How to score $200M: Angel City’s playbook for women’s soccer

The very best founders I know are brilliant at building systems. They connect teams, they remove bottlenecks, and they eliminate single points of failure. And yet When it comes to their own wealth. Most are running a disconnected stack. A tax accountant here and a state attorney there, a wealth manager who doesn't talk to either one of them.

Creative planning was built to fix exactly that. One integrated team of tax professionals, state planners, investment specialists, all coordinated by a dedicated wealth manager who sees your full financial picture and keeps every piece working together. Proactive tax efficiency, state strategy, investments all under one roof. Creative planning where wealth works together. Learn more at creative planning dot com slash masters of scale.

Global hiring is such a headache when you're building fast, but companies like Eleven Labs are scaling effortlessly with deal. They quadrupled their workforce in twenty twenty five. Without hiring an HR team. Build your global team with deal. Visit deal.com slash MOS and start expanding your business today. That's D E L

dot com. Slash M O S. Hey, folks, Jeff Berman here. I am thrilled to share some of the new names who will be joining us at this year's Masters of Scale summit. This may be our biggest stage yet. Reed Hastings, Meredith Whitaker, Van Jones, Amjad Masad, and more.

Will be there with us October 20th through 22nd in San Francisco. If you're building something great, or you want to build something great, We want you there with us too. Join us at masters of scale dot com slash apply twenty six. That's mastersofscot com slash apply. Twenty six.

Hi, listeners, it's Reed. One of the things I love about Masters of Scale is learning about business sectors I'm less familiar with. And if you know anything about me. You know that sports It's one of those areas.

But I know how to spot a wave. When I see valuations climbing as much as sixty fold in just four years, I pay attention. That's What's been happening in women's sports specifically. And that's why I'm so eager for you to dive into this up close look.

At an amazing story of scale. Rooted. In women's soccer. We are at Bemo Stadium for the Angel City home opener. It is a sellout crowd. It is a gorgeous, perfect Los Angeles day.

This is the single best in-venue sports experience in Los Angeles. This is as good as it gets. Since day one, I've been I mean my parents and I uh bought season tickets and it is so pro women, you know, and I love seeing the dads and daughters, I love seeing all the Hollywood, right? The hype of oh my gosh, I might see someone really cool and you feel instantly, like I'm instantly happy at every game.

Mm oh my name's Jason Sadakis. Well I brought Otis, that's my son Otis, brought my daughter Daisy and my buddy Chip. all the fans that have been here and supporting Bud Season Tickets since the get go and everybody that helped yeah create this environment, I'm I'm lucky to be here and and this is my first one. I'm a soccer player myself. I play the 10, the attacking center mid, but I wanted to see the girls I look up to, the girls who I consider some of my mentors, and it's just a really fun experience. It's competitive, yes. But this is probably the nicest, cleanest, happiest sporting event I've ever attended. Feels like it's a mission and a community.

and the fan base is just so viral and intense. It's just nice to be with them. When this team was founded NWSL franchises were going for just a few million dollars. We just had our first nine figure sale and the valuation of Angel City is starting to reach the levels we're seeing in American men's soccer. You've never seen anything like this in women's sports in America. You gotta have incredible talent at every position.

Huge push. There are fires burning when you're going out. Can you believe it? Such an idiot. And then you go back to this is totally gonna be amazing. There are so many easy way. Sorry, we made a mistake. But you have to time it right. We're gonna have a free bedroom party. Nutball ten years later I'm like, well that's just how you do it. We haven't made it. Just how you do it. This is masters of scale. I'm Jeff Berman.

Your host. People who know me know I'm a huge sports fan. So much so that I've worked for the National Football League and helped launch a company called Together. Focused on elevating stories about women's sports. I've been incredibly fortunate to attend a massive range of ridiculously exciting sporting events, including for all of the major sports teams in LA. So I feel especially qualified to share with you that nothing compares the atmosphere to match for Angel City Football Club at Bemo Stadium.

It's a young team with magnetic energy. And I tell everyone who visits Los Angeles that going to a game is an absolute must. The atmosphere is no accident. It's a key part of the team's incredible journey to scale. Since its founding just four years ago, the Angel City Football Club has become one of the fastest growing sports franchises in American history. In this episode, you'll hear how it was done.

With two of Angel City's co founders, Kara Nortman and Julie Erman. Kara comes from Venture Capital, and she's been key in making Los Angeles a VC hub through firms like Upfront Ventures and her new fund, Monarch Collective. Julie is a longtime executive and founder of the gaming company Uya. Julian Kara launched ACFC with actor and activist Natalie Portman. It's been said that those who dream most do most.

That is absolutely the case with Kara, Julie, and Natalie. They embarked on this mission with a clear and big set of goals. One. To show that women's sports are not a charity or a cause, but a real valuable business. Two.

To drive gender equity through women earning what they're worth and getting recognition at least on par with men's talent. And three. To create a killer brand. It's also a platform for community and social good. As Angel City rockets toward a two hundred million dollar valuation.

far higher than any other women's sports franchise in American history. It is a case study and using the outsiders' advantage. to tap an underserved market. And how to use that fresh perspective to innovate and thrive. Like a soccer team. In perfect sync.

The story starts with Car Nortman. Wowed. By the best players in the world. So in two thousand fifteen I went to women's world cup finals with my three daughters, my husband and my parents. Here in Vancouver. We have a repeat of the final from four years ago.

We sat in the stadium and the way I described it is As a thirty-nine year old working mom of three. I was just like so excited watching Carly Lloyd score. And here they come again, the long range effort from L! And um I felt twelve again.

You know, it felt joyful. I think I was sort of came alive in a way sometimes we lose when we're just trying to keep all the balls in the air. And so I you know, what do you wanna do when you have joy in America? You wanna buy stuff. And I went to nine stores to buy a jersey for one of my daughters, couldn't find any. Started with Why won't anyone take my money?

Right. I'm curious, how do you make the leap from that spark and that joy and that frustration about not being able to find the the kit for your kid or for yourself to actually deciding you're gonna go on this adventure of building a club? It really was a process of this curiosity journey of Asking people, I don't understand. Am I the only person who wants to watch women play football more than every four years? And pe and a lot of people said yes. Literally carry, you're the only person. Everybody else

Just wants to watch it at the World Cup and maybe the Olympics and then And then not after, and it just ness instinctually it didn't feel right. And I would say there were I had this instinct of like There's something wrong here. I love Kerr's framing of a curiosity journey. She identified a gap in the market sparked by a personal desire.

So she went out and asked questions. The people she asked did not confirm her hunch. In fact They shut her down. But Kara struck a key balance, one that's part of how many great ideas take shape. She kept following her instincts.

Car discovered that two US professional women's soccer leagues had failed. The W USA and WPS formed and then disbanded after just a few seasons. Basically, they ran out of money. In twenty twelve, a new league started. The National Women's Soccer League, or NWSL.

US women's soccer is known as world class, with the US women's national team globally dominant for decades. And those players joined NWSL teams. But the machinery to make the league feel big time. Wasn't there. Games weren't broadcast live on any major network or streamer.

Sports Media didn't give it much attention. No major sponsors signed on. But this all just grew the fire that was lit for Kara. She saw the lack of investment as connected to overall gaps gender equity. This was on her mind as a member of Time's Up. an organization created to help victims of sexual harassment.

The Time's Up summit in two thousand eighteen brought together women across entertainment, business, and more. It was a seminal moment for Kara. I was on stage and at the end I said, This is an incredible group of women here. Our job is to make this room bigger and bring new people in every day. But while you're here, go up to someone in another industry. who you're interested in getting to know who you'll probably never do business with, give'em your number and go have a meal. And if they're weird, block them.

Natalie Portman came up to me. She said, would you mind if I gave you my number? And I didn't have to think very hard. Right. That's kind of an intelligence test. Queen of Star Wars says I'd like to give you my number and anyway sh and she literally put her name on my phone as Natalie P. And when we finally had a meal, we talked about just everything you can imagine in the world. In the last twenty minutes, we talked about soccer and she said, How can I help?

