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Whether you're after expansion capital, some creativeemployees or cutting-edge business contacts, you might try lookingin a surprising place: at an Ultimate Frisbee game. Once a fringepastime played primarily at East Coast colleges, Ultimate has nowbecome one of the fastest-growing participant sports with at least100,000 players, according to the Ultimate Players Association.Most U.S. cities now offer Ultimate leagues at a variety ofcompetitive levels, and the sport has become as popular with men aswith women, and with middle-aged professionals as with youngerpeople.
Ultimate has particularly attracted entrepreneurs who like itsfree-flowing style, lack of referees and nonhierarchical nature.(Players switch positions all the time.) "Everyone has to playevery position, so you get people who understand the kind ofversatility a small company needs," says Peter Nieh, a generalpartner at San Francisco-based venture capital company LightspeedVenture Partners and an avid Ultimate player.
Entrepreneurs say Ultimate has become the most popularparticipant sport among venture capitalists, so business ownersoften run into a potential source of funding on the field."Many of our executives play Ultimate in the weekly Fridaygames at Greer Park in Palo Alto," says Russ Rive, co-founderof 100-employee desktop management company Everdream in Fremont,California.
"A lot of people from venture capital firms also play, and,when we've pitched our company before some of these VCs, havingthose Ultimate contacts helped us get a foot in the door,"Rive adds. "Having lined up next to VC people on the field, wehave something in common in our favor."
Though the information technology industry has hit hard times,Everdream has raised three rounds of VC financing since 1999, thelatest in December 2002. Says Rive, "I'm working so hardnow that I don't even have time to play in the Friday games asmuch as I would like."
Since it draws a younger and more diverse crowd than traditionalnetworking venues such as trade shows or the golf course, Ultimatecan also be a great place to find a wide range of potentialemployees. Nieh has used his Ultimate contacts to find severalemployees for companies Lightspeed funds. "Because Ultimateattracts people who are a bit rebellious [and] a bitcountercultural," he explains, "they tend to have funkynew business ideas to bring to companies."
For more information on Ultimate Frisbee, check out these links:www.upa.org (theUltimate Players Organization site; has links to Ultimate leaguesin several cities); www.ultimatehandbook.com (has more informationon the game); www.ultilinks.com (offers links to upcoming Ultimatetournaments, games, teams and other events around the world).
