Name: Investing with a passion: Opportunities in sports
Uploaded: 2024-06-10T13:42:05.049Z
Duration: 679.52

SRI_01_Kara Nortman_1.mp4

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ENGLISH

{{00:00:04}}
Thank you so much for joining us
here at Super Return International.

{{00:00:07}}
It's an amazing story.

{{00:00:09}}
You've launched a hugely successful
women's football team in America and now

{{00:00:14}}
Monarch Collective investing in sport.

{{00:00:16}}
Where does this passion come from?

{{00:00:18}}
And let's hear all about your story.

{{00:00:20}}
Yeah the passion was really authentic.

{{00:00:22}}
I had a completely different
job when I sat in that position.

{{00:00:25}}
in the stadium with my three daughters,
my husband, and parents in 2015 at the

{{00:00:30}}
Women's World Cup Finals in Vancouver.

{{00:00:32}}
And I think the passion comes from
building communities that bring

{{00:00:37}}
us together versus divide us.

{{00:00:39}}
And, candidly, I was a working
mom in my late 30s who had spent

{{00:00:43}}
my entire career investing and
operating in tech, and I felt joy.

{{00:00:46}}
And I just followed that joy.

{{00:00:48}}
And that joy led me to trying
to understand business and then

{{00:00:51}}
figure out the role I could play.

{{00:00:52}}
But It actually just started
with having fun and appreciating

{{00:00:56}}
community and missing it.

{{00:00:58}}
And you saw your daughters enjoying
something and wanting to be part

{{00:01:02}}
of something and I think the follow
up to that was that you went to try

{{00:01:05}}
and perhaps find them some kit to
buy and you saw actually it's not

{{00:01:09}}
there and we need to be looking at
this as a potential opportunity.

{{00:01:13}}
It actually blew my mind.

{{00:01:14}}
So it's 2015 nine years ago, but
not that long ago, and the stadium's

{{00:01:20}}
packed, you have hundreds of millions of
people watching this game in Vancouver.

{{00:01:24}}
The U.

{{00:01:24}}
S.

{{00:01:24}}
wins 5 1, Carly Lloyd Gould's incredible.

{{00:01:28}}
I went to nine stores in Vancouver
to find a football shirt for

{{00:01:32}}
my daughter, couldn't find one.

{{00:01:34}}
And and then I came back to find
content for this league I didn't

{{00:01:37}}
know existed, couldn't find it.

{{00:01:38}}
And so I thought to myself, if
you had 90 minutes of a Gatorade

{{00:01:42}}
commercial, you know, or a Heineken
commercial, and then you had no

{{00:01:46}}
product in the store for four years.

{{00:01:47}}
How would you know how big the market is?

{{00:01:50}}
So that kind of just started my curiosity,
but it just came from frustration that

{{00:01:54}}
I couldn't spend money, which is what
Americans try to do when they have fun.

{{00:01:58}}
So, other people feel curious about
things, but they don't go and then found

{{00:02:02}}
an amazingly successful football club.

{{00:02:04}}
So tell me about what happened next.

{{00:02:06}}
Yeah I think in investing, particularly
in the kind of investing I come out

{{00:02:10}}
of, which is more venture capital
and private equity, people talk

{{00:02:14}}
about their curiosity driving them.

{{00:02:16}}
But I think it's really important
to realize where is curiosity

{{00:02:18}}
fleeting and where is it relentless?

{{00:02:21}}
And my curiosity was relentless.

{{00:02:23}}
And so for three or four years, I
brought it up in every other conversation

{{00:02:27}}
as small talk or cocktail talk.

{{00:02:29}}
And I just found my interest
in trying to understand.

{{00:02:33}}
this thing that didn't make sense to me
grew deeper and deeper and Yeah, it led

{{00:02:38}}
me to getting to know players like Alex
Morgan and Megan Rapinoe and Crystal Dunn

{{00:02:43}}
Kelly O'Hara who taught me the game from
the player perspective And I started out

{{00:02:47}}
by being an advisor to the US National
Team Union to figure out how to get them

{{00:02:51}}
paid And then I learned quite a lot from
the head of the union, Becca Rue And so

{{00:02:56}}
I essentially then talked to hundreds
of other people to just understand Why

{{00:03:01}}
people told, would tell me it wouldn't
work, and to figure out what are the one

{{00:03:04}}
or two simple things you had to change to
make it work, and it got really simple.

{{00:03:10}}
It was butts in seats.

{{00:03:12}}
If you think about it, women's football
is 20 plus games a year, so you have

{{00:03:18}}
10 of them in your home stadium, so
you've got to get tens of thousands of

{{00:03:21}}
people to have fun 10 times a year, and
that just didn't sound that hard to me.

{{00:03:27}}
That's how Angel City
Football Club came about.

