Oh, man, Lees lawyers going to call me up tomorrow. Does it help us? Theres an audience lots of people tune in to watch teams play games like League of Legends or Dota 2 but the business models and ecosystem around the industry havent had a ton of success. (Podcast), Chief Executive Officer, Peak6 Investments LP. No, call them out. But in terms of the volume of the pie that I want to cut a slice out of, geo-affiliation is always something we look at, but its not going to be my priority because I have many more fans across the globe than I could just tap into only in Seattle. "Greenwich native 'found a social escape' in gaming. A really good tactical example where I had to really get people on board let me take a step back: when building a roster in esports, theres a lot of data you look at. But then theres a lot of like, Oh, my uncles an agent. Theres a lot of. And then, of course, you took that teams, historically, its a compoundment of the funding and the infrastructure and the culture. [8][11], LaPointe Jameson was featured in the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 under the games category. And so that also breeds a negative culture by people who come in and say, Well, like attracts like. And so weve pushed a lot there to ensure we bring in many different people from many different backgrounds to support and bring true optics of who is a gamer and whos in the gaming space. That tends to be our filter. Nicole LaPointe Jameson, CEO, EVIL GENIUSES. So thats something we decided to handle differently than a lot of public support that you saw other, maybe social media accounts of other sports teams do. When you say that leads to different back-end decisions, pull that apart. Because we dont like to do things just for the optics of it. Nicole LaPointe Jameson (Evil Geniuses CEO) on Twitter: Last owner's meeting @TSMReginald complimented 100T as the only non-shitty new LCS team. Lets try this. Its a self-perpetual feedback loop of how things are, not how things ought to be. And so part of it is personal. I ended up falling in love with the entrepreneurial spirit, and they had a program where they took undergrads and threw them straight into investing and operating portfolio company businesses. Everyone knows the space can be rife with toxicity and bullying, but Ive had a good network to shelter me. Right. Welcome to Decoder. It seems like you have some metrics that say this is actually going to help us win more, but it is just a challenging space. Please only use it for a guidance and Nicole LaPointe Jameson's actual income may vary a lot from the dollar amount shown above. Owning the Lakers is just a lucrative proposition because the Lakers play basketball, and people buy tickets, and youll sell the rights, and you can just do it that way. But esports, being a digital platform, also bridges entertainment, so you think of content creators, digital influencers, and all of those revenue models and revenue streams. Evil Geniuses, a more than 20-year-old company, helped to shape the esports industry, she said. Aug 6, 2022 171 Dislike Share Save BuzzFeed Multiplayer 9.78M subscribers Nicole LaPointe Jameson, the CEO of esports organization Evil Geniuses , sat down with BuzzFeed to talk about the. They havent nailed the sports side, though. Select the best result to find their address, phone number, relatives, and public records. We havent targeted any women in hiring. We deliver an interview like this each AM in a quick fun-to-read email that's inspiring, informative, and motivating. Is that true? To make sure we could bring in the best of whatever talent and break down those barriers to reasonable things that should be accommodated. And then, in particular with sports, sports are traditionally very local. And its very hands-on, tactile, just by, I think, the industry maturity. I was reading an essay by a VC named Matthew Ball. The two will pull back the curtain on how esports organizations are run at the professional level and how fans and brands can get involved in the truly global phenomenon. See, this is where the entertainment comes back in. [7] This made her the first African American woman to lead a major esports organization. Yeah. Those are the types of decisions we make beyond what is the money. Im watching the thoughts form in her brain before she says them. The biggest problem we face is breaking down the perception of gamers are alt-right dudes in a basement. Its not. LaPointe Jameson cut her teeth in private equity, turning around "distressed. Its us that decides where we support. Lets look at our data. And at the time that EG [Evil Geniuses] and gaming came on our plate, I was looking from an investment point of view at technology, AR, VR, and gaming companies, looked at a lot of esports teams. And then, of course, we have our evergreen league revenue share from our league partners. The organization believes that the squad has what it takes to compete against the best teams in North America. The NFL is not doing that, rIght? I can personally say, even as a team