[00:00:27] Jay: Hi everyone. Welcome to The First Customer podcast. My name is Jay Aigner today. I am lucky enough to be joined by Justin Leusner. he's building Gen Z's ESPN, which is maybe one of my favorite titles on LinkedIn. I've seen in a long time. He's the founder and president of today's sports. He's a third year student at Penn state.
his founder and CEO of another company, which we'll probably talk about as well. But, Justin, thanks for joining me, brother.
[00:00:48] Justin: Dude, Jay, thanks so much for having me. This is a blast, and it's cool to chat with a fellow Phillies fan.
[00:00:54] Jay: Hello, Phillies fan. can't wait for football season. Let me tell you, I'm an even bigger Eagles fan. So, I am juiced for the birds this year.
[00:01:02] Justin: Oh yeah.
[00:01:04] Jay: so let's take it from where you started, man. where did you grow up and did that have any impact on you being this kind of high flying, energetic young entrepreneur that you are today?
[00:01:15] Justin: Probably not. So I grew up in a small town in New Jersey, right outside of Philadelphia, called Morristown. typical, regular kid. I played a bunch of sports. I was just into what everyone else was into. But every day after school, I would go home and make a YouTube video. And I did that for like seven days seven years straight. basically just making videos about whatever I liked. And, that's evolved now into a few businesses within the crater economy and still making videos pretty much every day.
[00:01:40] Jay: It's very interesting. What are your videos? Typically around
[00:01:45] Justin: Yeah. So right now we have six different channels, basketball, football, hockey, baseball, soccer, golf. And it's just, like, you said, Gen Z S P N. So we break down like what's happening within the sport and the culture. Some of the top plays, a lot of the memes, people love the memes. So we love breaking that down. and we just like to give people the information like as quick as possible in and out 20 second, 30 second videos, TikTok, YouTube shorts, Snapchat. yeah, just about like what's trending, what's culturally trending within that league.
[00:02:13] Jay: what's different between kind of the Gen Z and the older generations. Do you think like what hits more with the younger generation than the older?
[00:02:20] Justin: Yeah, well, the Gen Z loves like authenticity, like when you just strip down any sort of blockade bearing, like, on ESPN, everyone's got that traditional broadcast voice and they're just a robot. I call them the calm robots. Cause we have a calm school here and they just train people to be calm robots, which is good if you want to work for Fox sports. But in seven years, when, or in seven months, like ESPN keeps doing all these layoffs, they're not going to be hiring students that they're just not. And so the market's really shifting to what kind of the younger generations like, and that's the personalized content creation on these social media platforms. Super fast paced, authentic. They don't want to wait around and turn on the TV. I have to watch ads and have to sit through different segments that they don't, they're not personalized for them. When you go on TikTok, it's personalized for you. so that's, yeah, that's really what it is. It's like, instead of searching for content, it just is brought to you.
And the algorithms change so well. it just knows you better than you know yourself.
[00:03:14] Jay: Interesting. so tell me a little bit about today's sports as a business, how are you trying to monetize? I mean, it feels like the YouTube monetization thing kind of goes in waves where like it's really popular and like people make a ton of money and then like everybody copies the formula and then it kind of goes back down and they figure something out.
So tell me, how are you trying to make that a business?
[00:03:37] Justin: Absolutely. Yeah. We know these algorithms are so volatile. You can't really create a sustainable longterm scalable business. I mean, you can, Mr. B's done it. but you've got to be really first to market and you have to really know your stuff and have a super big following. So we've kind of cheated the revenue system a bit.
So obviously we still make some money, but it goes up and down, like you said, on TOK. And it's not as much cause it's more short form based payouts. So brand deals is where it's at. We know instead of doing one off videos, you got to do like six month partnerships. and then also we have a little like in house agency now. Where we're creating content for these other businesses, for their social media platforms, for their marketing campaigns, using our content creation skills, our talents, our expertise of the algorithms. And that's the real moneymaker, at least for now.
[00:04:20] Jay: Now, is that where you're trying to get to with this? I mean, right now, if I was to look at today's sports, I would think it's a YouTube channel and you guys are doing some cool content for some different sports stuff. talk to me about that agency model. That's very interesting. where did you kind of realize that may be where the money is and how did you guys kind of pivot towards taking it seriously?
[00:04:39] Justin: Yeah. I'd say like six months into this business, you know, we were kind of struggling from a revenue standpoint. I met with one of my advisors here in this accelerator program at Penn state. And she was like, listen, you're losing money. This is a hobby. This is not a business. And she was just grilling me.
And it was great. And she was like, I'm challenging you in the next two weeks, just make money, whatever it is, go out in the street and sell merchandise, like get it done, get some revenue in because right now you're going to be, you're going to be done in three months. So I was like, dang, okay. So I did whatever I could.
I scrapped, I looked through all my past emails and messages and found like. There's a lot of people reaching out for content creation services for us. And we were like, no, that's not what we do. We do brand deals. But I, then realized like, wait a sec, this is, they're asking to pay us here. Even if it's not exactly what we want to do longterm, let's try this out.
And believe it or not, we made like 15, 000 that first month. And it was like, all right, there it is. That's the business. And, we just, it's a ton of inbound. That's really where those customers are coming. And it's ironic because it's from us having a lot of followers. So it's like that almost fuels the business.
That's like our marketing almost. And then we get inbound from these companies that want us to create for them. It's very interesting. Yeah.
[00:05:50] Jay: a very, it rings true with modern marketing. I mean, I think you guys kind of tapped on something that maybe even accidentally that just. that's the way it is now, right? I mean, you grow a file and I think you can see with a lot of the experts in business and all these other people,that are popular, you know, like the Alex Ramos, these are the, Gary V's of the world.
A lot of people don't even know what the hell their product is. Nobody knows what it is, right? They just see this content, this great, you know, stuff out there. And then they reach out and go, Oh, I'd love to work with you or for you or whatever it is. So it's a great, it's a great strategy. You guys have kind of developed.
So tell me about the first business that you started. Cause I saw on your LinkedIn that there was another one before today's sports. I think YF visuals or something. Tell me, is it the same thing? Is it different? Tell me what that one's about.
[00:06:35] Justin: So that's different. That one is very similar though. That one also came from like an overflow of inbound. So I used to run YouTube channels. I did like cash cow. Faceless channels. And I had like 250 at one point. Then I had a personal brand called you're fired, which was the one I posted for seven years throughout middle school and high school, just playing like NBA live, mobile NBA, two K Madden mobile. and I did build a little bit of a community there. And so I had a lot of connections in those like sports gaming industries and then freelance myself as an editor. Then scaled that up and started hiring editors. YF visuals is about. And now here at Penn state, we like edit for a bunch of athletes. some of the Penn state programs as well, hire us. so, so that also kind of is a revenue driver at first that was funding today's sports for the first six or so months. But my first real business, I say, was my personal channel. You know, I was in eighth grade thing up till 2 a. m., negotiating brand deals with people from the Philippines on my iPad because I didn't even have an iPhone at that point with my parents yelling at me because you got to go to bed, you got a math test tomorrow at 7 a.
m. and I'm negotiating for a Madden mobile coin brand deal. And so that was the first moment. My dad was like, wait, what? He thought it was a scam. You know, we got a check from YouTube for two cents the first month. And then the next month it was like 12. And then three months later, it was like 300. And then two years in, 2, 000 in one week as an eighth grader.
They're like, this is weird. Is this like a scam? They had no idea what's going on. Keep in mind, this was like 2016, a little bit of a newer space, especially for my parents and me being like 13 years old. So that was really the first business. That's when I figured out I had something, and I've really just stuck with it. I've stuck with it, pivoted along the way and built these two different businesses. YF Visuals and Today Sports, just kind of contracting my team, my skills as a content creator, as a video editor, as a video producer, just, you know, I just served the market of like making content.
[00:08:20] Jay: You get exhausted making the, on the hamster wheel of content creation.
[00:08:26] Justin: Yes, I'd say so. it's kind of a burnout cycle and I don't know how to deal with it yet. right now a little burnt out. So I've kind of hired someone to create content in my place, for the past few weeks, but doing to get back into it. and yeah, I posted from 2013 to 2019 stopped for six months and then was like, I'm just going to be an editor.
that's how that YouTube first YouTube channel business kind of ended. There's just a hard burnout period of daily posting for six years. So yeah, it's definitely exhausting and I don't know how to deal with it still.
[00:08:57] Jay: Yeah. I mean, consistency is the key. But it's also like, you know, just another nail in your coffin, I think, every day. I mean, I've,
[00:09:07] Justin: Yeah.
[00:09:07] Jay: I have an astrophotography side hobby, and I tried building an Instagram. And I got it to like 5, followers, but it was just Exhausting. And it was like constantly having, like, do you feel like it stops feeling fun and starts feeling just like a drag?
And like, they're just, you want to find something else to do. That's exciting again. Is that what the burnout is like? What does the burnout kind of feel like for you?
[00:09:33] Justin: yeah, a little bit. It is like, okay. Yeah. Like you said, consistency is what is going to serve your audience. consistency and what the content is about. So yeah, after time it's like, I wish I was making something else. And, so yeah, it's almost like, I don't know how to describe it, but it's almost like you, you love it until you get paid for it and then it becomes like work and it's like, oh, wow.
Okay. I, why do I not enjoy this as much? It's like, now I only enjoy making money from it. What? It's like a weird mental thing.
[00:10:07] Jay: Yeah. And there's no. You know, as with most milestones in life, there's no balloons that fall out of the ceiling or like, you know, there's no, like we try to strive towards these goals and we hit them and then we go, okay, cool. And it's like, you know, the older generations, and I guess myself now include I'm 38, you always hear enjoy the journey.
And you don't really get it and you don't understand why, but it's when you start hitting those milestones and you start to realize like, Oh, it really is the time in between that's important. That's the fun times that you grow in these things and you're doing these different things. so very interesting.
Tell me about the pitch event, tonight. This is why you're all dressed up like a, you know, like you're going out to prom tonight.
[00:10:43] Justin: Oh my
[00:10:44] Jay: what,
tell me about the pitch event. what are you pitching?
[00:10:46] Justin: Yeah. So at Penn state, I'm in the summer founders program. So they, out of 50 teams that applied, they picked the, like the top eight throughout Pennsylvania. you have to be some sort of affiliation to Penn state, whether you just graduated or you're taking classes part time. and so they give us 15, 000.
It's a 15 week program. Tonight's today's the last day of it. So right now I'm in the launch box. Here in state college, Pennsylvania, and, they're just bringing in someone that was on shark tank. I think he's coming in to kind of deliver a keynote and then there's no judges at this one. This one's just like a pitch of like, here's what we look what we worked on.
There's probably potential investors in the audience, community members, just people to get connected with. but this is like my fourth pitch competition as a part of the launch box this year, I had a few others and one of them, there was like 30, 30, 000 total in funding. I got second place. So I took home 10, 000, which was great.
And then there was another one with 5000 total in funding took home 3000 with that. so the launch box is like a tremendous resource. And I see these all across the country now popping up at universities, like these free accelerator programs. And they're insane. They're really good. And I'm really excited to see like what the next generation of entrepreneurs looks like out of this.
[00:11:53] Jay: Very cool, man. And I was, I didn't hear it in the initial. The first question, but where do you get this never ending drive of just trying to kind of build the next great thing? Where does that come from for you?
[00:12:10] Justin: I don't know. That's a great question. My parents asked me the same thing. They're like, why are you like this? And I wish I knew, I mean, I won really love. YouTube, social media. I was a consumer for three years before I was making my first videos when I was 10 years old. And so I'm 20 now. So it's been over half of my life.
I grew up on this thing, the iPad, the iPhone, the iPod touch. This is like my entire life. My, my world of celebrities, my world of like even music artists all kind of comes out of social media like this is my world. and I really enjoy it. I love seeing like the views go up. I love watching my old videos and being like, dang, that was a good piece of art I put out into the world. And, the goal has always been not to go to college, which I failed on that one, but to after high school slash college, be like a full time content creator. That's always been the goal. And I've just kind of stuck by it. and I think with the 10 years experience I have, it's like, Oh, it would be stupid to pivot out of this industry. And luckily enough, I still enjoy.
[00:13:09] Jay: how I'm sure this is a standard question, but how do you deal or not deal with the negative side of social media of being like, man, this guy's. A fucking idiot or, you know, whatever. I'm sure like people say not so nice things sometimes. Have you just learned as somebody who's grown up in that space to let it roll off your back?
Or, you know, do you reply to any of those messages that may not be too nice? Or what's your deal with negative social media?
[00:13:38] Justin: Yeah, I've really gotten immune to it. I will say as a kid, it was a little tough for a little bit, definitely. Like as like a 13 year old or whatever, like you start to believe some of the stuff they're saying. So that was probably tough, but I think that's why now I literally don't care at all, and I'm not just like saying that.
And I know other creators say, no, you just get used to it. And like, that is the truth. a lot of our newer creators that we're hiring now are like kind of asking us like, Hey, how do we go about this? Like, they're kind of struggling with a bit. I'm like, yeah. You're right. This is like a thing I've kind of almost forgotten about it per se.
It's just like a part of the internet. That's just what it is. It's, it almost feels like fake bot comments at this point. but yeah, you just gotta, if you know, if someone's listening and they're a content creator, like you're dealing with hate comments or do you even just bad backlash from others, most of the time it's jealousy. It's cliche, but it's true. and the other portions of the time, it's maybe there's some truth to it. So take it as constructive criticism and just get better and move on.
[00:14:32] Jay: what would you tell aspiring content creators? I mean, you're only 20 years old, so I mean, you're still aspiring, I think, at this
[00:14:39] Justin: very still aspiring.
