Malcolm Lemmons: From Athlete to Sports Innovator
Malcolm Lemmons: Bridging Sports, Culture, and Innovation
What does it take to go from professional athlete to driving innovation in sports? In this episode of the MVP Interactive podcast, our CEO, James Giglio speaks with Malcolm Lemmons, a former professional athlete and founder of Vetted Sports, a media and research platform focused on sports tech. They discuss Malcolm’s transition from athlete to entrepreneur, the cultural experiences he gained while playing in Japan, and the vision behind Vetted Sports. The conversation highlights the importance of relationships in business, the evolving landscape of sports technology, and the future of fan engagement.
Highlights
00:00 From Athlete to Entrepreneur: The Transition Journey
02:46 Cultural Insights: Living and Playing in Japan
05:34 Vetted Sports: Bridging the Gap in Sports Tech
11:07 Emerging Technologies in Sports: Trends and Innovations
13:50 Building Relationships: The Key to Success
21:00 Future Vision: Growth and Expansion of Vetted Sports
About Malcolm Lemmons
Malcolm Lemmons is the founder of Vetted Sports, a media and research platform focused on the intersection of sports, technology and investing. He has been featured in and contributed to various publications such as Huff Post, Front Office Sports, and Boardroom. Malcolm has also been named a LinkedIn Top Voice in Sports Business and a leading creator on the platform. Furthermore, he is a 2-time author of Lessons from the Game, and the best-selling book, Impact Beyond the Game. Prior to his business career, he played professional basketball in Japan for several years.
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Podcast Transcript
James Giglio (00:01.218)
Welcome back to the MVP interactive podcast. Today we have a great guest joining us from vetted sports. Malcolm Lemmons is a pro athlete and now the founder of vetted sports, a leading media and research platform for sports tech investors, founders and executives. So Malcolm really appreciate your time today and excited about our discussion.
Malcolm (00:22.505)
the opportunity, James. Excited about this as well.
James Giglio (00:25.524)
Excellent, excellent. So obviously I think there’s any level of intrigue when we have guests that have been former athletes or professional athletes. And I think one of the more compelling questions that we ask some of the former athletes is, you know, what the transition was like, because what we found, at least, you know, in my professional world that, and the athletes that I’ve been around and then have befriended or worked with, and eventually maybe even had a podcast with, I found that
a lot of their professional sports experience really translated very well to the business world and you know, whether they’re football players or basketball players, the sort of regimen of sort of this military style like training and discipline that one goes into becoming a pro athlete. So we’re interested to hear maybe your story in terms of your background and what inspired you from being a pro athlete into getting into the venture world.
Malcolm (01:23.313)
Yeah, absolutely. I guess to start, man, I was born and raised in Washington, D.C.
basketball there is like a whole culture within itself. It’s a hotbed of talent. A lot of NBA players come out of that area. So, you know, from a young age, I had this passion and drive to want to, you know, excel and play basketball at a very high level. And I was very fortunate to play division one and then had the opportunity to play overseas in Japan for a number of years. And when I started to think about, you know, making that transition, I had really taken that time off of the court while I was still playing to explore different things, try to figure out what my passion
where my interests lie and.
where I could really see myself in the next 50 years or so as far as my career. And I think every athlete will tell you like there is some sense of uncertainty and fear and your identity is so tied up in being an athlete. So you think about making this transition, it’s very daunting. And whether you prepare before you stop, I think there is some sort of struggle that every athlete faces in that transition. And for me, it was the same, even though I kind of had
game plan and had taken some time to think about my next step. was still like it took me years to really become comfortable in a professional setting because I never really had a job before being being an athlete. So I think for most athletes, they’ll tell you like it’s definitely a hard transition. It takes a lot of patience and humility because essentially you’re starting from ground zero. But you know, to your point, like a lot of the traits and intangibles that you learn.
Malcolm (03:00.707)
as an athlete can be directly transferred over into the professional world from, you know, the discipline to the teamwork to the goal setting, organization, like all these things that you pick up over the years being an athlete are definitely useful in the professional setting and have been vital to, you know, any success that I’ve had today, you know, in building better sports and other things that I’ve done over the past couple of years.
