Nick Bell

What are your thoughts on the future of collectibles? 🔮 At Fanatics Fest, thousands of sports fans were introduced to collecting for the first time. Here's a quick video with my thoughts on how collectible products are going to evolve. What do you think is the most exciting thing that will happen in collectibles in the next few years? Share in the comments below. ⬇ #thehobby #whodoyoucollect #sportscards #topps #paniniamerica #panini #basketballcards #tradingcards #baseballcards #nba #footballcards #psa #rookiecard #mlb #nfl #cardcollector #rookie #baseball #autograph #upperdeck #cards #basketball #football #sports #sportscardsforsale #cardcollection #collect #nbacards #sportscardscollector #rookiecards #HobbyShop #HobbyTrends #HobbyBusiness #SmallBusiness #RetailTrends #RetailBusiness  #alternativeassets #fanatics  #sportstech  #nhl #mls #collectibles #collecttech #cardshow #innovation #pokemon  #magicthegathering #ecommerce #retailtech #pos #square #shopify #clover #ecommerce #marketing #business #digitalmarketing #ecommercebusiness #entrepreneur #onlineshopping #website #seo #webdesign #b #marketingdigital #socialmedia #onlinebusiness #fashion #branding #shopify #smallbusiness #socialmediamarketing #webdevelopment #online #amazon #shopping #onlinestore #onlineshop #design #instagram #ecommercewebsite #wordpress #dropshipping

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If anyone is in North County San Diego, on Thursday May 2nd, we will be hosting a tech entrepreneur and investor meet up at 5:30pm. We’ll have a couple speakers, one of which is a fin-tech start-up raising a round, followed up by a presentation on the state of the stock & crypto market. We host these events quarterly and usually get a lot of founders and investors to attend. If anyone is interested, please message me and I can send you the details. LaunchPad San Diego #startups #startupincubator #entrepreneur #investing #crypto #meetup

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This scenario is more common than people think. It will also get worse as African venture sttuggle to raise money and accept unfavorable terms. Selling early or merging is not a bad outcome unless you want to eventually work for nothing. A great learning example on the importance of not just accepting any term sheet out of desperation. So many want to go to the media to announce and forget the minor details. The investor is also in business to win.

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Having a Cars and Capital event tomorrow in Southern California with Oren Klaff. If you want to join message me. https://lnkd.in/gDQ4D39u Oren Klaff Bridger Pennington #InvestorEvent #FamilyOffice #InvestmentOpportunity #CarlsbadEvent #PrivateEquity #WealthManagement #InvestmentConference #CapitalRaising #NetworkingEvent #IndustryLeaders #FinancialGrowth #InvestorsMeetup #WealthBuilding #BusinessGrowth #InvestmentForum

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INTERVIEWS OF 2024 SXSW PITCH WINNERS: Dhavel Patel of Lotus Every March in Austin, 50 of the world's most impactful startups showcase their talents at SXSW Pitch. Today we begin a series of short interviews with some of the category winners from the 2024 event. Founder and CEO Dhaval Patel has been growing Lotus for three years. At this year's SXSW Pitch, his San Jose based startup emerged as the winner of the "Smart Cities, Transportation & Sustainability" category. Patel's short answers to our questions are below. SXSW: What is Lotus?  Patel: A wearable ring that controls objects at home by pointing. See https://www.getlotus.com/ SXSW: What community does Lotus serve? Patel: Folks with limited mobility -- older adults, veteran soldiers, people with disabilities.  SXSW: Who is your all-time favorite entrepreneur? Patel: Warren Buffett. SXSW: Best startup-related advice you have received? Patel: Don't start building first, find the need first. SXSW: Current entrepreneurial trend that excites you the most? Patel: Desire for tech that is intuitive and simple. SXSW: Fail fast or perseverance? Patel: Persevere in failing fast repeatedly. SXSW: Favorite VC? Patel: Andreessen Horowitz. SXSW: Favorite gadget or device? Patel: Apple AirPods. SXSW: Government can best support startups by Patel: Moving faster. SXSW: Most over-hyped technology at present? Patel: AI. SXSW: Most under-hyped technology at present? Patel: Consumer hardware. SXSW: What did you enjoy most about your experience at SXSW? Patel: The people -- each person wanting to make the world a better place. SXSW: What is your best trait as an entrepreneur? Patel: Simplifying complex problems. SXSW: What is your best advice for other startups? Patel: Focus (say "no" to more). Learn more about Dhaval Patel of Lotus plus other 2024 SXSW Pitch winners by listening to the audio of their session at this year's event. See https://lnkd.in/gHtwQB8n Applications for SXSW Pitch 2025 will open in late summer. See https://lnkd.in/gE2hcVPK #sxsw, #sxsw2024, #startups, #founders, Chris Valentine, Dhaval Patel, SXSW, #venturecapital, #entrepreneur, #entrepreneurs, #startup, #founderstories, #sxswpitch, Lotus (Techstars'23), #techstars, #Austin, #ATX, #creativity, #innovation, #hardware, #consumerhardware, #pitch, #accessibility,

