Issue #24: It’s a Sports Summer™️
HMU if you want to talk about “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders”
Over the last week or so, like many others, I have become enthralled by “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders,” a new documentary series on Netflix that follows the audition process for 36 highly competitive spots on the cheer squad. The show is enthralling for so many reasons, but the tl;dr is that the team is super cutthroat and intense, requiring immense physical and mental discipline of each and every member.
The women who audition are incredibly talented, and they undergo weeks of intense scrutiny to potentially earn a spot on the team. There are a ton of other nuances throughout the series that I’m glossing over here, such as the cheerleaders’ very low pay and the team’s highly unsustainable beauty standards. But personally, I’m obsessed with the series because the women are so dedicated to their sport and so committed to making this team at all costs.
I’m writing all of this because, A) I want to discuss “America’s Sweethearts” with anyone who has watched it or will listen and B) I think we’re in the midst of a sports summer. “America’s Sweethearts” is a prime example of our cultural obsession with sports – and specifically group sports – right now. I love watching the camaraderie among the women, their passion for their sport, and their drive to achieve. While you can’t catch me attempting a jump split any time soon, I do feel a huge pull towards joining a competitive team sport every single time I watch an episode.
Over the past year and a half, Americans have demonstrated an increasing interest and participation in sports. People are playing more sports and doing more athletic activities on a regular basis, and they’re also attending more sporting events since 2023.
Why is this happening?
There have been a couple of cultural events and trends that have boosted the appeal of sports in my eyes:
The rise of tenniscore in recent months (some of which came following the release of Challengers)
Caitlyn Clark and the popularity of the WNBA
The impending summer Olympics
Taylor Swift dating Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce
Sporting clubs like Padel Haus and group sports leagues like Volo Sports, as well as walking and running clubs, popping up across major cities
In particular, Gen Z’s increasing involvement in sports lately could be attributed to our appetite for structured, in-person, and community-oriented activities. There’s less and less interest in hopping on a treadmill at a gym, and more of a desire to kick a ball around with friends. With the group element of sports comes a heightened dedication beyond that of fitness classes or individual workouts, which is evident in the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders documentary. That’s also why we see young people using and loving apps like Strava, which bring a communal element to athletic pursuits.
And with the ridiculous price of workout classes in New York City these days, I’m much more inclined to play pickleball at a local park with my friends for free than shell out $35 for a pilates class.
I’m hopeful that brands will start to create their own sporting groups and clubs, kind of like the golden days of Outdoor Voices. I’ve been seeing this recently with one of my favorite outdoor women’s apparel brands, Halfdays, which leads group hikes across the U.S. I want more of that! Bring back the OV Doing Things days!
But it doesn’t just have to be apparel or outdoor brands like Halfdays or Patagonia. It can be dating apps, or coffee shops, or health tech companies. In fact,
of just did a deep-dive into our Sports Summer™️ and noticed that Blank Street launched the Blank Street Athletics Association with padel ball and pickleball clubs in London and NYC, respectively. I signed up for the NYC club, so I’ll keep you posted!
This week, we have a special addition to our issue: an interview with the founders of news app Volv Media, Shannon Almeida and Priyanka Vazirani. They launched Volv back in 2020 to bring accessible, short-form news to users in a personalized stream of content. Let’s hear about the brand.
CA: Tell me a little about your career path and how you came to start Volv.
SA: My background is in finance and law and Priyanka, was in finance as well. The journey of Volv began with the both of us starting a social enterprise, Benefactory.
Benefactory was created with the vision to make a positive impact. It was a platform designed to engage brands and their customers in donating during urgent crises. We integrated a donation checkout widget on their websites, with the supported cause changing based on the most pressing crisis at any given time.
Our pivotal moment came during the migrant crisis. The polarized media narrative had politicized the issue to the point where many charities and brands were reluctant to raise funds, claiming it wasn’t a humanitarian crisis. Faced with this challenge, we decided to cold-email celebrities whose voices could reach millions. Fortunately, Kerry Washington, Prabal Gurung, and Ilana Glazer partnered with us, and we successfully raised donations.
This experience taught us two key lessons: relying on influential personalities shouldn’t be the norm, and mainstream media wasn’t adapting to our generation’s needs. We realized there was a need for a better way to keep our attention-deficit generation informed about relevant issues in a format that resonated with us. This realization led to the inception of Volv.
