard.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
Thank you for joining us for this stoppage time
special of the Pitch to Propodcast.
If you've enjoyed theconversation, you can click
watch the full episode here.
Be sure to tune in nextThursday for a new episode of
the Pitch to Pro podcast, theofficial podcast of Ozark United
FC, Available on YouTube,Instagram and everywhere you get
your podcasts.