Strive Masiyiwa on the The business of sport.

Strive Masiyiwa

The business of sport, in numbers.

If you’re one of the highest paid football players in the world today, you can be sure that key people in the industry spend a lot of time looking at your “numbers,” and by this I don't mean the number on your jersey. Modern sport at the very top is a game of "numbers."

The top clubs employ "data" gathered on each player to assess performance. If a player is a striker, they analyze data from each game to assess his performance and effectiveness. They can use it to compare him with players from other teams and leagues. Those figures also play a critical role when it comes to buying and selling players.

Gone are the days when players were assessed by just watching them play. Even avid fans are increasingly debating player performance, using such jargon as "number of assists," "number of tackles," etc.

If you spend millions buying a player, it’s not enough simply to see him play. They’ve developed a complex matrix to analyze data on each player. In fact, the data I’ve mentioned so far is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a whole "science" involved in monitoring the performance of supreme athletes at the top of the game, whether soccer, American football, cricket, tennis, etc.

If you’ve spent your life following a team as a fan, it’s often easy to forget that sport is a big business. Those "clubs" that you like to follow, they're businesses. Just like any business that you know, they’re selling a product or a service. Behind the scenes are shareholders, entrepreneurs and managers (some more important than the well-known coach). There are business plans to be executed and profits to be pursued.

As an entrepreneur, you must always "see" the business side of things, even if it’s your favorite sport. I can tell you the financial numbers of some of the leading soccer clubs in Europe. I'm so used to thinking and seeing things as an entrepreneur that I make it a hobby to check for "numbers."

Performance is measured in numbers... As an entrepreneur, you must always try to find ways to measure your performance with numbers. The more you do this, the more respected you will be. Whatever it is you are doing as an entrepreneur, it must be measured constantly, and using numbers.

Every type of business has its numbers. There's a way to measure performance of every type of business utilizing quantitative data. Do you know the numbers of your business, or industry? Now you don’t have to invent your own numbers, because in every type of business (just like in sport) there are universally agreed numbers.

"How profitable is your business?" If I ask you that question, there’s a way to answer as a man in the street or as an "entrepreneur." Which one are you?

Your answer can lead to an investor saying, "let's sit down and talk," or politely ending the conversation and running away from you! There’s a way to present your answers in a way that will have investors wanting to give you their last penny, and another... to run far, far away from you! You owe it to yourself to begin to know these things.

Now that this secret has been revealed to you, it’s your job to "search out" these matters:
‪#‎If‬ you’re running a trading business, what numbers should you collect and analyze?
‪#‎What‬ about mining, farming, telecoms, hairdressing, repairing computers or driving your own taxi?

Whatever business you founded, manage or are dreaming to create…What numbers you should be collecting and analyzing?

We know the good players by their "numbers." As an entrepreneur, you must respect numbers.

End.