Dustin Heise 0:00

Right on. Well, Kirsten Syres, so good to have you here today. And I know it's not always easy to get time and align schedules, but here we are, we finally have, and it's so good to have you. Today's guest is Kirsten Syres, founder and CEO of Two Days, a platform bringing more transparency to college athletics by giving student athletes a voice in the recruiting process. A former college athlete herself, she's helping families, athletes make better decisions in one of the most important transitions in sport. Kirsten, thanks for taking some time and thanks for being here today.

Keirsten Sires 0:31

Yeah, thanks. I'm I'm excited. I'm ready to go and uh I'm ready to talk some some sports.

Dustin Heise 0:36

Yeah, no, I I I know you are, and and yeah, grateful to have you here in just kind of getting to know you a little bit more and and you know, spending the time we have, but also in just you know, learning your pathway of how you got here. I've been incredibly impressed with just the natural leader that you are, the perseverance that you you lead and live by, and then also, of course, the the innovation that you've been able to grow and build, you know, the company that you're leading now. But yeah, I want to talk a little bit more about you know that company and the the athlete voice and transparency. And what was the defining moment that made you realize college sports needed more honesty?

Keirsten Sires 1:10

Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you for the compliments. Um, and then second of all, you know, when it comes to starting two-a-days, it was one of those things where I started it in a college class for an entrepreneurship class. And it was a group of us we were kind of talking, like, what would be a great idea? It's like, oh, rate my professor, but for college sports would be great. And then it's kind of like, okay, you're in it and whatever. But I at that moment, I probably didn't really take a step back and really think about what that defining moment was in the way that you're asking it. But I would say if I really dial it back and from the perspective of now, it really hit the nail on the head as I went through the whole recruiting process and then I stepped foot onto campus and I kind of realized that I wasn't totally sold, you know, everything that was 100% honest, I'll say. And I think that the biggest moment of that was we were at a uh an away trip for tennis because I was a recruited tennis player and then a walk on for soccer. And uh it was six girls in my grade, which is a really big recruiting class for, you know, a team of nine or ten girls and in tennis. And everyone's like, yeah, you know, coach tell me I'm gonna be playing in like the three or four spot. And it's like, well, he told me that. Well, he told me that. And it's like all six of us are being told the same thing. It's like the math ain't math in there. So it was one, it was one of those moments where I think I was kind of like, all right, what did I get myself into here?

Dustin Heise 2:27

Well, I think so you pivot and you continue to evolve. I mean, you you take a step back, you continue down an athletic pursuit, and of course you have success there. You know, I think, you know, from a recruiting perspective, it can take shape in in in so many different ways and how and where someone ultimately plays. Like, what do you think people underestimate the most about you know that season of their life?

Keirsten Sires 2:49

Yeah, I think when it comes to recruiting process specifically, I think everybody, there's kind of two things that I'll touch on really quickly. But number one being just that D1 or bus mentality. Like if I don't go division one, then you know, the world is over. Athletics has changed a lot, especially over the last like five years. And there's so many competitive teams at all divisions. And I think it's really does everybody a disservice not to think about it from the whole picture of what is going to be the best fit overall. It might be a D1 program, and that's okay, but it also might not be, and that's also okay. So I think that's something that gets overlooked a lot. It's like the other schools. And then I think the other part of it too is just kind of checking egos. I think people overlook that a lot. And just kind of just because somebody on your club team or at your high school is committing at a younger age doesn't mean that there's a rush for you to do the same. I know it's only 7% of high school athletes that go on to play in college, but if you're determined and you put in the work and you do the outreach and kind of take the right steps, it puts you in a better position. But, you know, as long as you're open and try and, you know, continue to make that happen at some level, you could probably land if you kind of persevere through the whole process. And of course, you have to have the skill set to be able to do so, which you could usually check a lot of times along the way.

Dustin Heise 4:08

I think you've built such an incredible skill set in that process, obviously in building the business that you are, that you have. I can't wait to see you continue to innovate this. I'm gonna kind of lead into another question around how you can help student athletes, future student athletes, or just future students and athletes or innovators that, you know, maybe they don't make a div one school, maybe they, you know, don't understand fully what that pathway could or should look like for them as a full, you know, long-term vision or the person that they feel like they don't even know who they want to become quite yet. Do you feel like the platform's gonna be able to evolve to a place where it can serve and ask you know the end user what that North Star could look like if it wasn't a Div One perspective and help kind of grow and build towards how they can utilize both an academic athlete and also just the future version of themselves perspective to get to that end state because there's so many ways to get there.