{{00:03:30}}
And you talked there about
getting to know the players.

{{00:03:32}}
At the heart of what you were
doing and building there, how

{{00:03:35}}
important was that to you?

{{00:03:36}}
And it being a sort of very
genuine product that you were

{{00:03:40}}
creating for those people that
were going to be at the core of it.

{{00:03:44}}
It was all I cared about.

{{00:03:45}}
I had no thought, even a remote thought
in the back of my mind, that I would

{{00:03:49}}
start a women's football team with
Julie Ehrman and Natalie Portman.

{{00:03:53}}
Three women would come together to do
something and own 100 percent of a team

{{00:03:57}}
that we then put capital into, but we
started by owning 100 percent of it.

{{00:04:02}}
But it started as authentically
as something could start.

{{00:04:04}}
It was an interest.

{{00:04:05}}
It was a hobby.

{{00:04:06}}
It was an irritation.

{{00:04:09}}
And I think a lot of people thought it
was just my non profit side interest,

{{00:04:14}}
and I always had an interest around
gender equity and then racial equity.

{{00:04:18}}
So yeah I think it because it was
so authentic and I was just learning

{{00:04:22}}
to learn and I wanted to help.

{{00:04:24}}
And I think we forget that actually the
stuff that brings us joy, friendships,

{{00:04:27}}
community, fixing something that you feel
like is wrong in the world, it doesn't

{{00:04:31}}
always need to be your full time job.

{{00:04:33}}
So because of that, it was just
really authentic and then I was quite

{{00:04:36}}
surprised one day when Natalie Portman
who joined me in this pay equity fight

{{00:04:40}}
in 2019 said, let's start a team.

{{00:04:44}}
It actually shocked me and
I have a growth mindset.

{{00:04:47}}
And I always say the queen of Star
Wars said, let's start a team.

{{00:04:51}}
Who are you to say no?

{{00:04:52}}
Who am I to say no?

{{00:04:53}}
And then she said, don't
you know how to do this?

{{00:04:56}}
And I thought, wow, I know
how to do parts of it, right?

{{00:04:59}}
I know how to find talent, extraordinary
talent, which is then we recruited our

{{00:05:04}}
third co founder, Angela Ehrman, and I
know how to raise capital, and I know

{{00:05:08}}
how to understand and build P& Ls.

{{00:05:10}}
But I'd never built a stadium.

{{00:05:12}}
I'd never bid for a unique license
to global entertainment IP.

{{00:05:16}}
That's me.

{{00:05:16}}
But it turns out, one foot in
front of the other, and all

{{00:05:19}}
of these things are solvable.

{{00:05:20}}
And now you have the most
profitable, the most valuable

{{00:05:25}}
women's football team in the U.

{{00:05:27}}
S.

{{00:05:28}}
Yes.

{{00:05:28}}
And you've moved on to putting that into
place with an investment company now,

{{00:05:34}}
Monarch Collective, that's going to look
at just investing in sports opportunities.

{{00:05:39}}
Tell me about that and
what your aim is there.

{{00:05:41}}
Yeah, I left a job I love to go start
Monarch Collective with my partner,

{{00:05:47}}
Jasmine Robinson, who comes out of the
49ers in Bain and is extraordinary.

{{00:05:52}}
It is the first fund that is exclusive
in the world that's exclusively

{{00:05:56}}
focused on only women's sports.

{{00:05:58}}
And last year we raised 150 million.

{{00:06:02}}
to invest in teens, leagues, and rights.

{{00:06:04}}
And we're going to do very few things
and try to do them very well with

{{00:06:08}}
values aligned partners who really will
value having people around the table

{{00:06:11}}
who can hire talent, get in front of
sponsors, think through rights models.

{{00:06:15}}
And where we live and breathe this stuff
80 hours to a hundred hours a week.

{{00:06:21}}
With the idea that women's sports,
while it's becoming globally

{{00:06:24}}
recognized, it's still a small market.

{{00:06:26}}
And there's just a lot of
work required to build P& L.

{{00:06:30}}
to build excellence, to build a global
presence, and Angel City we, are at

{{00:06:37}}
34 million in revenue after two years,
and we're the highest revenue team

{{00:06:43}}
in the world, I believe and that just
takes bringing in the best talents

{{00:06:46}}
and being available to work with them
every single day, and finding the

{{00:06:50}}
A plus people who also care about
your values and community and what

{{00:06:52}}
this means to the local population.

{{00:06:54}}
Indeed, that's got to be at the
heart of what you're doing, because

{{00:06:56}}
if you're talking about sport as an
asset class, at the end of the day,

{{00:07:00}}
That's women on a pitch, on a court,
at the heart of what you're doing.

{{00:07:06}}
Yeah, and I think it's actually important
to talk about sport as an asset class.

{{00:07:10}}
The women's side, all of
women's sport globally is 1.

