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The week of the WNBA All-Star Game, Jess Smith, president of the Golden State Valkyries, shares how the team has quickly built a brand identity in its first year in the leaguebreaking season ticket records, surpassing expectations on and off the court, and setting a template for future expansion teams. Smith digs into the business impact of Caitlin-mania, how sports is a reflection of wider trends in society, and critical lessons learned in a career that spans the MLB, NHL, Major League Soccer, the National Womens Soccer Leagueand now the WNBA. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by Robert Safian, former editor-in-chief of Fast Company. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with todays top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode. Were halfway through the Valkyries’ inaugural season in the WNBA. How’s it going so far? I mean, the team is solidly mid-table in the standings. Is that better than you expected? Were you hoping for more? I mean, for me, I oversee the business side of the Valkyries, but I’ve known since we hired general manager, Ohemaa Nyanin, and she hired Coach Natalie Nakase that the culture they were building was one of team over self where anything’s possible when you can work together. And I think as a fan, for me, and watching this team come together, the defense they play, how they tackle each opponent one by one has just been remarkable. And I think it’s a joy to feel what the fans feel in those surprises compared to many expansion teams, regardless of sport, just in the history of sport. For us, that has just been remarkable and it’s been quite a journey. How important to the league and to your team’s business has Caitlin mania been? I mean, your timing for a new franchise couldn’t have been better. You broke records for season ticket sales even before the season started. Is that because of that timing or are there other things that you were doing? So previous to my time here at the Valkyries, I was a part of building Angel City Football Club from day one. That’s the women’s soccer club in Los Angeles beside Natalie Portman, Julie Uhrman, and Kara Nortman. So different sport, different league, different market, and same playbook to many extents where when you build unapologetically and relentlessly to serve a unique fan base that has been waiting for something powerful in women’s sports, you see the output, you see sold-out arenas, sold-out venues, record-breaking merchandise that really translates to also lifestyle merchandise. You see unique audiences pouring in. So the growth has been here for quite some time, and no growth is linear, right? So whenever I talk about growth, I also like to make sure that I’m chatting about since Title IX, there have been so many different moments in time that have led us to where we are today where you’re really seeing this full-scale, high-level expansion, no longer, “Will the league survive?” type of commentary. I think Caitlinthe records she was breaking in college and how she can shoot the ball, the logo threesit’s fun, right? But what she’s brought into the league is that traditional sports fan, right? Somebody that tuned in because there was great basketball happening and then followed her into the WNBA and they’re like, “This league is great.” And so certainly she personally has a ton of fans, as she should. She’s a great force and great athlete within this league. But I think you’re also seeing that as a part of the continued growth, right? For us here at the Valkyries, we’re the first expansion team since 2008, and we’ve said from day one, well, maybe I’ve said and made everybody else say it, but that’s a great responsibility. People have been asking the W for more for a long time, more of everything. Right? We want more teams, we want more roster spots, we want more visibility, we want more, more, more. Well, Golden State was the first answer to more. And so the world, as soon as that happened, kind of turned and said, “Okay, what are you guys going to do?” Right? To know that as the first expansion team since 2008, we were going to be what people looked at of what the standard would be, not just for us, not just for our fans, not just for the Bay Area, but the future state of this league. And so I think for us it was a really monumental moment actually welcoming Indiana into Chase Center and into what we call Ballhalla. Because as I was talking to different media that week, a lot of what I said was, Caitlin’s used to obviously traveling and having a ton of fans wherever she goes, and I think she always will, but I don’t know if she was used to coming into an arena that was a sea of violet and truly there in a home court advantage that we were able to put together alongside our fans and community in a short period of time. I’m curious about that audience differentiation. I mean, you mentioned you worked at Angel City FC, you’ve worked in Major League Baseball, you’ve worked in the NHL, you worked in Major League Soccer, you’ve been at a lot of different leagues. What’s different about the fan for the W than those other leagues, and I guess what’s different about the fan for the Valkyries specifically in your market? Well, I think first and foremost, from the outside looking in, you kind of just assume a sports fan is a sports fan, right? If somebody is a traditional fan, they’re going to be a 49ers fan, Giants