Why Large Enterprises Need to Make Bets Now With Mark Treiber

Fred Schonenberg
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the VentureFuel Visionaries. I'm your host, Fred Schonenberg. I'm so excited today. We're going to be joined by Mark Treiber. Mark is an innovation and investment leader. He is operating at the intersection of sports, media, and technology. He is a strategic advisor with us at VentureFuel, as well as an executive advisor at Cakeworks, where he focuses on strategy across the firm's sports vertical.

Mark, I've known for 20 years at this point. He spent his career staying ahead of the curve, identifying commercial investment opportunities, major shifts like OTT, mobile, the creator economy, the metaverse, and now AI. But he's consistently been focused on what's next and how emerging platforms can create real business value. 

Currently, Mark is also the head of investments and business development at 11.11 Media, which I'm sure he will tell us a lot about, where he helps shape partnerships and growth opportunities, as well as brand building strategies inside of one of the most culturally relevant modern media companies. 

So today, we're going to focus on unpacking how media and technology trends become investable opportunities, what it means to build where culture and commerce collide, and what Mark is excited about and watching right now across AI fandom, creators, and the future of sports. So without further ado, Mark, welcome to the show.

Mark Treiber
Fred, thanks for having me on. Long-time listener, first-time participant.

Fred Schonenberg
Yes, we should have done this like WFAN style, where you call in and you call from a car and get really fired up about some sort of sports moment.

Mark Treiber
Just give you my clip of first time, long time.

Fred Schonenberg
Yeah, I love it. I love it. So listen, for people meeting you for the first time, how do you describe who you are and what you're doing? 

Mark Treiber
Yeah, just because I've done a lot of things, and I work across a lot of sectors, I thought quite a bit about this. And I thought the best way to describe it was that I help companies make bets. I like to say this sits somewhere between cultural change and the P&L. 

So those shifts are usually driven by technology or some kind of consumer change. And those bets are almost always about growth. And so some of that's linear, like doing things a little bit better. But what excites me generally in these roles is that when you're doing something innovative, new to world growth, it could be new business models, it can be new partnerships, new economic models, or just delivering new capabilities. And it's where I found I can create the most value for companies across my career.

Fred Schonenberg
You and I are kindred spirits in that sense of kind of looking at that innovation curve, and how can we be out in front of it and help clients and partners and friends kind of stay up there? How do you think about, I don't know if you have a framework or anything like that to identify what's next versus what's hype?

Mark Treiber
Yeah, it's an interesting thing to think about. What I always try to keep in mind is, you know, is the love for that product, and that can be defined in a lot of ways, but is that greater than the friction that you're introducing? Because any new economic model, any new technology is going to have some friction in it early on. It can be cost, it can be behavioral change, there could be a learning curve. 

You look at something like VR, it could be you have to wear a headset, right? It's whether the consumer is willing to push through that change. And I've really seen that from both sides in my career. Looking back at my time at Nokia, I was primarily, you know, introduced to how the Europeans were using mobile, and that was very different than say, how the US was using mobile because of the carrier dominance here. 

But what you saw was just that natural human condition where if you gave somebody an internet connected phone, there was never, they never used that phone less. They only figured out ways to use it more. It was just like a universal demand waiting for that right form factor, the right market conditions to explode. 

And I think that's what's interesting right now is that you're seeing that with AI today. Like you don't need to do studies or surveys to figure out that people love this and they want to use it more, right? So it's like, that's what's really driving the investment. 

On the flip side, when you look at new technologies, I mean, I started working on OTT in the year 2001. And I think it probably took roughly 10 years before the marketplace and the technology and everything kept up so that, you know, Netflix like really became viable. And then it took another 10 years for it to dominate the market. So it's something that that friction was like somewhere embedded in the system. And you also saw the friction in like virtual reality or the metaverse where it's just not something where that consumer love is willing to overcome that friction at this point in time or at that point in time.

Fred Schonenberg
I love it. I love the Nokia and like Europe phone example. It makes me think Europe realized the greatness of David Hasselhoff and they've recognized the phone, right? They're really in front of a bunch of trends.

Mark Treiber
This is clearly a Gen X targeted podcast.