owner, more broad-facing incumbent providers in the agency, the sports infrastructure, even like sports science and wellness, please enter the space. Nicole quickly brought in new talent and made other changes to energize the company at a Listen to Decoder, a show hosted by The Verges Nilay Patel about big ideas and other problems. Those are big bucks. Tyler Blevins. How do you manage that? And so weve actually spent a lot of energy making sure we did a lot of provisions. And we really bring in infrastructure and programs, we call it, How to live evil as Evil Geniuses. They, of course, get a cut of that, but the onus is on us to manage and support, and sell against, and brand build for them, essentially. [They] are not sustained on esports-level sponsorships today. But also its a true legal and financial stickiness in support to make the product viable, right? See you again soon, Brazil! [3][4] During the summer of her junior year, she received a job offer to join Chicago-based investment firm PEAK6. Whereas here, theres less sort of cultural awareness and fame. So [we] dont take those things lightly at all, we take them really seriously. Its the education component of why being an infrastructure business and being legitimately supported for very short-term gains-focused youth, which tends to be our athletes is harder for us to navigate and manage. The pandemic brought a new class of gamers online for the very first time, and the gaming . As Epic changes the competitive platform so frequently, its hard for us to be proactive. But weve moved into spaces where were either a first mover or the only mover. Well, first of all, investor, thank you for supporting me in this endeavor. One of them is traditional sports, except think of us like a university athletics department. Youre deciding to make that investment, do you think youre going to get a 10x return on that investment just from playing the game? But it lacked direction and was struggling financially when she took over two years ago, LaPointe Jameson said. I was a triple first in terms of esports team CEOs: race, gender, and age. The average esports athlete at Evil Geniuses makes about $70,000 per year. And so cost is the first big framework we look at. Bachelor of Arts/Science, Columbia University in the City of New York. Big thanks to the fabulous and patient @frenzystudio_ for their help with conceptualizing my brand, and @alexaftw for bringing my voice to life! It also has a team of professional esports players who are among the best in the world, she said. So, okay, its a big number. Gamer. You make a lot of money owning the Lakers, maybe you sell concessions, you sell tickets, you have all these ancillary things around the Lakers. It is almost a loss-leader. Ive checked out your Twitch channel, Ive looked at your YouTube, those arent spaces youre playing in very aggressively. Following a spike in interest during the pandemic, esports is projected to nearly double in revenue by 2022. I was able to somehow convince a bunch of people who had never worked in esports and did sales, both sell- and buy-side, and traditional sports, and consumer product goods to come join this clunky esports team and sell it, and theyve done fantastically. We were one of the first esports teams to actually have a podcast. Explain how you became the CEO of Evil Geniuses? Weve made decisions that we knew, well, this might not resonate with the fans, but we know we have to do this. And so very recently, our pipeline in terms of potential has quadrupled, just in the past two months this year. We recently entered a new title called Valorant. Right now theres still some Wild West. That consultation pipeline, often rivals, depending on the season or the quarter, rivals our direct sponsorships for our teams. Okay, that makes me feel better maybe not, actually. And building a playbook of how even my team members at EG can operate, understanding, okay, what lanes do we play in and what lanes do we not? Lets push. Thats a conversation that we can support privately as individuals, but as a corporate entity, what can we do that is more than just showing social media support? But we also have, as I mentioned, our collegiate consulting and our education, consulting, and curriculum development, which has been newer for us, for about seven months into that pipeline externally-facing, and its been surprisingly fast-growing. And so weve been able to look at areas that we authentically care about, and find ways that are not predatory or actually support the core of our business by bringing in revenue but also boosting our mission. They control the games, they can change the rules, they can change how the games work. Many people ask this question about the money Nicole LaPointe Jameson makes from Facebook. Evil Geniuses team players are, in terms of global rankings, the top 30 professional esports players in the world, organization leaders said. We realized we could white-label those tools and sell them direct. Thats amazing. I mean, Ive watched a League of Legends match and Ive