6 ms·

How Andre Iguodala handled his rare NBA sabbatical in Silicon Valley

76 points by clairity 7y ago

reidjs 7y ago
“How underperforming tech companies trick pro ballers for investment funding.” Jokes aside, I respect the hell out of athletes who realize their timeframe is limited and pursue business opportunities like this. They bring an interesting, outside perspective on what can be a Very niche world. A couple years ago I went to a cryptocurrency conference only because Kobe was the keynote speaker and honestly I wanted to bash him (hate the lakers). But despite the general idiocy of the conference he shared some very insightful comments about his thoughts on economics, investments, business, etc.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 7y ago
  Sports Illustrated had a great article about why athletes go broke: https://www.si.com/vault/2009/03/23/105789480/how-and-why-athletes-go-broke https://www.si.com/vault/2009/03/23/105789480/how-and-why-at... It seems that many athletes do realize their timeframe and try to invest so they have money afterward. Unfortunately, many make bad investments. Many athletes like the concreteness of investing in a business where you know the people, over the abstractness of putting money into an index fund, though the first comes with a lot higher risk than the second. Many times they are preyed upon by unscrupulous business people because of this.
  - clairity 7y ago
    i know that there are organizations that provide business education to professional athletes. it seems to be too little however, given the stories/anecdotes you hear. i'd go so far as to suggest that all pro athletes should be offered a mini-mba program of business courses as rookies: statistics, economics, marketing, accounting, finance, and strategy (and possibly financial valuation, operations and organizational behavior too). that way, they'd have the basic tools to evaluate the investment opportunities that will inevitably seek them out.
    - lonelappde 7y ago
      Why doesn't the NBA start an incubator where they rent out player likenesses to companies and take a percentage? That way the player gets nice endorsement money without worrying about business stuff
      - barbecue_sauce 7y ago
        I don't think the players' union would be cool with that.
    - caseyf7 7y ago
      Top business schools have already tapped this lucrative market and offer offseason programs to professional athletes.
majos 7y ago
He also briefly interned at Merrill Lynch during the 2011 NBA lockout while the league and players’ union negotiated a new deal. It’s on his LinkedIn page [1]. [1] https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreiguodala https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreiguodala
buzzdenver 7y ago
He was interviewed by Gimlet, part of it is being a businessman https://gimletmedia.com/shows/without-fail/brhvor https://gimletmedia.com/shows/without-fail/brhvor
goatherders 7y ago
Chris Bosh, oft-derided for "riding the coattails" of Lebron and Dwyane Wade* funded a number of coding schools and studied CS at Georgia Tech. His parents had him coding at an early age as well. (*Chris Bosh is a Hall of Fame player and maybe the most underrated big man of the last decade. Happy to debate. LOL) Kevin Durant spent his time in the Bay Area investing in startups and learning how the tech world worked in SV. More and more athletes are thinking of life-after-the-sport, but just as many are also seeing themselves as businessmen DURING their careers. The biggest names want to build iconic brands, and not just brands that focus on their personal identities. Podcasts, streaming services, energy drinks, athletic gear, music, film production, technology. Young smart men (mostly) flush with cash who have been coached on the cautionary tales of the late 90's and'00s where players received mega-contracts and were broke within 5 years (see: Vince Young, Antoine Walker, Andre Rison) One last story: I used to work in the hosting/infrastructure world and an early colleague was a very early employee at RAX. Once told me a story that Gregg Popovich (coach) and David Robinson (HOF player) of the San Antonio Spurs each put $1M into RAX when they were still doing seed investments from friends, family and connections. He told me that if both men liquidated their shares at IPO, even with the 20% dip that happened quite quickly, their individual take would have each been more than Robinson made as an NBA player in his entire career ($112M).
- alharith 7y ago
  People who think Chris Bosh was riding anyone's coattails clearly don't know anything about Chris Bosh or basketball. First of all, he already showed he was a superstar in his own regard with the Raptors, where he left being the franchise's all-time record holder in points, rebounds, blocks, and minutes played. Second, there is a such thing as too many cooks in the kitchen, and so Chris Bosh understanding this, elected to do what it took to win a championship rather than trying to inflate statistics, and he played his role exceptionally. If you have ever read Bill Simmons' "Book of Basketball" he describes this as "The Secret" (Thank you for this rare opportunity to talk sports on HN!)
  - goatherders 7y ago
    I usually shut down Bosh haters with "He has 2 rings, is an 11 time All Star, and has an Olympic Gold Medal. The number of people with half that resume who aren't in the HOF is ZERO. He's a first ballot guy no question."
iampims 7y ago
Related: Shaq's business Empire https://money.com/shaq-business-empire/ https://money.com/shaq-business-empire/
bluedevil2k 7y ago
Sabbatical? The dude just refused to show up for his job and he still collected his $17M salary. Memphis had to just keep paying him cause it would look bad to other potential players that might come some day if they stopped paying him. Thankfully for Memphis, they traded his deadbeat-ass to Miami.
- thrower123 7y ago
  It's kind of magical how washed NBA players can keep floating around the league for years and years after their expiration dates, as long as GMs keep making mistakes and giving them contracts. Gerald Green is still bouncing around the league as a trade chip.

