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Friday 2 december 2016
Olympic hero Michael Phelps looks to dip his toes in tech
MICHAEL LIEDTKE Making the leap from pitch-
AP Business Writer man to businessman won’t
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Mi- be easy, said David Carter,
chael Phelps wants to dive executive director of the
into Silicon Valley’s invest- University of Southern Cali-
ment opportunities as he fornia’s Marshall Sports Busi-
tries to make the transition ness Institute. “Athletes
from Olympic swimming come and go and many
star and product pitchman talk a big game, but they
to entrepreneur. don’t follow through,” he
“I would love to get in- said. Phelps “is really going
volved, whether it’s in a to have commit to learn-
couple little startups here ing about business and
and there, take a little risk, demonstrate his seriousness
have some fun and see about it.”
where it goes,” Phelps said Other celebrities have ven-
in an interview during a re- tured into the tech industry
cent visit to San Jose, Cali- in search of riches, with de-
fornia while appearing at cidedly mixed results.
an Intuit software confer- Notable successes include
ence. rapper and record produc-
For now, Phelps isn’t provid- er Dr. Dre, who was part
ing any details about what of the founding team that
he is going to do, though sold Beats to Apple for $3
he says he has been get- In this Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016, photo, former Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps poses for a portrait billion 2014. Actor Ashton
ting advice from venture while attending the Quickbooks Connect conference as a featured speaker in San Jose, Calif. Kutcher co-founded an in-
capitalists and other expe- Associated Press vestment fund in 2010 that
rienced investors in Silicon made early investments in
Valley startups. startups such as the ride-
Getting into tech investing hailing service Uber, the
would be a new direction home rental-service Airbnb
for Phelps, whose business and the music streaming
experience to date con- service Spotify. The fund’s
sists mostly of his own line value had soared to $250
of swimwear and endorse- million from $30 million,
ment deals with the likes based on a review of its
of Under Armour, Visa and books earlier this year by
Wheaties. Forbes magazine .
These and other big brands Among the flops: HJR Capi-
have paid him an estimat- tal, a tech-investment firm
ed $75 million during his ca- that collapsed in 2009, a
reer. That’s far more than decade after former San
the $1.65 million that he re- Francisco 49er lineman
ceived from the U.S. Olym- Harris Barton founded it
pic Committee and Spee- and later enticed ex-team-
do for winning a record 28 mates Joe Montana and
medals, including 23 golds, Ronnie Lott to join him. In
in five Olympics. He’s still Rhode Island, former Bos-
promoting products; he is ton Red Sox pitcher Curt
currently doing commer- Schilling started a video
cials for computer chip- game company that went
maker Intel in a campaign bankrupt in 2012.
that began in October. Phelps is exploring ways to
Whatever he does next, expand his business ven-
Phelps isn’t ready to start his tures beyond a line of swim-
own investment fund, like wear and other clothing
retired Los Angeles Lakers bearing his “MP” logo. Oth-
star Kobe Bryant did earlier er products are in the pipe-
this year with entrepreneur line for next year, though
Jeff Stibel. And if Phelps has he won’t say what.
ideas for founding a startup “I am getting my feet wet,”
of his own, he’s keeping Phelps said with a grin.
them to himself. “2017 will be a big year.”q