fan, Sharks fan, you’re going to kind of go through the major sports franchises. Well, sometimes that’s true. How those fans act within those different realms are much different. And every league does have profiles of demographics that are more apt to be their fans, right? So that’s a science. The NHL and Major League Baseball are not approaching things the same way. And I think having experience in multiple different leagues gave me the confidence of understanding and in wanting to build things in a unique way, because that’s actually what makes each league powerful in its own. And specific to the W and specific to women’s sports, but even more broadly than the W, is it’s the women’s sports fan that I think has been undervalued and understudied for a really long time, right? So they’re not in people’s databases probably. I can’t tell you the number of people that would come up to me before we went on sale, before we really had a brand and just say, “Please sell me a premier experience. I want the club with the cool food and the floor seats. I don’t want something that assumes I want to pay less to gain more access.” Right? They wanted to be served something like they would be where you would traditionally see that in men’s sports. We understood that really no matter what, whether it’s WNBA, NBA, MLS, NWSL, you were seeing from a ticketed fan base, from a season ticket holder really always les than 10% of a crossover, so why would you build your product that way? So as I came to the Valkyries, I think the opportunity was so great in that Golden State, they built Chase Center, they’ve won a few championships along the way, and they’re just known to be genuinely caring and genuinely talented at whatever they do on and off the court. I feel like I’ve joined the Avengers in so many different ways when you walk in these walls. How do you build into the innate trust of Golden State and yet build uniquely for this audience, this young diverse audience that probably isn’t closely following the NFL, the NHL, Major League Baseball? Maybe they go to games, maybe they know a little bit, maybe they’ve chosen one, but it’s an audience that is really thoughtful around right now where they spend their time and money. They want to be on things they believe is building a better tomorrow, things they believe brings them community, they want to be around like-minded organizations. And I think for the Bay, this is a woman’s sports market. This market’s been waiting for something powerful to come. And Bay FC’s obviously done a tremendous job launching right before us as well. But this market’s also where the world looks to see what comes next. It’s innovative. People here don’t have the mindset of needing to see something tested before they buy in. In fact, they take pride in wanting to buy in from day one and be those first and early adopters simply because of the region that we are a part of.
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E-Commerce
The climate crisis upends life in countless ways large and small, including potentially ending one beloved 1,000-year-old tradition. Peated whiskies, flavored with decaying organic matter from bogs, could soon be a casualty of new regulations designed to protect peatlandsamong the Earths most potent carbon sinks. In the U.K., the government is moving aggressively to end commercial uses of peat and protect peatlands. Long used in gardening as a rich source of compost, the practice is being abandoned as national bans on peat use take shape. When those gardening-focused bans are fully implemented, peats role in the whisky industrywhich historically accounted for just a sliver of peat usewill make up a much larger percentage of commercial peat usage. This week, a cluster of 10,000-year-old peatlands in England were designated as national nature reserves. New legislation proposed earlier this year aims to extend bans on burning across peatlands, a last-ditch effort to restore the 80% of Englands peat bogs that are currently considered degraded. The U.K. is home to 13% of the worlds peat bogs, which comprise only 3% of the Earths surface area but store nearly one-third of its carbon. Our peatlands are this countrys Amazon rainforesthome to our most precious wildlife, storing carbon and reducing flooding risk, Mary Creagh, the U.K.s nature minister, said. Whisky beyond peat While plenty of whiskies are peat-free, peat is the signature ingredient that creates the smoky, complex flavors that many Scotch whisky drinkers seek out. Peated whisky has a reputation as an acquired taste, but it commands special respect in the industry for its depth of flavor and its link to traditional production methods in Scotland and Ireland. Peat comes into play when malted barley is dried with a kiln. Peat added to the flames produces thick smoke that then envelopes the grains, infusing them with layers of flavor drawn out of the earth itself. Pulling peat out of the peated whisky process would be a break with tradition, but one that would leave the industry much better adapted to a changing climate long term. As other industries have moved away from peat, the search for alternatives is on. In gardening, coconut coir (made from the fibrous husks of coconuts) is a popular choice. Wood shavings, rice hulls, leaf litter, and kitchen waste compost are other options, though some you might prefer to not make themselves known to your palate at your next whisky tasting.