Fred Schonenberg
Yeah, there you go. I think that what's really interesting is that friction to value exchange. And one of the things we talk about a lot is like, is it 10x better than the existing solution? Because if it's not that and the friction is high, people are just going to default to what they're using. 

And it's interesting to see technology, like people get hyped, right, about metaverse and VR and those things. And like, there's so much noise and then it just peters out, right? Then maybe it comes back 10 years later when all the magical pieces connect for the vision to become more reality.

Mark Treiber
Yeah, no, I think that that's right.

Fred Schonenberg
But I agree with you on AI, like you don't need to do any tests, right? Like it's clearly the adoption is just so swift. And it's only going faster. I think one of the questions I was going to ask you about is when you see these waves, OTT, mobile, creator economy, what do you think had the biggest long term impact? And I'm kind of almost trying to flip your framework, right? When looking in the rear view, did the framework predict what was going to really move the needle?

Mark Treiber
Yeah. One of the things that I've been able to see over all of these cycles is that when there's a platform shift, that's when there's real opportunity. That's where the opportunity is, it's a precariousness for any incumbent and there's opportunity for anybody who's trying to be a challenger. It doesn't matter what market, when that platform shifts, that's when you should be taking your bets. 

So across all those ways, whether it's mobile, OTT, creator economy, metaverse, they've all kind of mattered in their own way. But what I see is the underlying driver has been the internet, right? So the internet has been the macro trend. It's been the enabling layer for 30 years, if not more at this point. And it really scattered who the winners and the losers were, whether you're talking about media or any other kind of number of industries. 

And that's what makes this AI era that we're entering so significant because it is another macro change where the rules aren't necessarily the same. And what I'm referring to is the rules have been the same for 30 years in the internet era, and now they're changing. Cost structures are changing. Distribution advantages are shifting. Defensibility in certain industries looks different. And that's why you're seeing such a scramble from so many companies and there's throwing money at things because for an incumbent in particular, it's a daunting place to be because the rules are going to change and you need to try to maintain your position, if not increase it.

Fred Schonenberg
Yeah, I love that. So let me ask you this. You're obviously a strategic advisor with VentureFuel. What attracts you to that model and what is your role within that? How do you contribute?

Mark Treiber
Yeah, I think for me, VentureFuel solves a problem that I've seen repeatedly in my time in big corporate, which is that everyone will tell you, every management team will tell you that we need more innovation. We want to be more innovative down the line, right? But very few organizations set up a structure that rewards that. 

I look at my time at, say, CBS Sports, like you needed to be 80, 90% confident in the bets you were going to place and almost any executive could veto it, right? So it's like the bar for creating that innovation is very high when it comes from internal. I like to call it like most corporations are built for efficient competence, right? Like they keep doing the same thing and that works, right? It works really well until it doesn't, right? When you have these macro changes. And so that's where I think VentureFuel fits in. 

The model that you go to market with creates alignment across leadership and line management and then as well as for VentureFuel with clear incentives. And so it's much easier to bring that innovation in-house kind of from the outside in. And that's what excites me about that, having been on the other side for quite a long time.

Fred Schonenberg
Yeah, it's really interesting. It goes back to your original point about like sort of friction to value, right? Big companies are great at exploiting the value that they've created, right? Whatever niche they have, they want to run that play efficiently as they should. But when they get from exploit to explore, it's like an uncomfortable space. And like the rules are very, very different, right? 

Like they're not trying to be like, it doesn't make sense to be efficient in that space. You need to go look around corners and see what's coming next. And so it's very interesting to try and create, it can feel chaotic, but the process shouldn't feel chaotic, right? Like everyone should be aligned ahead of time. And then you go explore these edges and bring back these transformative waves.

Mark Treiber
Yeah. I mean, they're just really not set up to make 10 bets and have one come up big, right? Like a venture model, like a portfolio model. They're really set up to make 10 bets, 10 very small bets and have eight come through, right? So it's like, that's just the model.

Fred Schonenberg
Yeah. And it's your veto comment, which kind of shook me because it's true, anyone can veto it. So even as we go through this, you've got what is a really hot, very validated solution and one VP that's down in a different part of the supply chain goes, nah, it's not going to work for this reason. And the whole thing falls apart. And you're like, oh man, that's not how this should work. We can figure out that problem. Like you got to do this part, right? 

