The third edition of The Post Game Newsletter features Rob Thompson on episode #78 of the podcast. Rob is a long time Executive in the Sports Business, digital media, and marketing worlds. He is an entrepreneur, has played pivotal roles in launching the NFL Flag Football and 3×3 Basketball programs, is a published author, and investor.
It was awesome having Rob on the pod. We connected almost two years ago on a call just to meet and catch up. He stays super active on LinkedIn, so I still see his posts.
I’m trying to find a balance with that - using tools like LinkedIn to make real connections instead of finding cheap dopamine hits when a see the little red “1” that pops up in the bottom right of my screen, then doomscrolling through posts about what taking out the trash can teach you about B2B sales.
Here are a few of the best pieces I took away from Rob’s 30+ years growing startups, working for great corporations like Disney, and writing his own book:
Solopreneurship is the New Internship
He talks about how there’s never been a better time for college athletes to start a simple business to learn about the “real world” while they don’t have real responsibilities. I think this can definitely be glorified and is not for everyone (if I’m being honest, I don’t know if I would have done it).
The examples he uses are selling t-shirts, flipping sneakers, or starting a one-on-one coaching platform from your dorm room. NIL has opened up doors like never before and he says you’ll learn way more about sales, marketing, operations than taking 2 years to go get an MBA.
The Best Place I’ve Ever Worked is Wherever I’m At
Rob’s mentor Tommy Groom was always reminding him to be where your feet are. Everyone is always looking for the next thing, but Tommy taught him to make the most out of wherever he was at that moment. Something I’m working on myself…
His Aunt Dot - The Connector
He shared a story about his Aunt Dot, who had no college degree and made a modest living but had a ton of influence in their town because she was the ultimate connector. She was constantly bringing people together / making introductions with no agenda.
I think one of the most powerful things you can do is provide a warm intro to somebody in your network that could help someone else without expecting anything in return…so this was cool to hear.
Check Out The Full Episode Here:
A couple other cool things from this week:
I had the chance to join Brandon Zachary on a podcast he hosts with his former teammate Matt at TCNJ called The Athlete Resilience Center.
We talked about the mental game of sports, the transition out of playing the game into figuring out what’s next, and why I started the Post Game Pod.
At the dinner table growing up every time my sisters and I said “like” my Dad would stop us in our tracks and say “No Likes”. Listening back to the episode, I realized my ultimate favorite filler word / phrase apparently is “type of thing.” I’ll blame my Dad for not stopping me every time I said that. (just kidding)
We also talked about not being afraid to put what you’re doing out into the world.
It made me think back to last year when I had Adam Breneman on the podcast, he talked about The Spotlight Effect, where you think people are always thinking about you. The reality is everyone is caught up in their own shit and they don’t actually care what you’re doing.
It was great being on there, so go check out what those guys are working on sharing stories about mental performance in sports.
Tim Perreira and his walk across America
Back in December ‘24 I had a dude Tim Perreira on the podcast. I’ve never actually released the episode yet but have to soon. Thought it was worth shouting him out. He’s a former college baseball player who got into the tech sales world and battled some serious anxiety / depression over the years. So much so, that he decided to take 6 months to walk across the country to raise money for Men’s Mental Health.
He just wrapped up his walk and has raised almost $72,000 for Men’s Mental Health, which is incredible.
Something I Laughed at This Week:
imagine telling your girl she doesn’t need a bag of useless stuff to go to a theme park but she ignores you and then a fat mime makes you look like an asshole in front of everyone for not carrying the useless bag of loot
— #pete oaks (#@pt0kes)
1:08 PM • Aug 18, 2025
Sent this to my fiancé and she agreed with the mime. I will never delete the Twitter App
Poll Answers from IG questions:
Last week on Instagram, I put out several polls on my stories. Was curious to get people’s opinions on a few things pod-related. Some were more surprising than others - mainly me thinking people were viewing on YouTube more, but Spotify dominated that question. 25-40 mins also seems to be the sweet spot.
Here were the questions and results:
Do You Listen to Full Podcast Episodes?
Yes - 9 (50%)
Clips Only - 9 (50%)
Where Do You Watch / Listen to Podcasts?
YouTube - 1 (5%)
Spotify - 14 (70%)
Apple Podcasts - 5 (25%)
Preferred Episode Length?
15-25 minutes - 7 (32%)
25-40 minutes - 11 (50%)
40+ minutes - 4 (18%)
When do you listen?
Commute to or from work - 10 (50%)
At Work - 3 (15%)
Working Out - 4 (30%)
At Night - 3 (15%)
Do you listen to podcast intros?
Yes - 11 (65%)
No, skip through them - 6 (35%)
How many podcasts are in your regular listening rotation?
1 - 1 (6%)
2 - 4 (25%)
3 - 6 (38%)
4+ - 5 (31%)
What would you want to hear more of?
Athlete’s playing stories - 4 (24%)
Business / Career Talk - 6 (35%)
Current Athletes - 6 (35%)
Funny stuff, lighten up - 1 (6%)
Should I do monthly Q&A where you send questions for guests?
Yes - 15 (88%)
No - 2 (12%)
Some Upcoming PGP Episodes:
8/27: Parul Khosla - Founder of Arena, AI-powered career growth for sports, media, & entertainment | LinkedIn Top Voice | Nonprofit Leader
9/3: David Fales - Former NFL Quarterback, San Jose State legend, and currently working in tech sales
9/10 Matt Hochberg - Founder of Hochberg Sports Marketing, an award-winning, full-service, and FIFA-certified women’s soccer agency
Lastly, on the podcast with Brandon, we talked a little bit about starting this newsletter and me loving nothing more than adding more things to my plate. Then I joked - yeah, my fiancé is like “Oh god you’re doing this too!”
Having a woman that supports my 17 different hobbies is cool. You are the real MVP Linds. (This is a test to see if she actually reads this)
Appreciate you reading through the PGP Newsletter #3!
Til next week,
Joe