Change of plans

Happy Friday! 

Catch that debate last night?

Haha

Well, just as our 2 presidential candidates embarrassed themselves last night, the largest women’s focused media company embarrassed themselves just as badly this week.

So much so that we have now decided to open the Between Courts gates and allow WNBA talk.

(sigh)

This decision was not made lightly ok.

Let’s get into it. 👇️ 

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TODAY’S STORY
💥JUST WOMEN’S SPORTS

LET’S RECAP

Just Women’s Sports, the leading women’s sports media company, is in a blender after one of their podcasts roasted the new A’ja Wilson logo.

I’ll drop screenshots and the video below so you can get a quick summary.

I’m gonna get to the point soon, but stick with me.

It all started with a tweet from a 2 time WNBA champion and MVP with a signature shoe with Nike in the works  👇️ 

The 30 second clip from Just Women’s Sports in reference 👇️ 

In the comment section you’ll find a few WNBA players mention that they aren’t too fond of JWS, and the icing on the cake, you have a Head Coach of one of the most popular programs in wbb, Dawn Staley, post this 👇️ 

If you didn’t click the video to watch, I definitely recommend.

It’s pretty savage.

Coincidentally, the Founder of JWS, Haley Rosen, posted a couple of weeks ago that she is about to give birth (def already has by now) to her first born and will be taking a quick little social media break.

No more than a week later, her company is being trashed by players, coaches, and fans alike.

Ha, bummer

Now, let’s get to the point!

SO WHAT?

Why does this matter?

When you’re competing against giants like ESPN and Barstool, focusing on women’s sports while others don’t, you’re dependent on keeping that segment of your audience happy.

Things were going alright until now.

In the comment section of A’ja’s post, a lot of people were commenting that they unfollowed JWS, citing reasons like

1. They only focus on soccer

2. They only focus on white players

3. They use clickbait tactics to boost engagement on their posts

Fair

But!

I want to comment on each of the 3 points because there's a reason JWS has pivoted their content over the last couple of years.

(1) JWS Founder and a few of the starting employees have played soccer competitively, so they have strong soccer connections, making it easier to leverage those connections that they already have compared to other sports.

(2) In the beginning days of JWS, they launched a podcast with A’ja Wilson and Napheesa Collier, called The A & Phee Pod. They also had a podcast with Dawn Staley called Net Life.

These podcasts had a shelf life of approximately less than 1 year.

What…happened…?

Well, we don’t know.

But the ex-hosts’ subsequent public criticism hints at internal issues.

(3) Engagement Farming—>Chasing reactions for social media metrics, risking straying from their original mission and essentially replicating what the large media corps have already been doing with women’s sports this entire time.

Let me just share a couple of quotes with you about JWS from people involved with JWS:

👉️ From an investor: “Just Women’s Sports is building on the foundation of earlier pioneers by creating a media platform that celebrates and elevates the incredible athletes and stories in women’s sports.”

👉️ From the founder: “We knew the on-field product was great, and that women’s sports just needed better coverage and smarter marketing to truly break into the mainstream.”

Yes - JWS celebrates women athletes.

But it’s like the same 3 people and it’s the same stuff that mainstream media is already covering for us.

The only difference between the big guys and JWS right now is it looks better if you’re reposting a post from JWS to show your allyship instead of ESPN. 😏 

OK AND?

Just Women’s Sports raised $6 million in Venture money and $3.5 million in an earlier seed round.

You can’t take Venture Capital money and think you won’t become mainstream media!!!

Having raised significant venture capital, JWS faces pressure to grow and satisfy investors, potentially compromising its original goals.

While they aimed to defy mainstream media norms, VC funding pushes them toward mainstream practices, leveraging popular players for repetitive, consistent clicks.

As a Founder, you’ll make a quick buck raising VC, but you could make more if you owned majority and kept building until you were worth more.

But in JWS/Haley Rosen’s defense, they more than likely needed to raise when they did because they were running out of money if they hadn’t already, and were still trying to prove product market fit.

And now, they get the luxury of having a bunch of investors up their ass asking why they aren’t hitting revenue projections.

And how do you fix that?

Hot takes and Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese content.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Just Women’s sports is trying their darndest.

I’ve even met some of them, and they’re great!

Their sorta a hot mess, but nonetheless, they are trying their best.

Be on the lookout for a bland statement from JWS’ Founder once she realizes her company has been getting shredded by her core audience.

I look forward to reading it and the comments that come along with it underneath.

Well, that’s all we’ve got!

Yes, just like JWS, Between Courts has broken its word, and we are now talking about WNBA after swearing for 2 years that we would not.

It didn’t take Venture Capital money for us to change tune though.

We’ll see you next week 👋