Context
Jess Smith was employee number one at the Golden State Valkyries, the Bay Area's WNBA expansion team. She is now its president. The team went from a $50 million expansion fee to a roughly $1 billion valuation in about two and a half years. Host Jeff Berman asks how she built a brand, a partner program and a fan base before a single player took the court. It matters to PMs because it is a live case of launching a new product into an underserved audience, with one shot at go-to-market.
The Big Idea
Define exactly who you are before you go to market, because you only get to launch once. Then build for the audience that is actually waiting, not the one you could borrow from someone else.
Smith held brand partners off for months, launched merchandise a year before the first game, and used a small phone-call study to decide who to build for. The result was sales in 70 countries and a sold-out arena in year one.
Key Insights
Build for the 90
- What: at Angel City, Smith wanted to know how many fans of a men's team sharing a venue would also come to a women's team.
- How she found out: she called people herself, a "very exclusive study", and saw no more than 10% crossover.
- Why it matters: she concluded "you should be building for the 90 and then inviting the 10". A new product's audience is mostly people nobody is serving yet, not a slice of an existing product's users.
Launch the brand before the product
- The Valkyries revealed their brand on opening day of the 2024 WNBA season, a year before their first game.
- They sold merchandise in 60 days in 70 countries and all 50 states, with no players signed.
- She says the color mattered most: the goal was that "when you saw the color, you thought of us". The team landed on Valkyries violet.
- Keeping the launch secret, and having merchandise ready for the moment, is what opened the door for season ticket holders and brands to engage.
Say "not yet" to early partners
Brands called her in the first weeks, and she says her background is in partnerships. She told them not yet, because what it meant to be a Valkyries partner was not defined. Her reasoning: "you can only go to market once". If you go too early and do not know what you are asking for, it ends up "more harmful than helpful". She also notes the team was under time pressure, and waiting was still the right call.
Partners join an impact council
- Founding partners, including Sephora, JPMorgan Chase, Kaiser Permanente and Rakuten, sit around one table.
- Each runs its own community programs that drive outcomes, not just a sponsorship logo.
- The pitch to partners is that the trajectory of women's sports fandom is just getting started, so they learn and apply lessons together with the team.
Inherit infrastructure, then brand well
Being part of Golden State gave her a reputation and facilities she did not have to build. In the first weeks the team committed to renovating a practice facility and building a locker room inside Chase Center. She credits the parent organization for that and says she does not take much credit for it. She still had to do "all the jobs" while hiring into the ones she needed.
Why women's sports is growing now
Smith gives a three-part answer.
- Investment: without capital to hire staff and good people, "you're going to miss the mark".
- People: the pandemic shifted how fans watch and talk, and viewership and merchandise sales rose. Better windows and production followed.
- Media: college basketball on major networks feeds new fans into the WNBA, who follow athletes they already wore jerseys for.
Fans may follow players, not teams
Many new WNBA fans have no family team, so they may pick a team based on a favorite athlete. What the club controls is its culture, values and region, whoever is on the roster. The hope is that fans who follow a player elsewhere still stay engaged with the Valkyries.
The ticket is a small business
- Smith says a $15 ticket exists if you buy early enough, but not last minute before a big game.
- The team sets aside donated tickets for every game.
- Top sports brands often see about 1% of fans ever attend a game, so the rest matters. The Valkyries launched a bar network of 40 bars across Northern California committed to showing every game.
Mental Models & Frameworks
Mission and capital coexist
Smith argues you can be "unapologetic about being great" and still serve an underserved community. She treats mission and revenue as two things built together, not a trade. Her stated OKRs each year are two: revenue and fans. Winning matters, but her lever is growing and deepening the audience, which pays for more of the same.
The investment, people, media flywheel
- Capital hires staff and builds the product.
- A better product draws fans, viewership and merchandise sales.
- Media companies then invest in rights and promotion.