{{00:07:14}}
3, is a 1.

{{00:07:14}}
3 billion dollar market.

{{00:07:17}}
Men's sports is about a
half a trillion, right?

{{00:07:19}}
So we're a fraction of a percent.

{{00:07:20}}
We are exclusively focused on the sports
that will ride media revenue curves.

{{00:07:25}}
Visibility ones that will change culture
and systems, and that is football,

{{00:07:29}}
or soccer, as we call it in the U.

{{00:07:30}}
S.

{{00:07:31}}
Basketball, golf, tennis, cricket,
rugby, where, but it's very focused,

{{00:07:37}}
and we may make one or two, or
investments in a year and work

{{00:07:41}}
every single day with those teams.

{{00:07:44}}
We have a lot of work to do to march
from a billion, to two billion,

{{00:07:47}}
to ten billion, to thirty billion.

{{00:07:49}}
And I think a lot of people are going
to mistake good for great, and great

{{00:07:52}}
comes from having mission alignment
and people who actually walk their

{{00:07:55}}
values every day and know what to
say no to, as much as what to say yes

{{00:07:59}}
to, and it doesn't land on your lap.

{{00:08:00}}
You have to hustle hard every single
day, be humble, and then be excellent.

{{00:08:05}}
So you talk there about being humble, and
I guess at the heart of what you do is

{{00:08:09}}
that you have three girls at home, your
daughters, who are watching what you do.

{{00:08:13}}
How motivating is that for you, that
you're showing them that, A, this is

{{00:08:18}}
what a woman can do in business, but B,
this is how important women's sport is.

{{00:08:21}}
Yeah it's special.

{{00:08:24}}
I think it's, it wasn't the driver.

{{00:08:28}}
I think in some ways I did
this for, me as much as them.

{{00:08:32}}
And now I think it's just starting
to set in how meaningful it is for

{{00:08:37}}
them to see the world changing.

{{00:08:38}}
And it's meaningful in that just their
biases are not embedded like ours.

{{00:08:42}}
My oldest daughter about a year into
Angel City said to me, Hey mom, when

{{00:08:47}}
are you going to start a men's team?

{{00:08:48}}
And it blew my mind.

{{00:08:52}}
Cause she just, and then you see
these 14 year old boys at Angel City

{{00:08:56}}
and we're about 50 50 male female
and they want to come to Angel City

{{00:09:01}}
games versus go to a lot of men's
sports and so I think it's, almost the

{{00:09:04}}
invisibility of like, all girls can
grow up thinking they can be president,

{{00:09:09}}
prime minister, professional athlete.

{{00:09:11}}
That changes things.

{{00:09:12}}
And then also the other thing, I
think in a lot of ways what inspires

{{00:09:14}}
me is my partnership with my husband.

{{00:09:17}}
And finding male allies in
the investment world at home.

{{00:09:22}}
Because it is the yin and the yang.

{{00:09:23}}
And it is finding allyship.

{{00:09:25}}
Because I'm still often the only
woman in these rooms with a lot

{{00:09:29}}
of amazing men who run the world.

{{00:09:32}}
And we have to figure out how to partner
to change things where people realize

{{00:09:36}}
it's a time to elevate the female voice.

{{00:09:39}}
But in partnership with people
who have other skills and

{{00:09:41}}
they can be male or female.

{{00:09:42}}
And there's so many parallels there
between both the sporting world and

{{00:09:45}}
the private equity world, in terms
of that gender equality, isn't there?

{{00:09:48}}
Yeah.

{{00:09:49}}
And those different voices are
good for the end the bottom

{{00:09:53}}
line in the end, aren't they?

{{00:09:54}}
I

{{00:09:54}}
think they really are.

{{00:09:55}}
And if you look at the highest performing
teams in the United States in football

{{00:09:59}}
and soccer they're almost all female
led or heavily female influenced.

{{00:10:03}}
I was just listening to a podcast
about Emma Hayes, and Emma Hayes

{{00:10:07}}
impact on Chelsea and now the U.

{{00:10:09}}
S.

{{00:10:09}}
national team.

{{00:10:10}}
I think it's a time where the great men
play a role, they may play a big role

{{00:10:15}}
leasing the stadium, providing feedback,
being big investors, but elevating the

{{00:10:20}}
female voice is first and foremost.

{{00:10:22}}
That feels like incredible allyship where
it's earned, and we all have to earn it.

{{00:10:26}}
These are institutions that will last
far beyond us, and we often have to make

{{00:10:30}}
decisions that are not purely financial.

{{00:10:32}}
But if you do them right,
I think you drive outcomes.

{{00:10:35}}
At Angel City, we donate 10
percent of every partnership

{{00:10:39}}
contract to the community.

{{00:10:41}}
So we've put a couple million dollars
into free food, free sports bras community

{{00:10:47}}
gardens, educating female coaches.

