Women in Sports Tech (WiST)

CEO + Founder

SOLVING FOR DRAMATIC GENDER IMBALANCE AND INEQUITIES IN THE SPORTS TECH INDUSTRY

How do you change the ratio and improve work cultures, when most don’t know that sports tech businesses have less than 20% women in their workforce and even fewer female leaders? How do you educate and engage with business leaders on the business case for more inclusive cultures? Help motivated employers diversify their talent pipelines and improve retention by improving culture? 

Objective: To create an organization that generates awareness, drives growth opportunities and builds global community. The non-profit, founded by Marilou McFarlane in 2017, created tangible programs for students and employers that positively impact diversity and inclusive cultures in sports tech businesses, educates and engages business leaders, provides summer internship experiences for college, grad, and PhD female and non-binary students … and ultimately changes the ratio and work cultures in the industry.

Accomplishments and Impact:

  • Flagship initiative WiST Fellowship program: There will be positive ripple effects for decades from this prestigious program, as 114 students graduated as WiST Fellows, representing a remarkable force of diverse and brilliant talent cultivated in our industry. Of the Fellows who have graduated, nearly 80% are now working in the industry, and 42% of those are already in leadership roles. WiST proudly provided thousands of hours of 1:1 concierge-level matching mentorship to these brilliant individuals, along with professional career workshops to improve their chances of success. Numerous businesses are now modeling their own internship programs after our comprehensive and holistic program.

  • Talent Pipeline Enhancement: On the WiST NETWORK, the single source for diverse talent, over 7,500 candidates applied for roles from this job board where our partners are Featured Employers.

  • Engagement and Education: WiST Presents original content, and virtual and live events have inspired over 100,000 individuals globally. Since our inception, we have presented Fireside Chats on “Culture Matters: Inclusion Powers Innovation” to countless partners’ employees and conference attendees. Our WiST Career Toolkit provides invaluable advice and resources for any job seeker in any industry. This content will remain on our website indefinitely, along with info on the Fellowship program.

  • Improved Culture: From 2018 to 2024, Fellows reported a 25% increase in positive support on the job, company ethics and inclusivity. Bootstrapping our way to success, WiST has been supported by donations from over 60 corporate partners and startups who understand the business case for diversity and inclusivity.

Mustard   

CRO + CMO

DEMOCRATIZING ACCESS TO THE WORLD’S BEST THROWING BIOMECHANICS COACHING

How to name the business, create a brand, build a product team and a business model for a venture-funded sports tech startup developing the AI platform based on 40 years of data from the iconic personal NFL quarterback and MLB pitching coach Tom House?

Objective: To create and launch a brand and a mobile app business to the youth, college and pro baseball markets, emphasizing the revolutionary nature of the product itself but capturing the joyful power of play to consumers at the same time.

Accomplishments:  

  • In CMO/CRO role with founding team, sourced and led elite level creative talent to name the business Mustard (teammstrd.com)

  • Developed brand platform that generates excitement and brand loyalty with all consumer groups, ensuring consistency and continuity with internal product team and all external marketing and PR communications

  • Led all marketing and branding activities, outsourcing and managing team where necessary, creating and integrating all messaging and branding across owned marketing assets: website, social media, newsletter

  • Built and led team generating over 800% growth in followers and brand recognition for Tom House, the iconic personal coach to top MLB pitchers and NFL quarterbacks

  • Provided PR leadership that generated over 88M in media views within 6 months of launch

  • Assisted CEO to initiate and develop numerous strategic marketing partners, building meaningful partnerships that scale growth and access to app

  • Developed investor materials and business model including multiple revenue streams in CRO role 

  • Recruited key members of product development team and aligned on communications around user experience

STATSports  

President, North America

FROM UNKNOWN TO UNLEASHED IN ONE SHORT YEAR

What do you do with a U.K.-based company with ambitious goals, limited marketing budget and leadership unfamiliar with the  U.S. elite youth sports ecosystem and consumer market? You get busy while educating company leaders on the youth sports culture in the U.S.

Objective: To launch consumer GPS player tracking technology to US market: new product, new category, new country.

Accomplishments:  

  • Developed sales strategy and comprehensive marketing plan to build awareness, educate and engage the consumer and sell product

  • Drove deal with the U.S.’ leading soccer sales channel Soccer.com

  • Managed marketing partnership with U.S. Soccer Federation.