And that's when not only and I really built a friendship. Well, not a lifelong fan herself, Natalie saw the power of soccer through her husband and kids. Who are as likely to wear the jersey of men's star Lionel Messi as women's star Megan Rapino. Kara's and Natalie's friendship grew. As did their frustration.

It led them to a bold idea. Create a new team. This was in two thousand nineteen, when neither Caron nor Natalie could devote themselves to this project full time. They needed someone dedicated to the effort. Someone to treat it like the startup it was going to be.

And Caro knew just the person. Julie Erman. Their history went all the way back to high school when they played on rival basketball teams. And they played pickup basketball as adults, too. Here's Julie.

You know, Karen and I aren't the only venture and tech people in LA. It turns out there's a lot of women in our s industry that grew up playing basketball. And we've a very good friend who runs the Wild Feminist Two Tech Basketball League. On august nineteenth, twenty nineteen, Monday evening, there was a match and I I could call everything match talent as well. There was a game and basketball is referred to as a game. There was a game and I was very sweaty. Yes. There were some bloody noses, if I recall. When you get older, the elbows start to go everywhere and it's dangerous. We will not tell you who is a hack. Kara was just back from her second women's world cup.

This time in France, where the US women's national team won yet again. And when we were leaving, Kara and I were walking away from the court to our cars, and she said, Julie Natalie Portman and I Are thinking about bringing a women's football team to LA, you're an entrepreneur, you not build things, do you have any

Bandwidth. to research this and I'll introduce you to everybody I've talked to and then you can see if there's a there. And I looked at her and I said. The Natalie Portman? No, I'm not saying hell yes. Hell yes, not even like the third or force thing. First it was like the Natalie Portman and she said yes, and I said, Okay. And then I said, wait, there's women's professional soccer in the United States. Like Kara.

who didn't find out about the National Women's Soccer League until after her first world cup. Julie hadn't heard of the NWSL either. In fact, Julia hadn't spent much time around soccer, even though she's a huge sports fan. Kara wanted her as part of the Angel City founding team, and she thought the way in. Was giving Julia taste of the experience.

I do remember that first conversation a little differently, but I knew it was a little bit of a hard sell To get somebody of Julie's talent to want to run. A non existent women's soccer team. You know? So I said to her, I was like, hey

We have this crazy idea. For a while and I think it's just about to become real, but if it becomes real, we need someone to run it. Then I said, I'm going to a game with Natalie Portman. I'm going to this El Trafico is the big men's soccer game in LA. A match between crosstown rivals. LA Galaxy.

And the Los Angeles football club. Or L A F C. It's a huge draw. And a lot of fun. You get Julie into a live stadium that's h like I just knew it was gonna be a lot easier after she saw that.

I'd never been to a soccer match before in my life and I was blown away. By what the LAFC fans created. I've been to national championship games. I've watched SEC football games. Like I know what fandom looks like, and soccer fans are different. The fandom around soccer is so special. And then again, the idea that God, if we could build this for women's football, we're gonna change the game. This is a terrific example of landing a pitch by showing, not telling. Kara and Natalie Portman could have tried to sell Julie on their idea with data.

That LA has a huge soccer fan base or that ticket sales would be this big or that big. But showing her the fans' passion and the crowd of all genders and generations and ethnicities and races. Was much more powerful. Even though the NWSL didn't have the profile of the NBA or even the W NBA. It wasn't like you could just snap your fingers and get a team.

Julie, Kara, and Natalie would have to raise millions of dollars up front. You can't just buy your way in. Like any pro sports league, all the NWSL owners had to agree to let the league expand to Los Angeles, along with approving the ownership group. And the LA team would need local agreements. Like with the stadium.

In which to play their games. So Julie, you've been an entrepreneur. You've started companies and if you're starting a a tech company It's a pretty straightforward process, right? You're gonna incorporate, you're going to probably raise a little bit of money from friends and family and get going and s try to find a proof of concept as a product market fit. If you're starting a a a professional soccer team, the process is not quite that simple. Yeah, it's very different. Um The irony is

The building of a sports team is a lot easier than the building of a technology team because when most businesses are built on the internet and everybody can be your competitor, everybody is your competitor. So they're not willing to open up their playbook, explain their cost of acquisition or their churn or their lifetime value or how they retain customers. That is their secret sauce, and what's so unique about sports. In the most fundamental way is that it's a local business. So if I'm buying a ticket to an Angel City football match. I'm probably not buying a ticket to see Washington Spirit play.

