Pro Athlete Community (PAC) exists to empower a special, yet surprisingly underserved caliber of professionals: pro athletes. Over the past few months, the Canned Spinach team has had the privilege of partnering with Kaleb Thornhill (Co-Founder and CEO) and Chip Paucek (Co-Founder and Investor) to develop and launch this industry-changing Pro Athlete Community.
THE MISSION
Professional athletes dedicate their entire lives to the game—but what happens when their time on the field comes to an end? Enter PAC. PAC’s mission is to accelerate personal and professional growth, amplify opportunities, and build community for athletes to succeed during and after their playing careers.
With such an important mission at stake, the Canned Spinach crew (led by Sophia Wegman) has worked closely with Kaleb to develop the branding, content strategy, website, sales collateral, social media, and marketing assets that power PAC’s strong brand voice.
PAC connects players with tailored executive-level education programs, immersive learning experiences, and a luminary networking community designed to unlock their full potential off the field. These efforts culminate at unique in-person Business Combine events, marked by world class speakers, networking events, deep dive visits to pro-athlete run businesses (and so much more). Whether you are a current pro player, an entire pro team looking to develop and connect, or an individual finished with your playing career, PAC is here to help build a sustainable future filled with personal and professional growth and success.
THE EVENT LAUNCH
This past September marked PAC’s first official event with the Next Chapter U Business Combine in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Nadia Nutgrass (Project Manager, Canned Spinach) and Andrew Savitz (Co-Founder and CEO, Canned Spinach) traveled south to attend the inaugural week-long event. Nadia lended her operations and planning expertise to help Kaleb and his team ensure everything went smoothly, while Andrew served as a mentor and business coach for the Business Combine attendees.
The week-long event was buzzing with passion, energy, and excitement from all the brilliant minds in the room.
THE NEXT CHAPTER
Though the in-person event has now ended, the work has really just begun. Each Combine attendee has now been sorted into small teams where they will work as a group to attend trainings and education programs with the University of Miami, receive performance coaching with Ember & Stoke, and engage in business coaching from successful business leaders including C-level executives from publicly traded companies, PE firms, and our very own CEO from Canned Spinach (go, Andrew!).
Over the next 13 weeks Andrew will be working directly with a team of 5 athletes to help them develop a business plan around an idea they develop on their own. The curriculum will end with a virtual pitch competition amongst all the teams, with some big prizes for the winning team!
