Meet Ishveen Jolly, CEO and Founder of OpenSponsorship
Making it easy for brands to launch sports marketing campaigns
We recently caught up with Ishveen Jolly, CEO and Founder, of OpenSponsorship. to learn more about her journey from Oxford to founding a two sided marketplace to make it easier for brands to run effective marketing with athletes.
What did you study at Oxford?
I was a member of Keble College, matriculating in 2003, and studied Economics and Management.
What was your most important takeaway from time at Oxford?
To be open to changing my position based on data; and to constantly be questioning the status quo.
Did your Oxford experience contribute to starting the company?
100% - this skill of constantly evolving and curiosity led to me finding a way to change the sports industry.
What motivated you to start OpenSponsorship?
I was a former sports agent and realized the huge opportunity to make deal making much better. As a sports agent, I recognized two main gaps:
1. Everyone was focused on the biggest deals and so the mid/low market was being underserved, and
2. Globally sponsorship was a nightmare. It made sense to me for a tech platform to solve this.
What have been the biggest struggles you have experienced as a founder?
How much you have to keep learning and adapting. Every time you solve something inevitably another challenge or opportunity poses itself. It’s fun but exhausting. For me, having a good support network to lean on has been very important. Also I try to focus on what’s most important for the next step.
Most rewarding accomplishment to date as a founder?
Raising $1M from Serena Williams VC fund was a big win.
Why are we at the Oxford Angel Fund excited about OpenSponsorship?
Sponsorship is a $60B industry, and is highly archaic and inefficient, particularly in servicing the athletes, events and teams who fall outside of the top 5%. Sports sponsorship represents about 70% of the total sponsorship industry and is an important marketing channel for brands and source of revenue in the sports world. OpenSponsorship has built a two sided marketplace that incorporates AI based matching, contracts and negotiation, deal management and ROI tracking, making it easy for brands to sponsor athletes, sports teams and sports events. To learn more visit opensponsorship.com.
Opensponsorship
Sports and entertainment marketing
Founders: Ishveen Jolly, Ron Nesbitt
Founded: 2015
Stage: Series A, Dec 2021
Notable Investors: Serena Ventures, Bolt Ventures, Eric Stern, Baron Davis, Alexandra Jung
Opensponsorship provides a two sided marketplace to make it easier for brands to run effective marketing campaigns with athletes. Incorporating AI based matching, contracts and negotiation, deal management and ROI tracking, Opensponsorship supports each phase of the process.