Mark Treiber
And that's not even addressing like legal, right? It's like, can you get it through legal? 

Fred Schonenberg
Although I got to say my parents are lawyers and they say that I give the legal profession too much of a hard time on the show. So I will say that the right lawyers actually enable innovation. So there you go, mom, if you listen to this one. But let me ask you this. 

Mark Treiber
I will add to that, that having a good lawyer in-house is like you're the best partner you can have in strategic business development. So find that lawyer. 

Fred Schonenberg
Oh yeah. It's always great when you talk to a lawyer and they're like, yeah, no, my job's to enable deals to happen. I'm like, yes, there we go. That's the one you want. So let me ask you about your role over at 11:11 Media, head of investments, business development. What is 11:11 Media? What is that role?

Mark Treiber
Yeah. 11:11 Media is Paris Hilton's media company, and we view it as being a next generation media company. We're going to be more nimble. We're going to play in a kind of a 360 flywheel approach to media. And we're not hindered by any kind of old structures. 

Then my role within that is I like to describe my role as being a big tent investing. And I'm not sure if that's a real term or not, but this is the way I describe it because it doesn't mean, well, sorry, let me take it back. It means a dollar invested in a startup is the same as a dollar invested in a joint venture. It's the same as a dollar invested in building our own businesses. It's all capital allocation. So we at 11:11 invest off of the balance sheet. So there's no pressure to deploy. And that gives us the freedom to focus on finding the best opportunities, the best partners, the right markets and the strongest founders in areas that we have. We feel we have a right to win. 

And like any company, we start with the areas that are most endemic to the brand and to Paris. That's like one of the examples is why we invested so much into Parivy, which is Paris's skincare brand. That is very endemic to who she is. And it's a place we feel like we have the right to win and we feel like it's a place where we should have an ownership stake. 

It's also why we're going hard into content, specifically kids and family, with the launch of Paris and Pups, which is a new animated show and direct to YouTube. And so we're really exploring all of these different models and these places, again, that we feel we have a right to win. So it's about ultimately my job is about finding the right entry points into markets and then finding the right partners or the right way to enter what the market would be.

Fred Schonenberg
One of the things that shifted, it's been shifting for a while, right. But this sort of power to the creators, right, that the YouTubes of the world, the fact that it's so much easier to create content, Paris being a phenomenal example of somebody that's played traditional media and also on the creator side. How do you think the creator economy is continuing to evolve and what's coming next for that space?

Mark Treiber
Yeah, so I think if you look back, one way to think about the creator economy is that it really came of age alongside the growth of the platforms. That's Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, et cetera, down the line. And that growth benefited all parties, right. There was a tension between the platforms and the creators, but generally growth solves all problems.

What's changed a little bit is that that growth has slowed, so getting an audience is harder competition for the creators, but for that talent is stiffer. Attention continues to be more fragmented. And when that shift happens, the mindset shifts from a growth mindset to a fixed pie mindset. And that's why you're seeing so much movement in the space towards, how do we get our own audience? How do we maybe roll up a couple of different things to bring scale? 

And so that's what happens in a maturing industry. It doesn't matter whether it's creators or sheet metal fabrication, like as the growth slows, you start to see that kind of consolidation. I would say that these creators, they're professional media companies at this point. Like it's kind of a disservice to call them creators. They're the best of the best on the platforms that they participate in. And they've achieved real scale. And now what you're seeing is how do they kind of protect that going forward and continue to expand.

Fred Schonenberg
One of the questions I have for you, I love that analogy too, of like, you're hitting a couple of interesting things, like capital allocation, thinking about this, that one lane is not different from the other, right? It's the best opportunity is really exciting. The fact that what's considered sort of cutting edge is now becoming a mature industry, right? So the consolidation is happening. And so where are those new growth areas? 

I'm curious how you think about AI in this space, as well as in sports. Let's kind of maybe bridge the gap between media and sports too. Because AI is obviously, as you said, it's like this foundational layer that's coming, but it feels like it's kind of changing a lot of this in good ways and bad ways, right? Like you've got all the slop that is just like you can grok out 500 versions of the same thing. That seemed really cool until you started getting 500 versions of the same thing. And you're like, people just started to ignore it. And so authenticity seems to be breaking through. But just very curious about your thoughts on AI's impact on maybe the next wave here.

