Shawn Amsler
The Challenge
Across the seven major sports leagues in the U.S. and Canada, all 181 teams are billionaire-owned. This course explores an alternative model: the fan-owned, multi-sport football club, with its history of deep community roots and proven financial success in Europe and Latin America. In this course, students will examine governance, finance, and culture, and develop strategies to implement democratic football club ownership models in North America.
About the Organization
Gaia Labs is a multinational venture capital fund founded on the premise that the traditional venture capital model has performed less than satisfactorily in meeting the breadth and depth of the grand challenges facing mankind and the planet. Gaia Labs aims to disrupt the traditional VC model of operating as a blind pool and allocating risk across a portfolio of investments from third party entrepreneurs. Instead, Gaia Labs’ approach is to assemble a customized, focused, company-building team around a designated need and challenge, thereby eliminating the distinction between venture capitalist and entrepreneur. By first identifying a need/challenge and then structuring a deeper and broader approach to solve it, Gaia Labs is able to de-risk the investment and create enduring value. The result is fewer deals, but ones that are more focused and impactful, with outsized returns on investment while also meeting Gaia Labs' financial, ecological and social impact goals.
Professor:
Schedule:
Mondays, 11am - 1:30pm
Credits:
4-credit course