Welcome To The Cool Companies Spotlight: Finlete
The Class of 2022 Cool Companies is absolutely stellar and we are excited to share them with you. This spotlight series provides the opportunity to learn more about each company from their founders, CEO’s, or Presidents. We will provide you a glimpse into the incredible innovation and talent being cultivated in San Diego.
The twelfth spotlight in the series is dedicated to Finlete.
Finlete is the AngelList for minor league athletes. Our platform provides an easy way for up-and-coming professional athletes to securitize a percentage of their future earnings. Our platform is super interesting because both accredited and non-accredited investors/fans can invest and share in that athlete’s future earnings. Fans that choose to invest get access to the athlete investment portal, where they get behind the scene updates and the opportunity to purchase investor-only merchandise. Our current investors include ComcastNBC, Bruce Bochy, and Matt Vasgersian.
What is the hardest thing about being an entrepreneur?
Making tough decisions when there might not be a right answer.
Why is your company the best solution to the problem you're solving?
Fans want a way to support and connect with their favorite athletes. We are allowing them to invest and share in the journey of some top athletic sports prospects.
What inspired you to be a Co-Founder?
We started as a company called Meetlete. It was an app that allowed fans to pay to meet their favorite athletes for a 4-minute virtual meet and greet. Most professional athletes did not want to participate. However, Minor league baseball players were by far the most active athletes on our app. We found that a lot of them were living at poverty levels. We also learned that many of them had taken cash in exchange for a percentage of their future earnings. The company was a private fund not open to the public. We decided to test if minor league baseball players and fans would be interested in a crowdfunding model like AngelList. We were overwhelmed by their response. The decision to pivot to Finlete was easy.
What's the best entrepreneurial advice you've received?
Talk To Those Who Have Done It.
What’s your most satisfying entrepreneur moment so far?
Selling my previous bootstrapped start-up AgentBuzz.
If you could be any superhero which would it be and why?
Easy, Superman! Being able to fly would be awesome!
Who do you consider a role model?
It has to be may Dad. He worked 6 days a week and somehow never missed a baseball game, wrestling match, and any other event my sister and I participated as kids.
Where would we find you in San Diego?
During the week, I’m at our office at Union Co-Working East Village next to Petco Park. You can find me at my daughter’s soccer matches in La Mesa on the weekend! Go Sparkley Mermaids!
Here at Connect our mission is to help San Diego’s incredible startup companies grow and succeed. We hope you enjoyed reading The Cool Company Spotlight. Stay tuned for more upcoming spotlights!