Greg Mitchinson – Head of Partnerships @ Twenty3 Sport

Industry Expert Features
Greg Mitchinson – Head of Partnerships @ Twenty3 Sport

Learn about Greg Mitchinson and his work with Twenty3 Sport

Greg Mitchinson recently took some time from his busy schedule as Head of Partnerships at Twenty3 Sport in London to tell us about his role and career journey.

About Greg Mitchinson

Nationality: English / Australian

Current Role: Head of Partnerships @ Twenty3 Sport (started November 2016)

Residence: Australia

Sport: European Football / Soccer

About the Head of Partnerships role at Twenty3 Sport?

Being a start-up, I’m fortunate enough to wear multiple hats within Twenty3 and my role is fluid depending on what’s important to us at any given time.

Right now, the focus for us is the Twenty3 Toolbox which is our platform that allows users the ability to quickly access complex football data feeds in an easy to use UI. Users can use the platform to create data-led graphics, reports, visualisations or find insight about football teams and players.

So in my current day to day, I’m either driving new business development in meetings with football clubs, sports publishers and betting companies making them aware of the Twenty3 Toolbox or working closely with existing customers and partners to ensure they’re achieving their goals through our platform.

How does your role contribute to the overall goals at Twenty3 Sport?

It’s probably worth explaining that the Twenty3 Toolbox has two types of customers; sports publishers who are looking to upscale and improve their data-driven content and football clubs who use the platform to find insight about their team, opponents and potential recruits.

Our goal is for our platform to be the must-have platform for sports publishers who want to use data to create better content and give football clubs the tools to find insight with data so they can make better decisions on the pitch and with recruitment.

How we achieve this is by bringing on more users and working with them closely to gather their feedback and improve the product. So I’d like to think that my role in driving new business and managing the relationships brings us closer to achieving this goal.

How did you acquire the Head of Partnerships role at Twenty3 Sport?

By complete chance, I was lucky enough to meet our CEO Vivion Cox in 2016 when we decided to create a transfer focused website called Football Whispers.

For a number of years, we worked on building an algorithm for the website that helped fans figure out the likelihood of transfer rumours materialising based on the volume and quality of the people talking about the rumours online.

In the process of creating this platform, we grew a deep understanding of how to use data to tell interesting stories in football which led us to create products and services to help other publishers do the same thing. We then built a team of football experts, data scientists and developers and changed our focus to the B2B market.

“..we grew a deep understanding of how to use data to tell interesting stories in football”

What typical equipment, tools & technologies do you use to achieve great outcomes in your work?

With a lot of our 33 employees currently working remotely, effective communication is the lifeblood of our business so Slack and all of the G-Suite products are used to help us collaborate effectively.

What’s your favourite or go to sports brands for your role in sports?

I spent my university days working in a sports store, so I have an unhealthy addiction to sports brands but typically a Nike guy.

What advice would you give to anyone wanting to be in your role in the future?

Those that I’ve seen succeed the most within our industry have a deep level of understanding of sports business and humility to understand that this game is constantly changing so there is something to learn.

So my advice would be to completely immerse yourself in the sports industry by understanding how the different types of businesses operate, drive revenue and what their pain points are.

“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”

What are some key successes or personal milestones you’ve achieved in your career?

  • Creating the world’s largest network of sports influencers that were used to drive millions of monthly viewers to ESPN and helped launched The Players’ Tribune’s soccer offering
  • Working with large organisations such as International Champions Cup, ESPN and Sky Sports.
  • Achieving my FFA Registered Intermediary license

What’s some advice or knowledge you wish you had been aware of earlier in your career?

Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.

From your perspective, who are some success stories you look up to and why?

A topical one is GymShark‘s Ben Francis, a young entrepreneur from Birmingham who took his fitness brand to a $1.3B valuation after just 8 years. Being a Birmingham boy, I’ve always followed his career closely.

I think there is a lot for us to learn from his journey, particularly around his humility in dropping from the CEO role to bring in an experienced partner to allow himself to focus on what he enjoyed the most and what he’s best at.

“The dream for me is to run a football club.”

What types of roles would you like to be doing in the future during your career?

The dream for me is to run a football club. At 25, I’ve been involved in a lot of aspects of the game and would one day like to tie everything together and turn a small football club into an impressive business.

What regions of the world and specific organisations you’d like to be part of during your career?

I’d love to move to the West Coast of America or a unique part of Asia and be involved in the change of football in these growing markets.

More about Greg Mitchinson

If you would like to learn more about Greg Mitchinson’s career and connect with him.

Checkout Greg Mitchinson’s Verlete Sports Profile for more information and details.

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