Russ: This is the BusinessMakers show, heard on the radio and seen online at the businessmakers.com. It's guest time on the show and we're coming to you today from Austin, Texas and this is a first for the BusinessMakers show because our business today and our founder of the business is a media company, not too dissimilar than the BusinessMakerss because my guest is Mark Floreani, founder and CMO of Flocast.

Mark: Flocast, yes.

Russ: Tell us about Flocast.

Mark: Flocast is an online sports media company and we build online communities based around passion driven sports, we like to call them.

Russ: Okay

Mark: So not the major sports. Most of 'em are in the Olympic space. Currently we have four that we own and operate, track and field site called Flotrack.

Russ: Okay.

Mark: A Olympic wrestling site called Flowrestling. A gymnastic site called gymnastikes and a mountain biking cycle cross site called Cyclingdirt.

Russ: My goodness and you're creating media for all four of those various sports?

Mark: Yeah, so I ran track at the University of Texas and my brother wrestled at Cal Poly University and we felt the need for content, we couldn't find any content about our sport, we're very passionate about our sport.

Russ: Okay.

Mark: So we decided that we'd go out and build one.

Russ: Okay, so Flotrack, I assume, was the first one of these four that you launched.

Mark: Flowrestling and Flotrack.

Russ: Okay, started together.

Mark: Well Flowrestling was actually started before and then Flotrack started a couple of months later.

Russ: Okay, now I also happen to be a track and field fan.

Mark: Oh, cool.

Russ: I ran track in high school and stuff and I love it. Anytime I ever see it, there's a major track meet on television and I watch it, but it is amazing to me how little, it seems like back in the '60's and '70's it had a more predominant position in regular television media.

Mark: Yeah, 100 percent. I mean, and now they just, I mean, all the major networks focus on football, basketball, baseball and then some hockey. Then when they do focus on track and field, us in the sport feel like the coverage is underwhelming, not that great.

Russ: Right, right.

Mark: So what we do is we cover all the events, we go to the events that we care about and we go to, even the ones that are on TV we cover it, but just in a different angle.

Russ: Oh wow.

Mark: We catch all the races, but we'll do interviews behind the scenes, different things.

Russ: So a track meet where major television is not there to cover, you go there and you actually capture the races and the field events and you capture every race?

Mark: Yeah, so we do a lot.

Russ: Okay

Mark: We captured our members of our community, we capture it.

Russ: Okay.

Mark: When we do captured events, for example, mount sack relays or pen relays, in the past we've done it five out the last six years. Yeah, we cover every single race.

Russ: Okay, but not all the preliminaries and stuff?

Mark: Every single race.

Russ: My goodness.

Mark: Every single race, play by play, person's name said at least once.

Russ: Okay and you're commentating as the race happens?

Mark: Commentating, yeah.

Russ: Wow.

Mark: Commentating and we've actually built a community of play by play announcers now.

Russ: Wow.

Mark: Because in the past it's the same old people on TV and people would complain, but not do anything about it.

Russ: Right, right.

Mark: So now people are motivated and inspired to cover races themselves and do, outplay themselves.

Russ: Okay. So when you keep using the community word, now does that mean that you have followers that are as passionate as you are that might even do to a meet and take their own equipment and give it you because they want you to have the content?

Mark: Yeah, so we start out doing content ourselves -

Russ: Right.

Mark: -but more and more people came to us and say, "How can I be a part, I love what you're doing, I'm passionate about track and field" so what we've done is made it easy for them to contribute.

Russ: Yeah.

Mark: And we made it easy for them to post content to people that care about that content.

Russ: Okay

Mark: When you post it on YouTube it might get lost.

Russ: Right.

Mark: When you post it on Flotrack, you know that the running community goes there every day.

Russ: Wow, really interesting. So, but at the end of the day this is a business too, so and it's a, it's not a non-profit, I mean you're out there selling -

Mark: Sometimes it feels like it, nah.

Russ: That means that's not the mission but, so you're creating revenue through advertising, I would assume?

Mark: Yes, so we're creating revenue through advertising and basically, and I said the non-profit piece, because the first two years we didn't allow advertising.

Russ: Okay.

Mark: We're focused on -

Russ: It was more of a cause then, I guess.

Mark: Well no, just focused on building our community.

Russ: Okay, okay.

Mark: More focused on building the community than trying to make a dollar.

Russ: All right.

Mark: So now we work with shoe companies, drink companies, meets themselves and yeah, they support us and as we build, we get more followers and then we get more advertisers.

Russ: Wow, really interesting. So then, so at the same time you started the wrestling show as well and started covering wrestling meets and having a community of contributors, just like you do on track and field?

Mark: Yeah, I mean everyone has their passion.

Russ: Right.

Mark: So we feel we can do this in all types of sports and maybe move past sports, but every, everyone has their passion and it's funny to see how similar the communities are.

Russ: Right.