Keirsten Sires 5:11

Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the things that we launched about a year ago is called athlete intelligence. And I think it doesn't hit on quite exactly what you're saying, but I think to your point, that's kind of what we're working towards and innovating towards and testing out. And a lot of times what we do with the athlete intelligence platform is we work with club teams and high school teams and trainers and facilities and what have you, where they're kind of buying this for their student athletes to utilize while they're at their program or using their facilities. And it allows the coaches to have access into the recruiting process, like where they're at in the recruiting process, but also where they're at in the admissions process. So the coaches have full access instead of just like emailing everyone back and forth. It's like, all right, I know this kid is interested in these schools and there's their GPA, and you know, they've talked to this coach and they have to do this, and here's the follow-ups. And it's just kind of like an organizational and educational tool for the student athletes, but again, really also supporting the people who spend the most time in this, which is the coaches and the athletic directors. So I think we've taken a step in that direction, but I'd love for it to come full circle in the sense of, you know, one of the things we're gonna be launching is allowing the athletes to be able to see what rosters are coming up for which specific teams each year. So it's like, okay, if I'm a freshman and I see in four years there's gonna be a spot open up in my position, then that's something that's gonna be utilized. And then again, evolving it into let me just put in all my stats, all my information, everything I possibly can. And then we can kind of help determine without seeing them play, because it's always a factor, right? We can still help determine within reason what schools might be a good fit. And again, everyone always goes back to football, right? Because we're Americans and that's what we do. And then the other part of this too is like, okay, what if there's a sailor who wants to be a neuroscientist? Do you know how many few schools that there are that actually provide both of those things? And I think people lose the context of all the other sports that we have within the, you know, university system that needs support versus just like the, you know, top sports that come to mind.

Dustin Heise 7:15

I mean, no question that in the US, you've set the bar and the standard of of what college athletics can, could, should be, where there's still opportunity. But you know, from a Canadian context, which of course I'm also you know coming from, in addition to understanding where you're you're sharing and where you're evolving your company, I'm thinking, you know, also with my parental hat on and my you know, my daughters who also play sport and you know, that are not that far off of college and future college age, you know, thinking about just the navigation that a parent who's you know part of the end user of the platform and making decisions supporting their young athletes, how do you make sure that, you know, even if you don't make a Div1 school, there's opportunity in these schools and that can set the stage for your your pathway. By the way, your brand is still tremendous with the athletic component of it, but you know, the end goal could be, you know, what's the career post-athletics anyhow? And and just thinking about you know how that part of the platform continues to evolve. I'm I'm really curious on on how you're gonna be able to lean into that and see that part of the end user as well as like the scaling of it with that many more people that can can also use it.

Keirsten Sires 8:25

Yeah, I think again, the goal of the athlete intelligence now, and and you know, kind of talking to these coaches and players that are utilizing it and everything is how does this help you? What would you like to have? You know, what features would be beneficial and everything else? And I think, again, across the board for the like it is like doesn't matter where you're from, where you live, nothing. The knowledge of the recruiting process a lot of times is just a bunch of myths and everything, right? And then you peel back the onion, then it's like, okay, you have all these general myths, and then it's like, no, no, every recruiting process is so different for every sport, even between men's and women's. There's just different nuances between each sport. So then we dive into, okay, how do we really take this to help the student athletes consider the other divisions, consider NAI or going to junior college for two years to do whatever they need to, then to move on to a four-year institution. What do these things look like? And how do we educate more on all of that information? So I think that's just kind of like the how we actually execute on it is what we're in the process of figuring out. But I feel like what's landed is like webinars. Sometimes I feel like the books just don't land. And I think because we're just in like such a technological age that even the parents have kind of shifted over to video and everything else. So we've kind of really leaned into the webinars, and I think we'll continue to grow that part of it as well. But we're always open to just figuring out how to help support the student athletes more in that endeavor and how to give access to people, schools who have really low recruiting budgets, how can we give them more opportunity to, you know, have more kids kind of seeing what their school is about? How is this program run? What if, you know, there's so many schools out there that have unbelievable coaches, but they don't get the hype or the press because it's not a football at an SEC school, right? So how do we kind of shine light on those people as well as keeping the transparency across the board as as best we possibly can?

Dustin Heise 10:26

I love that. How do you think trust changes the entire college sport experience?

