One of the latest startups to emerge on the creator economy scene is already making waves — in the past six months, it’s raised millions of dollars and signed 10 athletes.
Former Patreon and Dropbox employee Sandeep Rajan founded in April Grandstand to address what he saw as a gap in the market: the potential earnings opportunities for athlete creators.
He’s building an app to offer exclusive content like livestreams, ask-me-anythings, merchandise, and message boards — all from athletes. Fans would be able to pay to access the content from individual athletes in a similar manner to Patreon and OnlyFans. Each athlete would engage with their audiences while also earning money directly through the platform.
“The fans are very much desperate to get closer to the game, to get closer to the action, to understand and access what’s happening inside the arena with their favorite athletes, and are willing to pay for it,” Rajan told Insider.
Grandstand recently raised $2.75 million in an initial funding round led by Will Ventures, which invests in early-stage consumer, health, and media startups such as Just Women’s Sports. A handful of angel investors, most from Rajan’s network, also backed Grandstand.
Rajan said the startup boasts 10 staff, including seven full-time employees.
“We’re very fresh out of the oven here,” he said. “Still very much baking.”
Grandstand is partnering with Parity, which helps women athletes get brand deals, to bring female athletes onto the platform. Rajan said he thinks Grandstand can engage passionate fans of women’s sports, as well as bring niche fanbases closer to their favorite athletes. The model would also create new revenue streams for professional female athletes who are often underpaid compared to their male counterparts, he said.
“We can unlock a revenue opportunity that allows for sport to be sustainable year-round, across sports, in ways that can make pursuing a professional sport a meaningful and viable career choice,” he said.
Rajan shared with Insider the two pitch decks Grandstand used to convince athletes to join the platform and to get investors to back the company. Below are three key slides from the 10-page pitch to athletes and the full 15-page deck used to win over investors.
Pitching Grandstand to athletes
So far, 10 athletes have signed up for Grandstand, which has yet to launch. James Nicholas was its first creator. The professional golfer has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram and 375,000 on TikTok, where he posts highlight clips, tips, and behind-the-scenes content.
Rajan did not disclose the other nine athletes but said their sports range from basketball to lacrosse to snowboarding. Among them, seven are women, and six compete professionally while the remaining four are college athletes, Rajan said.
Grandstand plans to take 10% of the revenue athletes generate on the platform, and to offer them equity in the company.
Rajan said Grandstand is currently focused on athletes who have already built audiences but need help expanding and engaging with their fanbases.
“We’re making them feel like this is not social media,” Rajan said. “This is something that is effectively almost like a personalized agency for them to help ultimately build and manage their relationship with their fans.”
In the pitch deck Grandstand used to get athletes on board, the company referenced YouTube sensation MrBeast to show how lucrative a creator career can be.
One slide estimated MrBeast earned $100 million annually, for example (though Forbes states his earnings are closer to $80 million per year).
Grandstand also described the tools it would offer, including a space to create and upload content to engage with fans and data on the content’s performance and the size of the athlete’s audience.
Grandstand positioned itself in another slide as a “passive, recurring revenue” stream for athletes, supplementing competition earnings and brand deals. It would offer athletes a chance to connect with passionate fans who have the resources to support them, either as a member who pays monthly to access content or a sponsor who gives more.
Grandstand’s pitch to investors
But, before athletes could start earning on the platform, Grandstand had to raise capital to launch it.
The initial funding round is meant to support the company as it looks to sign more athletes and roll out the app.
Here is the full 15-slide pitch deck Grandstand used to raise $2.75 million in its initial funding round:
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