Newsletter 10: An Interview with the co-Founders of Future Fans

Mike Schroder and Michael Gold are helping little kids become big fans through the company they co-founded, Future Fans Inc.  Future Fans creates fun- and easy- ways for children to learn sports, and in the process, helps kids bond with the parents around something they can enjoy doing together.

Karl Bracken: Hi Mike and Michael- thank you both for taking the time out of your day to speak with me.  To start off, could you please explain to the audience what Future Fans is?

Michael Gold: Thanks Karl, happy to be here. Future Fans is a new consumer brand that helps little kids become big fans of a sport by unlocking an understanding of the game in a unique way, which comes to life through (a) consumer products (storybook-led activity boxes for various sports) and (b) offerings for teams and leagues to create the next generation of fans. We currently have two activity boxes in the market – Football and Soccer.

KB: What inspired you guys to start Future Fans?

Mike Schroder: My wife was 9 months pregnant with our third child when the Bengals were making their unexpected run to the Super Bowl a couple years ago. I was at the first playoff win against the Raiders and then grounded for the rest of the playoffs. All I wanted was to watch the rest of the games with my oldest daughter Ella (then 5), as it was such fun and life-changing time for me. Despite my best efforts to teach her about football from an early age, she wasn’t interested in watching the games with me – even though she enjoyed the game day traditions and the pageantry. In that moment of frustration I wondered if there was a better way to get young kids engaged as fans, so sports fan parents like me and their children could connect around the shared passion of sports.

KB: You both have very interesting backgrounds- with consumer companies, at consulting firms, and as founders of multiple companies.  Despite all that awesome experience, what surprised you most as you embarked upon Future Fans?

MG: A couple things have been really surprising for me. One, we can learn and iterate quickly – whether it’s how to improve the product or our how we’re going to market. Our second product, although following the same approach as our first, is different and better in terms of the experience we provide and our COGS. Additionally, how we’re going to market this year vs. last is completely different based on what we’ve learned to date.

Two, fundraising has been much more challenging than I expected. Part of this is the current environment. Additionally, people and groups have very specific theses and approaches. Given our product straddles consumer goods, children’s products / education, and sports, sometimes people have a hard time categorizing us, which in turn makes it difficult for them to invest.  We’re not a better version of a product or service on the market today, so it takes investors a little longer to get comfortable with what we’re doing.

KB: I totally agree on the challenging fundraising environment out there.  And as you say, it is difficult to categorize Future Fans’ products- but honestly, I think that is more than a strength than a weakness given Future Fans’ products don’t directly compete with anything else on the market.  Besides fundraising, how does the lack of categorization of Future Fans make it a challenge?

MS: It is a big challenge! This manifests itself in various ways, most prominently in marketing. The biggest hurdle we need to overcome is people understanding what our product is and the value is delivers. We’ve found that short form advertising (e.g., social ads) and search (e.g., Amazon, Google) are not effective for us at this stage in the business. This was a helpful insight but one we paid for as we tested and learned marketing channels and messaging. Today we’re focused on longer form advertising (e.g., podcasts) and we feel good about our path forward.

KB: What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs, launching new consumer businesses?

MS: A couple things come to mind. One, make sure you believe 100% in the company you’re launching – the problem you’re solving, the mission, the people you’re working with. As a founder I am an evangelist for what we’re doing every day, and I can only do that because I believe so strongly in what we’re doing. Two, work with a sense of urgency every day, but also recognize that things take time and patience is good. It’s a difficult balance but one that’s important.

KB: That all makes complete sense to me.  What traits would you say are most important for founders to possess?

MG: Grit, though a bit of an overused concept, is a really important trait to have. We get “no’s” every day – whether from potential investors, retailers, partners in the sports landscape, etc. We seek to learn from each conversation and adjust our approach, but also to have the resilience to press on and work towards our goals. Another important trait, balancing what I just said, is also being able to celebrate the wins, however small. Mike and I keep a “Good things that happened today” document. Whenever something good happens – and it could be every day – we take a moment to celebrate the moment together and write it down. It also helps us share updates with the broader team (which we do weekly) so everybody is up to speed on how things are going.

KB: It will be interesting to look back on the “good things that happened today” document in the future when Future Fans is much further along.  That will be a great progress time capsule!  As co-founders, how have you two chosen to divvy up the work?  How much do you two need to actively communicate on that division of labor?

MS: We communicate about this a lot! In the beginning everything was so new we worked on just about everything together. As workstreams became more consistent and clearly defined, we divided them up based on our expertise and interests. We still collaborate closely on mostly things, but each workstream has a clear owner.

KB: How do you leverage advisors to help you drive Future Fans?

MG: Advisors are so important to us. We have a set of advisors with different sets of expertise – e.g., retail / CPG, fundraising, marketing, etc. We created a defined cadence of meeting with each of these people, and their input is invaluable. What we’ve found to be useful is to share comprehensive updates to the business with these people ahead of meetings, so we can focus our time on problem solving the few key topics for which their expertise is valuable.

KB: Being on the receiving end of those pre-meeting comprehensive updates, I can attest to how valuable they are.  They make our regular meetings much more efficient!  What are you most excited about in the back half of 2024?

MG: Our Football product sells primarily in football season, so we’re very excited for football season to be starting. We tested a number of new marketing approaches in the “off-season” and are starting to deploy now. We’re eager to see what works best and where we need to continue tweaking it.

KB: What advice would you give me and Ocampo Capital?

MS: Karl – you’re the one with the best advice! Continue betting on companies that have a clear mission behind their product / service and people that have a problem solving mindset.  

KB: That’s nice- thank you!  And thank you both for your time and insights.  Good luck with football season- it should be an exciting one on the field, and for Future Fans!