An article by Julian Hast in the Jacksonville Business Journal shares the origins of Podium X and founder Rich Thompson on the reasons why Podium X is seeing success right out of the gate! See the following excerpt and visit the Jacksonville Business Journal for the full article.
The reason Thompson thinks companies will pay to recruit student athletes, he said, is because high-level athletics produces many of the traits necessary for high-level performance in many careers — more so than many student athletes themselves recognize, he said.
“The majority of what people are looking to hire for — unless they’re for technical jobs — it’s just soft skill,” Thompson said. “Are they resilient? Do they have good grit? Are they going to hang in here longer? Are they coachable? Are they adaptable?”
The revenue Podium X has generated so far, though, belongs in a much smaller bucket, which is the money paid by entities like Flagler in exchange for student athletes there to be able to use the platform.
Matt Green, senior associate director of athletics for internal operations at Flagler College, said Flagler was interested in Podium X because it offered specialized support for student athletes in their career search.