- More money reaches players, which pulls in more talent and fans.
She says the old boom and bust cycle after events like a women's World Cup shows why a sustained flywheel matters. She believes the sport has broken that negative cycle.
Player, club, league order of marketing
Smith notes that in her NFL experience the order was league, club, then player. In women's sports today it is more often player, club, then league. So a club can only control who it is. The league's job is to make sure every media partner understands the power of all its athletes.
Trade-offs & Nuance
Price fairly versus stay accessible
Smith says money matters, including to players. A fair price reflects the caliber of the product on the court. Access comes from early cheap seats, donated tickets, and the bar network. Her view is that ticketing is only part of the business, so accessibility does not depend on ticket price alone.
Compete on court, share off court
She says commercial advantages do not take away from on-court competitiveness. Everyone cares about growing the WNBA first, so she is willing to share best practices with other clubs. The league's success is the team's success.
Athlete voices versus team brand
- Athletes have their own platforms and can speak for themselves.
- The team focuses on being a safe, joyful space for players and fans.
- Their Pride game is an example where representation was not forced.
She treats these as two separate things that sometimes converge.
Betting needs care, not speed
Asked about sports gambling, she says it should be "done right", not rushed, and in a way that preserves the fairness of the game. That is her personal take, not a league position.
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Hiring after revenue arrives
- Why it happens: teams want proof of revenue before they add people.
- Why it hurts: she says waiting "hurts your product".
- Her fix: she hired ahead of revenue and gives herself credit for it. Her one regret is not doing it faster in year one. She says she should have followed her gut and been more aggressive on resources.
Practical Application
Test audience overlap by phone
Before sizing a new product's market, call a small number of people in the adjacent audience and ask if they would cross over. Smith's calls at Angel City showed about 10% crossover, which redirected the whole plan toward the other 90%.
Write your partner offer first
- Do: define exactly what a partner receives and what you are asking for before any partner conversation.
- Then: tell early inbound interest "not yet" until that is settled.
- Why it works: Smith says you can only go to market once, so a vague first pitch does damage that is hard to undo.
Pick one brand asset to own
She wanted people to think of the team when they saw a color. Choose the single visual or verbal asset you want to own, such as a color or a name, and put it in front of customers early, before the product itself is ready.
Hire ahead of the revenue curve
If demand is clearly growing, staff the roles that protect your product before the money arrives. Track two goals only, as Smith does: revenue and fans, and let revenue fund audience growth.
Questions to Consider
- If you called 20 users of an adjacent product, how many would actually switch to yours, and does that change who you build for?
- What would a partner or customer need to be told about your product today, and could you say it clearly before selling to them?
- Which single asset, like a color, name or phrase, would make people think of your product first?
- Where are you waiting for revenue before hiring people who protect the quality of your product?
Bottom Line
Jess Smith grew the Valkyries by knowing exactly who they were before selling anything, building for an underserved audience, and delaying partners until the offer was clear. Her one regret is not hiring ahead of revenue even faster.
Case Studies Mentioned
Angel City FC launch
Smith joined a group of five people working from homes during the pandemic with a goal of building the most powerful women's sports team in the world. They defined who they were from day one and were curious about the landscape first. She says it taught her "everything". The crossover study she ran there shaped the Valkyries approach.
Violet the mascot
The team gave its mascot a raven identity tied to Norse mythology, since ravens love shiny things and music. She is violet in color and name, dances well, and gets the team invited into community spaces it would not otherwise reach. Smith calls it another layer of the brand.
People to Follow
Jess Smith
President of the Golden State Valkyries and formerly at Angel City FC, with 15 years in leagues including MLS, the NHL, MLB and the NFL. She comes from a partnerships background.
Notable Quotes
"You can only go to market once." (Jess Smith)
"You should be building for the 90 and then inviting the 10 to be a part of that." (Jess Smith)
"When you saw the color, you thought of us." (Jess Smith)