Dustin Heise 0:00

Lyle, I can't thank you enough for taking some time today and just knowing how busy and full force you guys are going right now to get some time with you is just so great. And today's guest is Lyle Adams, founder and CEO of Spry, a collegiate athletics management platform helping schools better support coaches, administrators, and student athletes. A former professional soccer player, turned sport tech founder, is building tools that simplify the business of sport so people can focus on performance and people. Welcome, Lyle. Thanks so much for taking some time today, man.

Lyle Adams 0:31

Dustin, thank you for having me. Looking forward to today's conversation.

Dustin Heise 0:34

Yeah, well, you've come from a professional sport background, which in and of itself is incredible. And obviously your athleticism and mindset must have been incredible just to get to that stage. But now you've lived and built and are a founder. When did you first realize the biggest opportunities in sport often happen off the field?

Lyle Adams 0:52

I guess when I stop playing, probably. Because when you're playing, you don't really realize what's out there after. Um but when I take a step back. I think when you're in the moment of being a professional athlete, you don't realize how special it is and how short that period of time truly is in the grand scheme of things. Right. If you think about it this way, most professional athletes only get paid for the last third of their careers, maybe the fourth, depending on how long they've been playing. So I was playing soccer from age five and became a professional at 22. Played till I was 26. So four years, but I was playing for 20-something years, so one fifth of my life. I only got paid for it. So it's like, long story short, you take for granted the experience until you're out. But I think being a professional athlete or any athlete of any sort gives you a lot of intangible skills that make the transition into corporate life or corporate life feasible, and there's opportunities for growth and innovation or opportunity in those sectors.

Dustin Heise 1:48

Yeah. Well, then obviously you had the mindset always as a leader and just knowing whatever you needed to do to persevere through the challenge in front of you, whether it was athletically or, you know, now as a founder, you know, Spry's built on making life easier for athletic departments, for organizations. Hey, do you mind sharing a little bit about like that pathway and that part of the journey of, you know, you say where you've gone since, which, you know, just again, looking into, you know, where Spry's at and the the signings that you keep adding to your portfolio? What have you and your team been able to use as a foundation behind the scenes to make sure that you stay galvanized and, you know, when you're, you know, up against it or or as you were building this startup, you know, how did you stay true to the vision and you know, where have you been able to continue to to ortify yourselves as a team and as a business unit?

Lyle Adams 2:38

I would say, you know, just not being always looking for ways to improve. I think it's a it's a core tenant that you need to be successful in like not viewing failures as failures, but failures as learnings. You know, because I'm I'm famous for saying like I think I went one for 59 until I signed my first customer. Amazing. Yeah, it's like sub 1.2 or 1.4%. I've never been 1.4% of anything in my entire life. Yeah. Yet after a while, I said, hey, like I need to actually learn from these missed opportunities. Is there anything that we don't have or we could build or do different things here and there? So at the end of the day, it became quite evident for me now to say, hey, like, let's now build upon these. So I've kind of continuously educated the team to say, hey, let's not view setbacks as setbacks, but learning opportunities is one, to stay galvanized. And then two, I think competition is good. So we have competitors in the space, but competition always spurs innovation in my eyes. So being one of a few options is good. Sure. Because it always forces you to innovate and think about problems differently, and also giving your team a medium for being themselves or sharing ideas or opportunities because well-diverse teams create better products. So, how do you now create feedback loops and other disciplines or channels where everyone else could share things to make it more appealing or uh exciting for our customers?

Dustin Heise 3:56

Yeah, that's spot on. Do you mind just sharing a little bit about how that's helped shape the culture of Spry and you know how you as a leader have you know used that as an example? It's and we're so grateful that you're able to share that story for our listeners and for those that can learn here. But within your team, like were you able to leverage that learning and you know, some of that challenge, you know, as you're coming up and to get that first sale and then now getting the momentum that you have now. And and how has that shaped the culture of Spry and your leadership?

Lyle Adams 4:23

I would say we're we're scrappy buds, the team, for that reason.

Dustin Heise 4:26

Yeah.

Lyle Adams 4:27

Like I, you know, we've had a couple customers that we haven't announced yet that I met with years ago. And our product wasn't right for them then, but they've come back around. So that's for for me, it's really rewarding to say, hey, like look at this. Like we weren't mature enough then for them, but now we are. So it's it's kind of on the right path. But like not, I would say growth is not linear. I tell people all the time, just because you put in certain things doesn't mean it's gonna come out the same rate or at the rate that you wish it will. It could take zero to sixty, could take 12 years or two weeks, but growth is not linear. And I think that's something that you kind of have to level set with your team at times so they understand that. But at the same time, like don't get discouraged, don't get too down. It's like, hey, let's finish the week in a better place than we started the week. If you have more of those than fewer of those, you it's a successful outcome.

Dustin Heise 5:11

Yeah, heck yeah.

