Michael Gursha
Michael Gursha is Co-Founder and CEO of Rookie Road—a platform that houses knowledge for sports, games, and activities. Designed to bring you up to speed on what you want to know and need to know to curate a principle concept.
His entrepreneurial spirit has carried him through building and running a few companies, working at a high-growth biotech startup, and serving as an advisor/board member to several founders in the startup ecosystem.
On his daily routine
The most consistent habit in my day-to-day is working out in the morning. It is time that I carve out in my calendar and is an essential element that helps me foster a clear mindset for the day ahead.
On what life design means to him
I strive to create a life design that is healthy and positive, which allows me to accomplish my goals. I make sure to work hard and smart so that I can maintain a good balance between my personal and professional life.
The benefits of carving out time
Finding balance can be difficult when you're running your own business. An entrepreneur often works even when not sitting at a computer— thinking about some aspect of their business. Carving out time on my calendar to do whatever fulfills me has been instrumental in creating balance and being present in the moment, which means not answering emails and being away from my phone. I carve out time to exercise, read, think, play a game, or just hang out with friends and family.
His information consumption
I like to mix up the content I consume to curate knowledge and creativity. I love nonfiction because I enjoy learning facts, whether history, current events, or business and self-improvement books. I read a lot of biographies because I like learning about different people’s lives and how they made important decisions—all of that is super fascinating.
I also like to take breaks from nonfiction because it can be information overload. It’s important to me that I expand my creativity, so I read books that take me into a completely different space and allow me to think more outside of the box. Some recent favorites are the biography of Albert Einstein by Walter Issacson and the science fiction book Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.
Onward and upward mentality
There are quite a few moments in life, both personally and professionally, where you may find yourself in a challenging situation. I believe it is through those moments that make someone more resilient. The way I’ve built resilience is by learning how to come to terms with situations that arise and keep moving forward.
There will always be great moments in your life, and then there will be not-so-great moments. The difficult moments and how you work through them make you who you are as a person.
The genesis of Rookie Road
My brother Doug studied Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan. Although he knew Michigan was a big sports school, he didn’t realize until he got there on campus how much sports were a deep part of the culture, especially football.
He knew what a touchdown was and about the Super Bowl, but he didn't know all the player positions or the specific rules and penalties. He felt he needed to know so much more, so he started trying to teach himself by searching the web for information—which ended up being very scattered and unreliable.
“Well, this is weird. Why is there no one place where I can find all this information?” he asked himself.
He then started to read some books and thought to himself—
“This is the 21st century. I shouldn’t have to read a book on all of this to be able to get the information I am looking for.”
He thought, why doesn't this exist in the way I want it?
The engineer in him says,
“Hey, maybe I'll build something.”
Idea+action
My brother started brainstorming, creating mock-ups, and building content. I was one of the first people he called, which is when I began helping him with thinking through and flushing out the concept.
It started as a sibling creative session and, over time, turned into more of a formal advisor relationship. Then he recruited me on board full-time as CEO. We have been working together ever since.
The evolution of Rookie Road started at the intersection of trying to solve the problem: “I don’t understand or know the rules, positions, penalties in football. How do I make it easy for someone to get the right information that is high caliber and easy to understand?”
Today
What got the ball rolling was just doing it.
Building it. Trying things.
We worked hard to get a product out in the world as soon as possible. In the early days, it was not polished, but we learned a lot quickly about what worked and what did not. The best way to build is to get people using what you create, get feedback quickly, then adapt based on that feedback.
Rookie Road has evolved into a comprehensive platform where people can find the answers to their questions related to many different aspects of sports played around the world.
It started with football and slowly evolved to include basketball, baseball, bowling, chess, darts, volleyball, etc. Our platform now is an information hub for hundreds of different sports, games, and activities covering thousands of different topics.
An entrepreneurs essentials
Persistence—even when you don’t see immediate success, keep going.
Flexibility—making small changes based on what's working and what's not working. Being open-minded and nimble, not being stubborn, and leaving room for options.
Resilience—Many entrepreneurs have overcome challenging times or situations, which allow them to push through the ebbs and flows of building a company.
Being an entrepreneur and building a company is not easy. It’s not for everyone. It comes with many problems and complex aspects to it. It’s fun and rewarding—which is why people pursue this path. But it's also really hard.
Being curious and thoughtful—in how you're doing something. Your thinking and perspective are super critical. Always question why you’re doing things a certain way or how you can do things a little bit differently/better.
How can you thoughtfully push the boundaries?
On fundraising
There are many different ways to raise money. I would ask:
What are you building and why?
How do you want to build it?
What are your end goals?
How much do you need?
How quickly do you want to grow?
Who are the right people or organizations to back you during this time?
When we decided not to raise institutional capital early on, it was based on wanting flexibility and autonomy over how we wanted to build in the short term. It was important for us to find investors who aligned with the KPIs we wanted to focus on and that they understood why those were the right things to pursue. The right backers, investors, and advisors make all the difference.
On sustainable growth and expansion
I'm a big believer in growing sustainably and thoughtfully. Growth is important, but too much growth too quickly can actually hurt or even destroy a company.
I’ve realized that the most successful founders are very thoughtful about how they push boundaries. While you don’t want to be stagnating, you don’t want to overextend yourself either. It is about staying super focused on what matters at any given time, not trying to grow for growth’s sake. Growth can mean different things at different times. Sometimes growth might not be just about revenue or users but how you create better efficiencies and/or grow your IP portfolio. It all depends on the stage and goals.
I admire founders who create milestones by day, quarter, and year and make sure they achieve them. Working your way backward from a goal will ultimately illustrate what you need to do each day to reach your desired goal.
On perspectives that have influenced him
My brother Doug is an engineer at heart, so his perspective can be very different from mine. We usually end up somewhere in the middle, and keeping that balance makes us a strong and successful team, making sure no stone goes unturned. Having a partner that sees things differently is a good thing; it helps get to the right answer.
My advisors are essential for helping influence decision-making and problem-solving. I have trusted personal and business advisors. Their diverse backgrounds, knowledge, and skill sets are extremely helpful when making tough decisions. It’s essential to have people in your life that you can just pick up the phone and call to talk through a concern, problem, or new idea.
I sit on a couple of boards, which I love, that give me a tremendous amount of perspective. Thought partnerships with other founders and CEOs add a great deal of value to my life. Those conversations always help me be a better decision-maker.