So we can share information in a very different way and apply it to our market. in a way that's more authentic where we're not competing. Unlike her tech endeavors, Julie wasn't creating something entirely from scratch. She was bringing an existing product to a new market. and while they are obviously competitors on the pitch.

The franchise owners all benefit from a new team's success. making the league more powerful, more popular, and more valuable. Julie wanted to start a team in a way. That women's sports had never seen before. So the first thing that I did was start to research like who are the best sports teams in the world and what makes them the best.

in the world and who in my network has relationships with people in sports. The first thing that I learned, which was actually fascinating, was that ninety percent of all sports teams don't make money. Because they're Toys for wealthy people, effectively. Yeah, their vanity projects, you know, their salary cap far exceeds whatever they could generate.

In revenue from a local business, right? Ticket sales, sponsorship, merchandise, concessions. Yeah. That was really fascinating. And then I started to research well, how do you make money owning sports?'Cause I don't wanna build a business that I can't make money in. That's not part of my DNA.

This is Kara. You know So many people would tell you why it didn't work. And just sort of getting to the What's the one thing you need to get right?

Like what's the one assumption? But in a in a weird way, it's sort of like Super simple. It the whole model worked if you could get nine or 10,000 people to show up 12 times a year. And I'm like, this is a city of 15 million people. Where if you can do something entertaining once, people will like if they love it and they feel a part of it, they'll come back, they'll come back, they'll come back. But even their innovative plan for profits didn't land with the investors they first approached. We had a lot more barriers walking in the door to begin with. First you had three female founders.

that had no experience in sports. I mean that was a huge impediment when we walked in the door. And then it wasn't just about building a women's football club. I was focused on I want to build a business that makes money. If I want to change the narrative around women's sports to say that it's investable and there's growth opportunity, there's huge value. I have to show that I'm better than ninety percent of the teams that we all take for granted. I think it's really important that people know that Natalie was in the room with us pitching. This was not a

A project and name only for celebrities, which I think is A lot of celebrities get the rub for, but Natalie was really invested and involved in this from the day one. When We would talk about the the experience of Angel City. Natalie would talk about how she wanted to recreate the showtime era of the nineteen eighty Lakers, where you were coming to a game either to see Magic Johnson or to see who Jack Nicholson brought courtside. That was the vibe that we were going for. So we were gonna invest in the experience. We got over ninety-nine no's.

And it was from everything from There's eleven professional sports teams in LA. There's the beach, there's the mountains. Women's sports Isn't investable, women's sports has no growth, people aren't gonna show up. Is this a charity or is this a business? We had hilarious meetings with very famous people who said things like

You should get some wealthy person's child who's lost in life, too. Do this. And then the more reasonable nose were like what do you know about? sports. Like that's fair. Like I'll give them to that was fair. But I think the challenge that we ran into often was that we really were pitching a different type of company. We wanted to build a company where mission and capital could coexist, where we wanted to have a positive impact in the community while we were building a women's professional team and we were gonna invest in that team. And after the 99 notes, we had a phone call and you said, if we can't figure this out, like I don't know how much more we can go at this.

Mm-hmm. If you've ever tried to sell anything in your life. You know how discouraging it is to hear nothing but no after no after no. But it can also offer the wake up call you need. If something isn't working, you have to be honest with yourself and your team.

Maybe it's something in the pitch. Or maybe it's pitching to the wrong people. After the break, Kara and Julie tell us about the pivot. that turned everything around for Angel City. When you build substantial wealth through your business, it's often tied up in a single equity position.

The upside is real, but so is the risk, and knowing when to act isn't always obvious. Creative planning works with business owners to build a strategy around concentrated equity. When to diversify, how to manage tax risk, and how to protect what you've spent years building. Creative planning where wealth works together. Learn more at creative planning dot com slash masters of scale.

