Sports Brand Career Pivot

A story about how Ken Rideout leveraged endurance sports to transform his career and build relationships in finance.

"In 2015, I left New York and went to California with a fintech startup called Electronify. We were brokering trades between institutions for corporate bonds. I went out to LA knowing there was a good chance the startup wouldn't work - it didn't, we sold it to a competitor.

By moving to LA, I forced myself into an uncomfortable position because there aren't sales and trading jobs there like in New York. Everything good in my life happened through endurance sports. I was riding my bike with a guy in my neighborhood who ran an asset management firm called the Palisades Group. They had about $2 billion in assets under management, running money for big household names like Apollo.

I noticed he didn't have any business development, so I said 'Let me run business development for you.' He said I didn't have experience and didn't want to put me in a losing position. I offered to work for free for 3 months just to see if it works. In 2 years, we grew from $2 billion to $5 billion. I raised two discretionary funds.

Banks wouldn't even help us raise money - they laughed us out of the room. They asked why I thought I could raise this fund based on our track record and experience. I said to them, 'Why do you think you can't? Until someone beats me at the New York Marathon, I'll convince myself that I can win.'"