Cerebro Sports 🏀

Opening Remarks

This week, I’ve been thinking about a shift I’m seeing in the creator economy: some of the smartest influencers are starting to take equity instead of cash.

Why? A sponsored post is a one-time check. But equity means skin in the game, real upside if the brand takes off. In this new model, creators aren’t just selling attention. They’re investing it.

I wrote about this in a recent post (click here to check it out). In the meantime, if you’ve seen great examples of creators taking equity, hit reply and let me know. Now, onto this week’s feature:

Bulletpitch’s publication covers the hottest early-stage startup before being picked up by larger media outlets. If that’s you, apply here.

Setting the Scene

• For every NBA star drafted late, there’s a top-10 pick who never lives up to expectations.

• Talent evaluation in basketball remains more art than science with fragmented stats and low visibility leading to busted picks and overlooked gems.

• Coaches and recruiters juggle box scores, game film, and hearsay just to piece together a partial view of player potential.

• This week’s company is building basketball’s global database, making talent evaluation faster, fairer, and accessible at every level of the game.

In a Sentence

Cerebro Sports is a basketball data platform that aggregates player stats, giving athletes a verified way to get discovered and providing coaches with a tool to make recruiting decisions.

• Aggregates: Cerebro pulls stats from thousands of games and events into one centralized hub.

• Discovery: Players create verified profiles that highlight their achievements and increase their chances of recruitment.

The Basics

• Industry: SportsTech

• Headquarters: Dallas, TX

• Year Founded: 2022

• Employee Count: 8

• Investors: Mark Cuban, John Beilein, Taylor Jenkins.

• Amount Raised: ~$3M

• Business Model: B2B subscriptions for teams and event operators, expanding into youth player (consumer) subscriptions

• Early Traction: Used in some capacity by all 30 NBA teams, over 1,000 college and professional coaches, and ~20,000 players pre-registered for athlete accounts

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Weekly Feature Continued

Due Diligence

WHAT WE LIKE

• Market Opportunity: Basketball is one of the most played team sport in the U.S. and a rapidly expanding global industry, yet there is no universal infrastructure for player evaluation.

• Data-Driven Decisions: While most Fortune 500 companies rely on data to guide key decisions, basketball recruiting still runs on gut and legacy scouting, and it shows, with only ~50% of lottery picks (top 14) becoming consistent NBA starters.

• Dual-Sided Product Fit: By serving both athletes seeking exposure and coaches seeking clarity, Cerebro positions itself as the connective layer in basketball recruiting, widening its addressable market and building stickiness across stakeholders.

POTENTIAL RISKS

• B2C Expansion Risk: While early player demand is strong, shifting from B2B to a consumer-facing product will require new acquisition tactics, pricing strategy, and UX clarity.

• Data Source Vulnerability: Some input pipelines rely on external event operators or public data sources, which could introduce fragility if partnerships shift or data access becomes restricted.

• Unproven Outcomes: While the company has seen some early validation, Cerebro has yet to produce a widely recognized “success story,” a player discovered through the platform who makes it big.

Founder Profile

• Ryan Girardot: CEO: Previously founded ePlay Analytics.

• John Cho: Chief Data Officer: Spent 20 + years as VP of Data Analytics at the Houston Rockets.

• Ed Chao: COO: 3-time entrepreneur and former GM of the Dallas Flash pro pickleball team.

Comps

• Synergy Sports: Leader in basketball video analytics, relying on footage and manual tagging; widely used across high schools and colleges.

• Signing Day Sports: Athlete exposure platform for recruiting; raised $6M+ from Marketplace Capital and others.

• MaxPreps: High school sports data aggregator with photography, ticketing, and social media content; Cerebro differentiates by incorporating more data sources and expanding beyond just high school basketball.

Event Board

• Second Annual Emerging Investor Art Gala, NYC: On September 18th, we’re bring together the next generation of venture capital and growth equity investors. Sign up HERE.

• Bulletpitch San Francisco Dinner: We’re headed to SF in early Oct to host a dinner for top founders. Sign up HERE.

• Bulletpitch Los Angeles Dinner: We’re headed to LA in mid-October to host a dinner for top founders and funders. Sign up HERE.

Cast Your Vote

Last Week Today

• The Results Are In: Crafted, a platform connecting social media discovery and in-store purchases, was slightly outvoted in last week’s poll.

• Subscriber Feedback: “While I love that Crafted helps with social attribution IRL, the company relies on consumers scanning receipts — yet many shoppers don’t even take paper receipts anymore, making the data collection model feel fragile.”