Humans will never be more intelligent than AI. There's been two types of companies. Those are great at AI, and those that went out of business because they weren't. How do we build a future? That is human centered. I'm Rana El Calyubi. And on my podcast Pioneers of AI, we answer that question and so many more. As an AI scientist, entrepreneur, and investor, I know what it takes to build AI that works for everyone. Every week, I sit down with the pioneers shaping our future. And we take you behind the scenes of the AI that's transforming our lives.

Find pioneers of AI wherever you tune in. Hey listeners, Bob here. If you listen to Rapid Response on Masters of Scale, you may be missing half the show. Because every Friday we release a second rapid response exclusively in the Rapid Response feed the guests and topics are just as compelling and timely from Ford CEO to NASA's administrator to the lessons from The Devil Wears Prada. It takes about 10 seconds to find, just search rapid response wherever you listen to podcasts and hit follow to make sure you never miss an episode. I hope to see you there.

We're back with the story of Angel City Football Club on Masters of Scale. You can watch the entire interview on the Masters of Scale YouTube channel, along with more from our full catalog. Ninety-nine investors rejected the idea of the founding trio of Kara Nortman, Julie Erman, and Natalie Portman. And they were faced with a decision. Mm.

Abandon their vision. or keep at it. Julie had been pitching investors on the logic of the business plan and the broader market for women's soccer. And it just wasn't working. Here's Julie again. It was sort of that epiphany that

We're not going to the right people. We're not going to the people who understand that we're truly building a platform for equity and impact, and we're gonna use that platform to drive. Towards equity using sports. And then Natalie said, Well Why don't I do shoot of Eva? Like

She loves sports. She's a fan. She's a friend. Why don't you pitch her? Eva is Eva Longoria. The world famous actress and producer. It was a very different pitch to a very different investor than the team had met with before. That was an incredible pitch. So Eva was on the line with her business manager.

So I do the spiel and I talk a lot about the fact that we want to build a platform. And when I was done talking I think the first thing she said was I'm in. Wow.

I said that's the yes in the room. It was the first yes we got. And I said, W what do you mean? Why? Why are you in? And she goes, I get it. She goes, I'm a platform. I use my platform to push for social causes that I care about and also my latest movie or television show direct or directorial debut. Like I understand the power of a platform, and I think what you're doing is incredible. And I think this would be amazing for women's sports. And if we can use sports to change the narrative and drive to equity, she's like, I'm all in. And

It not only was it the first yes, but it was the largest check we got until we raised our series A. By asking why she said yes. Julie unlocked a new perspective on what investors like Eva valued. She saw the social impact of the business, transforming the narrative around women's sports as driving its market value. They'd flip the pitch to lead with gender equity.

Using women's soccer as the vehicle. That sparked momentum. So our second yes then was from Alexis O'Haney and and he put um both himself in personally and his funds. He's better known as Serena Williams' husband, by the way. And I think actually alongside Eva coming in, we're Jessica Chastain and Uzo and Jennifer Garner and Lily Singh and Abby Wombach and Glenn and Doyle and Billie Jean King and Lindsay Vaughn. The league approved a new expansion team for Los Angeles in July twenty twenty.

And the list of investors now reads like a who's who. The female athletes and celebrities. Along with luminaries from the tech world that might not be household names to everyone. But who are vital to ACFC's early success. It was a little bit of that snowball, right? Like you it's

The first jest is the hardest. But once you can talk about why that person said yes, and then you try to find like investors. Who else has a platform, who also understands platform, who also understands you don't need to sacrifice mission for capital. You can do both at the same time. And it completely changed how we went about fundraising. people in this community came together and then we got the yes from Julie Fowdy and Mia Ham. And that was I think For me.

the most special moment when we were building this like our heroes and even Julie and I were this weekend with Brandy Chastain and and Julie Food, and we were like she said to me, She's like This is this is why we did it. You know, and I'm I mean special. One of my favorite stories is a sponsor that we have and we went in there to do a pitch and we said, Hey, we're Angel City. And the man that we were talking to said I just want to tell you something, like I'm actually not a big sports fan. I don't follow sports. I don't really care.

