From Class Project to $40M Valuation: Adam White on Building Front Office Sports

Adam White started Front Office Sports as a freshman class project at the University of Miami in 2014. Today, FOS is majority-owned by Jeff Zucker's RedBird IMI at a reported $40 million valuation, with 70 employees, projecting $20-24 million in revenue this year, and on track for its first profitable year. We get into the full cap table history — from giving up 51% to his first investor to RedBird taking majority control — how FOS actually makes money, the NFL and league content partnerships, the studios bet that landed a number-one Netflix film, and why FOS still doesn't charge readers a dime. Timestamps 0:00 — Intro 1:25 — The founding story and building FOS at Miami 10:49 — How to start a media company from nothing 19:09 — Why brand matters more than audience 25:06 — The "prosumer" positioning and who actually reads FOS 35:33 — The investor journey: SC Holdings, Crain, and RedBird IMI 38:03 — What Jeff Zucker actually changed 42:37 — Editorial independence when your owner invests in sports 44:34 — The numbers: $24M projected revenue, first profitable year 48:00 — Revenue mix: digital, social, branded content, and events 49:15 — The Yahoo partnership 51:47 — Faces and franchises: building sub-brands inside FOS 58:00 — The events business and getting Adam Silver on stage 1:04:17 — The NFL deal and why FOS pays for league IP 1:09:05 — FOS Studios and the Netflix Brett Favre film 1:14:37 — Why FOS doesn't charge readers 1:18:28 — Profitability and what comes next 1:22:27 — The exit question: who buys FOS? 1:30:12 — What every media operator should focus on and Adam's obsession