Professional athletes represent an increasingly important class of startup investors, with a variety of factors driving their decisions about which projects to back, and which to pass on.
Long before Fitzgerald was a football star who played 17 seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, he was an active and accomplished chess player, having learned the game from his father, who had played on the Indiana State University chess team and football team.
Both Rensch and Fitzgerald discussed the importance of continuing to bring younger generations into the game, even as video games, social media and other flashier forms of entertainment compete for kids’ attention.
“It’s not just for super smart people or whatever the stereotype would be,” said Rensch. “Because it is something that breaks down barriers of age, and gender. It brings people together in a way that other games don’t.”
While learning and understanding the strategy to elevate your chess game takes time and work, Fitzgerald believes the result is what can make it so rewarding to kids.
“It’s very easy to understand what the pieces do, but the strategy behind it is more complicated,” he said. “That’s something that’s a true unlock, that young kinds can learn and be something that they would really love to participate in.”
