Sports Accelerator Intern
By Paul Russo '23Techstars Sports Accelerator was founded in 2019 to bring 10 early-stage, high growth sports tech companies to Indianapolis to help with 3 things: hiring, strategy, and fundraising. The program was launched with the goal of scaling and growing each company, and in partnership with the Indianapolis Colts, Indiana Pacers, NCAA, Indiana Sports Corp, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Next Level Fund of Indiana.
I supported the growth of portfolio companies Own the Moment, SportsIcon, Curastory, and LegitFit by working with others on non-fungible token analyses, design, research, lead generation, and cold outreach, and advising founders on growth, monetization, partnerships, budgeting, team-building, and pitching strategies.
This experience confirmed to me that I want to be a founder, gave me skills and a network that will help me take my own startup, Monklee, to the next level, and sparked my interest in blockchain.
This internship was funded by the Scott and Anne Perper Internship Fund.