Adam Torres and Brandon Maier discuss LvlUp Venture Fund.
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Show Notes:
LvlUp is a multi-stage venture ecosystem and direct investment fund focusing on mature seed with a bottoms up approach to investing. In this episode, Adam Torres and Brandon Maier, General Partner at LvlUp Ventures, discuss the LvlUp approach along with its 800+ venture scout community which runs deal flow.
About LvlUp Ventures
LvlUp Ventures is an early-stage value-add fund, investing in great teams with strong initial market validation and bringing startups to the next level through NextUp, a revolutionary hybrid startup accelerator-venture studio. We don’t just “accelerate” – we “upcelerate” businesses. LvlUp also helps startups with their investor pitch decks and helps raise capital. If you are looking for an investment, assistance going-to-market, pitch deck or have any questions please reach out to us, our team is here to help.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on be our guest to apply. All right, so today my guest is Brandon Meyer, and he’s the general partner over at Level Up Ventures.
Brandon, welcome to the show. Thanks, Adam. I’m happy to be here. All right, Brandon. So great to have you on and, and definitely wanna get more into what you’re doing over at Level Up Ventures. But first I just gotta say, hey, how did I not catch you at our event last week? What happened, man? , you told me you were there, rag told me you were there.
What happened? , I think I was caught in maybe two or three conversations and yeah, despite there only being, you know, 20 people or so. Yeah. I don’t know. I think it was it. Well, we were having some good wine too. So we have some good wine, some good spirits. I cannot, I can never remember. Oh my gosh. I feel so bad.
The gentleman that brings his tequila from his tequila brand. That’s just absolutely delicious. It’s like a sipping tequila. Geez. Do you happen to remember that the brand? I don’t know. I like to plug them whenever I can, but I don’t remember the name. I don’t, wholeheartedly yeah. Agree with you.
I am not a big liquor person, especially tequila is one of those very much acquired taste. Yeah, I was super, super impressed by his brand. Yeah, I didn’t even know like, sipping tequilas is different. Like it’s a whole different feel. It’s a whole different it’s a whole different thing. I know the first time he poured some and he’s like, and I’m like, Oh no, we’re drinking wine.
Like, I don’t want, I don’t want a shot of tequila right now. Are you kidding me? It’s going to ruin my mouth. And then he’s like, no, no, no. This is a sip. I’m like, Oh really? Okay. Let’s see what that means. Yeah. I was scared to even sip it at first. I would. Definitely a little bit skeptical, but he was 100 percent right.
All right. Well, let’s get into a level of ventures and what you’re doing there. So, so talk to us about maybe let’s just start with the ecosystem and what you’ve created. Yeah, I’d like to think that we, but we’re good at thinking outside of the box, especially in this past year and a half or so with the economy and the current state of venture we felt as a group that’s mostly comprised of people that have been on both sides of the table of founders and investors.
To really think outside the box on how we can build this amazing community provide more value back to our LPs and especially. More value back to entrepreneurs and founders. So the way level up is set up and structured is we have this direct investment fund that’s focused on mature seed companies across web 3 gaming syntax, sports tech and AI tech that’s around those core But it’s foundational wise with this bottoms up approach within this multistage venture ecosystem that starts with this amazing community of investors and advisors, service providers and founders that are in our 3000 plus person community, 800 plus of which are venture scouts that recruit will flow for each of our properties.
So, they can receive carried interest equity on the deals that they’ve submitted that receive investment as well as cash compensation for some of the debt groups that we work with. And for us, it funnels up into 2 pre acceleration programs 1 of which we created internally called NextUp. I previously had built an accelerator program out of New York called Quake Capital, and I wanted to somewhat change up the acceleration model.
So it’s actually a bespoke program that is customized to each of the companies that participate in it. And we work with them on a customized timeframe as well, really pinpointing the specific pain points that they are. When they’re post MVP pre go to market so that we can really help them enter the market in a very major way where they can build on that month over month growth and they’re not just trying to figure it out along the way.
We also have Spin Lab which we’re investors and partners in, which is a accelerator program that’s also focused on mostly pre seed companies, but I’d say it has a little bit more of the plug and play structure because we will get some more mature companies that want to tap into that Spin Magazine ecosystem in the music tech space, whether it’s tapping into festivals tapping into labels, artists, and a lot of our corporate brands.
