Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Wray.
Hi Matt , please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Born and raised outside of Philadelphia, I grew up playing and being involved in sports at every turn. A funny anecdote I always tell is my business career started very young (perks of always looking older than I am). My professional career started when I was 14 years old:
Starting as an Events Director at NXTLevel Events in 2014, I was exposed to every level of travel sports there was from managing events and teams. For 3 years, the company was running events with 70+ teams per weekend in baseball and softball tournaments, managing a team of 15 employees. In 2017, I was brought on full time for the then-startup Philadelphia Baseball Training as the Director of Special Events. I managed the events division from top to bottom, including sales, operations, customer service, and managed a staff of 20+ employees during my tenure. The events division grew over 400% in my time with the company, as well as the formation of strategic partnerships with companies such as Dicks Sporting Goods, The Hamels Foundation, and Hitrax.
In 2021, I graduated from Saint Joseph’s University and co-founded LENZ, which was the first ever platform that allowed parents to rate their experience with their travel sports teams and events they played in. LENZ quickly caught onto local and regional markets, with over 4000 site users across multiple sports, leading to recognition as one of “Philadelphia’s Top Innovators Under 25” by Philadelphia Business Journal.
I also spent the next 3 years in the Philadelphia 76ers front office, with the NBA ownership group Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment within their sales department before leaving to run LENZ full time in 2024.
Most recently, LENZ has launched 3 new companies under its umbrella. LENZ Events is a regional youth sports events provider, primarily in baseball. LENZ Merchandise is a sports apparel provider that offers fully customizable gear for sports organization’s players, coaches, and parents. LENZ Media is an ownership portfolio investing in media/podcasts in the sports space.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I don’t think the phrase “smooth road” has ever existed for any entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is rooted at the purpose of “problem solving” and “disruption”, which is naturally a bumpy road. I think the sheer fact of being a Founder at my age caused naturally born obstacles, whether it was being taken seriously or being in rooms with much older, more experienced executive. From a business standpoint, 2 years into this 4 year journey you could really say the company was close to dead before we made our big pivot. For two years you make great progress, raise a hundred thousand dollars in funding, get thousands of users to buy in, and then have to look yourselves in the mirror and admit you need to change the company was a tough pill to swallow. But now I look at where we are now, and everything that has come from that, and as you get more experienced in this startup game, you realized it is just a part of the journey and find comfort in that.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
At LENZ Sports, our goal is to unify the experience of youth sports, which currently operates as an incredibly fragmented industry. We provide a true one stop shop for teams, where they can play in elite event experiences, get fully custom apparel and equipment from top brands, gain access to leagues and media coverage, and take advantage of unique partnerships that exist in the LENZ ecosystem. LENZ Sports is a holdings company of LENZ LLC, which operates 3 main lines of business: LENZ Gear, LENZ Events, and LENZ Licensing & Media. The goal is to have every single aspect of the youth sports experience centralized to a LENZ service.
Our belief, is that only through the power of teamwork, can an organization reach its goals. That’s why the LENZ Sports process is built firmly on the foundation of leveraging trusted partners, built through years of their experience working together with only the best organizations.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
I’d say for any young professional starting their career, in any market, the best way to build your reputation is to do these 3 things:
1) Network your A** off: Curiosity will lead you down many great paths. Especially when you are younger, people who are more experienced and successful do want to help you. Reach out to people, be curious, want to learn. Find ways to provide value for them without expecting anything in return. The stronger these relationships are will be more valuable to you then any education or salary can get you.
2) Just Be Involved: Any opportunity you get to do a job, go to an event, meet a new person in the industry, say yes. There have been so many times where I was asked to volunteer, do an intro call, or work some event that maybe was not ideal, but it got me in front of really influential people, and my reputation grew from that as being someone who hustled and could be relied on. Find every way possible to be involved and help people.
3) Authentically Tell Your Story: Whether it’s introducing yourself, your LinkedIn presence, or even situations like interviews, be a really good story teller of your authentic self brand. Be vocal of what your why is too. The more people know your true passion and what you are chasing, the more people gravitate towards wanting to be involved with it. You’re why is the best reputation you can have for yourself.
Pricing:
- Please see our website for all our offerings!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lenzsports.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-wray-252331172/