played this game five times and I have no idea whats going on, right? Although LaPointe Jameson has loved computer-related activities since she was a child, she said she never anticipated working in the esports industry. What an amazing time watching the" The predominantly male esports industry has a reputation of toxic, harassing and bullying behavior toward women players. LaPointe Jameson has also opened offices in Seattle and Los Angeles and doubled headcount. So what had not just resulted from that in the removal was, we do social media audits and deeper background checks with all of our hires, not just staff, but also players. Im almost ashamed of a lot of the things weve had to do that were firsts in the industry. You can find a collection of my speaking engagements, media moments, a way to connect with me on shared passions, topics, and more! The second is, of course, the culture. And especially in COVID, where while our product became extremely popular, costs also rose, and a lot of where we got our money, direct sponsorship allocations, that infrastructure fell away. See Nicole Lapointe Jameson's compensation, career history, education, & memberships. Nicole LaPointe Jameson, CEO, Evil Geniuses discuss what's next as the Esports industry evolves with Bloomberg's Jennifer Zabasajja at the Bloomberg Power Pl. Thanks for calling me out. But if I create an unsafe work environment for myself or others, it defeats the whole purpose of trying to grow and expand and bring a positive outlook to the gaming industry. That will work. Because it wont, unfortunately. And EG was this tiny, 10-person company in Seattle, Washington, that had a 21-year legacy brand of competing excellently in all different titles. But why are esports teams pulling away from Fortnite? More at IMDbPro Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro. If you open doors for the best of the best, they tend to come. However, there are times where weve made big bets on teams, like actually entering into a title and doing things a different way. We do it excellently but we definitely try every day to be thoughtful around the why of what we do, to bring people along with us on our mission, and not isolate fans or communities. A native of Greenwich, Connecticut,[2] LaPointe Jameson attended Columbia University in New York City, graduating in 2016. In May 2019, LaPointe Jameson took over as CEO of storied but fading esports outfit, Evil Geniuses. Its an exciting year for us as live events, were hoping, will come back by the end of this year, and well have some very nice big activations, coupling our tournaments. For this weeks episode of Decoder, I spoke with Nicole LaPointe Jameson, CEO of esports company Evil Geniuses, to figure out how an esports team makes money, where the industry is headed, and where she sees growth. Jokes on me, I was told about two weeks before the investment closed, converting to more of an acquisition, I should be rolling in to help kind of spearhead the business and really figure out the space of esports, as it had not been well figured out, especially when I had entered two years ago. The job wasnt accessible because the infrastructure wasnt there to support it. Among the platforms ready to capitalize is Evil Geniuses, which has grown its own revenue sixfold in the two-and-a-half years since Jameson took the helm as CEO. Playing games was how I could socialize, and bring collective entertainment, or meet others, said LaPointe Jameson, who had a leg deformity as a child and often missed out on recess and outdoor activities with her peers. For a long time, people have predicted that playing video games competitively would become a big business, rivaling traditional sports leagues like the NBA or NFL. [9][10] The organization also doubled their staff count and opened new offices in Seattle and Los Angeles within a year of LaPointe Jameson's tenure. Everybody, put yourself in that headspace. And what do you think that business should look like? If you look at EG we tease that as a first-world problem. Part of the challenge for her? In her first year, she's made. Or maybe you do, in the lab, I dont know. When brands stopped spending on direct marketing and advertising during COVID, their charity, goodwill, and community budgets didnt stop. We are 30 percent people of color, which is also very high for gaming. The esports industrys a bit of a misnomer in that it really encompasses two bimodal often intersecting, but frequently not business models. Because it isnt a one-to-one relationship between games, sales, and esports viewers, and even esports viewers by titles are not the same. Its a very different human rights regime. EG historically, before I came in, was known as only really an athletics esports team. Nicole LaPointe Jameson is the CEO of the North American esports organization, Evil Geniuses. So outsourcing to people whose focus that is, is excellent. We were just the athletics model, which is great. Its fascinating, right? Content Creator . Many people ask this question about the money Nicole