Ira Miller, CEO of First Inning Ventures, joins Sports Philanthropy Network’s Roy Kessel and Kayla Bradham to have a conversation about his entrance into the sports world and how he is using his passions to benefit the sports community. He talked about how his father’s mathematical abilities gave him the inspiration to become an entrepreneur. Ira’s many stories and experiences provided for a fruitful conversation full of wisdom and passion for giving back.
Ira Miller
As the CEO and Founder of First Inning Ventures, he leverages his extensive experience and network in Venture capital, M&A consulting, and Sports entrepreneurship to provide innovative and strategic solutions for sports-related businesses and opportunities. He founded and underwrote First Inning Ventures in December of 2023 with a vision to create a global platform that offers sports athlete agency and branding services, as well as financing for our extensive U.S. High School Network, Collegiate Sports Platform and European Soccer Leagues and Teams. In addition to leading First Inning Ventures, he is also the CEO and Founder of Zone Capital Partners, LLC, a financial holding company that consults with private and public small cap companies. Since 2008, he has successfully represented and supported over $6.5 billion in aggregate market capitalization to the financial community, and helped many companies uplist to the NYSE or Nasdaq NMS. He also launched an entrepreneurial platform at Rutgers, Duke and Yale Universities to support Undergraduate and MBA students in their efforts to increase their knowledge of the Sports Venture and M&A knowledge. He is passionate about Sports philanthropy and social impact and serves as an advisor to Sports Philanthropy Network, a non-profit organization, and supports Israeli and U.S. military veteran charities.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ira-w-miller-zcp
Website: https://firstinningventures.com/
Key Points:
0:50 Background on the establishment of First Inning Ventures
3:30 Ira talks about First Inning Venture’s partners and business model
6:40 Ira talks about Chase Griffin and his impact on the sports community
8:49 Ira talks about his experience teaching at Rutgers Business School
12:04 Ira discusses problems with corruption in sports business
18:57 Ira talks about how we become more inclusive with HBCUs within the success of the sports business
21:41 Ira shares notable female leaders