And right smack dab in the middle is our direct investment fund that does 15 to 20 deals on an annual basis. And right up the funnel, and I know that sometimes this is complicated, but right up the funnel from that, which is something I’m really excited about is the players company. We are partnered with a group of 500 plus professional athletes across the NFL.
And other major sporting leagues, where we help syndicate investments up the funnel series a series B and look at deals and alternative investment classes, like multi stage commercial real estate and fractional sports ownership while providing financial education. To this group of athletes and focusing on the types of deals and the types of areas that they really care about that speaks to them and for the community.
Yeah, lots of impact there and I want to start with this community concept. So 3000, you mentioned, like, how did you build that? we travel around the country. We did 10 events last year. So not just staying here in Los Angeles. It was partially part of our, plan to raise capital and Dig under every possible rock when the market was a lot different than it’s been over the past 10 to 15 years in the venture space.
So we built out highly curated investor events. How many events do you do in like a year? I’m just curious. Like, what is it? What does that take? Cause that’s a, that’s a lot, man. You guys, that’s a, that’s some work you put in. Absolutely. And I think we I’m not holding you down to the number, but like how many events do you guys play track that many?
We did 10 last year. We were new york. We did three and in new york We did a couple in los angeles a couple in san francisco We were out in miami. We even hosted one of these events, In chicago where one of our investors, is based as well as Vanderbilt. We did an event with Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
I’m a huge fan of events and like getting out there and doing it. And so I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we met at an event or that we met Mission Matters at an event. But what are some of the benefits of like the in person side of things that you found kind of going through this? So on the in person side, I think it’s always a great chance to Connect with people actually get some face time now granted as an event, you have, especially if you’re hosting it, you have to be mindful of your, your time.
It might not be the most face time as someone else’s event. I might spend an hour talking to someone, but when it’s when we’re hosting. It’s still getting that face time. We probably connect prior to our events with 25 to 35 percent of the audience so that we can start building that relationship so we can start exploring what possible synergies we have together or ways that we can collaborate.
And I always feel it’s necessary to show and provide value to others before asking them to provide value to you.
before the during and the after are so are so crucial. I find many people, maybe they attend event, they go somewhere else and I, and we have, so our audience, a lot of business owners, a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of executives. So, you know, some may be a founders, they’re looking, they’re looking for investment.
Some are investors. They’re looking on the other side of the coin and they’re looking for great companies and great ideas to support in the back. Right. Great. And, and when sometimes when they, you know, they’re not either, they’re not in the right rooms, they’re not at the right events or they’re not doing the right action.
So that’s why, that’s why I I ask you this just because I know I’m going to speak for myself. COVID made me lazy. I’m like, ah, do I want, I’m supposed to go to the vets at night at Lux hotel. And I’m like do I want to go to this event or should I like do some more zoom calls? And. You know what I mean?
And it’s like, well, the event is important. Like, being in person, meeting with people, it’s a different connection to me. It’s a different feel. I completely feel you there. I think changed, changed a lot personally, at least for myself, and I think many other people. I didn’t want to go to a lot of events, except for ours.
I know, Brandon. It’s okay. I’m joking. You guys were actually the 1st 1st event from an outsider perspective that I’ve been to in almost a year. That’s amazing. The 1st, when you didn’t have to be a, okay, that’s good. I am flattered. Thank you. Great connection with your partner Chirag at Out. He actually came to an event that we put on, which was the first of our series of events this year.
Back at the end of January, we hosted one at Topgolf in El Segundo. Hmm. Let’s get into. So now you mentioned, I forgot, what’d you say, like 300 investors or something like that, that have now participated or been part of, like, how, how do you cultivate those types of relationships that lead to actually like, you know, making something happen?
Like, what, what’s been the secret there? Cause that’s also super impressive. And correct me on the number, by the way, if I’m off, cause I probably pulled the wrong number from memory because that’s what I do. Are we, are we talking specifically? From, from the events themselves or from no, from the, you, you mentioned you had, you know the community of 3000, then you said something right after that, maybe it was 800 or something like that of investors.
Oh, that was that’s, that’s Venture Scout. So I think there’s close to what last we tracked with close to a thousand investors in the network. Wow, wow, that’s and we run deal flow through that scout network for 8 other funds. Super impressive allows us to really tap in as a brand and get a lot more recognition that way.
