Ignite VC: The New Funding Models Founders Need to Know with Ethan Mayers | Ep294

Ethan Mayers (0:00)

So, the first thing you have to understand is that capital is an invention. You cannot find any evidence of term sheets, LPs, anything, biology, chemistry, or physics. In this particular instance, it allows us to share risk, take risk upfront in exchange for a future reward.

Brian Bell (0:44)

Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the Ignite Podcast. Today, we are thrilled to have Ethan Mayers on the mic. He's a venture partner, operator, and self-described Agile Shepherd, who's worked across 50-plus countries and traveled to many more. We have a lot to talk about, so we're going to get right into it. But Ethan, I'd love to get your origin story. What's your background?

Ethan Mayers (1:01)

Yeah. So I started off life like everyone does in venture and startups as a TV producer. Very common trajectory. Started way back when, actually, at the University of Tennessee. I worked for Pat Summitt, who was at the time the winningest basketball coach in history. She has now been surpassed by two others. And then I ended up working for Stephen A. Smith, and I did that until about 2007

And then I made the...

Brian Bell (1:23)

The basketball commentator?

Ethan Mayers (1:25)

Correct.

Brian Bell (1:25)

Yeah.

Ethan Mayers (1:26)

I was his researcher and producer for his...

Brian Bell (1:29)

What's he like to work for?

Ethan Mayers (1:30)

You know, I mean, look, he is intense, and he expects a lot from you, but he's also a very kind and gentle person. In person, at the time, I was actually a single parent. So I arrived to New York with $600 to my name and a four-year-old and my 1996 Nissan Sentra, and that's all I had to my name. And so I had to go home early a lot of times for shows, because when I was a single parent, I was it. So he would let me go home early, and although in exchange for that, there were times when I would literally pull over. So this was 2005 and 6, early 7, I'm dating myself. But what's important is the iPhone didn't-

Brian Bell (2:04)

That's exactly the same time I was on Wall Street, so it's fine.

Ethan Mayers (2:06)

The important thing is the iPhone came out in 2007 So what was our primary form of communication? The Blackberry. So Stephen A mandated that I have a Blackberry. When that thing went off, I would pull over on the side of a road, on the side of a highway, because he was walking into an interview, and he needed a particular stat or a piece of information, or some sort of researchable information. So I'd literally pull over on the side of the road.

Brian Bell (2:28)

Just start researching on the Blackberry?

Ethan Mayers (2:30)

100 percent. If I had to, I would pull out, I had a big laptop that I'd pull out, and I had a hotspot, so 100 percent. I would literally travel, I would travel, like that was the payoff.

I had a really exciting job, and I had maximum flexibility to take care of my son, but I was on call 24-7-365 wherever I was. I mean, I have pictures of me in the New York City subway, with my laptop on my lap, big laptop at that time, doing my work on my way into work every single day.

Brian Bell (3:01)

Amazing. I'm a huge basketball fan, that's why I wanted to dig into this Stephen A. Smith story.

Ethan Mayers (3:06)

I mean, these were my first mentors, Pat Summitt, who was one of the written in this basketball coaches of all time, 32, 33 years at the University of Tennessee, and then Stephen A. Smith. These were some of my earliest first mentors.

Brian Bell (3:19)

That's amazing. How'd you end up with that job? I mean, that's like kind of a random, how everybody gets to work with one of the most profound sportscasters of all time, I'd say. He's definitely in the top 10

Ethan Mayers (3:30)

I mean, everything is a series and function of saying yes and being in the right place in the right time, seriously. So, I mean, in order to understand how I got to ESPN, so I was majoring in, I originally went to school for engineering physics and then realized I wasn't very good at math and also took a documentary filmmaking class that shaped my entire existence. What I realized then was the engineers are not the people who build the future, the storytellers are. Obviously, the best to me are engineers who can do storytelling, but storytelling is the single skill that has motivated our species and proceeded us to do massive projects. That's where it comes from. So I took this documentary filmmaking class, changed my life, changed my major from engineering physics to journalism, documentary filmmaking. That would eventually lead me to do a couple of things that I didn't realize I didn't like TV news, I didn't like this, I didn't like that. I didn't know about sports production. I was not a sports kid, found out about a job at the sports broadcasting University of Tennessee, got the job, ended up producing Pat Summitt's coaches show that connected me to basketball, had a master's degree, decided to do my thesis in basketball just because it was honestly easier. You could argue that's lazy because I had access to all the resources and stats.