James Giglio (03:24.396)
Sure. Now, did you have any mentorship or any group of circle of friends or colleagues that helped prepare you to making that transition or was this just kind of throwing yourself into the fire, so to speak, and taking positions and just kind of organically?
Malcolm (03:41.321)
Yeah, I dove in head first. didn’t really have anybody to lean on. I obviously, like I’ve known other know other professionals. have professionals in my family. You my brother was in the, you know, in the working world, even though he was a former football player. So I did have people to lean on and to kind of go to to seek advice. But for the most part, like I think I didn’t really have any connections in the sports world. So from that perspective, like I
really kind of built up my Rolodex and network from ground zero and kind of.
you know, stump on my way into this industry through a lot of research, a lot of reading, a lot of publishing, you know, my thoughts and through content and really putting myself out there over the years and starting to slowly kind of build up, you know, a platform and some relationship capital. But I think for me, it was really, you know, I know myself well enough to know that I learned by doing and there was nothing that anybody was going to tell me that wasn’t going to that I wasn’t going to pick up. I’d actually just
going into the fire and trying to figure things out on my own.
James Giglio (04:47.758)
Yeah, I totally agree. In entrepreneurship in general, there is no MBA that can prepare you for the things that you have to learn on your own and by doing it in real life. So I can certainly appreciate that. You had mentioned your publishing. I will just side note here that you had a great LinkedIn post. I recommend people checking Malcolm’s LinkedIn page to see his sort of history of sport ventures that have been published.
growing in popularity over the last decade or so. So I thought that was a pretty timely post. I think he posted it this morning or maybe last night. on a personal level, I’m curious to know what your experience living in Japan was like. Personally, I think Tokyo is probably one of my top two favorite cities in the entire world. had the opportunity to actually present at a sports.
Malcolm (05:20.745)
Yeah, that was the same one.
James Giglio (05:41.038)
venture pitch there back in 2019 through Scrum Ventures. It was an amazing experience. I only had three days in Tokyo, but I sure as heck made the most of it. But I’m curious to hear your thoughts and what that cultural shift is like. Because it’s a very unique country and very respectful and very so different than, not to say America is disrespectful, but it’s so different culturally from America. So I’m curious to hear what that experience was like.
Malcolm (06:05.581)
Yeah.
Malcolm (06:10.953)
Yeah, I think overall it was definitely an amazing opportunity and experience. definitely grew a lot from being in a different kind of like, I think the thing that people don’t really understand is like, you’re not going to visit, you’re going to live in these country for nine months out of the year when you’re playing a professional sports overseas. So you really have to be adjusting and assimilate into their culture and their society and learn certain customs and traditions that you
James Giglio (06:25.742)
All
Malcolm (06:38.567)
might not have ever experienced in your life before. So I think for me at the time, that was only the second time that I had ever been out of the country, out of the States. And I was going to Japan and my first contract overseas, I was playing in a small town, about an hour outside of Osaka, Japan, in a little town called Ashia. And it was very tough, I think.
not only from a cultural perspective, but basketball wise, you know, obviously there’s a language barrier, basketball, you know, sports is definitely universal, but there are certain things that, you know, obviously it comes to communication and certain things that you might have done playing in the States that might be different playing in a different country. So it’s those little adjustments that you have to make on the court, not only, you know, through your sport, but also like food and just daily things that they might do that you’re just not used to. So it definitely
challenges you in a number of different ways and you have to not only have a lot of mental fortitude, but also emotional capacity to be able to handle that for however long you’re playing in a different country. So I would say that it was an incredible experience overall, something I wouldn’t trade for the world. And I think a lot of what I’ve learned living in Japan for those three years or so, I’ve taken a lot back with me and I apply to my daily life and I love Japanese culture, traditions.
I mean, they’re amazing, amazing country, amazing people, very forward thinking, very kind, honorable, respectful. So many, so many great things that, you know, I’ve taken with me and that they’ve taught me over there that I, that I imply in my, in my daily life now. So it’s an experience I wouldn’t trade for the world, man. I love Japan and I’m, I’ve been dying to go back. It’s been about 10 years now. So, right.
James Giglio (08:10.638)
Absolutely.