Lyle Adams 5:12

Right? But thinking that you're gonna always take a step forward every single day is just unrealistic because you're gonna have bad days, you're gonna have bad weeks. But like I said, if I can now end the month in a better position than I started the month, it was a good month, right? And if you now keep stacking wins like that, at the end of the year, you'll have you'll be successful, right? But you kind of have to, like I said, level set, not get too high or not get too low.

Dustin Heise 5:32

I just absolutely love that grind mentality, that determination, that perseverance, because it doesn't always happen quickly. Very rarely does it happen quickly, and just the ability for you to stick with it is very clear. Hey, you'd shared a great story around, you know, obviously you've you'd earned the trust of those what will soon be announced partners, but how do you earn that trust when asking organizations or you know, even seeking, you know, looking into new opportunities and things of that nature? How do you demonstrate that you're that choice and you know building that uh that relationship?

Lyle Adams 6:05

It's enterprise software is different, right? You know, if you think about the new business sectors, B2C is very different than B2B. And I'll I'll make this rudimentary like example for the audience, right? Like if I were to say go replace post-it notes, it's a complicated problem because post-it notes are easy to create, easy to rip up, easy to edit. So if I want to sell you a software that to replace this post-it notes, it has to do all of those things, plus more for you to get rid of what you're comfortable with. So why that comes down to product is we're continually talking to our customers, constantly talking to them. What works, what doesn't work, right? But at the same time, you kind of have to be neutral or impartial enough to understand their feedback and say, hey, is this a product problem or is this now a workflow or a user issue? Right. Like what's nice to have, what's critical to have? Because you kind of have to do the balance of both when you're now building products, because you can't always build for one stakeholder because you'll alienate your other stakeholders. But at the same time, you can't always build for one customer because you have multiple customers. So it's a long-winded say way of saying solve for the problem and not the issue at like a macro level. Yeah. Like the problem might be some this, but what the issue you're conveying is something else. So it's like, okay, let me actually sift through what those issues are and truly try to extract what the problem is and build to solve that problem. Because if I can solve that problem, all sub-issues will disappear. And it's kind of like the complexity of how we think about product. It's like, hey, what is the problem that we're trying to achieve? Is it's and the problems aren't features, right? That makes sense. Problems are problems. Features now solve problems. So, hey, I want to do A, B, and C Lyle. Okay, like why? What's the problem? You don't have enough time in the day as the pro. Here's solutions that make you more efficient, which will give you back time in the day, but what's the macro problem that we're trying to address or solve for?

Dustin Heise 7:46

Hey, as you guys have continued to build this and solving and serving, you know, the constituencies that you currently do, you take a step back and look at the athlete and and ensure that how you're deploying against it is in service of them at all times, and looking at this as a cross-sectoral sport opportunity as well. Certainly it's firing and nailing it in the collegiate world, but is there an opportunity for other sport sectors like the pathway to Olympic sport or paralympic sport for amateur athletes and how those organizations who have a deep need and so many complex pieces to support the athlete pathway and those other components that underpin their success? Are you looking into ways or seeing there's opportunity in that space as well?

Lyle Adams 8:28

Without going into like too much roadmap details, I think there's a lot of transferable product features that we have that can now sell into other or sports organizations. Right now we just deal with collegiate athletics, but I think there's a lot of operational and organizational challenges that many athletic organizations face. And our platform has features and solutions that could address their props. In terms of the athlete directly, I look at it in terms of like not solving for the athlete. I solve for those who work with the athlete. And the rationale is hey, if I can give the coach now back 30 minutes per week of admin tasks, that's an extra conversation. That's more time on the training field. That's that's more of a communication with your athletes or like actual 1v1 interactions. So like that benefits the athlete because the the coach is more present or more focused. Right. So that's kind of how I think about the athletes. I love the athlete. I can't I can't solve for all athlete nuances. But what can I solve for is can I reduce the time it takes coaches or admins to do repetitive tasks that are required? Like how long to get through your eligibility forms? If I can cut that from five hours to 90 minutes, I've given you back three hours of time. I love it. That's a lot of time now, month over month, week over week, year over year, that you can reinvest back into the community or the athlete itself, right? So, like, yes, it's it's hard to now think about how do I make the athlete better, but can I now make the support staff and those who impact and influence performance more efficient? Hopefully the answer is yes.

Dustin Heise 9:56

I love it. When you look into the future and you think about the future of college athletics, what gives you the most optimism right now, you know, when where it's headed? And even more so, kind of the second part of that will be like from a broader sport perspective. So absolutely, how are you seeing the optimism and the opportunity in the college sports space and you know, maybe even more broadly in the sports space in general?

