Advertise on podcast: Bullpen Presents - In Conversation With...

In episode 027 of In Conversation With... I spoke to Konstantin Sonkin, founder of i-BrainTech. A background in neuroscience and AI led Konstantin to founding i-BrainTech which is an AI-powered brain-training platform for high performance athletes. The platform is a video game, connected to an EEG cap that helps athletes train their minds through visualisation and feedback of executing sporting actions and situations. We also talked about neurofeedback and how it meshes with athletes and high performance.

In episode 026 of In Conversation With... I spoke to Guy Port, WSC Sports’ Head of APAC. WSC Sports is one of the most impressive sports technology companies over the last decade. The Israel headquartered company’s AI tech automates highlights for clients of many types and sports – those highlights can be used in many ways, Stories, social media, Google search, broadcast, and more! In this conversation we talked about the changing/evolving WSC business, how WSC has expanded across his remit in Asia and we talked a bit about how he has evolved in his role since we last spoke at the end of 2018.

In episode 025 of In Conversation With... I spoke to Samuel Westberg, CEO of La Source. Based out of France, La Source has a unique agency model where they provide acceleration, business development and account management to a select group of leading sports startups who are attempting to break into the European market. I started the interview by asking what is LaSource and moved into their unique agency model, working with startups in a fragmented continent and also asked Samuel what inspires him.

In episode 024 of In Conversation With... I spoke to Adam Mussa, founder of Campaignware. Campaignware is a multi-channel, audience engagement tool that helps organisations, clubs and SMB’s acquire first party user data. They used to be called Benchvote, but no more. The bootstrapped Australian tech startup has worked with major sports clubs, organisations and brands both home in Australia and around the world for their sponsorship activation campaigns. But their software platform is for any business big or small.

In episode 023 of In Conversation With... I spoke to writer and podcaster Ronen Ainbinder. For 90 editions Ronen has produced a weekly newsletter called Sports-Tech Biz which tackles fascinating topics at the intersections of yep you guessed it, sports, technology and business. His excellent weekly podcast, which I’ve appeared on, The Halftime Snacks, features interviews with major players in sports, business, technology, media and venture capital. In this conversation I asked Ronen about the process of developing and creating content, staying consistent and inspired, and his writing and creation process. But we both reflected on our work and journeys to this point.

In episode 022 of In Conversation With… I spoke to Matilda Sung from Ludis Capital. They’re a sportstech venture capital firm with their portfolio taking in companies like Pumpjack Dataworks and FOOTYLIGHT to name just a couple. Matilda is Ludis Capital’s general partner. In this conversation we learn about her work – she has a background in investment banking and portfolio management while in sport she ran the NFL’s digital strategy group – but we also learn how she considers the sports and technology spaces, what she is bullish on in the industry, we even touched on the use case of crypto in sport.

In episode 021 of In Conversation With… I spoke to Rod Harys from Fan+. Fan+ is a marketplace where fans, clubs, businesses and sponsors can connect with athletes to receive messages, experiences, training and more. Covid-19 forced the company to rethink its proposition like the establishment of a new arm to the business called Fan+ for Business.

In episode 20 of In Conversation With... I spoke to Johan Junker from Antourage. Antourage’s vision is to propagate authentic media and reward participation, and their technology helps develop creator-driven networks and communities. This is all rooted in making sure rights holders, clubs, owners and individuals own their first-party data, their audience, and to build meaningful relationships. One of the major talking points in this episode was the future of the creator-fan relationship.

In episode 19 of In Conversation With... I spoke to Daniel Evans from Reely. Reely has developed AI and computer vision technology that automatically scans for video highlights which are then pushed across multiple channels and platforms. Starting in sport, Reely has evolved and deployed their technology towards gaming and esports opening up an incredible world of opportunities. Their potential is enormous.

In episode 18 of In Conversation With... I spoke to Sidhhant Agarwal from SportVot. SportVot provides a stack of mobile tech tools for semi-professional and grassroots sports teams, clubs and leagues to broadcast their matches live and on-demand. Scaling fast in India, they’ve begun testing their tech offshore, notably in my home country of Australia. In this conversation we talk about the the technologies they have in development and the why – why are they solving a problem with sporting coverage below the professional pyramid.

In episode 17 of In Conversation With... I spoke to Andy Marston from Sports Pundit. Andy is one of the top thinkers in sports business and his weekly newsletter, Sports Pundit, has fast become essential reading for those who want the most concise breakdown of what is shaping the sports industry. He poses fascinating questions each week in his newsletter so I invited him onto the podcast to discuss some of those questions and a few sportsbiz trends.

In episode 16 of In Conversation With... I spoke to Tiago Costa from Full Venue. Hailing from Portugal, Full Venue is described as “an AI Platform that predicts the exact likelihood of a fan to make a purchase, such as buying a ticket or a piece of merchandise.” They do that through analysing past data sources, stuff like purchases and ticketing history, to train their algorithms to make predictions. They’re already doing pilots with renowned clubs and organisations like the NBA champions Milwaukee Bucks, Club Nacional, Stade Francais and the Royal Belgian Football Federation. I spoke to Tiago just as his company was completing Startupbootcamp’s Sports & Event Tech Accelerator out of Melbourne, Australia.