Overtime

Snack closet theory of management. When everyone is happy and aligned, the person you avoid at the snack closet is the one who knows bad news is hiding in the corner. Every leader, every employee, wants to be liked. And bad news, hard calls, real disagreement usually cost you that. You know the feeling. The meeting ends with a clear plan, no friction, everyone on board. We’re going to crush this. LFG! Then three months later it’s quietly breaking in exactly the places no one wanted to push on. And the person who flagged it is eating lunch alone by the snack closet. Because no one wants to hear an I told you so. We label the people who push. Rogue. Negative. Bad for culture. Hard questions are the job. But this isn’t a classroom. It’s a room where when you disagree loudly you still bump into each other at the snack closet. It’s way easier to say yay! Let’s all be positive! Pass me a snack! But the world has sped up. Technology moves faster. Capital moves faster. Competition shows up immediately. Market caps crumble. You can announce a strategy and watch it get copied and funded the same week. I’ve felt that soul crushing feeling at multiple companies. Speed is no longer just about execution. It’s about how quickly you’re willing to face what’s actually true. In the early days of Overtime, we built a sports app. Raised money around it. Spent thousands of hours on it. Then we looked at the numbers and our audience wasn’t there. They were on social. So we killed the app. In a week. And we went all in on Instagram. That’s the Overtime millions of people know and love. In hindsight it looked obvious. In the moment it felt reckless. It meant throwing away real work. That decision didn’t happen in a comfortable room. It happened when I was willing to break the story we were telling ourselves. You can deal with that early, when it’s uncomfortable. Or later, when it’s obvious. Most alignment problems aren’t really about disagreement. They’re about whether anyone is willing to say what they actually see. If you’re early in your career, don’t seek safety and reassurance. Wade into where the tension is. That’s where the change that actually moves a company happens. Even if it makes the snack closet a little more awkward. Why? Because I believe the companies that win won’t be the most certain. They’ll be the ones willing to act before certainty shows up. That’s true for them and for you too.

After nearly 8 years, I’ve stepped down as President of Overtime. Typing that feels surreal. It’s a bittersweet moment. For a long time, I believed success meant selling the company and making a boat load of money. With time, I realized we were already successful. Every DM from someone who was seen or felt inspired. Every day a kid chose to wear their Overtime hoodie to school. Every time a fan cried when their favorite OTE team lost. Every moment a young athlete became the hero of their own story. It took me back to my high school days when athletes were so inspirational and formative for me. Sports saved me from going down a very different path. I’m incredibly proud that I played a part in inspiring millions of young people around the world. We built something that changed how stories are told for an entire generation of athletes and fans. I still get chills thinking about moments like the Thompson Twins being drafted back to back or some of the OTE game winners that people were convinced had to be scripted. To my teammates who made it feel like more than a job - I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you to the investors who believed in the vision and supported us along the way. And to the people who chose not to invest but took the extra time to explain why, I learned a lot from those conversations. The brand still has so much potential, and there are a lot of great people there. Like in sports, it will come down to putting the right people in the right positions to win. I’ll be cheering from the sidelines in my Overtime hoodie. Most people who know me will be surprised to hear I don’t have anything lined up next. I left of my own accord because it was no longer the right fit for me. I’m going to take some time off, play a lot of tennis, maybe finally book that trip to Japan, and really think about what I want to do next. Lastly, to Dan Porter , who took a chance on me and so many others over the last decade — thank you. You often say that everything you learned about business is from The Wire. I look forward to a career of saying I learned everything from you. FAFO. Overtimefozo out ✌🏽

A league like no other...and now a new partnership bringing OT7 championship weekend games to NBC Sports this June! A huge move for the athletes, the fans, our brand partners, and the future of the sport. #OT7 #Overtime #NBCSports #FutureOfSports