Lyle Adams 10:16

I'll answer the last question first and work backwards, right? So I think as a whole now, athletes in general are a lot more technical or than they were 15, 20 years ago. Look at the last snowboarding winter Olympics, right? Snowboarding. Absolutely. People were doing what, 1680s? Plus plus. Those are things that you could only do in video games. And Tony Hall froze skater when I was a kid. Like people weren't people were only doing 720s, maybe, right? Maybe the 1080s, you were lucky, but like you weren't doing anything above that. Now it's common practice to be doing crazier spins, right? So I think that's just one example of how the sport or specialization in talent has risen globally. Whether it's whether it's through the internet or better training, better nutrition, like we can go back and forth on the root causes of what's led to this increased efficiency or productivity of an athlete. Yep. So I'm excited about to see how that continues. But on the flip side, I'm somewhat kind of worried though, that as a society we we've started specializing too early. Specialization or it's become a bit too early. So now, unfortunately, some might now not overcome adversity as easily as I once did, because that was part of your athletic story back then.

unknown 11:28

Yeah.

Lyle Adams 11:28

Or you played multiple sports, so you were used to like used to use different muscles and different skills, so you kind of were a better, well-rounded athlete. I'm not saying specialization is necessarily to become a professional. It definitely is to become a professional, but seeing specialization happen at such early ages now somewhat gives me some restraint about saying, yeah, it's great for the top 0.5% who can become pros, but the other now, 99% that doesn't, they might struggle to overcome some of the adversity or the challenges. And that was the beauty of sport, that sports teaches you to like work as a collective group, like, you know, share a common goal, like chase certain like milestones as a collective group and overcome adversity. And sure. But if there's no see, yeah, but if there's no if there's no more quote unquote adversity now, like what does that have negative connotations or impacts on sports and teens in the future? I don't know the answer to that question. It's something I'm just I go back and forth on. As a soccer player, I see it all the time. Like I played everything as a kid soccer, basketball, right? Ran track. I think it made me a better soccer player.

Dustin Heise 12:28

Oh, 100%. I think there's going to be huge examples and evidence supporting exactly that, that there is missed opportunity, that there is gaps, and those gaps are having to get filled in other ways where there didn't used to have to be that same level of gap fill. Whether it is in psych or mental support and things of that nature, you're absolutely right. All right. So I think police sports, I think, is an interesting cross-section.

Lyle Adams 12:50

I'm torn on what's happening right now. I think athletes getting receiving some competition is wonderful. They deserve it. But do I think it could have negative long-term consequences? 110%.

Dustin Heise 13:02

Absolutely.

Lyle Adams 13:02

I go back and forth. Like, yes, I think they should be paid. I'm not knocking that, but like the fact that some can now go from school to school every year to get keep getting checks, I don't know if that's healthy or not. Whereas when I played, you could transfer once without a penalty. I'm not saying that everyone should transfer with a penalty, not saying that at all. Right. But before, you kind of have to find the middle ground. I understand if you're coach leaves, you should have the ability to transfer, but you transferring now because you haven't played enough in your mind, I'm torn on it. Whereas my generation, there's maybe there's a reason you're not playing. Maybe work harder, maybe be better in practice. Like I don't know the answer to that. But I think it's like it's a double-edged sword. Like, I understand like one thing can be interpreted one way or the other. I'm not saying that. I just think with some of the rules in place now, it's a very collegiate athletics is a lot more challenging. I don't envy today's athlete. I don't. Social media, it's it's significantly harder than it was when I was a kid. Significantly the scrutiny on you, sports betting, gambling, social media, like it's hard being an athlete, especially now 18, 19, 20 year olds. Yes. Right when I was a kid, you didn't have you didn't have that. You didn't have that. Oh, absolutely. So it's like I'm torn. I'm excited about like what future innovations and new things will arise, but am I also concerned about the pressures and added stress that now come with it 110%?

Dustin Heise 14:18

I certainly feel that you know the tools that you're building for both administration and those that are underpinning the support of the athlete is going to be a huge ability for the ability to manage that as best as what might be possible. Because you're identifying it and you're thinking about it and you're solving for it, and you're coming up with solutions against you know what the future athlete and what the future administration are going to need to help support the athlete in this world that is far more complex than you and I ever had to deal with. No question about that.

Lyle Adams 14:45

You know, you know, my grandma said it best. It's like a lot of people are really good singers, but there's only a handful of pop stars in the world.

Dustin Heise 14:53

Certainly. Right.

Lyle Adams 14:54

But my thing is like, how can I now empower these good singers to like get their voice and message out there? In my example industry, it's not a singer, it's a coach, which administrators. You're a great coach because you know the sport or you now have a passion for the sport. How do I allow you to really focus on that while meeting your administrative responsibilities in an efficient way every single day? It's kind of how I think about it, right? Because it's like if coaches now can truly coach, I'll not only see happy administrators, but the end products will reflect now that the coaches now are being able to dedicate more time to their craft or their players.

Dustin Heise 15:28

Well, man. Well, I like thank you enough for taking the time today and look forward to doing this again. Certainly in the future.