{{00:10:49}}
And because of that, we have the highest
sponsorship revenue in the world.

{{00:10:52}}
So anyway, it's only to say that I
think it is figuring out where you show

{{00:10:56}}
up as a woman, as a man, as a partner,
whose voices you elevate, and where you

{{00:11:00}}
make decisions that are non obvious,
that can play out if your heart is on

{{00:11:05}}
the right side of history and mission.

{{00:11:06}}
I can't think of anyone better to
be elevating the female voice, Kara.

{{00:11:10}}
Thank you so much for joining us.

{{00:11:11}}
It's been absolutely
fascinating to talk to you.

{{00:11:12}}
Thank you so much for having me.

{{00:11:14}}
It's a pleasure to be here.

Thank you so much for joining us
here at Super Return International.

You've launched a hugely successful
women's football team in America and now

I had a completely different
job when I sat in that position.

in the stadium with my three daughters,
my husband, and parents in 2015 at the

And I think the passion comes from
building communities that bring

And, candidly, I was a working
mom in my late 30s who had spent

my entire career investing and
operating in tech, and I felt joy.

And that joy led me to trying
to understand business and then

But It actually just started
with having fun and appreciating

And you saw your daughters enjoying
something and wanting to be part

of something and I think the follow
up to that was that you went to try

and perhaps find them some kit to
buy and you saw actually it's not

there and we need to be looking at
this as a potential opportunity.

So it's 2015 nine years ago, but
not that long ago, and the stadium's

packed, you have hundreds of millions of
people watching this game in Vancouver.

wins 5 1, Carly Lloyd Gould's incredible.

I went to nine stores in Vancouver
to find a football shirt for

And and then I came back to find
content for this league I didn't

And so I thought to myself, if
you had 90 minutes of a Gatorade

commercial, you know, or a Heineken
commercial, and then you had no

How would you know how big the market is?

So that kind of just started my curiosity,
but it just came from frustration that

I couldn't spend money, which is what
Americans try to do when they have fun.

So, other people feel curious about
things, but they don't go and then found

Yeah I think in investing, particularly
in the kind of investing I come out

of, which is more venture capital
and private equity, people talk

But I think it's really important
to realize where is curiosity

And so for three or four years, I
brought it up in every other conversation

And I just found my interest
in trying to understand.

this thing that didn't make sense to me
grew deeper and deeper and Yeah, it led

me to getting to know players like Alex
Morgan and Megan Rapinoe and Crystal Dunn

Kelly O'Hara who taught me the game from
the player perspective And I started out

by being an advisor to the US National
Team Union to figure out how to get them

paid And then I learned quite a lot from
the head of the union, Becca Rue And so

I essentially then talked to hundreds
of other people to just understand Why

people told, would tell me it wouldn't
work, and to figure out what are the one

or two simple things you had to change to
make it work, and it got really simple.

If you think about it, women's football
is 20 plus games a year, so you have

10 of them in your home stadium, so
you've got to get tens of thousands of

people to have fun 10 times a year, and
that just didn't sound that hard to me.

That's how Angel City
Football Club came about.

And you talked there about
getting to know the players.

At the heart of what you were
doing and building there, how

And it being a sort of very
genuine product that you were

creating for those people that
were going to be at the core of it.

I had no thought, even a remote thought
in the back of my mind, that I would

start a women's football team with
Julie Ehrman and Natalie Portman.

Three women would come together to do
something and own 100 percent of a team

that we then put capital into, but we
started by owning 100 percent of it.

But it started as authentically
as something could start.

And I think a lot of people thought it
was just my non profit side interest,

and I always had an interest around
gender equity and then racial equity.

So yeah I think it because it was
so authentic and I was just learning

And I think we forget that actually the
stuff that brings us joy, friendships,

community, fixing something that you feel
like is wrong in the world, it doesn't

So because of that, it was just
really authentic and then I was quite

surprised one day when Natalie Portman
who joined me in this pay equity fight

It actually shocked me and
I have a growth mindset.

And I always say the queen of Star
Wars said, let's start a team.

And then she said, don't
you know how to do this?

And I thought, wow, I know
how to do parts of it, right?

I know how to find talent, extraordinary
talent, which is then we recruited our

third co founder, Angela Ehrman, and I
know how to raise capital, and I know

I'd never bid for a unique license
to global entertainment IP.

Expert Insight

Kara Nortman is Managing Partner of Monarch Collective, an investment platform dedicated to accelerating equity in global sport. Kara is a co-founder of Angel City Football Club, which has quickly risen to become the most valuable women's soccer team in the world. We spoke to her at SuperReturn International 2024 about how to get starting when investing in sports, what prompted her to found Angel City and Monarch Collective and how to bridge the gender gap in sports and beyond.