Peter Schoenthal of Athliance
An exclusive Tech Tribune Q&A with Peter Schoenthal (founder and CEO) of Athliance, which was honored in our:
Tell us the origin story of Athliance – what problem were you trying to solve and why?
Football saved me. My father wasn’t around in high school. I began going down a negative life path and I was lucky enough to have high school football coaches who saw something in me and made sure I got back on track and went to college. I truly believe if not for those coaches, I would not have gone to college. While in college, I started going down that bad path again. One night, I called one of my coaches and we had a heart-to-heart. It was during that phone call that my coach urged me to give law school a chance. I got my act together, took the LSAT, and was accepted into the University of Miami School of Law. While in law school, I decided to give back. Football saved my life and so I wanted to repay the game. I decided to coach inner-city youth football in Coconut Grove. I am the world’s worst coach. I had kids end up at Florida State, Miami, LSU, Syracuse, Alabama, and others. And I never won a championship. However, I was a good mentor. So when my kids started getting recruited, I decided that I would take them on visits to schools that we could drive to so they wouldn’t get taken advantage of by “street agents”.
Compliance officers at schools, who are the gatekeepers to athletic departments, gravitated toward me because they knew I was one of the good guys and they didn’t have to worry about me doing the wrong thing. I was fortunate enough to stay close with many as time went on. Fast forward 3 years to March 2020. Florida announced that it would allow its collegiate athletes to profit off their name, image, and likeness beginning July 1, 2021. The student-athletes I coached began to reach out to me asking questions. At this time, I was a founding partner at a criminal defense firm. My first thoughts were “How are these kids going to pay their taxes?” and “I do not want to represent them in Federal Court on tax evasion charges”.
Around that same time, I met with my now partners and we thought of ways we could help protect student-athletes with this new world on the horizon. Before we did anything, we decided to reach out to the compliance officers I had met along the way and ask them their thoughts on the space. All of them said the same thing: “We are not concerned with branding and marketing. We need to know what our student-athletes are doing prior to accepting money so we can make sure they do not get taken advantage of and to make sure they are not violating NCAA, school, federal and state rules, laws, and procedures.” That was our “ah-ha” moment, and we began building software that would allow student-athletes to easily disclose the terms of their deals to their school for everyone to remain compliant and protected. We also educate student-athletes through our app on life skills such as financial literacy, tax literacy, business formation, and much much more.
What was the biggest hurdle you encountered in your journey?
The biggest hurdles we have faced thus far are taking an idea and bringing it to reality. Everyone has great ideas. But making them come to life takes drive, determination, grit, and execution. Everyone has to wear many hats while remaining on the same page and working toward the same goal. It is difficult, but I am grateful to work with the best team there is and we are seeing our hard work come to fruition.
What does the future hold for Athliance?
The future is bright! We realized very quickly that software in the sport management world is inefficient. The sport management software universe is still in its infancy. We believe we are entering the space at the perfect time. We believe we can and will become one of, if not the dominant player in the sport management software space, and we are well on our way to accomplishing that goal.
What are your thoughts on the local tech startup scene in Fort Lauderdale?
We couldn’t be happier to see how the Fort Lauderdale tech startup scene is evolving. Fort Lauderdale is very diverse and our startup-verse reflects that as well. Since it is in its infancy, the space itself feels communal and tightknit. It is almost as if we are all in this together and that support system amongst us is important as we all try to reach new heights. I think the investor scene is also wonderful. Fort Lauderdale is blessed to have some extremely successful and unique individuals who don’t just look at what’s on the paper but rather what’s on paper coupled with an ability to recognize the founder’s dreams, vision, and drive. Startups will not survive and thrive without marrying the two and I believe our local investor network recognizes that, making this scene the best there is!
What’s your best advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
The best advice I have for aspiring entrepreneurs is to treat all problems and “adversity” as a speed bump and not a roadblock. When you treat things as a roadblock, you tend to “give up” or feel as though the end is coming. We all have great ideas, but those ideas change and morph as we see them come to fruition. So when a problem comes up, it is key to treat it as a speed bump. Slow down, think, but keep going. If you do this, you will become a problem solver and you won’t become paralyzed to issues that are sure to come.