Mark Treiber
Yeah. Just because we haven't talked about sports a little bit, I'll take my example in that direction. Obviously, AI is a huge topic. So talking about a specific topic may be helpful, right? I think from a sports perspective, the great thing about sports is that you're on the field, won't be impacted, right? Like you're still going to have to have people perform, et cetera. 

But the fandom is really where the change should happen because the personalization aspect is I think a big gap right now. I'll use my own fandom as an example. Lifelong Yankees fan. I now have a son who's probably a bigger fan than I am of the Yankees. We go to several games a year. We pay for the direct-to-consumer app, which is not cheap. Buy merch, concessions, the whole deal, right? So I don't want to say we're the biggest spenders on the Yankees, but it's a decent LTV. 

And every year, I still get the most generic email asking me to buy tickets and to renew my subscription, whatever. No sense of what I've done, how long I've been there, nothing added to it. So that gap to me is the opportunity. Teams have data for years, but what AI should enable is just do more personalization at scale in a quicker turnaround time. So that's kind of, I think, the next wave of value in the sports ecosystem. 

Fred Schonenberg
What do you think that brands are getting wrong? Teams may be specifically in this, right? There is obviously the generic, right? I'm also a Yankee fan. We're probably getting the exact same message. They're probably like, hey, it still works, right? Like you guys did come for the game anyway. But they're not getting that next level, right? 

And a team I see doing it really interestingly well is the Brooklyn Nets, just in this example, they have a local basketball training center that they've turned into a kid's basketball. You can go after school, and they've got clinics and whatnot. And my son loves hoops. And man, I'm a Knicks fan, and he's a Knicks fan kind of because I was like, we're going to be Knicks fans. But boy, he's starting to ask to go to a bunch of Nets games because he's wearing a Nets hat. He's got the gear. We're getting a lot of personal attention. And so I think it's very interesting, maybe old school grassroots in that example. 

But I've noticed the emails there are very good, and they're very personal. And they know all this stuff about us, right? Because we're there. It's age and all that stuff. I'm curious, what are teams maybe getting wrong on this so far, or who's getting it right, and how AI might be able to jump that gap?

Mark Treiber
Yeah, I feel like that's a great counter example. And it sounds like they're really approaching that in the right way. Because I think the mistake that you often see is, and it doesn't matter whether it's in the creator space or whether it's a sports team, is that people want to build community and immediately monetize it. When you really need to create that value, probably over years before you start mining it for revenue.

Because if you force it too early, it then feels inauthentic. And then it's like, short circuits the whole thing right out of the gate. So community is a long term investment. It's an outcome, not a starting point or part of the process or anything like that. So that's, I think, the biggest realization. And that's just very different, especially for sports teams, which are used to licensing rights and monetizing everything immediately.

Fred Schonenberg
Yeah, it's really interesting. There's a blog post called Farnham Street that has become a media company on its own. And I remember very early on being exposed to it. And I signed up for the newsletter and always was like, hey, write back if you liked it. I was like, I don't know if this guy's paying attention. I wrote back one time and started a really nice conversation. 

And then over years, it was just value, value, value, value. Then it was like, hey, by the way, I have a subscriber only group. Pay whatever you feel comfortable. And it was like, my recommended is X. And it was like, here, take it. And now I've been a subscriber for years. And I forwarded people and all these things and that builds so organically. I think what's interesting is that AI can enable speed, personalization, and doing that better to go faster but also, you can't rush the monetization piece. It's a very interesting sort of balance.

Mark Treiber
Yeah, it's funny. I remember when apps were first coming out. And one of the counterintuitive insights was that if you got someone to pay for an app, they would give it better ratings than if you gave away a free app. And they did. Because by making that purchase, people felt a kinship with that decision. And they felt like they needed to defend that decision. So it's like, if you can create a community where people actually then start contributing, they'll be bigger proponents of that community, and so it's one of those counterintuitive things. If you can hold off to monetizing, it's like, eventually, when you do, you'll create more passionate fans.