James Giglio (08:26.19)
Yeah, yeah. Well, it’s not a quick puddle jump, that’s for sure. you know, I think you’re right. You know, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel the globe quite a bit. you know, you can go to Europe and, you know, have the unique experience. But, you know, you still see some likeness of living in a Western country. But when you go to Japan, it really is almost like stepping into the future and around, you know, again, I have a very anecdotal experience of Tokyo.
But takeaway was, culturally, the respect and the politeness and the courtesy and chivalry, everything that is virtuous seems to be spread throughout the population there, which is really great. And so you answered my question in terms of what you brought back. But maybe we can have a little fun with the.
Malcolm (09:02.493)
Yeah.
James Giglio (09:16.194)
What was your experience with the food change? Knowing how, I mean, I don’t know if you ate a lot of raw fish growing up, but now I’d imagine that you’re a big fan of sushi and everything in between there.
Malcolm (09:23.142)
I’m
Malcolm (09:31.385)
Yeah, I think my first week being in Japan, I think I eat sushi every day. It was all the team fed me that first week being over there. And I think I was a little apprehensive of trying a lot of different things.
I want to say like the most I really ate was like I would walk to McDonald’s and you know, I wanted something that I was used to something that made me feel like I was I was still home in a sense. So I ate a lot of McDonald’s over there. But I think my second year I got a little more open minded when it came to food. So I would try a lot of different things when I was living in Tokyo. You know, I mean, you you’ve been to Tokyo, you know, it’s pretty westernized as far as like the inner city and you can get a lot of different cuisines and foods there.
James Giglio (09:53.73)
Right.
Malcolm (10:17.309)
But it took me a minute to really, you want to step outside of that comfort zone and that box to try different things.
James Giglio (10:23.554)
Yeah, that’s funny. know, I, the first day I went, cause I know I had limited time. So I mean, I literally got off the plane, dumped my bags and then went to see the cherry blossoms. And I was eating octopus balls like right off the bat. was like, I was fully immersed. like, I’m just going, I’m going for it. And the colleague I was with by the second day, he was like, I’m going to KFC. can’t do this anymore. But, so that’s cool. So let’s get into, to vetted sports a little bit here. So obviously, vetted sports is all about connecting.
Malcolm (10:33.487)
yeah. Yeah.
Malcolm (10:43.279)
Yeah.
James Giglio (10:53.614)
sports tech investors and founders and executives. And so what inspired you to get into venture and, you know, what makes vetted sports more unique to maybe some of the other ventures, even the ones that you had posted on LinkedIn today?
Malcolm (11:10.887)
Yeah, absolutely. I think to start man like that is sports is really kind of like accumulation of my interest and passions. When I was getting into the professional world and kind of transitioning from being an athlete, I knew I wanted to work in sports in some capacity and I had gotten a job working in technology. So my background professionally started in cybersecurity, but always kind of wanted to figure out a way of working in sports. Didn’t know how to do that. So my way of trying to figure that out was through content and media. So I was kind
been this content guy. And I would publish content on a variety of things, whether it was related to my athletic experience or athletes building brands or just stuff that I was seeing in the space. And then it was during the pandemic, I really got fascinated with emerging technology and kind of wanted to merge my experience in the tech industry with the business side of sports. And that was around the time when NFTs and blockchain and the metaverse was really booming. And so I took a look
at some of the bigger publications in the space, it felt like they weren’t really covering that intersection and kind of found this lane in this niche, started to build a newsletter at the time that was called the Hype Report and it was very focused on that intersection.
But over the course of building that and just meeting general sports tech founders and investors, I saw this bigger ecosystem. You had people building data analytics companies and VR and augmented reality and sports betting and wearables and all these different verticals that were under the sports tech umbrella. And I had this vision of building TechCrunch for the world of sports.
really like this hyper focus on early and growth stage startups having a place where they can talk about their companies, their stories, and also find a way to bridge the gap between founders, builders, and investors as well. So kind of went through a rebrand, built out the web platform at the beginning of 2024. know, Vetted Sports was launched. And really the goal, as I said, was to build this platform where we can help.
