The Onsyde Podcast

I speak with Kimberly Fernandez, founder of Zars Sports, a Mumbai-based sports management company. We talk about

- Her experience of working in various sports roles and the opportunities (or lack of) that she noticed

- Co-founding Zars Sports and what it takes to run a sports management company

- Focusing on providing more opportunities for women in sports 

- The FIFA fan movement and how she ended up meeting Messi

- Her obsession with a Liverpool player ;)

You can also reach Kimberly at kimberly@zars.in to know more

This podcast is part of Onsyde - a sports content platform. We run daily sport Instagram quizzes at @getonsyde and will also be having a bunch of other cool content soon. Make sure you subscribe to our podcast - we are on Spotify, Google Podcast, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher and Overcast.

Arshi Yasin, Co-founder of The Bridge, speaks about her journey from engineering to now building a content platform to cover local sports in India. The Bridge now has over a million impressions on social media and covers stories from athletics, badminton, boxing to marathons, wrestling and weightlifting, amongst others. 

Episode Notes

- Arshi Yasin studied engineering, but did not want to take up a tech job. Started her career as a social media developer, her latest previous job was working for Logical Indian and that’s where she also met her co-founder

- At Logical Indian she worked on a massive crowdfunding campaign for the India women’s ice hockey and saw first hand the impact of the campaign, something which was completely unexpected and thought there could be so many other stories that need coverage

- Hence started the bridge in Oct 2017 to focus on local sports coverage, as platform that “Bridges” the gap in indian sports coverage, a company that is by India for India. Reason that media is a very important channel to increase popularity in a sports that creates a viral loop that feeds itself (more views, more engagement, more views)

- There was a bit of resistance when initially starting out. Will content work? Will people read about athletics and lesser sports? But the numbers (as per YourStory - over a million users, with monthly impressions of 25 million across all social media platforms). 

- AY feels sports is so close to a way of life and forces you to be your own inspiration. She personally plays badminton, cycles and runs. She also cites The Athletic as an inspiration which has a huge base and validation of the subscription model for content

- Research forms a core part of what they are doing. This is because data is hard to find for lesser known sports. Hence the need to obtain data. This also helps them to be creative in the story. The Bridge also focuses on audience engagement to make the story popular (audience poll, quiz).

- Trends are increasing for lesser known sports. Focus on sports personalities who want to include stories in their brand marketing so partnerships are possible. Plans to add more verticals to the content business

- Another challenge is distribution. How to take this content to more people? For advertisers to be attracted they usually ask for 5-10 million views which is difficult

- Rapid Fire Questions

Fav sports person - Sania Mirza

Her Favourite story - The story of Deborah Herold, who survived a tsunami and is now one of India’s top cyclist

Fav books - Johathan Livingston Seagull by richard bach, No limits by Mukesh Bansal

This podcast is part of Onsyde, a SaaS app looking to change the recreational sport experience. Make sure you subscribe to our podcast - we are on Spotify, Google Podcast, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher and Overcast.

I visited the Global Institute of Sports Business (GISB) campus and sat down with Neel Shah, Head Sports Education and New Business at India on Track (IOT) a leading India sports agency. Neel is also the Program Director at GISB and we speak about 

- His beginnings from falling in love with football in California

- His role at IOT as head of new business and the verticals he sees great potential in 

- His take on the business side of the sports ecosystem in India

- The GISB program and what careers can develop here

The Onsyde Podcast is for sports lovers who can listen into conversations from founders, personalities and fans who live and breathe the game. 

This podcast is part of Onsyde, a SaaS app looking to change the recreational sport experience. Make sure you subscribe to our podcast - we are on Spotify, Google Podcast, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher and Overcast.

To know more about what Onsyde is, please check us out here.

I speak to Vimal Keval, founder of Sportnasium X and we look at:-

- His background (from a DJ to playing American Football in Gujarat)
- His experience as a coach and working with federations
- Major challenges for athletes today and what an athlete needs to be aware of
- The Sportnasium X idea and a sneak peek into the Sportnasium X App

To know more about Sportnasium X, reach out to Vimal at vimal@sportnasiumx.com

This podcast is part of Onsyde, a SaaS app looking to change the recreational sport experience. Make sure you subscribe to our podcast - we are on Spotify, Google Podcast, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher and Overcast. 

On the first episode of the Onsyde podcast, I’m joined by Ajay Menon founder of Forza India (https://www.forzaindiaacademy.com/), a football academy looking to establish itself in grassroots football in Mumbai and his colleague Vinay who heads social media and marketing for Forza India. We speak about how it all started with the academy, the unique challenges and problems of running a grassroots academy, the education needed at the grassroots level and Ajay’s unique yet passionate support for Italian football.

Check out Forza India on social media here

Twitter - https://twitter.com/forza_india

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/forzaindiaacademy/

At Onsyde, we are looking to change the experience of recreational sport and are currently in development mode. 

If you wish to know more about what we do and also about podcast opportunities, Say hi to us on Instagram and Twitter - @getonsyde or send us an email at hello@onsyde.in 

Don't forget to check out on our website - https://onsyde.in/

We speak to Ajay Menon, Founder, Forza India Academy (https://www.forzaindiaacademy.com/) who speaks about how he got the idea and what were his first steps into football coaching and grassroots football.