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🏈 Why Is Fanatics Launching A New Fashion Brand? Fanatics is the world's dominant sports merchandise, apparel, and collectibles company. They sell officially licensed products like team jerseys, sports cards, and memorabilia. Today, they announced the launch of a new fashion brand called “Off Season,” created by designers Kristin Juszczyk and Emma Grede. The debut collection is a limited edition set of puffer jackets inspired by five different NFL teams. Fanatics has cornered the market for official sports apparel through exclusive license agreements with all the major sports leagues and players associations. What better way for Fanatics to expand their apparel business than by moving horizontally into an adjacent category? Over the last year, Fanatics has been experimenting with several “Hype Drops,” limited edition collaborations and capsules that mimic classic streetwear collabs. They’ve done collaborations with Travis Scott, Darius Rucker, and Erin Andrews. Fanatics also launched an NHL-themed collaboration with Lululemon. I think Fanatics has tested all of these limited edition collaborations to see if they can launch full-scale fashion brands. That would be an additional revenue line that could theoretically scale to hundreds of millions in top line revenue. Since Fanatics has deep relationships with teams and leagues, they are uniquely positioned to launch official sports-adjacent fashion. By positioning themselves as the first real sports-fashion crossover brand, Fanatics can also expand their already massive business to more female consumers. Sports and fashion has always been intertwined but that has increased over the last decade. Not only is it becoming more common to see sports teams do limited edition fashion collaborations, but athletes themselves are becoming billboards for fashion. Fashion brands are looking more to athletes as cultural leaders to help push their brand forward in terms of relevance and desirability. One of Fanatics' biggest moats as a business has been their unique connection to athletes, teams, and leagues. If they can parlay that advantage as a tool to get deeper into the world of fashion, Fanatics 2.0 could include becoming a house of owned fashion brands. #sports #fashion #fanatics #retail #sport #marketing #advertising #business

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🚀Exciting News! AGS LABS / ALES GREY™ has been invited to pitch at FoundersBoost LA’s spring cohort and the Alliance for Southern California Innovation SoCal Venture Pipeline program at Google! If you’re an investor, please join us on June 4th for an exclusive joint Demo Day by FoundersBoost LA & the Alliance for SoCal Innovation! 🌟 The Alliance and FoundersBoost are joining forces to showcase some of the top young companies in LA! In addition to hearing the amazing pitches, you’ll be able to network with other investors, incredible mentors, supporting partners, program leaders, and the startup founders. Refreshments will be served. 🍹 📌 IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a private invite event due to capacity constraints and to maintain a value-add atmosphere. Sign Up Link Below. https://lu.ma/lademoday Don’t miss this opportunity to discover and support the next big thing in innovation! 🌐 #FoundersBoost #DemoDay #Innovation #Startups #Investors #Networking #PitchEvent #AGSLABS #ALESGREY #SoCalInnovation #GoogleEvents

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TechCrunch broke news of an amazing #AI play with EGYM raising $200M at a $1.2B. What is amazing about this is that they are based in Europe, and they are actually generating meaningful revenue via their #AI play optimized for going to the gym as opposed to other plays that want you to work out at home. This will be a very interesting company to watch and should give #AI Investors pause for more generic plays that are 1) Raising more funds, 2) At higher valuations, 3) With less revenue. What do you think? #management #venturecapital #privateequity #capitalmarkets #ehealth

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The Wall Street Journal broke news this morning that should not come as a surprise that Apple and their #VisionPro has failed to demonstrate any significant market traction. While this is not going to be a major impact on Apple and Facebook it does send warning signals for people in the #AR sector about the challenges for market demand outside of #gaming highlighted even further by Microsoft and their #HoloLens that was focused on the #enterprise and #government / #military sectors too. What do you think? #management #venturecapital #privateequity #capitalmarkets

