The Next Next: Update #24
First week of the rest of my life, lol.
For those of you tuning in for the first time, The Next Next is a ‘build in public’ type of journey from founder Jason Jacobs (me!) to explore 1) how I can build my next company differently (prioritizing health and family, not just work, while still building an ambitious and important company) and 2) how AI can help, and more broadly, how it will change how startups are built and funded. Increasingly, I am starting to explore specific domains I am passionate about as well, and working backwards to see if that meets these first two explorations in the middle and produces some magic. Update: as of week #23, I am focused exclusively on youth sports :)
There is this newsletter (subscribe here), which publishes weekly and chronicles the ground I covered that week, insights I’ve gleaned, topics I’m wrestling with, and where I plan to dig in the week following. And there’s also this podcast, which publishes twice a week, and explores these topics in-depth in a series of interview-style discussions with others who are well placed for me (and you!) to learn from. You can subscribe from your favorite pod player, like Spotify, Apple, or YouTube.
The goal of this public learning journey is to have it evolve over time from a journey into a livelihood, to prove to myself and others that it is possible to ‘have your cake and eat it too’, and to help define a new playbook for how to build companies that inspires many other founders to follow suit and gives them a roadmap for how to get started.
If you want to catch up, the historical weekly updates are here:
Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12, Week 13, Week 14, Week 15, Week 16, Week 17, Week 18, Week 19, Week 20, Week 21, Week 22, Week 23
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Hi all,
This was my first week after anchoring and declaring to myself (and to you, I guess) where my next company will get built. As a refresher, I am planning to build a company focused on youth sports skills training, starting in ice hockey and expanding to other sports over time.
The ah-ha for me was, for the more competitive young aspiring athletes, their parents drag them all over the universe for a wide range of specialized training that is both expensive and time-consuming. There is a lot that can be done at home, either to supplement that in-person training, or to open up the benefit of the in-person training to those that aren’t able to access it (due to cost, logistics, etc). And a lot of the at-home stuff can be done without much gear, so there is really no excuse. But what is missing with the home training for many kids is structure and accountability, not to mention fun!
Many dedicated parents try to fill this void by doing research online, making plans for their kids to follow, etc. But it is exhausting for the parents and most aren’t experts in these areas. I have experienced this myself (don’t judge me, haha), and started wishing a platform existed that could do it for me, freeing up my time to do other things while providing a better experience for my kids in the process. Not to mention, even if the parents got it right, what kid wants to take instruction from their parents? Not my kids, and not me when I was growing up, haha.
There is a lot that exists out there, but honestly, I haven’t seen anything that does what I am imagining the way I am imagining it, and certainly not anything that has gotten meaningful scale.
So…. I am starting from zero and taking the first steps on a long journey of building the platform that I wish existed for me and my kids and other parents/kids like us.
Plan of attack:
I am coming in as a learner first and foremost. I am going to be talking to a lot of people (many of which on the podcast!) about what is happening in youth sports, the optimal paths of development, what exists today, what is missing, where things are going, etc. I am super concerned about landing in a place that helps with development but doesn’t facilitate burnout or otherwise operate against the best interests of the kids, and want to do this right.
In parallel, I am going to be talking to others who have built similar learning/development platforms in other areas, whether it be new skills, new languages, or other paths towards mastery of any craft.
And of course, I will be spending time getting to know all of the latest on hockey skills training, what is appropriate at each age and ability level, how its done in different parts of the world, and the best ways to deliver it.
As all of this is happening, we are also working behind the scenes to form a brand identity, what an initial MVP might look like, how we will go to market, what our capital needs will be, etc etc.
It will be a long, uncertain road, but honestly, I am super fired up and getting more so every day. I am fully convicted the problem/opportunity is a real one and that the market is enormous. I am also going in eyes wide open that it is a very challenging market, a fragmented one, a difficult problem to solve, and that many others have tried.
And it be honest, I just want this thing to exist. It will be fun to build it. I will be learning about this stuff anyways with/for my kid. And if I can help others on the way, even better!
