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E1H: The Sports & Entertainment Entrepreneurs Podcast
PFL Founder Donn Davis: An attacker in a world of defenders
Season 1, Ep. 4
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Donn Davis is a heavyweight of the sports business: an attacker in a world of defenders, and someone who, in his own words, doesn't want to be right, he wants to win. He was the youngest team attorney in Major League Baseball history, helped build AOL's internet group, co-founded Revolution with Steve Case to back DraftKings and Sportradar early. In 2017 he built the Professional Fighters League (PFL) from scratch into the clear number two in MMA. Generous with his time and his advice for fellow entrepreneurs, he shares the lessons of that journey, and the value he's hoping to unlock across the sports ecosystem in his next chapter with Legacy Sports Partners.
In this episode:
- The three reasons he stepped down from the company he built, and what he'd give up to win
- Why his partners asked, "Have you lost your mind?"
- The triangle every new league has to crack, year after year
- How PFL ended up with the four most important fighters in the world, and what happened with Jake Paul and Francis Ngannu
- The US media deal that held PFL back, in numbers
- What a challenger has to do when the giant owns the game
- Where $80bn to $90bn of value is waiting to be built in sport, and why "the water's warm"
- The three tests he puts every new league through
Stay for E1H Overtime, where producer Dawn Barnable and founders from the E1H cohort put their own questions to Donn.
Hosted by Jamie Cunningham (E1H)
Produced by Dawn Barnable (Mettleset Studios)
Production Assistant: Blake Cotterrell
E1H is an incubator for sport and entertainment startups. Through its cohort programme, founders get hands-on support, expert mentoring and access to investors, leading up to E1H's investment pitch days. E1H: The Sports & Entertainment Entrepreneurs Podcast shares the stories and lessons of the entrepreneurs building the business of sport and entertainment.
Find our guest, and us, online:
Donn Davis: LinkedIn | Legacy Sports Partners
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