Operator and advisor · Fan data, identity & sponsor proof · London and New York
Prove who your fans are. Release only what may leave. Measure what sponsors got.
Three jobs, one platform, run inside the club's own systems. I built this for the NFL in New York across 32 clubs and for MLB across 30, and the other side of the trade at Amazon Ads and Spotify. I now do it for the properties below the top tier, where the same problem exists and nobody is supplying the answer.
Ashwin Desikan · London / New York 01 · Prove
Prove who your fans are.
One fan across ticketing, the app, the gate, the shop and the inbox, without a vendor's identity graph in the middle. Consent recorded by purpose, not as a single tick box. Records per real person is the first number a board sees, because every other number is wrong until that one is honest.
Live in the Studio: the identity graph, the consent gate and the board scoreboard, on a synthetic club.
See the identity graph02 · Release
Release only what may leave.
Every export checks three things at the moment it runs: is this recipient allowed, did each supporter agree to this purpose, and is the group large enough to be anonymous. Then the hashed audience goes out through the activation tools the club already uses. Withdraw a consent and the next release is smaller. Nothing is copied.
Live in the Studio: export by purpose, with a signed delivery and a run log that records every refusal.
See a release checked03 · Measure
Measure what sponsors got.
The fans a sponsor reached, matched to what those fans then did, with small groups withheld and no records pooled between the parties. A league sees the overlap across its clubs; a club cannot query a rival. This is the renewal proof a commercial team currently has to argue for.
Live in the Studio: the two-party match with k-anonymity, and the refusal when the wrong party asks.
See the match refuse a rivalWhat I do
Three kinds of workFind out where you stand
A diagnostic of the fan data estate: what it is worth, what is in the way, and the sequence that fixes it. Three weeks, a scored roadmap, and a number the board can hold the programme to.
The Readiness DiagnosticChoose and run the stack
The buyer-side view of a crowded market. Requirements, shortlist, negotiation and the governance that has to come with the contract. I have bought from every category on the list and I am independent of all of them.
The Stack DecisionLead it, or test it
A fractional head of data and identity through a build or a transition, and technical diligence for investors who need to know what a data asset is before the price is set.
Fractional and diligenceWho this is for
Every kind of buyerClubs below the top tier
You acquire fans at real cost and then cannot recognise the same person across ticketing, the app and the gate, and the sponsor gets a reach number at renewal.
For clubsFederations, leagues and tours
Your clubs compete with each other, your sponsors want to buy across all of them, and nobody can measure the overlap or prove the reach.
For federations and leaguesUS mid-market properties
Four systems, four fan records, and a sponsor with purchase data asking for a match you cannot run.
For US propertiesInvestors, owners and vendors
The fan data is part of the price, or the product needs one reference a boardroom recognises. Either way you need an independent view from someone who sells no platform.
For investors and vendorsWays to work together
Sized to the problem01 First-Party Readiness Diagnostic Three weeks · Starts here
Where your fan data actually is, what it is worth, and the two things blocking it. Scored across the six readiness dimensions and delivered as a sequenced roadmap with opportunity sizing. The paid, deeper counterpart to the First-Party Index.
- Typical trigger
- A budget decision on the fan data estate in the next two quarters.
- You get
- A scored roadmap across six dimensions, a retire list with the cost it frees, and the business case.
- I need from you
- Five to eight stakeholder interviews and read access to the system inventory. No fan records leave your systems.
You buy this when
- A new CCO or CTO who needs to know what the fan data estate is worth before committing a budget.
- A board asking why the CRM spend has not moved revenue per fan.
02 Stack Selection, RFP & Negotiation Eight to twelve weeks
Requirements, shortlist, commercial terms, and the governance model that has to come with them. I have been on the buying side of every category on the list and I am independent of all of them.
- Typical trigger
- A CDP, CRM or email contract up for renewal or replacement.
- You get
- Requirements, a scripted shortlist, negotiated terms and the exit clauses on your data.
- I need from you
- The current contracts and renewal dates, and one owner on your side.
You buy this when
- A CDP or CRM contract up for renewal, three vendors in the room, and no independent voice.
- A replatform proposal the board cannot evaluate on its own.
03 Fractional Head of Data & Identity Two days a week · Embedded
Standing in as senior data, identity, or marketing-technology leadership through a build or a transition. For estates that need an operator, not a deck.
- Typical trigger
- A head of data gap, or a build that has lost its owner.
- You get
- A roadmap that keeps moving, the vendors managed, and the job description for the permanent hire.
- I need from you
- Two days a week with the leadership team and the delivery leads.
You buy this when
- A head of data has left mid-build.
- New ownership needs the foundation stood up before the permanent hire.
