Meet Brian Zwerner | Venture Capital Investor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brian Zwerner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brian, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I spent twenty years in the investment banking business, working for larger organizations. While these roles were rewarding in several ways, I had an intense desire to be my own boss. I wanted to decide what I worked on, and I wanted to see the direct results from my hard work. In 2014, I took the leap into entrepreneurship, and I have never looked back. Beyond The Game Network is my third startup as a founder, and I can’t imagine going to work for someone else ever again. I love the freedom and responsibility of leading a business.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Beyond The Game Network is a group of over 30 pro athletes and business executives that invests in startups across the sports, media, gaming, web3, and fitness sectors. Once we invest, our athlete team helps the companies with brand promotion and introductions to sports teams and leagues. Our group has made 18 investments since launching, and we are excited to see so many of these companies seeing extremely fast growth.

It wasn’t all easy moving from investment banking to entrepreneurship. I certainly had a winding road to get here today. When I made the decision to get involved in my first startup in 2014, I partnered with a friend to build Aquina Health. We built a great technology-enabled business that provided financing to healthcare small businesses. We worked with doctors, dentists, and home healthcare agencies. It was fun to see these businesses grow and serve more patients. We sold a controlling interest in that business to a larger finance company in 2017, and I moved on to my second startup.

My next entrepreneurial effort was Sportal, a high school and youth sports company. We built tech products for teams and then pivoted to a media company covering high school sports here in Georgia. We sent reporters and videographers to hundreds of games in 2018, and we also built a livesteaming business. It was a ton of fun, but we struggled to find a sustainable business model. We tried everything to make that business a success. However, in the end I made the hard decision to close the company.

With Sportal, I learned a lot from a business that had challenges finding product market fit. I am able to apply these learnings now as an investor at Beyond The Game. For certain, the best part of the experience was the many great people I met, including my Co-Founder Andre Fluellen who was helping Sportal as a high school football color commentator. I also met numerous other former NFL players who have been a great help in building Beyond The Game. While the outcome with Sportal was frustrating, I wouldn’t be here today without those struggles.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When my friends come to town, I want them to see what a vibrant, diverse, and exciting city we have here in the ATL.

During the day, we would hit all the tech hot spots. We’d head over to Atlanta Tech Village and meet with the great startup founders building amazing tech businesses. A trip to The Gathering Spot is essential. Beyond The Game was birthed at TGS over multiple idea sessions, and it is the top location for Black Tech in Atlanta. Next, we definitely need to find our way to Ponce City Market, the home of TechStars Atlanta and a great food hall. Finally, a trip up to Battery Park to swing by the Comcast building, where their Sports Tech Accelerator is doing great work. Maybe we can even take in a daytime Braves game.

In the evenings, we need to hit up my favorite Atlanta restaurants. I’m a fan of a great steak, and my favorite one is at Chops. One night, it’s going to be casual at the best BBQ spot in town – Greater Good BBQ on Roswell Road. They do something amazing to caramelize the pork ribs, they’re the best. I also love a good fajita, so we’ll need to hit up one of the Superica locations to get the best one in town as well. To cap off the week, we’ll need to hit up a Hawks game to see Trae Young and the team do their stuff.

After a week like this, I know my friend will be returning to Atlanta soon.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I absolutely want to shoutout my Co-Founder at Beyond The Game, Andre Fluellen. Andre played eight years in the NFL and worked with me in a high school sports startup back in 2018. We had a ton of fun with that business, but ultimately, I made the tough decision to shut it down and find a new opportunity to pursue. Andre had the idea that became Beyond The Game, to unite former pro athletes with business and tech executives. Without Andre’s idea and enthusiasm for the mission, we never would have achieved so much success over the last three years.

rsonalBrianZwerne

Website: https://thebtgnetwork.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-zwerner/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianZwerner