My Football Space Connects Fans with Clubs GloballyAfter almost 20 years in consulting … it was a good time to think about what I wanted to do in my life, what I have a passion for. Alex Schlicher, Founder My Football Space Media PartnershipThis podcast is in media partnership with the FinTech Forum (http://www.fintechforum.de/). The FinTech Forum - launched 2013 in Frankfurt am Main - is the first and largest hub for FinTechs in Continental Europe, with a community of more than 12.000 companies. With more than 17 events, with more than 270 startups on stage, and more than 1.000 investors and financial institutions. FTF alumni have raised $310mn+ in funding and resulted in exits worth $300mn+ .   I was not really looking for founding a company. The idea came to me since I am passionate about innovative technology, finance and sports. Alex Schlicher, Founder My Football Space   The FounderIn this interview, we are talking to Alex Schlicher, a former management consultant, turned entrepreneur (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-schlicher-cfa-953660/). Alex started out with vocational training in retail banking, foreign exchange trader, and a management consultant in capital markets, where he worked for several consultancies. While he worked in FX trading (Foreign Exchange), he learned how derivatives are working and are structured. He is a born “Frankfurter Bub” (a native Frankfurt boy). In his past, he was also in charge of building up the German business for a London-based consultancy. After almost 20 years in consulting, he decided to do a re-set and spent some more time with his family. Alex has been passionate about sports all his life and is a fan of Frankfurt-based Bundesliga Club Eintracht Frankfurt. Alex currently pursues an executive MBA at Frankfurt School for Management and Finance, in one of these classes the idea of My Football Space “hit him” as he said.   The initial trigger for setting up a company was really driven by technology, because I saw the potential of the technology. Alex Schlicher, Founder My Football Space  The Startup  Alex founded the sports tech startup My Football Space (https://myfs.de/). He got the idea for his startup while one of his professors talked about everything of value is on the Blockchain in the future. So it instantly struck him this may include football in one way or another. Initially, they thought about investing in football players, but changed this amazingly fast, since it was too much like an investment. They do not want to change the memberships of the sports clubs, as they are popular for example in Germany with Bundesliga. This is not available to many people all over the world, this is what they want to change.   This is something everybody shares, the passion, the emotion for the sport. It is a very global thing. There is no difference between a fan in Australia, Asia, the US, or Europe. Alex Schlicher, Founder My Football Space   The Bundesliga Club Bayern München has globally more than 100 million fans, according to Alex. On the other side of those fans there is only a fraction really a member of the sports club (300.000).  The app also helps the club to understand its digital fans and give them matching offers.   My Football Space AppTheir app for membership for fans will be available in app stores like Google or Apple towards End of 2021.  Venture Capital FundingThe company already closed two financing rounds, one by business angels and one by the management team. Currently, they are looking to close the next funding round in 2021 Q2 or Q3.   Blockchain is really stepping out of its baby shoes. The maturity level is really reaching a tipping point where mass adoption in a lot of industries is about to start. Alex Schlicher, Founder My Football Space   Further Readings / Additional Resources  Bundesliga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesliga Eintracht Frankfurt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eintracht_Frankfu... --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupradio/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/startupradio/support