Malcolm (13:12.807)
become like a primary resource for the sports tech industry. And it’s kind of since broadened out to just cover sports as an asset class. So not only do we cover sports tech companies, but also how institutional capital is coming towards teams, leagues, et cetera. And really it’s, like I said, like it’s just been a kind of evolution of my passion and interest over the years and things that I find interesting and that I could feel like I can provide value to the industry as well.
James Giglio (13:37.9)
Yeah, that’s great. I actually didn’t know that you had a background in cybersecurity, so I think that definitely opens your perspective up a lot in terms of the maybe forward facing technology as far as immersive tech goes. And so on that note, are you particularly excited about any piece of technology or where you see?
Malcolm (13:42.739)
Yeah.
James Giglio (14:01.314)
real momentum going. You mentioned the NFTs and the metaverse and the god-awful COVID era of all of our lives. As a company that’s been in business over 10 years, a technology company and a marketing company, we’ve seen so many hype cycles come and go and see a very short lifespan of what’s hot and what’s trending and what marketers are looking for.
Malcolm (14:09.577)
Yeah.
James Giglio (14:27.202)
curious to hear your thoughts as to what excites you or what you, you you’ve got the pulse, you’re to the ground, so to speak, and what excites you both personally and maybe even professionally when it comes to the sports tech space.
Malcolm (14:39.813)
Yeah, I I got to give a shout out to you guys, you what you guys are doing in terms of the fan experience and just recreating innovative ways to engage consumers and build new experience for fans. I think that’s the name of the game. Like owners want to bring fans out. They want to create unique experiences where, you know, they could, you know, have these memories and really connect with the teams and organizations. And I think you guys are doing a great job of that. So anything
James Giglio (14:42.318)
Thank you.
James Giglio (15:09.208)
Thank you.
Malcolm (15:09.669)
Fan engagement, fan experience related, I’m super interested in. A couple of the companies come to mind, like what Cosm is doing, I think it’s cool. Status Pro, anything in terms of how we’re…
really reshaping how fans engage with teams and leagues and players, I think is really cool. The athlete in me is really focused on athletic sustainability. So like anything wearable related, I think is really cool and helping players play longer and recover faster. I think there’s a lot of cool companies doing some stuff around that. And obviously like AI has been the buzzword of the year, but I think there’s real application and use
James Giglio (15:50.574)
All right.
Malcolm (15:52.911)
case when you talk about personalization and building you, you going back to like unique experience for each consumer and each fan. think there’s a, there’s a lot to be said there and a lot of innovation happening around that area.
And then I’ve been big on smart stadiums. Like I think what Steve Ballmer has done with Intuit Dome, I think like that’s the future of teams and how they’re trying to create these like really cool arenas and mixed use venues for fans as well. So there’s obviously a lot happening around sports in different verticals, but I think those are probably the areas where I’m spending the most time at the moment.
James Giglio (16:30.806)
Yeah, yeah, very cool. And I agree, I haven’t been into it yet, but LA is obviously having a movement right now or a moment in terms of the global stage with all of the events, whether it’s the Olympics coming up or the World Cup. so I’ve been to SoFi a few times and that is an architectural marvel in and of itself. So I do agree with you in terms of the smart stadiums. I really like, back when we started in 2012,
Malcolm (16:44.541)
Yeah.
James Giglio (17:00.534)
and we were pitching fan experience technology at that time, most venues didn’t even have wifi connections, right? And they were just setting those up. So we were ahead of the market and know, fan experience just meant, you know, what’s on the jumbotron at that point. And so it’s been a nice evolution to see ownership and leagues really change the culture of consuming sports, right? And so, you know, these venues aren’t just
you know, a playing field for 60 minutes. These are a full day lifestyle center that, you know, has attractions like a Disney or a museum or innovative tech center. So it’s been nice to see that some of the soapbox messaging back 12 years ago that hadn’t really come into fruition. Here we are a decade later where it’s all.
moving into our expectation of what it means to attend a live event, especially in sports.
Malcolm (17:58.141)
Yeah, yeah, you guys can say I told you so. Yeah.
James Giglio (18:01.23)
Well, it’s been a labor of love. So we treat every victory like a big win. but yeah, it’s been quite the journey and we appreciate all of our clients and the opportunity to work with them and the trust that they have in us to develop these emerging technologies. And the challenge for us really is…
All of this stuff started bespoke with ideas, right? You know, this isn’t something where you can go to a Best Buy and just pull this interactive experience off a shelf. And so we’ve learned a lot and we’ve kept pace with marketing trends, what brands are looking for, what fans are looking for, and then really trying to create a cost efficient model for our clients that we can scale and have our experiences throughout the country. So.
