Session 9: The Starting Line
Life Time acquired us. Then came the real work: scaling Ultimate Hoops without killing it.
Suggested Listening: “Life’s What You Make It” by Talk Talk
I had heard the stories. The small company gets bought by the big one and the big one means well and the soul leaves the building anyway. What was different becomes the same. What was alive becomes a product on a shelf.
People predicted that fate for Ultimate Hoops. What made UH cool was its independence. The underground feel of it. Every player’s experience on the court and online was stitched together by hand, and the hand was mine. I knew every player’s name and I used it every league night. They knew my life and I knew theirs. We were a traveling band, every league night, every season.
The acquisition meant the Grand Wizard had to come out from behind the curtain. Touching every player and every game night was not sustainable anymore. In corporate terms, it didn’t scale. My baby had to learn to walk without me holding its hand.
I was fortunate in how Life Time let me operate. None of the horror stories. Bahram gave me a clear lane. “Go run your business inside Life Time,” he told me, “and let me know if you hit any red tape that slows you down.” He understood that what made Ultimate Hoops special was that it was different, and he was not going to be the one to make it the same. If UH failed inside Life Time, it would not be Life Time’s fault. It would be mine. I could not have asked for more.