LaPointe Jameson makes from Twitter. So its not geo-affiliated to a place and then you end up chasing after a team of kids who live in a house in the Philippines. That sounds very interesting. ), Nicole LaPointe Jameson Born: April 11, 1994 (age 28years), Connecticut, United States. LaPointe Jameson joined Evil Geniuses as CEO back in 2019. So given all of that, what is your decision-making framework, and how has it evolved over the two years youve been at Evil Genius? Its rough, I think there are three big reasons why esports can be a little backwards, considering how much of an advantage they should have by how the games actually are played and competed on, which are generally more accessible, right, for gender, for whoever. $250M increase in valuation in less than two years. We kind of just keep that for the fan excitement. Its not an infrastructure as layered as all the agents and managers and the posse that you find in many traditional sports. Because weve carved our system and infrastructure and networks and who we partner with very carefully, to ensure we can bring in the best of the best, no matter where they come from or what they look like.. I had worked for the past five years at an investment firm called PEAK6 Investments, which does a lot of I call it a mixture of private equity meets family office. What are your revenue lines right now and where are they growing? But that education, the accessibility, the optics of people like not that example, is not well articulated. We have a very sticky product by being digital and by being more flexible and how we engage, excite, and monetize the fan and consumer. and break down barriers that might have existed, into the fold. When Nicole LaPointe Jameson became the CEO of the esports organization Evil Geniuses in 2019, she took the helm of a brand that had a well-established presence in the gaming world. Theyre so good at entertainment. How do you balance that, especially as youre growing? 2023 Forbes Media LLC. So now Im going to play the role of the private equity investor and say, how are you growing revenues to justify that massive increase in costs? Guest on Decoder with Nilay Patel. Some developers have let third parties run their leagues. Well, so this is something I think about a lot, especially in the creator ecosystem, which we pay a lot of attention to; its new, but the cultural product its making is maybe not new, right? Merchandise, everyone always talks about, oh, fashion and apparel, thats slim margins there. [Due to an Achilles injury,] I was immobile for a lot of my childhood, so gaming was my social connection. And Im trying to protect the masses of my people at EG. But we can do both authentically and well. The team is the crown jewel. In her spare time, she enjoys skiing, yoga, Zumba and live music events. About. Everyone thinks Supreme is the business, and its not the business. I was from this private equity firm, Im a woman, and Im a person of color. So if they, again, not to harp on FaZe Clan. I am passionate about reaching out to my community and engaging with you all. And so its not easy, but its exciting. Our newest product and we actually roll out with our last public component [at] the end of this quarter is our tech and data analytics, because we use tools to make decisions internally. One of the questions I have for all of these digital media and entertainment models and obviously, I work in digital media so I think about this a lot but one of the questions that always comes up is it seems like so rarely is the core product itself the money. I started at EG with eight people; we just hit 150 people that fall under that vision as well, and like to support that space, so its been good for us. I wish I had a better and more shiny answer for you, but it definitely resonates. The Evilest - CEO @evilgeniuses and @esportsfactor Forbes 30U30 | BI's 100 | AdWeek Most Powerful Women in Sports Hasnt signed much yet from this newfound growth, but I think end of this year, well have a really good sense of, our collegiate and education proposals might be the ticket to better support. This is good, its like being in a meeting with you. Dont put me on sponsorship ask. Tatiana Flowers was formerly a reporter and fellow with Hearst Connecticut Media Group. When you talk about those global audiences, youre talking about impressions. 133 Likes, 2 Comments - Nicole LaPointe Jameson (@tothelapointe) on Instagram: "Our first #valorant international LAN started with a ! / Sign up for Verge Deals to get deals on products we've tested sent to your inbox daily. Greenwich DPW looks to fix 'dangerous' intersection on Delavan Ave. Greenwich commission OKs historic designation to protect Samuel Ferris House, oldest home in Riverside, The Best Window Replacement Companies in CT, Guide to Legal Cannabis Dispensaries in CT, The Best Kitchen Remodeling Companies in CT, The Best Cosmetic Dentists in Westchester County. That seems like a relationship that needs to be managed very closely. 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