Fred Schonenberg
Yeah, it's really interesting. Let me ask you this. You've been at large companies. You've watched some of these waves. What's the biggest mistake you see large companies make when they try to innovate, especially if it's in a fast moving category like sports, media, et cetera?

Mark Treiber
Yeah, I don't mean to do this to you. I'd actually flip that question a little bit. I think the biggest mistake they make is they're not making enough mistakes. Big companies tend to bottle up the risk, as we talked about earlier. They're hiring incredibly talented people, but not incenting them to place any bets. I don't think that mindset works anymore, especially as the pace of change is getting faster and faster, seemingly. 

So I think the cost of not making bets is going to be far higher in this era than making the wrong ones. So I think that mindset of, we need to make bets, and we need to do it in a rapid fire fashion is the winning formula. 

Fred Schonenberg
What's crazy, I couldn't agree more. I think what's crazy is when you look at what some of these large companies pay for paper towels across their organization, and realize that that is the same level of budget they would need to make these bets. Because the other thing is when you hear the word bet, and you're a big company, you're like, ugh. Bet seems like not the thing you want to tell Wall Street you're doing. But it's like, hey, it's capital allocation.

Back to your other story, which is like, hey, where can I, and I don't mean to take paper towels away from everyone in your company, but where can you reallocate so that you are exploring, and where it's okay. Hey, one out of 10 is going to work, but that one is going to carry the money spent on the other nine rather quickly, by the way, which is very interesting. All right, Mark, let me get you out of here.

Mark Treiber
Separately, we can talk about how thin the paper towels are getting at office environments, and whether there's any thinness level that is too thin.

Fred Schonenberg
Yeah, we should have our own podcast about it. Why ply? Some sort of one ply versus two ply. We could have a group forum. People would be very passionate about building a community. 

Mark Treiber
Down to half ply.

Fred Schonenberg
Yeah, it's great. We got it sponsored by one of the big CPG companies. All right, this is a big opportunity. Besides the level of thickness of the paper towels, looking ahead in 2026, are there any trends that you're excited about that you think would surprise people listening?

Mark Treiber
Yeah, I think it's, and I'm not sure I'd say that I'm bullish on this. I'm just very conscious of it. The trend that I've seen is what I call the great acceleration. The cycles are just moving so much faster. I think that's, as we talked about earlier, there's been the internet era where everything has been moving towards becoming digital. Now that we're so far into that cycle, and almost everything is digital, minus some handwritten doctor's notes and things like that.

Once you layer AI on top of everything already being digital, and then you pair that with the global talent and the infrastructure build out, I just don't think we're fully prepared for the pace of change that's coming with that. All the second order effects that happen because of that. I don't know if that's bullishness or just a watch out, because I think that's where we're headed. No matter whether you think AI is overhyped or underhyped or whatever, I think that's what's coming. 

Fred Schonenberg
I remember maybe, gosh, eight years ago, I had Beth Comstock, who is from GE, on stage at an event we were hosting. She had just written a book. She led off and she said, everyone's talking about the pace of change. I just want everyone in the audience to realize the pace of change will never be slower than it is today. The whole thing was about how fast everything was going. It was eight years ago. I could feel everyone in the room being like, oh, that was clever. 

In reality now, looking back, eight years ago, everything was just trickling compared to where we are today. I think that exponential acceleration is continuing. It's going to change the need to make bets and to get out of your comfort zone. I think it's a really interesting space for what you and I do. Let me end with this. Mark, is there a one takeaway you hope folks listening today, maybe on the corporate side, take away from this conversation?

Mark Treiber
Yeah, I would say this. I probably said this word quite a few times during the podcast about bets. Take it personally. Make more bets in your life. That could be in a corporate environment. It could be outside a corporate environment. I think in the era that we're heading into, you're going to be more on the winning side if you make more bets than not make bets. I think you just have to bet on yourself whether that's in corporate or not. 

Fred Schonenberg
I love it. Mark, thank you so much for taking the time to share your insights and wisdom with us and for everything you're doing to spark change. Is there anywhere you want people to go if they want to learn more about all the great things you're up to?

Mark Treiber
No, find me on the VentureFuel site. 

Fred Schonenberg
Yeah, I love it. All right. Thank you so much. It was great.

Mark Treiber
Thanks, Fred.