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Here’s what we’ve got for you today.

• Daily Idea - Own Sports History

• Digital Ownership to all

Own Your Favorite Athlete’s Best Moments

Inspired by the Startup Idea Podcast

The One Liner

Athletes cashing in on digital collectibles their fans actually want.

The 140 character tweet (or X) version

Not cringe NFTs. Real digital collectibles. Athletes mint career moments, fans own them, and players get paid, forever.

The Longer Story Version

The Problem

Athletes have career-defining moments. Fans want to own a piece of them. But the old ways? Kinda broken.

Autographed balls gather dust. Jerseys fade. Ticket stubs get lost in a drawer somewhere. And most athletes? They peak young and spend the next 50 years wondering where all the money went.

Meanwhile, the “NFT boom” promised the future, then delivered a bunch of pixelated monkeys and rug pulls. Not exactly the legacy you want attached to your name.

Athletes need a better way to lock in their big moments. Fans want real ownership, not another JPEG with bad vibes.

The Solution

Enter digital collectibles, the not-cringe version of NFTs.

• Athletes mint iconic plays, trophy shots, exclusive behind-the-scenes moments.

• Fans buy limited-edition digital collectibles, authentic, tradable, flex-worthy.

• Every time a collectible changes hands? Athletes get paid. Built-in royalties, forever.

No cartoon apes. No crypto bro nonsense. Just real digital memorabilia, verified, secure, and fan-approved.

How We’d Build It

MVP Playbook:

• Blockchain Under the Hood: Base or Solana - low fees, eco-friendly, quick.

• Collectible Engine: Simple upload for athletes - video clips, autographs, trophy pics.

• Custom Marketplace: Think StockX for digital sports moments. Fans buy, sell, trade.

• Royalty Smart Contracts: 10% athlete royalty baked into every resale.

• Fiat Friendly: Stripe Crypto or MoonPay - buy with dollars, no need for a crypto wallet.

Bonus: Add fan leaderboards, exclusive unlocks (like IRL meetups or signed merch) for top collectors.

Why It Needs to Exist

Because fans want a piece of greatness. Athletes deserve a piece of the upside.

This isn’t another NFT cash grab. It’s a real way for athletes to turn career moments into assets and for fans to flex real ownership.

Digital memorabilia, forever royalties, no monkey business.

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Building the Future of Ownership
Startup ideas where fans, not middlemen, win.

For decades, ownership has been gatekept.

Middlemen sit between creators and fans, athletes and collectors, musicians and listeners. They control the money flow, take their cut, and leave the real value-creators with scraps.

But the world’s shifting. Fast.

Fans don’t just want to watch, listen, or cheer. They want a piece of it. Ownership is the new front row ticket. And tech is finally giving us the tools to make it happen.

Here’s the thesis: build products that cut out the middlemen and hand ownership directly to the people who care most - the fans.

Big businesses will be built by turning moments, experiences, and culture into things fans can actually own and creators can profit from forever.

Some prompts to get your brain firing:

• What fan experience today feels rented but could be owned?

• Where do middlemen still take an unnecessary cut?

• What moments are valuable but no one has figured out how to bottle and sell yet?

A few toolkits to help you build in this space:

• Fairmint, Crowdcube — Raise money from your true believers (your users) instead of random VCs.

• Zora, Manifold — Mint digital assets people actually want to own — think experiences not just files.

• Stripe, MoonPay — Make ownership dead simple to buy with credit cards - no need to wrestle with crypto wallets.

• Guild.xyz, Bonfire — Build communities where ownership unlocks access, not just bragging rights.

Pro tip: Ownership is the feature. Not the product.

Nobody wants to "own" just to own. They want ownership that unlocks status, access, flex, rewards, whatever matters to them.

The opportunity? Build the layer that turns fans into stakeholders and moments into assets.

Big difference between being a customer and being an owner. One buys. The other believes.

One More Meme