For this weeks episode of Decoder, I spoke with Nicole LaPointe Jameson, CEO of esports company Evil Geniuses, to figure out how an esports team makes money, where the industry is headed, and where she sees growth. And they have an investment portfolio thats low-touch but then, they have a full-on operational acquisition investment portfolio as well. So were a bit of a blended form of both of those. The good news is I have 41 player-athletes. And more importantly, should tuition go toward supporting bars around the XL Center? Under 30 class of 2019. view profile. Although LaPointe Jameson has loved computer-related activities since she was a child, she said she never anticipated working in the esports industry. Under 30 class of 2020. view profile. Before that, you worked at PEAK6, which is an investment company. More at IMDbPro Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro. But it was a big call to action that I had to be better, and my team, we could do better in proactive management. Ive checked out your Twitch channel, Ive looked at your YouTube, those arent spaces youre playing in very aggressively. Manchester Grand Hyatt. Theres an obvious drive for them to make money in that way. I think a very interesting today case study is Fortnite, right? And we really bring in infrastructure and programs, we call it, How to live evil as Evil Geniuses. How should you do code of conduct? So in some franchise leagues we have regulations we follow, and some leagues where theres no regulation. Why not try to make it geo-affiliated? Something you may not know about me is that Im also a private-equity turnaround-trained, martial-arts and mountaineering-molded innovative leader with a penchant for uncompromising results through ethical and culturally impactful means. Everyone knows the space can be rife with toxicity and bullying, but Ive had a good network to shelter me. I think thats the biggest misnomer in esports space. You know, we believe in the team. [8] In September 2019, the organization made their return to League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, securing a franchise slot in the League of Legends Championship Series, along with acquiring NRG Esports' CS:GO roster. I worked in private equity. I love edtech bucks. Let me push in on the China point. Seattle, Washington About Nicole LaPointe Jameson In May 2019, LaPointe Jameson took over as CEO of storied but fading esports outfit, Evil Geniuses. But its been a long process, with challenges and setbacks along the way. But if they suck at the game, thats not interesting to me at all. You came in as kind of an outsider, you had fresh perspective why do you think that was, such that creating a team empirically that ended up mixed-gender, was shocking to people? We have to support them, you have to build the brand, we have to keep the lights on in the business. LaPointe Jameson cut her teeth in private equity, turning around "distressed. Just in my 3 years, seeing the changes at EGlike having an over-50% female leadership team, over 50% people of color across the organization on the staff sidehas been really exciting. However, there are times where weve made big bets on teams, like actually entering into a title and doing things a different way. The average viewer is 16 to 30, but the average capital allocator or the average CEO or director at these companies that are running this are over 50. Because we dont like to do things just for the optics of it. We were one of the first esports teams to have an HR department; we were one of the first esports teams to help build kids camps and summer programs. So you are the CEO of an esports company, youre a new CEO, right? This is good, its like being in a meeting with you. Nicole LaPointe Jameson (born April 11, 1994) [1] is an American businesswoman currently serving as the CEO of esports organization Evil Geniuses . Evil Geniuses team players are, in terms of global rankings, the top 30 professional esports players in the world, organization leaders said. Jokes on me, I was told about two weeks before the investment closed, converting to more of an acquisition, I should be rolling in to help kind of spearhead the business and really figure out the space of esports, as it had not been well figured out, especially when I had entered two years ago. Depending on where we are, the first is probably financial. Esports does not seem like theres a New York City team or a Kansas City team or whatever, right? This button displays the currently selected search type. At the heart of it all, I'm building a winning brand that reflects gaming culture's diverse, vibrant audience. Its us that decides where we support. I started at EG with eight people; we just hit 150 people that fall under that vision as well, and like to support that space, so its been good for us. So bear with me if youre an esports expert, but taking a step back. We grow like 8 percent month over month organically. So, franchising is interesting to us, because it gives a revenue share, we get part of broadcast rights and revenue, part of league sponsorship rights and revenue, as well as then we can sell our own direct sponsorships against it too. Tatiana Flowers was formerly a reporter and fellow with Hearst Connecticut Media Group. But your teams dont play games, right, as a whole? This is a little bit of why I love what I do. Nicole LaPointe Jameson Educ: Columbia University (B.A.S. They dont come from out of the space and go, Oh, you know what? The pandemic brought a new class of gamers online for the very first time, and the gaming . Im so excited to have a platform to give a megaphone to people whose voices felt like they werent heard before, even though they are legitimate parties and creators and innovators in the space, but also, professionally, gaming is ubiquitous, and it should be ubiquitous. In the next five years, its a mix between the league revenue share, so we get a cut of the work that Riot does, which is excellent. So that agency roster scouting play, I think, is an untapped area we might want to tap into. Put your money where your mouth is, and thats fine. Evil Geniuses, a more than 20-year-old company, helped to shape the esports industry, she said. Weve made decisions that we knew, well, this might not resonate with the fans, but we know we have to do this. Thank you for having me. Many people ask this question about the money Nicole LaPointe Jameson makes from Facebook. So weve taken bite-sized steps and directions we knew we could own before doing kind of the table stakes of what everyone else is doing. And those [are] maybe not as valuable as a consumer from a marketing point of view as a North American viewer or an EU viewer, but the volume of people is something to really contend with. Lets talk about your diversity and inclusion efforts here. Who do we partner with, and why? And so we take any claims of someone breaking our employment conduct or our harassment policies, very, very seriously. In her first year, she's made significant moves to pull the team back to relevancy, primarily by re-entering two of the top esports, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and League of Legends. 