From a young age, Mark Neifeld knew he wanted to be involved in sports. However, unlike most kids who dream of being a star quarterback or center, Mark wanted to pursue a career in sports management. After graduating from college, his first job at the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning allowed him to pursue that dream. Eventually, he would also work with the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers.
However, as a natural entrepreneur, Mark decided to head out on his own and create his own path. The result is the Sport Fishing Championship (SFC), a unique saltwater fishing championship with over a dozen rounds of competition spread across the Atlantic, the Gulf and Cabo San Lucas. Using cutting-edge technology, the SFC delivers all the action from its tournaments to online viewers in real time.
Launching the high-stakes billfishing tournament with multi-million dollar boats, multiple stops and covering competition in the middle of the ocean was no easy task. Making it sustainable over the long run was an even bigger challenge. On this episode, Mark shares with “Only The Strong Survive” host Dan Kahn what he learned from launching the SFC, what it takes to keep it going and how it was the ultimate test of his entrepreneurial skills.
Click on the icon above to watch the entire interview, and here are our top five takeaways:
Absorb as much knowledge as you can from those around you.
Doing discovery before launching a business is critical.
Understanding why your idea or product hasn’t existed before is also essential.
Long-term thinking always wins over short-term profits.
Successful entrepreneurs can’t be afraid of failure.
Be A Sponge
Mark credits a lot of his success to being around the right people early in his career. Whether they were mentors, leaders or successful entrepreneurs, Mark tried to learn as much as he could from them. His advice is to always “be a sponge” and absorb as much wisdom as you can from others.
“I had the great opportunity to work with all the people over at Teall Capital and Ben (Sutton) and all the people he had worked with for over 20 years. You know, just be a sponge,” said Mark. “I was younger back then, but I really was just a sponge. If you have an opportunity to have access to someone who really wants to mentor you and will tell you how they built their business, take it.”
Look Before You Leap
Most entrepreneurs like to move fast. However, not taking the time to understand what you are getting into can ultimately lead to failure. For Mark, a detailed, lengthy discovery process for his idea of a saltwater fishing league was hugely beneficial. It helped him get an idea of what potential pitfalls were ahead and how to best tackle them.
“Turn of the calendar year on Jan. 2, I told myself I was going to put 90 days on my calendar to do discovery,” said Mark. “For me, at the time, I didn’t even really know what the problems or opportunities were. I was just asking questions. So I started picking up the phone and calling major tournament owners and asking them why there isn’t a PGA Tour of fishing?”
Know the Why
Beyond discovery, Mark notes that it is also essential to understand why something you are trying to make doesn’t exist. The answer to that question for a saltwater fishing championship was that all of the action takes place in the middle of the ocean. There was simply no way to bring the fishing live to online viewers. However, that was about to change with the advent of new technologies like Starlink.
“If we did what everyone else was doing, we wouldn’t be here right now. Bass fishing has been live for a long time. Why? Because you can transmit from a lake, back to a truck, and up and out. But try broadcasting from 450 miles offshore in the middle of the ocean,” said Mark. “So I got into it with SpaceX and learned about the LEO grid and where they were in that project. That was March of 2021, and as soon as I had that information, it was go time.”
Always Think Long Term
For entrepreneurs, there can be a struggle between short-term profit and long-term thinking. Often, the two can be at opposite ends of important business decisions. However, for Mark, thinking long-term is key and leads to a more sustainable brand that also generates a profit.
“My thing early on was that we needed to build the PGA Tour of fishing. The PGA is a 100-year league, so we needed to build a 100-year league. We need to think about how we can build a sustainable product with a strong business model behind it,” said Mark. “Ultimately, I am a capitalist and an entrepreneur and a red-blooded American. We want to create jobs, we want to lift the community. The captains, the mates and the people who work on these boats are superstars. We have to do our part to elevate them across sports media and entertainment culture.”
Never Be Afraid of Failure
Fear of failure is something that paralyzes many. However, for entrepreneurs, that fear must be set aside completely. According to Mark, one has to accept that failure is part of entrepreneurship. If you don’t let go of that, you will never take the many chances required to be successful.
“As an entrepreneur, you have to be prepared to fail. I fail all the time. I have failed with SFC, with certain projects or initiatives, or things like that. For me, I have never been afraid of failing,” said Mark. “I am saying all of this because hopefully there is a listener out there who has an idea, has the know-how, and has thought of a business and wants to go out and pursue that business. If I could speak to that person, I would say that you can’t be afraid to fail.”
