Athlete Ventures
Founding Group — Invite Only

Build.
Back.
Shape.

A collective of elite athletes and seasoned entrepreneurs building serious ventures together. Not a program. Not a course. A founding group in the game together.

Invite-only  •  Equity-based  •  Limited spots

Athletes from NHL NFL NBA MLB PWHL NCAA and More

Most platforms help athletes transition. This one helps athletes build.

Career transition programs teach you how to find your next chapter. Athlete Ventures exists for the athlete who wants to write it from scratch. To build a company. To invest intelligently. To sit in the rooms where real decisions get made.

You have already proven the traits that define the best founders in the world — extreme performance under pressure, discipline, coachability, the ability to execute inside a team. What most athletes lack is not the character. It is the knowledge, the network, and the right people in the room.

That is the gap Athlete Ventures fills. And unlike every other platform in this space, we have no interest in extracting from you. No fee. No pitch. We grow with you.

Everything we do
lives in three words.

Each pillar is a distinct path. We engage across all three over time.

Pillar 01
Build
Start a company

For the athlete who wants to start something from zero. We work through idea validation, market sizing, building a founding team, creating an MVP, and raising a first round — together. Taught by founders who have done it, not professors who have studied it. Every concept is pressure-tested by people with real operating experience and real capital at stake.

For the athlete with an idea
Pillar 02
Back
Invest intelligently

For the athlete who is being pitched and wants to evaluate deals with confidence. How to read a cap table. How to pressure-test a term sheet. How to identify a great founder versus a compelling pitch. How to perform basic due diligence. Athletes with capital get pitched constantly. Almost none of them have the framework to evaluate what is in front of them. This is where that changes.

For the athlete with capital
Pillar 03
Shape
Lead from the table

For the athlete stepping into a board seat or advisory role and wanting to add genuine value — not just a name on a website. What boards actually do. How to read a board package. How to use your network with intention. How to ask the right questions. Athletes end up in these rooms because of who they are. We make sure they own the room when they get there.

For the athlete with a seat

What Athlete Venture
Partners actually get

Founding equity with a unique group of partners building companies.

📐

Real Equity

Founding Partners receive equity in Athlete Ventures, vested over time through genuine contribution. You are not joining a program. You are building something alongside us.

🧠

A Seat at the Table

Direct involvement in shaping the direction of a real early-stage company with relevance to every athlete — brain health, mental performance, and what athletes build after sport.

🤝

The Network

A tight, high-trust peer group of athletes and entrepreneurs at the same intersection — performance, brain health, and building serious ventures. The room most athletes never find.

Real Work, Real Returns

Founding Partners contribute meaningfully — quarterly sessions, deal review, community input, warm introductions. In return, you share in everything this builds into.

12
Founding Partner spots in the first cohort
$0
Cost to athletes. We grow when you grow
4yr
Vesting schedule. Earned through real work
1:1
Every conversation is personal
"

I have spent more than two decades building, investing in, and exiting companies — much of it directly alongside professional athletes. I have seen what gets pitched to you. I know how the deals are structured. And I know how rarely the people around you have genuine operating experience and zero financial incentive to steer you wrong.

Athlete Ventures was built around one belief: the best founders I have ever met were athletes who never knew they were founders. The discipline, the coachability, the performance under pressure — it is all there. What is missing is the knowledge and the right room.

This is that room. It's open to a small founding group of people who are serious about what comes next.

Dr. Darren Burke
Dr. Darren Burke
Managing Partner, Athlete Ventures

Built for athletes
at every stage

  • Active pros who know their career has a shelf life and want to be building in parallel — not scrambling when the final whistle blows
  • Recently retired athletes with energy, profile, and capital looking for the right vehicle — and the right people to build alongside
  • Athletes being pitched constantly who want an independent, experienced read before they put their name, money, or equity into anything
  • Athletes already in board or advisory roles who want the tools to show up as more than a name on a website
  • Athletes with an idea who have never had access to a room of operators who will pressure-test it honestly and help them build it

Join the Founding Group

Every application is reviewed personally by our team as we build.

Founding group is limited. Apply now — once this founding team is selected, the next round is a year out.

Your information stays private. This is a high-trust group.