Got an idea for a golf business startup and need capital?
Perhaps you should contact Matt Erley.
Interested in investing in startup golf businesses?
Maybe you should reach out to Matt for that, as well.
Erley is attempting something unprecedented through his Old Tom Venture Club, and that is providing early-stage, or seed, funding for founders of golf businesses.
Denver-based Erley is a 36-year-old veteran of the startup world who is also a passionate golfer. He caught the golf bug at an early age while growing up in Broomfield, Colorado. He is a 3.4 index player at famed Cherry Hills Country Club near Denver.
The Old Tom Venture Club consists of nearly 100 accredited investors. These investors are scattered all over the world; they have a high net worth and a passion for the game of golf.
Erley has been in the startup world since earning an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix, Arizona. He worked as head of growth from 2014 through 2017 at Drizly, an online ordering platform that facilitates the delivery of alcohol via its mobile app. The company was acquired by Uber in 2021 for $1.1 billion. After that gig, Erley held similar responsibilities at the largest online interior design service, Havenly.
But in the back of his mind, he wanted to do something in golf.
The Old Tom Venture Club consists of nearly 100 accredited investors. Erley has been building this collection for some years, but his efforts increased in the latter half of 2022. These investors are scattered all over the world; they have a high net worth and a passion for the game of golf. Ideally, some of them can provide strategic advice to the businesses they fund.
In searching for startups to invest in, Erley looks for great founding teams. He wants them to have “grit” and to be able to think differently. He is particularly interested in golf entertainment, health and fitness, media, gaming and software. Golf equipment, apparel and courses are not areas he is considering.
Rather than create a fund, Erley brings each potential deal to his group of investors, a process he calls “syndication.” They can decide on an individual basis whether they want to commit. The minimum investment for any deal is $10,000. Old Tom typically is a small investor alongside bigger investors in each startup, and they usually write a six-figure check. In 2023, Erley hopes to find up to 12 worthy companies.
To date, Old Tom has made two golf investments, Dryvebox and Fairgame. Dryvebox is best described as a driving range on wheels. The company utilizes tricked-out vans that go on the road to offer lessons, practice sessions and virtual golf events. It scored an investment in 2022 from EP Golf Ventures, which is supported by the PGA of America.
Fairgame, which counts PGA Tour player Adam Scott as a co-founder, is a social platform that connects golfers and offers on-course games, as well as access to curated content.
Dryvebox founder Adeel Yang had this to say about Old Tom: “Matt gets it. He is a stand-up guy. He is combining all that he learned in the tech world with the business of golf. He is driving innovation, which is great to see.”
Added Joe Assell, founder of Denver-based Golftec, “Early-stage capital is widely available in other industries, like medical devices. It’s outstanding to see this effort to make such capital available in golf.”
Erley considers himself an outsider when it comes to the golf industry. His belief is that founders need more opportunities to raise early-stage capital. “Golf needs more people like me with startup experience,” he told GGPBiz.
As the 2023 golf season begins to unfurl, Erley is looking at a few promising investment opportunities, as well as the possibility of creating a conventional fund later on this year.
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