NBA players’ main focus is on their craft, which is playing basketball. This is what you’d expect from a player as they try to advance their careers.
There are big-name stars that get into business, and this usually starts because they have a big name, and companies understand that adding the player’s name to their company can help it grow. But what happens to those players that are not necessarily stars in the game?
A player like Thaddeus Young has to use a smart business strategy if he wants to build a career outside of the NBA. Even though Young has had a solid career so far, averaging 12.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in 16 years, he’s not a star that can earn big endorsements from his name.
So, Young took a different approach to ensure his finances don’t run out, even after he retires from the NBA. Young has become a successful investor and entrepreneur, and this is his story of how he’s become successful in the business world.
Thad Young: Businessman
Thaddeus Young got into the business world earlier on in his career, but things didn’t always go as planned. Young invested in a company that eventually cost him a good amount of money, but it was a learning experience to get smarter with his investments.
Increased salary money + a Nike deal opened Thad's mind to business.
So he decided to start investing…
But things didn't go as planned to start: pic.twitter.com/cP4uoq50sx
— Andrew Petcash (@AndrewPetcash) June 10, 2023
“My first investment was in this company. It was a really good company, I thought, but I really didn’t do a lot of the due diligence, per se, that I needed to do,” Young explained. “It was a former Google guy, who was chilling at the game, he was like, ‘I want investors in UBER’ so I’m like, man, I love that company.
“And then he’s like, ‘Yeah, I sold this company, and I’m building another one soon, so I’ll hit you up when I need some capital, and want some investors, ‘ so I’m like, all right cool. So I look at the cap table and I see some of the six owners on the cap table, some other NBA basketball players, and some other people, so I’m like, all right, cool.
“I put $100-200 grand into this company. But then that company did well in the beginning, for the first couple of years, and then it just fizzled out. That’s when I realized, like, man, I just lost $200 grand. A lot of people don’t tell you about the L’s they take, right? They tell you about all the success stories.
“I’m more than willing to tell you about the L’s, I’m more than willing to tell you about the wins. I’m pretty sure you want to hear about the L’s a little bit more than the wins because you wanna know what not to do. Yeah, I lost $200k on that, but I gained another $400k, $500k, on different opportunities because I… Like that one company gave me the opportunity to learn from.”
This experience was indeed a learning experience for Young, and he took it and started his own investment fund named Reform Ventures. Young’s investment firm works with companies and “evaluates and provides value-added investment in early, growth and late stage companies that have strong value propositions, barriers to entry, a sound business plan & strategy, a strong management & advisory team with industry expertise, and the potential to scale and a path to exit.”
Young has seen his own portfolio grow tremendously over the past few years. He’s taken the path of NBA great Shaquille O’Neal and invests in as many companies as he can.
Today, Young has invested in over 300 companies, which is a lot more than Shaq, who currently has money in 50 businesses. Young’s investments include the following companies:
Thaddeus Young has invested in 300+ other companies including:
• Alt
• Turo
• Tonal
• NoBull
• Huupe
• Orgain
• ZenWtr
• SpaceX
• Pinterest
• Overtime
• Therabody
• Dapper Labs
• SuperHuman
He's also an owner of the Brisbane Bullets, an Australian basketball team. pic.twitter.com/EQBSwJy1oW
— Andrew Petcash (@AndrewPetcash) June 10, 2023
DraftKings, Pinterest, SpaceX, Overtime, Therabody, SuperHuman, NoBull, and even a professional basketball team in the National Basketball League, the Brisbane Bullets. Young has a clear plan to keep the money rolling in, even long after he retires from the NBA.
“I want to be able to build my own empire and run it when I’m done playing,” Young said. “When someone looks at me 10 years from now, I want them to see that I was laying the groundwork while I was playing basketball and that I’m doing it on a bigger and better scale.
“I want people to understand that I’m not just an athlete. I’m a businessman, a person who believes in handling business the right way, and I’m a person who can walk into a building with people from any class and be comfortable.”
Thaddeus Young is an inspiration to not only basketball players but people who want to get into business, as well. We are not sure how much longer Young plans to play in the NBA, but there’s one thing we are certain of: Young’s business empire will continue to grow.
As of now, Young has invested in over 300 companies. How many will it be in the next five years? This is something we, as fans, are excited to find out.
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