Evolution, Opportunity and Execution
The Ted Greene Interview
When I asked Ted Greene, CEO of skatingcircle.com, what he wanted to innovate about his business he said, “I’m not out to innovate. If you came up with an innovative idea you are probably too early for the commercial market. Ninety percent of being an entrepreneur is in execution.”
Ted’s illustrious career as an entrepreneur has been a gradual evolution from the romanticized grandiose dreams of a second Google coming to methodical and calculating executions. “If it was that easy to be ‘you tube’ successful, and 70% of the industry was, then we wouldn’t be talking about them.” For Ted, it’s not so much identifying innovative idea as it is executing.
A veteran in developing Web solutions for net clueless companies in the later part of the last decade, Ted has a unique familiarity with the technological landscape of the early 21st century. Old Willow Partners, an acquisition firm founded by Ted and 4 other partners, is an “opportunity” to take existing ventures and grow them in lieu of having a vested interest in one single venture. Boutique ventures rule the day and this style of entrepreneurial activity afforded Ted a direct role as the CEO of Rainbo Sports.
Rainbo Sports is a leader in multi-channel retail and womens skating accessories and the segue for Ted’s insight into the evolution of an under served market. Ted’s interest sprang not only from growing something that he has a large stake in, but also from capitalizing on a shift in the lifestyle dynamics of women’s sports. Ted asserts that there has been a fundamental shift in the way that women participate in sports. He used an example of how his daughter, despite the lack of agreement from the boys on the team and the coaches, persisted in trying out for league 1 hockey, a sport dominated by men. This determination markedly different than 20 years earlier is synonymous with a shift in woman’s relationship to sports, which is now recognized by popular media and is still clearly under served. One could simply walk into a sporting goods store and observe the staggering disparity of men’s apparel and accessories to women’s.
“I like to call it the bottom of the triangle”… Teds latest project, The skatingcircle.com, utilizes film production and original content to engage the largest proportion of women active in sports. The skatingCircle.com, allows young women to participate directly by uploading their own original sports stories and video’s. “What connects them is their passion for the sport not just the level competition.” Ted is committed to expanding the circles coverage to all woman’s sports. Using Web 2.0 and video, combined with retail e-commerce, the Circle highlights woman’s sports on the purest level and it defines a potential economy around fostering sports lifestyle’s.
“We are moving into lifestyle communication systems such that you can go on to retail website and meet people with similar interests. The lines between retail brands and lifestyle are blurring and where you shop says something about you.” Hyper diversifying mediums of communication makes possible an evolution of young sportiest’s interaction and a sporting market confluence. “We don’t want to be a leader. We want too identify the evolutionary path and position ourselves in front of it.” For Ted Greene, innovation happens inside of evolution that is forwarded by technology and this has been his experience successfully operating as an entrepreneur.
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