Keirsten Sires 10:31

I think a lot. And I think I always anchor back to the fact that after doing this for so many years and seeing so many ratings, a lot of it comes to intent. So what I mean by that is a coach could make a wrong decision as long as the athlete knows that the intent was there, it's usually fine and they still have a positive view of the coach. If they feel like the coach made a wrong decision and they thought the intent wasn't pure, it's not usually good. So if if a coach is generally speaking, has like the players first and foremost in mind and and they've done right by them in a lot of different ways, I think that the players are forgiving on that end. And I think when the intent isn't there, that's kind of part of trust to an extent. And I think when the trust part is gone, the confidence gets killed, the locker room vibes get killed, the whole team dynamic. Sometimes it becomes a situation where the team kind of explodes or the team bot like totally bonds together against the coaches. Sometimes it splits, like it really depends. But the trust factor I think is is first and foremost with almost any other just relationship in life, right? It's like you gotta have trust in order to have like a good foundation with anything. So I think that's very much true across college sports too. So definitely think trust is a is a non-negotiable 100%.

Dustin Heise 11:54

Well, and that's gonna lead to the next question around like, you know, what part of your own journey still shapes how you build and lead today? I mean, you had to persevere through so much, you've had to innovate so much over the last few years, and you continue to lead in a way that inspires others and continues to set the bar on, you know, how companies are able to innovate and shape how this process is done. How would you liken that to your journey?

Keirsten Sires 12:20

Yeah, I think first and foremost is always just like communication, good, bad, or indifferent. It's like on a team, when I was on a college team, I'm you know, I still play sports and everything, but it's obviously not the same. But it's just high levels of communication, even if it's stuff that's hard to hear, taking feedback myself. Like, for example, today we had a situation where somebody that works for me, you know, we were like, why did you make this decision on like this like random thing? And she was like, Kirsten, I ran this by you. And I was like, You're right. I, you know, and I took, I, you know, took it on a channel. I was like, I totally forgot. That was my bad, like, you know, whatever. And I think just taking accountability and then like also having the conversations are just like two major things that I've always done in within athletics. And, you know, one of the reasons that with my tennis coach that I don't think we really aligned well on, because it was like, hey, do you have an issue with me? Well, no. Well, it seems like you have an issue with me. Let's talk about it. No, I don't have an issue with you. And then it's like I get, you know, treated differently in practice. It's like, no, let's like sit down, let's talk it out. Yeah, and then let's move on. So I think that's something that I've continued to kind of make sure I always have in my sites is like, how do we just at least talk it out? And it doesn't even even mean you need to agree on everything at the end of the day, right? Not everything is gonna get resolved 24-7, but at least people can have what they need to say, close the loop and move on at least, you know.

Dustin Heise 13:45

Yeah, the quick feedback loop. And then again, it comes back to the and then you can get to like the core of it, you know, and continue to build on together. I hear you.

Keirsten Sires 13:53

Yeah.

Dustin Heise 13:53

I love that, you know, the the uh, and that was a great example of the next question of of how you are operating with your team. But again, in a system where image often matters more than reality, you know, how do you create space for the truth without losing empathy?

Keirsten Sires 14:08

Yeah, I think it's it's you know, especially dealing with ratings, right? It's it's uh a balance. And I'd I'd say we come across, for the most part, coaches have, you know, I think the average is like a 3.5 out of five star. So like we're we're pretty, we're good, you know, nobody's really complaining about that. But when we get into some of the lower ratings, sometimes there's obviously some issue and we get hit up. And first and foremost, I we always offer like, hey, you should definitely like reach out to people in your space that you feel, you know, might give you a good rating. That's, you know, you do it at restaurants, same thing. But the next step would be if there's any ever coach, and I've said this before in multiple platforms, like they want to come to us and they're like, hey, I have this bad rating, I'd like to talk about how I've changed my philosophy or this or that, we'll hear them out. We'll talk, we'll put it on the blog, we'll put it on social, we'll do what we have to do. If there's people that want to like actually have a conversation with us, I'd say that's like how we've started it. We're kind of evolving into a space though where we're actually going to be allowing within reason coaches to reply to their ratings. So if there's a situation where they feel, and again, you could do this on Yelp and Glassdoor and everything else, but if they want to go on and thank everybody that's given them a good rating, they can. If they want to go on and try and defend themselves in some cases, they can and whatever else. And I think that's the other part of this where we've talked to some coaches and they're like, yeah, I don't mind that I have this, but at the same time, I'd like to like at least allow some recruits to see how I would reply to some of these. And, you know, then they can kind of make their decisions from there. So I think we're kind of evolving into that. And it's a tricky space, right? Because we're always athlete first. So trying to balance the coaches would never be able to say, like, I know this person graduated in 2026, or this is Caitlin from whatever team, and she did this, like, you know, all the replies will have to be like reviewed by our team and they can't like out people. So again, I think that's the compromise that we've been making and kind of chatting about with some coaches and players and figuring out how do we make this a space where it's like productive from both sides. And, you know, there's athletes out there that'll totally admit, like, yeah, there's somebody who is just mad they didn't get playing time, and you know, maybe they went on and shared their opinion, but again, it's still their opinion at the end of the day. You can't take that away from someone.