That’s where I think we’ve been. Finding the appropriate partnerships that has helped us grow. So you said, you said the magic word for me and for this podcast, which is the brand. and I’ve kind of reviewed your brand. So for everybody that’s watched or listened to this level up that VC and it’s spelled L V L U P dot VC.
So the level up VC and at. Level up VC on, on all social media as well, spelled LVLUP VC as in venture capital. So talking about the brand and how, and what you feel attracts investors and the community to stick with you. Cause I’ve just seen a lot of people try to pull something off like this, but there’s something that you’re doing right here.
So how do you attribute some of that? So branding, to me, has always been extremely important to build something that’s memorable. I, what I’ve seen in my nine years of experience in the D. C. space specifically, is you have some of the groups that, you know, really stand up and stand out that have been around forever, and you have a lot of Smaller groups that pop up along the way that you won’t remember on a second or third look, or know, they’re gone too soon.
Brand is so important. It doesn’t matter if you’re not a startup and you’re just making an investment. Brand is what connects your storyline. It’s, it’s what people remember. So we wanted to make sure one, we had a name that went along with our mission. And. Could be something that’s memorable, rolls off people’s tongues.
So I’m, I’m always just trying to think of creative pieces around the brand building component. I think it’s extremely important, even if you’re a VC, especially if you’re a VC, you’re, you’re doing a lot of recruiting of a similar audience, just like a startup looking for investors, looking for customers, your brand matters.
you’re doing the same thing on the flip side of that. how does the athlete syndication piece fit into your fund? Like, cause that’s also interesting. Yeah, yeah, the athlete syndicate piece it took a while to get all of this together, but it’s this incredible group that was actually founded by professional athlete which is different than the vast majority of sports tech funds out there.
You know, there are a couple, but with, you know, athletes that are highly involved or that have their own individualized funds, but this is, this is a community for those that might not have the same team or people coming at them as a Kofi Bryant, that’s a brand or a Patrick Mahomes, that’s a brand yeah.
So, the whole thing came together because we actually started working with a former performance trainer from the San Francisco 49ers that was tied into the group. The group had tested running some deals in the past. They even did a deal with Robinhood a few years back, but they wanted to formalize the process, really build out the community from the tech side.
My business partner is actually a four time venture backed CTO. He’s been building out the technology a compliance layer that allows fans to invest alongside their favorite athletes, which I think provided a really cool component. To giving opportunities to people that love sports that might love investing or want to get involved in their private venture space.
So, they’ll get access to deals that, you know, otherwise they. Probably wouldn’t. So , you sit at the helm, let’s say of a lot, a lot of deal flow, a lot of ideas come across your desk through your network, your investor network all of the above. And I know athletes, I mean, athletes attract.
Different types of deals. You don’t have to say a specific name, but whether you want to answer this question with a sector or technology, or if you want to name drop a company or something else completely up to you, but what interests you right now on the market? Like what, what interests you that like you can provide some perspective on it, whether it’s AI or I don’t know, I’m not going to throw that out there as the obvious, but what, what interests you right now on the market?
There’s a few things. try to name or maintain some. Sort of state of caution when looking at certain emerging spaces. So. Especially when you’re talking about AI, it’s what’s proprietary, what are you looking at that might just be a function of building and chat GPT for. Brandon, you’re talking to AI right now.
You probably think it’s the real Adam. It’s not. It’s AI Adam. Just so you know, building over here. Go ahead. That would be awesome. Soon. I have one of my team members doing it. My goal, Brandon, here you go. Here goes my goal with AI. I tell people this all the time. My audience is probably tired of hearing it.
My goal is to wake up an old man one day, like real old, like 120, and look at an interview of young Adam and not remember if, like, that was an actual interview or if that was AI Adam. That’s my only goal in life going forward with AI. I love it. I digress. Did I meet that person? No. Or was that AI Adam? I don’t know.
Looks good to me. Well, hopefully you can have your own AI robot that goes down to events for you. You just now took it up a notch. Oh, that sounds expensive, but I’m in. That’s Tesla AI Adam. I’m in. No, in in terms of spaces I’ve grown to really love the sports tech space naturally with the up the funnel piece with the players company, when we’re looking at mature seed deals, we try to factor in.