[00:14:40] Jay: but, I think you've got a long, you know, I mean, look man, you've done more in this half a or decade, of your journey than a lot of people do in their entire career.
So you should be, proud of that. what would you. What would you tell younger, I mean, cause look, everybody thinks they can do YouTube. I mean, I tried, this is a, you know, there is a bit of a persona you have to put on, right? I mean, same thing as like doing a podcast, doing whatever. and I tried doing a couple of videos with my son doing some gaming reviews and stuff, and it was just painful, man.
It hurt like it just did not feel natural. what do you, what's your advice to people who want to be in that space? and how has that kind of changed since you started 10 years ago?
[00:15:21] Justin: Yeah. So I'll kind of give the timeline back in the day, it was kind of a high cost to entry. You really had to have like the Elgato or like all the new tech. And that was really what it took to be like a YouTuber. You have to invest like 500. 1, 000 into like your setup. And now it's like with Tik TOK and YouTube shorts and reels, it's really just, you need a device, an iPhone or an Android or something that costs the buried entry is really low.
So I think it's actually easier to become a content creator now, even if it's more competitive. but yeah, what I would say, I mean, like you said, yeah, I'm still an aspiring content creator. You know, I'm still in college. This is what I want to do when I graduate. but I would just say it's really just about consistency. If you can just post for a hundred days straight, either every day or every other day or every three days or once a week, just to have a consistent pattern and get at least like 1 percent better with each post. You're going to beat out 95 percent of other people who try to be a content creator. And then if you do that for a year, I guarantee you, something will work out.
You'll figure something out. If you actually are trying to get better with each video and Mr. Beast and ARAC, this is what they say. And I've, I can attest. If you just do something for a year, you'll be good. You'll figure it out
[00:16:28] Jay: Love that advice. All right. let me wrap with this question. Non business related.
[00:16:36] Justin: on business.
[00:16:36] Jay: I like to give that caveat. If there was anything you could do on planet earth, one thing, and you knew you couldn't fail, what would it be?
[00:16:46] Justin: I knew I couldn't fail. Well, I like sports and so it would be to play in a professional sports game and a championship or something. And like,
[00:16:56] Jay: Which one? Well, I mean, what are we talking about? The Superbowl world series and what's your sport, man?
[00:17:01] Justin: I grew up loving baseball. I'm trying not to be influenced by your Phillies hat right now. Basketball is my number one sport. But I think the dream that I've always had as a kid was Game 7, MLB World Series, 3 2 count,
2 outs, bases loaded, bottom of the ninth, down by 3 runs, my arch enemy on the pitching mound, against the Astros or the Yankees, a team that I hate, and just hit one out of the park.
[00:17:26] Jay: Beautiful answer. I have not got that answer. So,
[00:17:29] Justin: I want to ask you, I want to ask you, what's yours?
[00:17:31] Jay: I hate when people ask me that because they do and I go man then I have to be silent and think about it you know it's an easy one. it's a cheap one and it's one that I'm definitely afraid of. Even though I'm working on getting my pilot's license, skydiving,
[00:17:50] Justin: Hey,
[00:17:51] Jay: terrified of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.
so yeah, I would go skydiving and if I knew I wasn't going to die and, you know, maybe when I'm older. Maybe I'm closer to having a heart attack. I'll just have a heart attack when I jump out, when I jump out of the plane. but, Justin, you're fantastic, dude. I love everything you got going on, man.
I wish you the best of luck tonight in your pitch competition. I hope people check you out on YouTube. give me the details. Where can people find Today Sports and where can they find you if they want to get in touch with you directly?
[00:18:22] Justin: Yeah. My number one thing I always love to plug is the LinkedIn hit me up on LinkedIn. My name's Justin Loosener L E U S N E R. I'm super active on there. Please message me. I try and respond to everyone always all day. I'm on there. And if you want to check out today's sports, we are at T D a Y sports on Instagram.
and then we've got basketball today, football today, soccer today. If you'd like a sport, look up the sport name today on like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and we'll be on there.
[00:18:47] Jay: All right. We'll link some of those in the show notes,
Justin, an incredibly impressive, young entrepreneur. I think you were an example of, you know, taking what the generation has given you and just rolling with it, brother. I'm happy to know you. I wish you the best of luck. I'll be following along with your journey and, I hope you do really well tonight and, good luck with everything.
All right.
[00:19:08] Justin: Dude. Thanks so much. Appreciate you having me, Jay.
[00:19:10] Jay: Thanks for being on brother. Nice meeting you. See ya.
[00:19:11] Justin: Yeah, you too.