Hear 5wins CEO on The CJ Silas Show
5wins co-founder and CEO Alanna Goldman spoke with CJ Silas on The CJ Silas Show about the growth of women’s sports and 5wins' mission to grow the women’s collegiate sports space. The below interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
CJ Silas: I'm getting from your website right now that you want to inspire people. Where did that inspiration come from in your heart?
Alanna Goldman: We want people to be able to connect with their favorite teams, sports, and athletes, and we wanna provide that consistent coverage that we feel is lacking. I feel very fortunate to have grown up in a college sports fan household that very quickly became a women's college sports fan household, and I watched how my own relationship with my favorite teams growing up shifted based on the quality and quantity of coverage I was getting from journalists. I really want all fans to be able to have that experience.
CJ Silas: What I found out when I went to the website the first time is that you're really trying to connect the fans with stories, not just the game story, not just what happened last night or who scored this many points or how far this person ran or how many goals, but really about the people as well, the players, the teams, the sports as well. Where did this all start for you?
Alanna Goldman: I attended the University of Wisconsin. My dad also went there, so I grew up a Wisconsin sports fan. One day, I turned on the TV, and Wisconsin Volleyball was on. The team had a new coach, a star freshman setter, and they had this magical season where they played in the national championship game. For me, it was all this narrative that was happening off the court. Who are these players, who's this new coach, and how is this culture being built?
CJ Silas: You're telling the stories behind the teams; you're telling the stories behind the players about the communities built around women's collegiate sports. What are some of the challenges you've dealt with starting this new website?
Alanna Goldman: It's a great time to be a women's sports fan, and I think we're seeing a lot of pent-up energy at the same time due to the lack of consistency in coverage has been a bit one-dimensional. There are a lot of people who don't know that they're women's sports fans yet, but that said, with high-quality coverage and that narrative storytelling about the people who make our favorite teams and sports be so vibrant and so exciting, it's about getting those people hooked, but once they're hooked, they're in, they really want the content. Women's college sports are vibrant and a great product.
CJ Silas: Where does the name 5wins come from? Is it something really obvious, and I just missed it?
Alanna Goldman: We thought a lot about how women celebrate, and we want this to be a celebratory venture, so it is high five women in sports.