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Back in 1997, The New York Times highlighted a “Roundtable in Multimedia” attended by senior media executives. They lamented that apart from a few exceptions like pornography websites and Amazon, no one had cracked the code for a viable 'interactive' media business model. Fast forward to 2024, and Fable has launched Showrunner, a revolutionary platform known as the “Netflix of AI" , which allows users to create their own TV shows with just a few prompts. 📺✨ The way we create and consume content has evolved dramatically. But what does "interactive media" really mean today? We break it down, exploring how it intersects with massive shifts in technology, culture, and new media. And how with a growing "Swipe before Type" generation, there is now an ingrained expectation of interactivity in all digital experiences. We dive into the future of interactive media and gaming and see where we're headed next! Link in comments. #InteractiveMedia #Gaming #AI #TechRevolution #ContentCreation #NewMedia

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The biggest updates coming to Apple’s iMessage and its Messages app in iOS 18 aren’t its AI emoji, Genmoji, or even the ability to send texts via satellite. It’s the ability to finally, finally schedule messages to send at a later date and time, as well as support for RCS, the next-gen messaging standard and replacement for SMS that will make texting with Android folks much less painful. These updates are now available in iOS 18’s public beta, which just opened up this week.

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new episode alert: Magnite $MGNI CEO Michael Barrett breaks down the future of independent ad tech. we talk competing with Google, why The Trade Desk won, and what actually works in M&A. Plus some great insights on leading turnarounds: https://lnkd.in/eAKc84Qi

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What do you think about the future of collectible products? 🔮 At Fanatics Fest, thousands of sports fans were introduced to collectibles in a big way, and I am excited about new ways that collectibles will be integrated into the fan experience, so I'm sharing a few thoughts in this video. 📽 What do you think the future of collectibles looks like? Share in the comments below. ⬇ #thehobby #whodoyoucollect #sportscards #topps #paniniamerica #panini #basketballcards #tradingcards #baseballcards #nba #footballcards #psa #rookiecard #mlb #nfl #cardcollector #rookie #baseball #autograph #upperdeck #cards #basketball #football #sports #sportscardsforsale #cardcollection #collect #nbacards #sportscardscollector #rookiecards #HobbyShop #HobbyTrends #HobbyBusiness #SmallBusiness #RetailTrends #RetailBusiness  #alternativeassets #fanatics  #sportstech  #nhl #mls #collectibles #collecttech #cardshow #innovation #pokemon  #magicthegathering #ecommerce #retailtech #pos #square #shopify #clover #ecommerce #marketing #business #digitalmarketing #ecommercebusiness #entrepreneur #onlineshopping #website #seo #webdesign #b #marketingdigital #socialmedia #onlinebusiness #fashion #branding #shopify #smallbusiness #socialmediamarketing #webdevelopment #online #amazon #shopping #onlinestore #onlineshop #design #instagram #ecommercewebsite #wordpress #dropshipping

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If you’re looking for a distraction from political content this week… look no further… allow me to introduce: VC podcast content :) I was so excited to finally be on Minnie Ingersoll and TenOneTen Ventures’ LA Venture Podcast. She grew this platform massively while I was on the operating side and it was such an honor to have this be my first interview since returning to VC. Minnie and I chatted poolside in her backyard in Pasadena and covered a lot of ground: - 🚀Why I think distribution and GTM is potentially a greater early moat than product in an AI-native world - 1️⃣ Is first mover advantage still a thing?! -🕵🏽‍♂️ How I think about channel vs integrated product partnership dynamics and why most of them dont work! -💰 What is (and isn’t) exciting to me and Fika Ventures in marketplaces, supply chain, commerce enablement, and more - 🧐 Why we love investing in subject matter and domain experts at Fika more than technology experts learning new domains - 🤝 What makes our partnership and team special at Fika Ventures and how we think about working with founders - 🪢 and finally, why Pejman Nozad and I have more in common than I do with most VCs! Shout outs to friends and colleagues like Tianxiang (TX) Zhuo, John Chen, Gabriella Brignardello, Route, Michael Tam, Troy Henikoff, and more in this one. And most importantly, thanks for having me, Minnie Ingersoll!

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The #VentureStudio community is thriving and when two leaders from different studios get together it is always going to be a great conversation. This podcast is huge as two brilliant Venture Studio leaders Barry O'Reilly from Nobody Studios and Ben Yoskovitz from Highline Beta join to unpack the innovative world of venture studios and uncover the strategies that make startups thrive. In this episode, you will learn: 📈 The fundamentals of creating and scaling a venture studio 🛠️ Strategies for innovating with accelerators, incubators, and venture capital 💡 How to apply Lean Startup principles to build products people actually want 🤝 The importance of collaboration between founders, corporate partners, and investors 🔄 Insights into the specialization and future trends of venture studios Take a listen and learn from two masters.

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