  • Conducted experiential activations at 7 prestigious national and regional events including U.S. Soccer Development Academy showcases, the Austin Labor Day Cup, and GPS’s National Tryouts engaging thousands of prospective customers

  • Developed 40+ club and academy marketing relationships including with Tennessee Soccer Club, Weston Football Club, Lonestar Soccer Club and Virginia Development Academy

  • Negotiated signing, creative process and production shoots of 2 professional athletes, U.S. Soccer national team players Tyler Adams and Mallory Pugh, for marketing initiatives

  • Reached over 500,000 elite level youth players with consumer messaging

  • Bonus: added business with top NCAA soccer programs in two of the Power Five conferences.

Edufii (CoachNow)

CEO
LEARNING AND ITERATING AT THE SPEED OF LIFE 

How do you scale the mobile communications platform beloved by top professional golfer Jordan Spieth and his coach Cameron McCormick and others? You bring in new investors and motivate team to expand, create subscription revenue and grow customer base 500%.

Objective:  To take a unique player/coach communications software solution beyond the sport of golf and beyond consumer - to emerging market opportunities.

Accomplishments:  

  • Developed new corporate strategy and investor materials to bring in new institutional investors

  • Hired new CFO and revised financials and pro formas for growth

  • Led product development team and pivoted product roadmap to include subscription sales and B2B partnership opportunities

  • Developed marketing strategy and maximized Owned and Earned marketing channels

  • Enhanced distributed team morale with focus on mission and team-building events

  • Created and executed business development strategy to grow business 500% globally, adding customers like Leadbetter Golf, IMG Academy, England Rugby, Asian Institute for Sport and strategic partnerships like SportsEngine.

  • Turned on subscription revenue in-app, leading to 85% retention rate of all coach customers.

  • Led merger with Shotzoom, Edufii name changed to Coach Now

SportsBoard

VP Business Development

TRUE GRIT AND AUTHENTIC CONNECTIONS

SUBHEAD: How do you educate and build trust with hard-working coaches and administrators to adopt a better way to scout and recruit their best players? How do you get them off paper-based processes efficiently and effectively, transforming how they conduct this critically-important function? 

Objective: To capitalize on existing relationships and build trusting new ones in NCAA and elite club/academy ecosystems, generating critical credibility and massive market adoption for revolutionary new mobile technology.

Accomplishments:

  • Showcased and demo’ed product at dozens of NCAA recruiting events, where coaches’ pain points scouting players are most evident engaging with hundreds of coaches on the ground.

  • Met college coaches on Power Five NCAA D1 campuses across basketball, football, baseball, soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, and softball. 

  • Led business development with over 350 NCAA programs across all sports, as well as NBA Referees Association, U.S. Soccer, IMG Academy, U.S. Junior Nationals Basketball, Perfect Game Baseball, One Softball, USA Archery and more.

  • Drove 400% growth in subscription sales in two years

Vivo Girls Sports

CEO + Founder

RECOGNIZING A MASSIVE OPPORTUNITY WITH A LUCRATIVE COHORT

How do you build a vibrant community while developing a sponsor-driven business to support young female athletes and keep them playing? How do you inspire large media outlets and retailers to provide meaningful value to a massive total addressable market? 

Objective: To build an online community capitalizing on early days of social media as well as sponsors major desire to engage this aggregated and massive cohort of customers - all in a time when developing website was still cumbersome and expensive. 

Accomplishments: 

  • Founded company with the mission to inspire and educate young female athletes, to keep them playing the sports they love. Total addressable market of millions of young female athletes globally

  • Generated over $100K in revenue in first 6 months from sponsors such as Stiefel/GSK Dermatology, Kind Bar, Hint Water, and more

  • Raised $800K in seed capital from angel investors

  • Recruited team of experienced executives, passionate college women and men interns along with talented engineering and product team

  • Built first interactive website and online community focused on young women who love sports, dedicated to providing much needed resources on health, positive coaching, nutrition, where-to-buy, and community

  • Developed original content featuring partners such as Positive Coach Alliance, sports nutritionists, Ob/Gyn’s and Sports Orthopedic Surgeons and Sports Psychologists

  • Launched at Vancouver Olympics in 2010

  • Built community of over 50,000, engagement in the top 1% of all Facebook brands globally

  • Conducted experiential activations at numerous top youth sports events including soccer, basketball, softball, volleyball

  • Inspired the launch of espnW before being acquired by SportsEndeavors