But I know all about Angel City because I follow Sophia Bush. Actor Sophia Bush is an investor in the team. Wow. Yeah. And that's that was a big game changer. Angel City had investment capital. and the team found a home in Bimo Stadium, where the men's team LAFC plays.

Now they needed to build a community to fill that stadium. And that's when Julie and Kara tapped into the understanding that sports is very much a local business. The only way to create that emotional connection from the beginning, a year and a half before we had a player or even played a game, was to go to the comedian and say, What is important to you? And so we included them in picking out our colors and in designing our crest. And as we created our impact platform of equity essentials in education, it was truly about creating a relationship with our community. That community included Tori Lathrop and Jamie Calderon. Two members of the Angel City fan club Rebellion Ninety nine.

They'd believe for years that team like this should exist. But they didn't expect it to be so directly involved. Here's Tori. I didn't ever think that we would have a chance to be in those meetings and give feedback directly to the people who were working on these things. You know, maybe you could like you know, fill out a survey or something like that and you d you never know where it goes, right? You're sitting in a Zoom camera to camera talking directly to designers and marketing team and things like that. And so that was really special, I think.

This is Jamie. It's also not something that just happened during the beginning stages. They still include us now if they have ideas that they want input in. They still really look for our buy in. So it feels really intentional that they do that because it feels like they're trying to build something with us. Continuously build with us. This is a great example of creating a sense of co-ownership with your critical stakeholders, your customers. In collaborating on early brand assets, the first Angel City fans felt emotionally connected to the product.

They were investing. and they brought organic, word of mouth marketing that shared the culture of the team. An inclusive community that fans could identify with and participate in beyond the pitch. myself being a queer person of color, like I think Angel City has done a fantastic job creating an atmosphere where it doesn't matter

who you are, where you're coming from. They want you to connect with other people in the stands with you. Personally for me when Angel City came to Los Angeles It brought me community. The entire week builds up to game days for me. It's this and sense of anticipation, it's the planning. So I I get my outfit ready. I head out probably Seven hours before the game even starts. We have picnic blankets all around and it's all of our friends just hanging out.

With their babies, you know, with their moms, grandparents, like we get to engage with so many different people. It's it's deeper than just, you know, this is our team. Angel City's core product is of course tied to team performance on the pitch. Winning games means more popularity, more engagement, and more fans. But building brand loyalty means intertwining the team's identity with fans' identities. Even if ACFC has a streak of losing games, they have to be central to fans' lives.

That's why Angel City hosts about two hundred fifty events a year around LA. including watch parties, parades, and volunteer opportunities for local causes. Back to Kara and Julie. But then it was How do we hold our partners accountable? If you're gonna become a sponsor of Angel City, how do we know that you share our values?

Well, the answer was simple. You put your money where your mouth is. And so we developed the first of its kind, the Angel City sponsorship model, where ten percent of our sponsorship dollars would go back into the community. In its first season, Angel City didn't make the playoffs. But they won the bigger game. Selling out home games and bringing more glitz, buzz, and attention to professional women's soccer than the US had ever seen. And the league itself has upped its game as well.

A new broadcast deal brings live games to ESPN, CBS, Amazon Prime, and Scrips. It started by having higher expectations than anyone thought possible. We walked into our first Investor pitch and we said we were gonna get ten thousand fans.

And nobody believed us. They said you'd be lucky if you get 5,000, you'd be lucky if you get 8,000. And how many did we get, Julie? Uh we've sold out five games our last year of twenty two thousand fans with an average of twenty thousand fans. So You know, we've seasoned ticket holders that break sixteen thousand five hundred um of a twenty two thousand seat stadium, which is pretty incredible. So one was having really high goals. Um, the second part was recognizing that winning didn't just mean

On the pitch. It didn't just mean winning a game. It meant giving back to our community. It meant building attention and awareness for women's sport. It meant driving the value of our individual players up. And then yes, ultimately winning on the pitch. In our second year, we make the playoffs. And our third year, our goal is to win the championship. We believe we can do that. Winning On the pitch helps everything. But we wanted to make sure that we weren't defined only by winning on the pitch because then that would affect our community building, our sense of belonging, and ultimately the revenue and the value that we could drive for the club. Part of what I'm hearing is it's a combination of the entrepreneur's mindset of okay, let's let's look at how it's been done before and borrow from it where we should, but not let that constrain us. And secondly, Critically.

No upper limits. Yeah. No upper limits. Which which which is something that I don't think we've we've seen in women's professional sports in this country ever before. First year we went from zero to thirty million in revenue. We did four X the revenue that we told investors we were gonna do in our first year. It was the highest revenue growth I have ever seen in any tech company. In ten to twenty years, I want us not only be the most valuable women's sports team in the world, be the first billion dollar women's sports franchise, but be able to show meaningful impact in our community. Because we've never built a sports team before, we could build it the way we wanted to, and we got a lot right, but we also saw the opportunity for growth. I think the biggest area really was on the soccer side.

The chemistry that the coaches need to have, the chemistry that the performance and medal team have to have, the trust they have to have amongst each other is pretty significant. Swim. Time's history won the mouth in the home. Angel City F C At the first match of the twenty twenty four season, ACFC faced off against the NWSL's newest expansion club, Bay F C.

And the Bay team took the win. One nil. Carrot and Julie have said they want Angel City to be a roadmap for more teams. And while Bay F doesn't have that Hollywood celebrity backing, They took a page from Angel City. by forming a founders group of luminaries specific to their market.

From tech. Media, sports, and beyond. We caught a few moments with Bay of C founder. two time Olympic gold medalist in soccer, Allie Wagner. Angel City is one of the biggest reasons that there was I think motivation and urgency and interest from our group in the Bay Area to try to pull together a women's team. And I think what they did was they kind of set a different standard.

in what women's soccer was doing from a branding perspective, the way they connected with our community. I'm really driving the the the business side of sport. Julie Erman was one of my greatest mentors and was standing there, always providing support, always providing the information. that we needed to be able to understand what are the right moves that we need to make as we stand up our company, as we stand up our club. So Angel City is already lighting the flame for more clubs, even as it starts a new season of fierce competition.

Everyone will be watching. I so appreciate you all, what you do in the world, your time, your friendship. Should we end this the way that we start every single Angel City football match, so yeah. I mean so we start every single Angel City match where everybody In the stadium together. Welcomes our players with a three clap that ends with a grunt that is from the soul, that has so much meaning. Um, and it's really just our way to kick off a game. So maybe we can end this way. You know how this works. Let's let's do this. Alright, so I'll count you down. One, two, three. H

Yeah? You guys are the best. Thank you. Coming away from this conversation, I'm struck by the power of questioning conventional wisdom. When Cara, Julie, and Natalie were told women's sports won't ever sell.

They asked. Why not? If we create a vibrant and inclusive community around a fantastic product, The people will come. Angel City shows that great things happen.

When you ask questions. Stay relentless. And build the future you want to see. I'm Jeff Berman. Thank you for listening.

Hey there, it's Jill Slessenger. I'm launching a new show. It's called Money Moves, and your money is going to move. We're gonna help you make better financial decisions. We're gonna call out the BS you're finding all over social media. We're gonna give you actionable guidance to make your financial life clearer, less stressful. We're gonna answer your financial questions and take the mystery out of your financial life. Follow and listen to Money Moves with Jill Schlesinger wherever you get your podcast. Masters of Scale is a Waitwater.

Our executive producer is Eve Tro. The production team includes Chris Gautier, Alex Morris, Tucker Vagerski, Masha Makutanina, and Brandon Klein. Mixing and Mastering by Aaron Bastanelli. Original music by Eduardo Rivera and Ryan Holiday. Our head of podcasts is Letal Mulat.

Visit mastersofscale.com to find the transcript for this episode and to subscribe to our email newsletter.

What you see above is a preview of the first minutes. One unlock costs 3 credits and covers this episode forever: full segment and word-level timestamps on this page, plus .txt, .srt, .vtt and word-level JSON downloads, as many times as you like.