Mark: I mean, wrestling and, a wrestler and a track athlete couldn't be more different.

Russ: Yeah.

Mark: But they, the communities act the same way, in terms of , "Hey there's no content, these guys are doing it"

Russ: Right.

Mark: And people feel passionate about it and then the next step is, "Hey how can we help"

Russ: Wow.

Mark: And then the next step, "Hey how do I get you out our meet, how do I this" we've learned a lot and it's pretty amazing how people might be so different, but if the communities act for it.

Russ: Oh yeah, oh yeah. Now I heard you say earlier you might even go to a track and field meet that's covered by television and then you don't show the races, but I guess you're interviewing athletes and doing that sort of thing?

Mark: Yeah, so we'll get content around events and no one has more, Ryan Hall for example, Ryan Hall is a marathoner, he's run the fastest marathon, he got third in Boston last year. No one has more content than us.

Russ: Yeah, online, huh.

Mark: We took five years of content on Ryan Hall and so no one could get better content from him, because we know him.

Russ: Right.

Mark: And then also that when people watch Ryan Hall on TV for Boston Marathon, what do they do next?

Russ: They go search on the web and find their content.

Mark: And then we come up.

Russ: Well so do the TV guys know about Flocast?

Mark: Yeah, they know everything about Flocast and we've had partnerships with different companies and a lot of time they make sure, "Hey you make sure you're not filming these races" we understand, but yeah, they all know about us.

Russ: Yeah and so, but do they ever ask for content from you and use it on the broadcast?

Mark: Yeah, we've produced content. Last year we went Africa and filmed _______________ who is the World Record holder in the marathon, he just asked us to go to Africa and create content for him, because he was running New York for the first time, so we.

Russ: Right and so, but that's like, from a business standpoint, that's good, because you get paid for that sort of stuff, right?

Mark: Yeah.

Russ: Absolutely, that's real cool. All right, so you mentioned you were a track and field athlete. What was your event?

Mark: Steeplechase.

Russ: Oh my goodness, steeplechase.

Mark: Yes.

Russ: And you ran the steeplechase at University of Texas?

Mark: Yes.

Russ: Okay now does, and I know a lot about this, so that doesn't mean you didn't go to high school in Texas, did you?

Mark: No, I went to St. Anacius in Chicago.

Russ: Okay, because I don't think high schools here even run the steeplechase.

Mark: New York does, Texas doesn't, Texas you have an event, the Texas relays or something like that.

Russ: Yeah, right, right. So what got you interested in that event?

Mark: I played basketball. I ran and actually a coach from Indiana goes, "Hey can you make a layup" and I was real excited my senior year, the coach was talking to me and "Yeah, I can make a layup" and he goes, "You're gonna run steeplechase" and so from that day on, I was gonna run the steeplechase.

Russ: Because you could make a layup, or because you couldn't make a layup?

Mark: Yeah, because you had to be coordinated, that what his theory was, but one coach and that's kind of why we started Flocast as well, is that one piece of insight can really change. As an athlete, you might not have a great coach.

Russ: Sure.

Mark: When we're putting this content out there, we putting word out there, we're putting that stuff out there.

Russ: Helping athletes, helping aspiring future Olympians, right?

Mark: Yeah and I believe and we're part of a couple of other media companies that have done this, but really elevating the sport because the knowledge is out there, people in North Dakota might think a two minute half mile is fast, but if you see a kid and only run 150, that's fast, so then they.

Russ: For those in our audience who know nothing about the half mile, 150 is a killer man, I tell you. Ooh, I can't even do that gheez. Okay, so -

Mark: I'm just talking track here too.

Russ: No, I know. I know, I know. I love it, I love the idea. I thought I should have been a half miler, I was a quarter miler and I felt like, hmm I should be going for it.

Anyway, before I let you go Mark, tell us about, say we've got somebody watching and they're just totally tuned in and never heard of it and want to find it. What are the domains?

Mark: So at Flotrack -

Russ: flotrack.com?

Mark: flotrack.com, flotrack.org works. We have flowrestling.

Russ: And that's f l o t r a c k.

Mark: Yeah, so that's that, yeah so there's no "w" so it's just f l o.

Russ: Okay.

Mark: And then we have gymnastikes, which is -

Russ: I see it.

Mark: At gymnastikes.

Russ: Okay.

Mark: Yes, that's gymnastics in Greek.

Russ: Okay.

Mark: When we were figuring out, "Hey let's do a gymnastics sight and then cycling dirt.

Russ: Okay, really cool.

Mark: Yeah, so.

Russ: Well, I hope you make it. I love the whole idea of it. So congratulations on what you pulled off so far.

Mark: Oh thanks. Thanks a lot for coming by.

Russ: You bet. That's Mark Floreani, the founder and CMO of Flocast and this is the BusinessMakers show, heard on the radio and seen online at thebusinessmakers.com