04 Investor Technical Diligence One to two weeks per target
What the data asset is, what it is not, and what it will cost to fix. Written for an investment committee, with the limits of the review stated in line rather than smoothed away. Investors pay more for predictability, so the memo shows revenue per known fan and a stack with known costs and exit terms.
- Typical trigger
- A signing date with a fan data asset inside the price.
- You get
- An investment committee memo: what the asset is and is not, revenue per known fan, stack costs and exit terms, and the cost to fix.
- I need from you
- Data room access and two management sessions.
You buy this when
- A club or sports-tech target where the fan data is part of the price.
- A portfolio company whose data claims need testing before the next round.
05 Clean Room & Partner Measurement Project
The collaboration architecture that lets you prove activation value to partners and price inventory on data rather than reach alone.
- Typical trigger
- A sponsor renewal that needs proof of return, not a reach number.
- You get
- The collaboration design, the partner measurement model, and the rules for what may leave your walls.
- I need from you
- One partner willing to pilot, and your legal team for the data terms.
You buy this when
- Sponsors asking for proof of activation value at renewal.
- A league or group that must share with partners without moving fan records.
06 Sport-to-Enterprise Sprint Six to eight weeks
For AI and data companies entering European sport, and the investors behind them. Choose the right property, design one fan-scale use case that moves a line the club cares about, build the proof, and set up the activation so the club introduces you to its own commercial partners. Sport is the route to the enterprise buyer, not the end market.
- Typical trigger
- A product that needs a European reference customer that boardrooms recognise.
- You get
- The chosen property, one live use case, and the first enterprise introductions through the club.
- I need from you
- A product lead and a decision-maker on your commercial side.
You buy this when
- A strong product with no European reference that boardrooms recognise.
- A portfolio company with a sports pilot that never became an enterprise sale.
07 AI Builder Sprint Six weeks · Two-person team
One workflow in your marketing or fan data team, redesigned before it is automated, then rebuilt with AI by me and one of your marketers working as a two-person team. Built to production rules, with permissions, consent checks and monitoring, and handed over with the operating guide. Measured on cycle time and capacity, not on a demo.
- Typical trigger
- A marketing or fan data workflow everyone complains about and nobody owns.
- You get
- The rebuilt workflow in production, before and after cycle times, and the guide your team runs it with.
- I need from you
- One of your marketers for six weeks, and access to the systems the workflow touches.
You buy this when
- Campaign or audience requests that take a week and should take a day.
- A team that bought AI tools and still works the old way.
I resell nothing and take no referral fees. Where I advise a vendor on its product, I disclose it in writing, and I never advise you on a choice where that vendor is in the running. Start from your problem or read who this is not for.
Proof
Built, not describedCase study
One fan, thirty-two clubs
How a league unified identity, consent and data standards across 32 independently owned clubs, in the league's own published numbers.
Read the case studyBlueprint
The Club Data Blueprint
A vendor-neutral six-layer architecture with implementation plans for elite clubs, lean clubs, ownership groups and leagues.
Read the blueprintToolkit
The Studio
The instruments I use inside an engagement, on a real backend with synthetic fans: a map of every system that touches a fan, a fan census, a board scoreboard, and a clean room that refuses the wrong question.
Open the toolkit62
Clubs unified
220M+
Identities resolved
$700K
Data spend cut
+20%
Engagement lift
+40%
YoY audience revenue
58
Markets activated
How it works
- 01
Assess
Find out what the fan data estate is worth and what is in the way: records per real person, marketable consent, the systems with no data contract, and the sponsor questions nobody can answer yet. Ends in a scored roadmap and a number the board can hold the programme to.
- 02
Build
Stand up the pieces the roadmap needs, in the order each pays for the next: the identity spine, consent by purpose, the rights rules between parties, the release checks, and the match that proves a sponsor outcome without moving fan records.
- 03
Run
Operate it through a season. Releases checked at the moment they leave, the activation tools the club already has doing the carrying, a scoreboard the board reads without a translator, and the proof report at every renewal.
Why me
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Operator, not commentator
I have run the desk inside the leagues and the platforms, owning the operating model, not advising from the outside.
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Independent of every vendor
I have written the requirements, run the RFP, negotiated the contract, and then owned the implementation. I resell nothing and take no referral fees. Where I advise a vendor on its product, I disclose it in writing, and I never advise a property on a choice where that vendor is in the running.
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Both sides of the trade
Platforms like Genius FANHub and Elevate EPIC monetize fan identity. I built the side of the trade the rights holder owns, and the demand side at Amazon that buys from it.
Contact
No preparation needed for a first callStart a conversation.
Open to a senior in-house mandate and to selective advisory. London or New York, and comfortable working across both.
- 01Where you are: the estate, the owner and the deadline.
- 02The real problem, which is often not the one in the brief.
- 03What comes next, including a straight answer if I am not the right fit.