You know, back to your publishing and newsletter, as you were explaining that and developing your interest, I saw a lot of parallels to the widely popular publication Sports Techie. And I’m curious to know if you guys have ever collaborated or have you collaborated with any other platform, with the front office sports or sports business journal.
Malcolm (19:14.385)
Yeah, I’m familiar with Sport Techie. I know they were acquired by SBJ a couple of years ago and they kind of have this focus on like sports and technology. I don’t know if they really cover like a lot of the early and growth stage startups or if it was like the broader sports tech ecosystem.
We haven’t really focused on collaborating. think there are a lot of players in the sports business media space and we all kind of overlap in a way. But there’s also like, think the industry is big enough and wide enough and has enough verticals underneath it to where we can kind of also own our own lanes in a way. think front office sports does a great job of covering just the broader sports business landscape through a
Either what B2B but also like a B2C lens where they’re like, I think they’ve kind of like shifted their focus to more more so consumers and like business for the sports consumer. We’re really like more of a B2B platform where we provide insights for people who are looking to deploy capital.
James Giglio (20:07.608)
Right.
Malcolm (20:16.137)
into the sports ecosystem, helping them understand some of the future trends and things that are happening behind the scenes and really kind of niching down on that lane so we don’t cover some of the sports news per se or stuff that you might see SBJ or front office sports covers. And there’s a lot of like niche creators who also doing a great job. think Joe Pompano is one who does a fantastic job storytelling around certain stories or around certain
James Giglio (20:21.806)
you
James Giglio (20:42.595)
Yeah.
Malcolm (20:46.093)
topics within sports and, and, know, we all kind of, you know, play in these different lanes, but there’s, there’s, I’ve always said, like, there’s enough space in this industry as it grows for everybody to win and to kind of, you know, do their own thing and really cover their interests and what they’re, what they’re best at. So, you know, I think there’s opportunities to collaborate, you know, in some way, shape or form with, with other platforms, other creators. And as the space grows, you know, I’m always looking for opportunities to do so with other people who have a
line enters.
James Giglio (21:17.184)
Yeah, you mentioned Joe, he’s a great follow on Twitter, X, whatever you’d like to call it these days. But yeah, I could I could totally see that that as a collaboration for sure, because he does a really good job of, you know, leaning into the business side of sports. And, know, again, I think you’re right in terms of having niches or lanes that each can focus on and.
Malcolm (21:21.522)
Yeah.
James Giglio (21:38.574)
You know, I remember front office sports and even SBJ as competitive or similar as they seem, you know, they both had a different angle to it, right? Where SBJ at the time felt more like a trade publication for the internal industry where front office was more of you know, consumer level education, you know, news publication, right? And so I think you could, history has proven exactly your point in that once people settle in into
know, their lane and domain expertise, there’s enough for everyone and collaboration is a part of that. So I think you’re spot on with that.
Malcolm (22:13.245)
Yeah. And I think we all also not only like can have different angles, but also different long-term business models. Like I think.
SBJ is very focused on like the subscription model. think front office is more like ad supported and working with big brands for programmatic advertising. like everybody kind of and Joe pump wants to kind of leverage his community and scale to really build a platform where he can he wants to charge assets for his access for his his publication or substacks. So we all kind of have these different models and long term perspectives on how we’re going to, you know, build a sustainable business as well.
James Giglio (22:53.986)
Sure. So now that you have a few years under your belt here, what would you, what level of advice would you tell other athletes or even, you know, individuals that are looking to get into business or entrepreneurship, any advice or total that you could provide to those folks?
Malcolm (23:15.109)
Yeah, I think the biggest thing, and I think this is also just a really like a advice for life is like everything is about people and relationships.