Could this be. A series a series A series B deal. Mm-Hmm. that we’re able to follow along. Yeah. On through the players’ company. Can you define sports tech for me? Because I know FinTech, I know like every time we add a tech to the end of it, I, I get it. But I’d like to just hear what somebody that’s actually in the space calls it.
So what, what is sports tech? First time I heard that one. So we’ve done a couple deals in NIL space. Mm-Hmm. Those would be SportsTech. We have a deal with a company that’s really cool. It’s called Mogul. It is the compliance layer for all of these schools, collectives. I’m sure that you’ve seen, even if you’re not a sports fan, I’m sure you’ve seen in the media somewhere the transfer portal and now it’s hard to keep a player for 50, 000, they want a million dollars if they’re one of the best players, and that means you lose your, your school’s quarterback or your running back or premier wide receiver. Even Marvin Harrison Jr. If he stayed in Ohio State, they’re talking about a 20 million one year deal. That might be better than him entering the NFL draft.
Yes, sir. That money has to come, that money has to come. From somewhere. So a lot of these, you know, large boosters that back in the day, you know, athletes from back in the day that was called illegal. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And it shouldn’t be. They should. Oh, yeah. No, I’m a huge fan of somebody’s name on likeness.
Yeah, the game changed. Like, that’s of course. Yeah, I agree with that. Go ahead. I don’t want to derail you. Go ahead. No worries. That’s actually. Because of that, and I’ll say, so that’s actually why I’m excited for the 1st, new, like, mad in college a sports game in years. Wow, you have their likenesses, but we actually have 2 pieces of the funnel for and I, we have a group that does subscription for.
The non accredited investors, so they can collect an abundance from alumni. I want to pay a subscription to support such and such sports teams at Oregon or Notre Dame or. You know, any of these schools because it, you know, it all builds up. They get exclusive access. So those are some of the things that we see in the, in sports tech space.
There’s a lot of other solutions. We’ve looked at new helmet technology to protect against CTE. Wow. We have through our next up program, we have a former, olympic gold medalist who created a whole special skin care line for female athletes. So there’s, there’s an abundance of, of stuff.
I know I haven’t necessarily painted a broad. No, no, this is helpful for me because it, because I mean, in these, these terms, I mean, it kind of, it kind of it evolves over time and this is still new. It evolves and it blends. I even think, you know, to a certain extent, that’s a good word to talk about.
You talk about like, V. R. and A. when I was 1st, starting out in the D. C. you saw a lot of frontier tech, which I don’t even hear the frontier tech side of things anymore. You’re either hearing web 3. Or, you know, what it is individually, AR, VR so it always, I think, to a certain extent, unless it’s FinTech, health, you know, healthcare, you know, some of these things that have been around forever, you always get these new blends of different names, or they fall into a multitude of different categories.
Man, this is this is good, Brandon. And I’ll tell you, I can keep going with you here, but we’re about out of time. That being said I do want to leave the info so that our audience can go check it out. Everybody listening, tuning in, go check out. Level Up ventures, that’s l vl up, VC as in venture capital again, vc and then also it’s at Level Up VC on all social media.
So go check that out too. Brandon, really appreciate you coming on the show today and making that happen and giving me. Some, some, and schooling me on on sports tech and, and what that looks like. And making my dream of Adam AI a little bit closer. Now I know I need to in person a lot.
Dude, maybe the next five to 10 years, we can get the robot. Come on, man. And, and to the audience, Hey, everybody checking this out. If you need a. Special invitation, a super special one, just individually for you. Everybody wants everything individualized, right? Well, this is for you. Yes. You that’s listening.
This is your special invitation to hit that subscribe button. You know, that was coming. We have a lot more conversations coming up. We want you to tune in. If you hit that subscribe button, guess what? You’re going to get the notification. You’re going to know when they’re live. So just hit that subscribe button.
And if you need a really special invitation to leave a review, I don’t even have to say it, man. We really appreciate reviews. That’s what keeps us going. That’s what keeps the show growing. So thanks so much for that. Brandon. Hey, couldn’t have done it without you today. Thanks so much for coming on the show.
We really appreciate you. Thank you, Adam.