CA: What is Volv?
PV: Volv is a social news app that gives readers the most interesting, important, and viral content in 9-second articles.
We are extremely overstimulated by an overload of information from multiple sources, such as newsletters, TikToks, viral tweets, podcasts, and more. At this pace, the need to disconnect is at an all-time high. So, we reimagined the future of media by adapting to how our generation wants to consume content.
Our users call Volv “TikTok for smart people,” as they use Volv to stop wasting time doom-scrolling on social media. They use it instead of TikTok or Insta to discover new content and a newsletter that they would have never discovered otherwise.
CA: You received pre-seed funding through Snap’s accelerator program. What was the accelerator experience like?
SA: The accelerator was an invaluable experience. We were part of a small cohort of just eight startups, all focused on the consumer app sector. This setting was incredibly helpful, as we could observe how each startup tackled its challenges. The consumer sector is notoriously tough, so getting advice from peers who had already faced similar obstacles was invaluable.
Our accelerator advisors, Mike Su and Alexandra Levitt, were amazing. They were hands-on and guided us through the initial stages of finding product-market fit. Learning from their expertise and the experiences of our peers helped us navigate the complexities of B2C more effectively.
CA: How do you approach brand strategy at Volv? In a highly competitive market of social media and news apps out there, how do you think about differentiating your brand?
PV: When we began conceptualizing Volv's brand identity, we knew we had to break free from the norms of traditional news apps. Our core ethos and value proposition were different, as we focused on quick 9-second articles instead of long-form articles. So, the first thing we did was quite literally lay out all news app icons, and we engineered an aesthetic that was the opposite of it.
We focused on creating a calm and airy UI. We avoided the chaotic branding typical in most news apps—no more loud colors like reds and yellows. Instead, we opted for soothing gradients that are easy on the eyes to create an atmosphere of ease and serenity.
We also focused on user experience: Unlike apps cluttered with multiple headlines and breaking news tickers, Volv presents just one article per screen. Our goal was to provide readers with a sense of calm amidst the chaos of news.
CA: What have been some of your challenges with starting Volv?
SA: Building a media tech app in the consumer space as a female founder has been challenging. Many seed-stage VCs lack a deep understanding of the media landscape, and being a woman in this field adds another layer of difficulty to fundraising and being taken seriously.
CA: What have been some of your biggest wins?
SA: Working on Volv has been a rollercoaster. Since we started, we've been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, and other major outlets. Getting into Snap’s accelerator was incredibly gratifying and fulfilling. One of our biggest "pinch me" moments was seeing Volv featured on a Times Square billboard for an entire week. The most rewarding moments come from our users. Whenever someone messages us saying they’re addicted to Volv and that they’re one of our top users, it feels surreal. Knowing that people not only use but also love our product is the ultimate validation.
CA: What’s next for Volv?
PV: Over the past few months, we have been inundated with inbound requests from large media houses and hundreds of newsletters eager to publish on Volv. This is being driven by a desire for these brands to capture new audiences – publishers whose readership is mainly boomers aren’t able to grow to reach a younger audience because they haven’t adapted to how Gen Z or millennials want to consume content; and newsletters which are having a tough time getting their content discovered or increasing their subscriber base because Twitter algo’s have downgraded their visibility.
Onboarding publications and newsletters has always been part of the vision. But after this influx of demand, we have been speeding up development to capture this massive opportunity. We’ve created Volv Enterprise, a suite of AI tools to help writers go ‘intelligently viral.’
As a writer or publisher, you no longer need to put in extra effort to get discovered or attract more eyeballs to your content. Once you're verified, simply insert your newsletter link into our dashboard. Our AI tool will summarize your content into a 9-second read and publish it on your Volv profile. Our Recommendation AI then ensures your content gets discovered by thousands of readers worldwide who are seeking content like yours. Writers will now have a platform to go intelligently viral with their words with Volv! We’ll be launching this in a few weeks.
Thank you, Shannon & Priyanka! You can check out and download Volv here.
See you next week!
I am obsesseddd with the Netflix series on the DCC! Yes I called it that because I'm that deep into the lore. Love it. I agree, it definitely feels like a sports summer—with a particular focus on women in sports. Loved reading this!
also same page!! thx for the shoutout ❤️