Areas of focus in the next week
Branding/pod/newsletter audit
One is working through what to do with the existing pod and newsletter, and the brand overall. The Next Next was a journey to figure out my next thing. I think I am there! Now I am heading out on a new journey. It is still largely undefined, but it is no longer about “how to build different” and “how AI can help”, it is shifting squarely to “how to build the best platform for youth athletes who are serious about their athletic development”.
I know I still want to send a weekly newsletter like this, and keep using the pod episodes as a learning tool. But still two episodes a week? Still called ‘The Next Next’? How closely aligned should the pod and newsletter be to the newco once it is set up, branded, etc? Even though what I am building is still largely undefined, the focus is starting to narrow a lot, so I need to tell that story better as we are heading out to engage with the relevant stakeholders in the market I am narrowing my focus to explore.
Game plan to bring the new brand to life
I also want to start specking out the brand promise we are trying to fulfill, the brand identity, and putting together some initial assets, even if they are placeholder. Now that I know youth sports development is my focus area, taking steps to start to bring that to life seems prudent, both for whatever product(s) we end up building and for the pod/newsletter as well. Once we have that identity, I think working through a transition plan and timelines from TNN will be the next step.
Scheduling more pod episodes!
There is a long list of people I’d love to learn from with this narrow, more focused path. So expect that the types of episodes we will be doing going forward will be a lot more focused, to reflect the areas I am gearing up to build in. I think it is important the pod, newsletter, and product offerings stay closely aligned. Doesn’t mean the pod/newsletter will be advertisements for the product(s), they won’t be! But this path will stay true to our “build in public” ethos as we navigate each new stage of the company-building journey.
Starting to run some product experiments
And finally starting to run some product experiments to inform what direction we may go with the ultimate offering.
Some themes that are interesting for me:
Unstructured data from users along the way about what their goals are and what they are and aren’t liking about their skills training so it can inform the training we assign them to do.
Less of a utility for a development task, and more of a tribe of likeminded athletes and families striving towards similar goals, learning from and encouraging each other along the way, and being part of something bigger than themselves.
Exploring the long-tail of valuable development areas that may not get a lot of attention but could be super helpful (nutrition, mobility, hockey IQ, mental performance, etc as a few examples).
Exploring best practices in different parts of the world, different philosophies from different trainers and teams, different personality types from coaches/instructors, etc to inform what we provide and to provide it in a truly personalized way.
What some signs of over or under training might be to try to help kids/families regulate accordingly and maximize the long term development while avoiding burnout, overuse injuries, mental health issues, etc.
How to think about specialization vs variety at each different development phase.
New content this week:
As mentioned, this content is still broad (and I have a couple more weeks of already-recorded content in the can), but will map to the phase of the journey I am in as I go, meaning a lot more focused on athlete development going forward.
Two episodes went live:
One is with Anis Bennaceur, the co-founder & CEO of Attention, and is very AI/SaaS/CRM focused. You can find that one on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube.
And one is with Ryan Durkin, the VP of AI @ Work at WHOOP, which is focused on how he is working to make his growth stage scaling startup the most AI-forward workplace. You can find that one on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube.
Where I could use some help:
Feedback!
Guest suggestions (or just well placed people to learn from, on the show or not). Feel free to forward this update to them so they can decide if they want to engage.
Encouragement
Companies/models to look at, learn from, emulate, etc.
One discomfort area
One discomfort area that I think I have mostly worked through but I am going to flag anyways is that I am going into the business of youth hockey while my kid is still carving his path. I want him to carve his own path, and I don’t want my professional stuff to affect him positively or negatively. FWIW he is pumped about what I am building and wants to help, and it will expose him to entrepreneurship, which I am really psyched about. And he has no concerns about me heading out to do this. But it’s been on my mind so I figured I’d share it. As long as I stay focused on “growing the kids, growing the game” as the mantra, and live it every day, it should be fine.
Here we go!!!!
Jason