You know, I think a lot of people when they get into sports, they don’t understand how much of like these partnerships and, you know, job opportunities are directly related to who you know and who you have a relationship with. So I think how you treat people, how you operate on a daily basis, the value that you’re willing to provide, not in hopes of something being reciprocated, but also just because like you genuinely want to help somebody else.
you care about service and…
providing something for someone else, I think is probably understated and super important when you’re looking to work in this industry. I always tell athletes, like going back to that transition piece, like it takes time to really figure out your long-term game plan. But if you can always put yourself in a place of service and look to provide value to people in exchange for no expectation, that’ll take you a long way. Like when I was…
James Giglio (24:28.494)
Sure.
Malcolm (24:29.297)
trying to get into sports. Like one of the things that I did was I would go on LinkedIn and find people who I thought were doing interesting things or, starting their own platforms or hosting events. And I would volunteer, offer to volunteer for free or offer to set up introductions, whatever the case may be. And those relationships, those things that I.
did back then turned out to help me build relationships that I still have today. So I think just having the humility to put yourself out there and help other people in terms of not expecting anything to be reciprocated I think is probably the best piece of advice that I can give somebody who’s looking to work in this industry.
James Giglio (25:09.676)
Yeah, and I think that’s a perfect example of, and again, I’m not gonna talk down on any MBA programs here, but I think that’s something as an entrepreneur that was a interesting lesson for me personally in that you start a business, you think about the success and the scaling and the revenues and you’re so focused on product and build and build and build.
But what you don’t realize is exactly your point in that you provide your clients or your network value that is not to be reciprocated or doing proof of concepts. For example, like for us, you know, we had to, you know, really prove ourselves and we had to take a lot of losses and, know, with not really the expectation of return, but just to show and prove the value of what we’re able to do. And I think we still
carry that and continue on with that philosophy when it comes to customer service or troubleshooting or providing added value to our experiences. And we’re not looking to nickel and dime our clients. It’s just, hey, we want to provide you the best experience for your fans, see the most value in your investment. And many times it costs us from a financial perspective, but
on the return side, the instant karma is the positive reputation that we carry within the industry. And I think that’s probably our biggest asset is our reputation outside of the great body of work. But I think that’s a very valuable lesson, as you said, in life, as well as in business. So you don’t give gifts to get a gift. It’s because of the active service of the pleasure of providing that for someone.
Malcolm (26:36.37)
Right.
Malcolm (26:51.461)
Exactly.
Malcolm (26:55.977)
100 % definitely.
James Giglio (26:58.062)
Well, cool. As we’re wrapping up here, Malcolm, what in say over the next five years, when it comes to to vetted sports and yourself personally, what does that look like to you and your growth?
Malcolm (27:10.161)
Yeah, I think going back to that initial vision of like building TechCrunch for the world of sports, mean, when TechCrunch was started, they were just a public media publication, like a blog, more or less. And they expanded and grew different products and services that.
provide a value to the tech industry. I see that as sports being able to do the same for not only sports tech, but also just the asset class of sports. So we want to service the founders. We want to service investors, executives in this space, and have different products and services that we bring, but also continue leveraging media as this flywheel and as a way of driving top of funnel awareness and attention.
you know, things of that nature. it’s really to become like the primary resource for people who are looking to invest and build in the sports, the asset class of sports. That’s where I see the platform growing within the next five years.
James Giglio (28:09.198)
Perfect, and I look forward to watching your growth and your journey, and if there’s any way that I can help support that, please let us know. And so one of the things that we like to do for our listeners is to obviously give as much access as our guests would allow. So where could our listeners find you, either personally or your newsletter, if you want to drop any social media handles or whatever you’re comfortable with? If you could share that, that would be great.
Malcolm (28:33.021)
Yeah, I mean, you called it like LinkedIn is the place where I’m most active. So I’m pretty responsive on there. Try to post pretty consistently. So if anybody’s interested in getting a contact, Malcolm Lemmons on LinkedIn is probably the best place. And then our newsletter is newsletter.vettsports.com. So we have a weekly newsletter where we publish updates and insights around the sports tech and investing landscape. So if anybody’s interested in checking that out, you know that
That’s the URL, but I appreciate this opportunity, James. This has been a lot of fun.
James Giglio (29:07.34)
Yeah, my pleasure. And so thank you again. so until next time, everyone, thanks for joining the MVP interactive podcast and we’ll see you soon. Happy holidays.