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E-Commerce
For the first time, A hit Netflix show used something unusual to craft a final scene: AI. On its quarterly earnings call, the companys co-CEO Ted Sarandos highlighted the use of generative AI in the sci-fi series El Eternauta (The Eternaut), which debuted on April 30. The post-apocalyptic series adapts an Argentinian comic of the same name, following survivors of a toxic snowfall that blankets Buenos Aires. The scene in question shows a building collapsing dramatically, a feat that Sarandos argues wouldnt have been in budget without leaning on AI. Sarandos says that Netflixs Eyeline Studios partnered with the shows creative team to incorporate virtual production and AI-powered VFX into a final scene. Using AI powered tools, they were able to achieve an amazing result with remarkable speed and in fact, that VFX sequence was completed 10x faster than it could have been completed with traditional VFX tools and workflows, Sarandos said. While El Eternauta might be Netflixs first foray into using AI to generate final footage, the tech-forward company likely already incorporates AI into other workflows. Netflix doesnt share Hollywoods AI worries Even as companies like Netflix embrace AI, many workers in Hollywood have major qualms with the technology. Concerns about AI in film and TV surfaced during the monthslong Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike in 2023, which sought to block AI from impacting writers pay and training on their work. The actors union SAG-AFTRA, which joined the WGA, also sought to protect actors from having their likenesses used without compensation. In spite of those misgivings, AI is already popping up in film and television including at this years Oscars. Both Emilia Perez and The Brutalist used AI to finesse actors voices a boon that boosted Adrian Brodys Hungarian accent and may have contributed to his best actor win. AIs detractors in Hollywood are as concerned as ever, but given its tech industry mindset and Silicon Valley DNA, Netflix isnt squeamish. We remain convinced that AI represents an incredible opportunity to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper, Sarandos said. They’re AI-powered creator tools. So this is real people doing real work with better tools.
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E-Commerce
Convenience stores often have signs that read, Smile, youre on camera, to discourage all who enter from engaging in transgressive behavior. Perhaps those signs should go everywhere now. On Thursday, the CEO of tech company Astronomer was captured on the Jumbotron at a Coldplay concert, seemingly committing marital infidelity with an employee. A TikTok of the incident went mega-viral, racking up 56 million views in 24 hours on that platform alone, while also exploding across every other social media site, not to mention countless group chats. Theres something eerie, though, about how quickly and completely an apparent personal indiscretion became universal content. Its a cautionary tale for a new era of public shaming. The Jumbotron Moment Heard round the World blew up at such an incendiary level, on a bustling news day, for many reasons. The clumsy, deeply human way that the CEO and his employee seemed to realize they were suddenly visible, and then struggled to teleport out of sight, is almost objectively funny. Its also a cross-cultural story, encompassing the worlds of tech, music, and general human interest. Few current events, after all, get an equal amount of coverage at both PopCrave and Business Insider. The story also seemed to resonate because Coldplay might be the most memeable band that couldve been involved in such a situation, inspiring countless jokes on social media about not wanting to be caught dead at a Coldplay concert. But the reason the Jumbotron moment has not only captured so much attention but sustained it is because, after becoming a matter of public consumption, the story metastasized into a saga. The more people found out what happened, the more unresolved variables they unearthed, including how the spouses of both the CEO and the employee reacted, what the board at Astronomer thinks of the incident, and how the CEO will address all of this. What we do in the shadows Jumbotrongate is now more than just a viral momentto many online observers, its become an irresistibly spicy parasocial true-crime drama, one unfolding in real time, rather than in a Netflix docuseries. The apparently grueling wait for a statement from the CEO has inspired chaos agents to release multiple bogus apologies online. A Facebook posting of one of the fakes late on Thursday night has already garnered 55,000 reactions and 14,000 comments. This impatience to hear directly from the person at the center of a massively viral, still-developing saga recalls one of the earliest, broadest, and most notorious examples of online shamingthe Justine Sacco incident. Just before Christmas in 2013, Sacco, a senior PR executive, sent an ill-advised tweet as she boarded an 11-hour flight to South Africa. Going to Africa, the tweet began, before taking a turn for the controversial: Hope I dont get AIDS. Just kidding. Im white! Although Sacco had a relatively paltry following of less than 200 people at the time, the tone-deaf tweet came to the attention of a writer at Gawker, who helped it go tremendously, globally viral. The hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet quickly became inescapable on Twitter, driving more communal anticipation to find out what would happen next than arguably any public event since O.J. Simpsons white Bronco chase 20 years earlier. The incident sparked both a wave of public shaming and an awareness of how it changing peoples lives. (Sacco was let go from her job at InterActive Corp., though she was later rehired in a different role.) In the years to come, people would be shamed for killing a beloved lion during a hunting trip, for threatening to call the police on a Black man under false pretenses, and for appearing to masturbate during a work Zoom. What is now happening with the CEO of Astronomer, however, is a completely different beast. What he did may be perceived as morally objectionable and sleazy but its ultimately a private matter that managed to break containment and reach a global audience. Who deserves anonymity? Sacco may not have deserved the level of attention wrought by her tweet in 2013, but unlike the Astronomer CEOs conduct, her offensive joke was something that she felt comfortable broadcasting to the world. Meanwhile, as an American abroad, being in a crowd of thousands in an Australian arena during a Coldplay concert must have felt like the most anonymous place in the world. If the lesson from #HasJustineLanded was “Be careful what you tweet,” the one from this saga is more like, “Be careful what you do anywhere at any time.” Theres certainly something satisfying about seeing an apparent cheater get his comeuppance, but those celebrating it might be a little too comfortable living in a surveillance state. Most people have an implicit understanding that Nest camera footage or Alexa recordings might come up in court, and that we each leave a gigantic breadcrumb trail of data behind us wherever we go online, but its easy to convince ourselves that the Saurons eye-like panopticon will never turn on us personally. The Astronomer CEOs turn in the barrel should be seen as a warnin that no matter who or where you are, a camera is never far away, and its probably aimed in your direction.
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E-Commerce
If youve built an audience around documenting your 9-to-5 online, what happens after you hand in your notice? Thats the conundrum facing Connor Hubbard, aka hubs.life, a creator who amassed a huge following by sharing the mundane details of his corporate life as a senior analyst at a Fortune 500 company. In April 2024, The Guardian dubbed him the most boring man on the internet, with some of his most popular videos showing viewers his lunch breaks and daily 9-to-5 routine. @hubs.life The days are long, the years are short.. #dayinthelife #ninetofivelife #dailyvlog Glimpse (Slowed + Reverb) – Gabriel Albuquerqüe The internet couldnt get enough. It just seemed to get a lot of traction, because I think most of the world is working,” he told GQ in an interview. “They have to work for a living. They can’t all be influencers. Then he quit. Not for another job, but to become a full-time influencer. Clips from a recent livestream began circulating after Hubbard told viewers he wouldnt answer questions unless they sent him a Galaxy, a TikTok gift that costs 1,000 coins, or about $13. Unsurprisingly, this didnt go over well with fans. We need studies on the downfall of Hubs Life, one TikTok user posted. Who did this guy become? @escapetheslop Not going to pretend I was ever not a hater of the corporate sloptent, but this was so absurd I clipped it. Like a #jasonnash stream all over. #normalizethenorm #9to5 #hubslife #contentcreator @hubs.life oh my god bruh oh hell na man – ok9172917 Hubbard has fallen into the relatability trapone that often trips up influencers who go viral by sharing their ordinary lives. As their follower count grows, their lifestyleas well as their contentinevitably shifts. Maybe its a bigger house, more lavish brand trips, or, in Hubbards case, quitting the job that made him famous in the first place. Suddenly, the content no longer reflects what drew the audience in. He left his 6-figure job FOR THIS, one person commented. This storyline would be a good Black Mirror episode, another added. (Fast Company has reached out to Hubbard for comment.) For audiences, watching their favorite influencers change in real time can feel dishearteningsometimes even like a betrayal. The backlash can be swift and harsh, or fans simply lose interest and move on. Hubs Life assumed people loved him, not the content, another TikTok user observed. The internet is rarely forgiving, especially when followers feel responsible for someones rise. Its a lesson Hubbard is learning the hard way. As one particularly brutal comment put it: We made the wrong person famous.
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E-Commerce
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