Have Strong Teammates Around You: Interview with Adam Geisler, CEO of Youth Athletes United
I recently went one on one with Adam Geisler, CEO of Youth Athletes United. Adam previously served as CEO of Super Soccer Stars and President of Everlast.
AM: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here?
AG: I was always passionate about sports as a teenager but realized early on that I may be better suited in business than in the field of play. My career began in sporting goods and the sports branded licensing industry where I worked for over 19 years. I always had an entrepreneurial spirit but never the confidence to start a brand new business. My friend and business partner caught wind that a youth soccer brand called Super Soccer Stars was on the market and I knew that if we built a great team and brought our resources to the existing group, I could use my passion and experience and we could have a big impact on youth sports.
After some early due diligence, we put together a small group of investors, a management team, and a private equity firm and started down the path of buying Super Soccer Stars and subsequently Amazing Athletes to create our concept that would become Youth Athletes United. Our belief was that we could build a scalable youth sports platform that focused on childrens’ and parents' first sports experience. We knew the experience had to be fun and offer exciting classes that would also teach children the fundamentals of the sport. Four years later, Youth Athletes United was born, one of the largest youth sports franchised platforms in the country that includes Super Soccer Stars, Amazing Athletes (multi-sport program), JumpBunch (multi-sport program), TGA (tennis & golf) and Little Rookies Baseball. Youth Athletes United has 291 franchise units (225 franchise/66 corporate units) and $47M in systemwide revenue.
AM: What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
AG: Because of my early experiences in sports, I always had a relentless drive and without it my team and I would not be here today. When we acquired our first two brands, both acquisitions fell apart more times than I could count. Every time we ran into a roadblock, we worked to find a solution and constantly utilized the intellectual capital of our investors. We could have given up several times but we believed in what we were doing and would not let anything stop us. It sounds simple but many people do not have a relentless drive to succeed.
When we started, most of our experience was in consumer goods and licensing so we spent a lot of time listening and learning. Selling services versus consumer goods are two very different businesses and we wanted to ensure our skills from our past could help us accelerate our future growth. Evolution versus revolution was a constant mantra we had to tell ourselves. We learned pretty quickly that we had a great team around us and our expertise combined with theirs, allowed us to make great decisions quickly.
AM: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business?
AG: A common mistake made in roll-up platforms is going too big, too fast, and overinvesting without truly understanding what initiatives and strategies will make you successful. You have to watch every dollar in the beginning, understand the industry you are in, and find your highest leverage points.
We know technology would be one of the greatest opportunities to scale our business and our team spent a lot of time going through the process of buying, licensing or building a technology platform. Ultimately, we landed on building our own platform as it was the best path to scale in our industry. It took a lot of time, debate, and research but we learned that finding the right strategy, the right amount of investment both in time and money will pay off in the long run.
AM: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader?
AG: Culture and vision. We spent a lot of time ensuring that our cultural values are at the forefront of everything we do. Humility, Accountability, and Teamwork. Be a leader and a leadership team that will always take feedback, ensure the best ideas do not need to come from the top, and have the willingness to be in it with your employees and franchisees. No job is too small as long as it helps our team and allows us to impact children in a positive manner. We will help coach, observe, listen, sell, whatever it takes, and I think that goes along with our organization and franchisees.
AM: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
AG: I have learned a lot about what to do and what not to do from my various jobs and roles prior to Youth Athletes United. For me personally, experience has been my greatest asset in improving my leadership style. My advice is to learn from your experiences and peers to understand what you like and do not like and then make it your own.
Many of my peers listen to strong industry voices like Adam Grant or use executive coaches, all of which are definitely beneficial as well in my opinion.
AM: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?
AG:
Leadership and culture always start from the top. I make it a point to think about what I am saying, how I represent myself to my team, peers, and franchisees, and make it a point to always be a partner to my teammates.
Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. There are a lot of ups and downs. If you believe fundamentally in what you are doing, you will find a way to work through any obstacle.
Have strong teammates around you. Left to my own devices and decisions, I would make a lot of unnecessary mistakes. I have strong teammates around me and we have a strong challenge culture. Everyone has an opinion and we encourage everyone to voice it.
AM: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?
AG: We have an amazing team at Youth Athletes United with our corporate staff and our franchisees. The reason we have been so successful in building our team is that all current and new hires have to be a cultural fit. If they are passionate about impacting kids through sports and subscribe to our cultural values of humility, accountability and teamwork, it is easy to lead and manage.
Our other key to success is that we are always focused on unleashing the greatness in our employees. We give them the opportunity to have a voice, be part of the team and help drive the culture. With this mindset, you are ultimately there to support and grow them versus directing them.
AM: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing and branding?
AG: If you believe in your product, you never have to sell it, you just have to tell your story. Explain to people why you do what you do, the impact your product can have and why they need to be a part of it.
I believe this translates into marketing, branding and everything you do. We constantly look at our communications to ensure we are telling our story to the best of our abilities. There are many times we are too close to a situation and rely on outside partners to ensure we are pulling our message through.
I am a big believer in branding. It should be easily understood at first glance and not taken for granted. When it pertains to Youth Athletes United, we have really increased the value and perception of our youth sports brands by treating them like premier sports brands. We want the child to be proud to represent them and their parents to be proud to support them.
AM: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
AG: Find your passion and the money will come. I know I am a driven person by nature and I love the opportunity to grow and build while having an impact. What we are doing today is a true passion of mine and it no longer feels like a job, it feels like a mission.
Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.
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