2,546 followers. One of them is traditional sports, except think of us like a university athletics department. I cant leave the private equity realm mentally. Among the platforms ready to capitalize is Evil Geniuses, which has grown its own revenue sixfold in the two-and-a-half years since Jameson took the helm as CEO. Subscribehere! You might know me as the CEO of the global esports organization Evil Geniuses, the first esports organization to lift trophies and excite fans on a global scale through empiricism and inclusion. Is the esports economy big enough to support all of those additional bits of infrastructure yet? Evil Geniuses is a competitive video games team. The newly acquired CS:GO team quickly made its presence known by debuting with a championship win at ESL One New York 2019 in Brooklyn's Barclays Center. So we can do both, we can still geo-affiliate, but we can go broader. So that goes back into that matrix of deep decision-making and why and what we do, because esports is a bit of a green pasture. I think that varies by the player, right? Plus, an exciting collaboration among Under 30s. What do you mean? Weve also developed deep collegiate and education platforms how to bridge the world of gaming, how to make gaming accessible to different audiences as well as data analytics and even fantasy embedding products. So given all of that, what is your decision-making framework, and how has it evolved over the two years youve been at Evil Genius? I have no idea. After its acquisition by PEAK6 Investment in May 2019, the twenty-six-year-old company Evil Geniuses, including Nicole LaPointe Jameson's appointment (from PEAK6) as CEO, has initiated a rebrands program that first examined but eventually concluded. "Despite the enormous migration to electronic media, neuroscience research shows that paper-based content and ads offer special advantages in connecting with Many people ask about the amount of money Nicole LaPointe Jameson makes from Instagram. Halo is not a game that is supported anymore competitively. And so you do have lots of law firms now, and agencies, and marketing people. But if I create an unsafe work environment for myself or others, it defeats the whole purpose of trying to grow and expand and bring a positive outlook to the gaming industry. Retracing the path of controversial Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe includes many stops in Connecticut. Youre a CEO, call them out. 385 following. People with disabilities, probably not going to do that job. When I came into the space, I was nervous. And we lean into the Evil Genius side of our brand identity. Its why were here, to be competitive, but it wasnt profitable. And we like to celebrate that because, at the end of the day, these are the best athletes. And thats our biggest revenue stream. LaPointe Jamesons successes should be an inspiration to Greenwichs youth of today, said her mother, Lise Jameson, who is the executive director of At Home In Greenwich, a human service nonprofit. Or, even our community partner, if you view it as, okay, a lot of esports costs go to direct marketing, but we can do good in the world, bring up brand awareness and get customer conversion or fan conversion through community partnerships and goodwill. So heres the next big difference with a traditional sports team. When you think about the celebrities that youre minting in your leagues, is it total opportunity; youre going to be the most famous League of Legends player? In May 2019, LaPointe Jameson took over as CEO of storied but fading esports outfit, Evil Geniuses. Our players pick half of our charitable donations that we do every year. And that means we say no to things, it means we say yes to strange things, and hopefully, those are the good decisions to set us up for the longer term. We do it excellently but we definitely try every day to be thoughtful around the why of what we do, to bring people along with us on our mission, and not isolate fans or communities. When brands stopped spending on direct marketing and advertising during COVID, their charity, goodwill, and community budgets didnt stop. Just our main social channels hit over 70 million impressions a month, not through targeted, thats all organic impressions grown over time versus bear with me, Im not a geography expert, I dont know how many people are in Ohio if I were to start an Ohio esports team. But I love making content in the fitness space. We can support that. AdWeeks 2021 Most Powerful Women in Sports, The Roots 100 Most Influential African Americans in 2020, Sports Business Journal Esports Tech Innovation Award. We all compete under one banner. And thats part of the culture of gaming. It's actually a myth about how to make money on Facebook Nicole LaPointe Jameson (born April 11, 1994) is an American businesswoman currently serving as the CEO of esports organization Evil Geniuses. We also do quarterly harassment and good communication skills training through a third-party vendor. Esports Insider sat down with Nicole LaPointe Jameson, CEO of Evil Geniuses, to discuss the need to change the logo, as well as learnings that have been implemented into this "final phase" of the organisation's rebrand. The collegiate is interesting because education budgets or university budgets, they follow a different fiscal year. Many ancient pipes in CT aren't up to the task of draining storm water, yet officials just seem to shrug. Its usually family, or I was born in a location, or I live in a location, so Im a fan of the locations team. Now she is a CEO in the esports industry. Prominent historians and conservation experts explain the architectural relevance of buildings ranging from houses of worship to former colonial outposts and tenements. 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