76 points by clairity 7y ago

“How underperforming tech companies trick pro ballers for investment funding.” Jokes aside, I respect the hell out of athletes who realize their timeframe is limited and pursue business opportunities like this. They bring an interesting, outside perspective on what can be a Very niche world. A couple years ago I went to a cryptocurrency conference only because Kobe was the keynote speaker and honestly I wanted to bash him (hate the lakers). But despite the general idiocy of the conference he shared some very insightful comments about his thoughts on economics, investments, business, etc.

RcouF1uZ4gsC 7y ago
Sports Illustrated had a great article about why athletes go broke: https://www.si.com/vault/2009/03/23/105789480/how-and-why-athletes-go-broke https://www.si.com/vault/2009/03/23/105789480/how-and-why-at... It seems that many athletes do realize their timeframe and try to invest so they have money afterward. Unfortunately, many make bad investments. Many athletes like the concreteness of investing in a business where you know the people, over the abstractness of putting money into an index fund, though the first comes with a lot higher risk than the second. Many times they are preyed upon by unscrupulous business people because of this.
- clairity 7y ago
  i know that there are organizations that provide business education to professional athletes. it seems to be too little however, given the stories/anecdotes you hear. i'd go so far as to suggest that all pro athletes should be offered a mini-mba program of business courses as rookies: statistics, economics, marketing, accounting, finance, and strategy (and possibly financial valuation, operations and organizational behavior too). that way, they'd have the basic tools to evaluate the investment opportunities that will inevitably seek them out.
  - lonelappde 7y ago
    Why doesn't the NBA start an incubator where they rent out player likenesses to companies and take a percentage? That way the player gets nice endorsement money without worrying about business stuff
    - barbecue_sauce 7y ago
      I don't think the players' union would be cool with that.
  - caseyf7 7y ago
    Top business schools have already tapped this lucrative market and offer offseason programs to professional athletes.

majos 7y ago

He also briefly interned at Merrill Lynch during the 2011 NBA lockout while the league and players’ union negotiated a new deal. It’s on his LinkedIn page [1]. [1] https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreiguodala https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreiguodala

buzzdenver 7y ago

He was interviewed by Gimlet, part of it is being a businessman https://gimletmedia.com/shows/without-fail/brhvor https://gimletmedia.com/shows/without-fail/brhvor

goatherders 7y ago

Chris Bosh, oft-derided for "riding the coattails" of Lebron and Dwyane Wade* funded a number of coding schools and studied CS at Georgia Tech. His parents had him coding at an early age as well. (*Chris Bosh is a Hall of Fame player and maybe the most underrated big man of the last decade. Happy to debate. LOL) Kevin Durant spent his time in the Bay Area investing in startups and learning how the tech world worked in SV. More and more athletes are thinking of life-after-the-sport, but just as many are also seeing themselves as businessmen DURING their careers. The biggest names want to build iconic brands, and not just brands that focus on their personal identities. Podcasts, streaming services, energy drinks, athletic gear, music, film production, technology. Young smart men (mostly) flush with cash who have been coached on the cautionary tales of the late 90's and'00s where players received mega-contracts and were broke within 5 years (see: Vince Young, Antoine Walker, Andre Rison) One last story: I used to work in the hosting/infrastructure world and an early colleague was a very early employee at RAX. Once told me a story that Gregg Popovich (coach) and David Robinson (HOF player) of the San Antonio Spurs each put $1M into RAX when they were still doing seed investments from friends, family and connections. He told me that if both men liquidated their shares at IPO, even with the 20% dip that happened quite quickly, their individual take would have each been more than Robinson made as an NBA player in his entire career ($112M).

alharith 7y ago
People who think Chris Bosh was riding anyone's coattails clearly don't know anything about Chris Bosh or basketball. First of all, he already showed he was a superstar in his own regard with the Raptors, where he left being the franchise's all-time record holder in points, rebounds, blocks, and minutes played. Second, there is a such thing as too many cooks in the kitchen, and so Chris Bosh understanding this, elected to do what it took to win a championship rather than trying to inflate statistics, and he played his role exceptionally. If you have ever read Bill Simmons' "Book of Basketball" he describes this as "The Secret" (Thank you for this rare opportunity to talk sports on HN!)
- goatherders 7y ago
  I usually shut down Bosh haters with "He has 2 rings, is an 11 time All Star, and has an Olympic Gold Medal. The number of people with half that resume who aren't in the HOF is ZERO. He's a first ballot guy no question."

iampims 7y ago

Related: Shaq's business Empire https://money.com/shaq-business-empire/ https://money.com/shaq-business-empire/

bluedevil2k 7y ago

Sabbatical? The dude just refused to show up for his job and he still collected his $17M salary. Memphis had to just keep paying him cause it would look bad to other potential players that might come some day if they stopped paying him. Thankfully for Memphis, they traded his deadbeat-ass to Miami.

thrower123 7y ago
It's kind of magical how washed NBA players can keep floating around the league for years and years after their expiration dates, as long as GMs keep making mistakes and giving them contracts. Gerald Green is still bouncing around the league as a trade chip.