In this episode of the Sport Lifestyle Network Podcast, John Peters is joined by Eloiza Tecson, Managing Partner for EY Ventures. Eloiza spoke about her background at Red Bull and Orange Theory Fitness, and how stepping outside her comfort zone helped her land in the world of Venture Capital. Eloiza also spoke about EY Venture’s thesis as investors in the wellness and active lifestyle ecosystem and gave three clear actions on how we all can do more to empower women in sport today.
References
- The Drift: https://www.eyventuresgroup.com/thedrift
Podcast Highlights
1:30 – Passion Projects: “You know, it’s funny when I first started off The Drift and it’s still a very much so a growing podcast, it really started off as a passion project. And still frankly is, and the whole premise behind that is I just wanted to be able to tell the stories of these phenomenal female founders who are…”
4:21 – The value of sports: “I grew up as an athlete and being a first-generation Filipino American. There obviously could have been a lot of roadblocks and there were a lot of roadblocks that I had to overcome. And fortunately, I just had such incredible supportive parents. I already knew the value that sports could have in how I manage relationships and ultimately how I went on in my personal professional career. And what I found throughout those early days is that the experience just ultimately helped me become a better business leader…”
6:51 – EY Ventures: “The first thing that I do have to say, though, It’s not about the paycheck, right? I would rather give it all, all the way the compensation, it’s so more because I just want to be able to make a difference and how I do it is using the skills that I learned from the corporate world, from my past, with Red Bull, with Orange Theory and so forth to help just incredible founders succeed…”
9:53 – Taking a leap of faith: “You know, when I look back at that moment it played such a pivotal role in where I am today and I think the root behind it, the reason why I was able to do so is that I wanted to be humble enough. And I was humble enough to note that I couldn’t make that decision myself. And it really comes down to you. This notion that people are a product of their environment, right. At that time, I had great mentors and I learned so much from so many different leaders, but during that moment, I was faced with this opportunity to have this new mentor who if you don’t know, but his background, he comes from…”
12:47 – Investment thesis for EY Ventures: “What is our investment thesis? What are we looking to do? What are we looking to accomplish on behalf of the founders? We had to one put ourselves in the role of the founders, which is something that our team has actually actively had a role in or experiences in…”
13:57 – Trifecta of Hypergrowth: “Regardless of the industry, regardless of the business, we call this the quote-unquote Trifecta of Hypergrowth. It’s this perfect balance of three core elements, which is sales and ops marketing and finance. If you have these three core pieces, perfectly working with one another, you’re able to either go through this massive phase of hypergrowth or B prepare you for it so that you’re able to maneuver those in those waters more effectively…”
18:00 – Youth sports markets: ”What they found was really the root cause of the pain points that youth sports operators face. And that is the business side, right? And when we take a look at the youth sports industry, the majority of the time, and I’m not going to say, oh, because there are going to be some outliers out there, but…”
24:41 – Amplifying the voices for powerful women thought leaders: “If I could sum it all up, it would come down to just amplifying the voices of these powerful women. These powerful thought leaders. You know, if I look back into it, girls are dropping out of sports at twice the rate of boys by age 14 and 17, and then half of these young women are quitting sports altogether…”
24:40 – Holding ourselves accountable: “I would think of three main things. The first is just holding ourselves accountable and acknowledging the opportunity to reignite sports and young ones. The second thing would be getting more exposure, providing more positive role models that are funding, better access, and just putting these strategic thought leaders at the forefront. I think lastly, what I would think of is just overall don’t put boundaries, you know, we’re seeing more and more positive influence…”