Dustin Heise 16:22

I'll appreciate that athlete-centric athlete first perspective, obviously. The the way that you've continued to innovate is again, it's incredible. It's uh it's inspiring. I think the the term I'd like to use, but I got to set the stage here, is like I know you're a lifelong snowboarder. So I'd like to just get your thoughts on what are you most stoked on within your organization right now? What have you seen, you know, as you've continued to grow and scale that you know is going to continue to grow and scale and you feel is a momentum builder for you know where you're headed. What are you, what are you guys really excited about right now?

Keirsten Sires 16:55

I honestly like I think we're just like in a really good space with our team in the sense of like who we've hired, how long they've been with us, new people we've brought in. Like, I think we're just like a good solid unit right now, which I'm super hyped about. And then I think from just like product perspective, I think growing that athlete intelligence arm and like really trying to nail into some communities that maybe don't have access to spending, you know, thousands of dollars on an advisor. Can we plug into their system in their schools or in their organizations that they're already playing for and paying for and kind of provide that access to them? I think is like another big thing that we're pumped about. I think just the space in general with NIL and just all the moving parts, like it's always confusing on like what's happening with Transport Portal, what's doing this, what's doing that. But I do think it does create some exciting opportunities with what we're doing specifically. And I think allowing people who are now coming in with NIL positions at schools, and that means that if they're on the athletic staff, they can rate them at two-a-days. So we're gonna start to see some NIL staff being rated on the site for like maybe they're an NIL advisor or something else. But you'll be able to kind of see how that's kind of forming at different schools as well, which I'm pumped about. And then I think just the reporting aspect, getting the critical mass that we've reached now, and how do we summarize this data and put it out there to say, like, hey, overall, if we see that a program's losing money, you know, all the programs start to lose or just their football goes up or this or that. So I think those are some kind of teasers of things that we're working towards over the next, you know, 12 to 18 months that I think we're super pumped about as a whole.

Dustin Heise 18:37

That's awesome. Again, love the product, love where you're going with that. Now, when you think about the future of college athletics, you know, what kind of culture do you hope the next generation gets to step into?

Keirsten Sires 18:47

Yeah, I think that's a great question. I think it's a little chaotic right now. I think it will normalize out at some point, but we're in the chaos right now. So maybe a little less chaotic, but a little bit more free than what I experienced. So, you know, we had NCAA football video games being made, but nobody was receiving name, image, and likeness money from that and jersey sales and everything else. So I think like athletes, I'm not an athlete's need-to-be employees person, but I am an athlete should be compensated if there's like sales on their names or, you know, if they want to go be a model or start a company, they should be able to promote it, which were things that were blocked traditionally. So I think that's all great, but I also think like transfer portal, pay-for-play, like all that kind of stuff is also too much. So somewhere in between would be a really good positive step. I do also think that there's some chatter going on now with like the first generation of student athletes that have been on social media and people who have built really good platforms kind of being harassed on social media after like a volleyball game, or you know, Libby Dunn was like one of the first female athletes that was big into building a brand on social media outside of a big sport. She was gymnastics at LSU. I think kind of creating more of a positive angle on that because at the same time, people forget that they're kids, right? Like it's nice to see them on TV and everything, but at the same time, they're still like most of the time, I know it's getting older at this point, but like under 22 years old. And like some people are 18. A person could technically be 17. So I think those are some things that would be really cool to kind of see moving forward, but definitely figuring out the chaos of the regulations on the MCAA and the, you know, Supreme Court decisions and everything else that they have going on has been nuts to follow. Every day something is happening.

Dustin Heise 20:35

Yeah, well, it's neat to see how finger on pulse you are and the company that you've continued to build and and you're contributing to how that gets to get sorted out, or you're contributing to how that gets to get evened out. And again, you're supporting the athlete first, which is critical on ensuring that they have a place to be able to go and know that it's a safe space, it's going to lean into their needs first, and you know, the future athletes know that they have a place that they can go that is trusted, is trustworthy, and giving them good advice because making decisions right now with you know how wild it is out there, it is incredibly important to have leaders like you, your team around you, and you know, what you're trying to provide as a service and product for so many young athletes. It's uh it's inspiring and it's great to to see that it's happening, but also to get time to talk about it and and hopefully to you know have our listeners and people that see this and know that we can and still want to inspire those around you and and for them to find you and and know that uh you're there to support and and listen to uh good guidance. So thanks again for uh for being here today, Kirsten. And yeah, I'm so stoked for uh time we've had. Thanks again.

Keirsten Sires 21:46

Yeah, I appreciate it. You're the best. So thank you.