My story
I grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago, came to South Bend for college at Holy Cross, and never really left. Here's how a chalkboard idea turned into two companies and a lot of good people.
An idea on a chalkboard
My business partner Greg and I had an idea on a chalkboard: what if Notre Dame game days were easier? Before we sold anything, we spent the 2017 football season talking to tailgaters. How long were they out there? What did they spend? What did they wish someone would just handle?
Michigan, 2018
Our first game was Notre Dame vs. Michigan in 2018. We had 26 groups and had never done this before. We were confident we could pull it off anyway. By the end of the day the feedback was great, and we had momentum we haven't lost since. We've served 250,000+ fans since that first game.
2020
Then COVID hit. We lost every booking for the 2020 season, and with no fans in the stands there was no football business at all.
So we got creative. We started with online happy hours, then realized we could run full virtual events, right as everyone was figuring out what those even were. We ran them for a couple of nonprofits that needed help that year.
Notre Dame
When Notre Dame looked for a tailgate partner, we were up against big companies working with 50+ schools. We won it anyway. Today Gameday Your Way is the official tailgate service provider for Notre Dame Athletics.
Irish Management
Irish Management came from the same idea: take care of people. A lot of our owners live out of state and bought here for game weekends, family or a future move. We run their homes as short-term rentals, or keep an eye on them with home watch when they're not renting. Either way, we're their person in South Bend.
How I spend my week now
These days most of my time goes to our team. I help them grow, build out their own teams, and make the work simpler, which often means automating something. We run every company on EOS. It gave us clarity and a shared language, and it let me step back from the day-to-day at Gameday Your Way.
The rest of my time goes to being a resource. Someone needs to sell a house, find a job or meet the right person in town, and I'm happy to make the call.
Off the clock
I'm a Holy Cross alum and still stay involved, including on the college's Board of Trustees. I'll never say no to being the fourth in a golf outing, so ask. Otherwise you'll find me out to dinner around town with my wife or walking our dogs.
If any of this sounds like where you are, I'd like to hear from you.