#26: Blake Lawrence - CEO, Co-Founder Opendorse | All things NIL | Collectives & NCAA policies | Increase in brands endorsing athletes | How data transforms industries | Future of college sports

Opendorse is one of the largest companies in the NIL space and it all began with former Nebraska linebacker Blake Lawrence attempting to help just 1 athlete. Today, Opendorse has over 100,000 athletes, 3,000 marketers, and 2,000 sports organizations. They have a lot of solutions under management, but at their core, they are a NIL deals platform for athletes, agents, and brands. Blake Lawrence founded and sold Hurrdat Social Media agency before launching Opendorse alongside his co-founder, Adi Kunalic. Opendorse has nearly 100 employees today and raised $40M in venture capital to help lead the charge across name, image, and likeness. Chapters: (01:25) NCAA’s first NIL infractions (04:10) Increase in brand deals around March Madness (08:30) Opendorse one decade later (10:40) Data and the changing agency model (14:10) NIL’s market size + potential (20:50) Blake’s journey from athlete to entrepreneur (25:40) Sports market breakdown + trends to watch (29:55) General managers in NIL (& future of collectives) (34:20) Opendorse’s current initiatives . Blake Lawrence links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/Blake_Lawrence LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakealawrence/ Website: https://opendorse.com/ . Andrew Petcash links: 🏠 Website: https://profluence.com ✉️ Newsletter: https://www.petcashpost.com 🎙 Podcast: https://anchor.fm/andrewpetcash 🐣 Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewpetcash 🕺 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewpetcash 📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/andrewpetcash 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpetcash/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3q5jhAuCVT2FZCkLW5xBiQ/ . Thanks for listening!