Spencer Jones: the NBA player with a better LinkedIn than your CEO

Transcription

Daniel: Spencer Jones is a forward for the Denver Nuggets. He's also a Stanford grad, but what you might not know is that he's also really active on LinkedIn with over 17,000 followers. In this episode, we dive into why Spencer's so bullish on LinkedIn, why he still carves out time every single week to post consistently despite all the travel and craziness of the NBA, and more importantly, why the smartest athletes are doing way more than just sports. Let's get into this. Welcome to Connection Accepted. Today, we've got Spencer Jones on the pod. Spencer, thanks for coming on. Matt: Hey, man. I appreciate you guys. Thanks again for having me. Thanks for coming on. And, you know, for the people who, first time meeting you, give us a little bit of the background on who's Spencer Jones and talk a little bit about the events that have led you to where you are today. Daniel: Yeah. Spencer Jones, current forward for the Denver Nuggets going into my second year. Graduated from Stanford with an engineering degree. And then, you know, off the court, you know, obviously, I have a pretty avid LinkedIn presence and then, you know, I'm also an angel investor in several companies and like to be heavily involved in kind of the startup scene. Matt: All right. So we got to dive into this LinkedIn stuff right away, Spencer, because a lot of NBA players have been on LinkedIn, but, you know, they have ghostwriters. They're not doing LinkedIn the way you are. Daniel: They're not going out there playing 40 minutes in an NBA game and saying, you know what I got to do after this? I got to post on LinkedIn. So you got to tell us, like, what was it like when you first, like, made a LinkedIn account? What were you doing? And give us the story. Matt: Yeah. I mean, the original purpose was, you know, obviously spent five years at Stanford, knew I was going to play professionally at some capacity and have a solid career at it. So, you know, I was thinking like at the very least five years and, you know, the worst thing you can do is go to school like that and then lose all the connections and people you had while you were there. And so, you know, that's when I kind of ran into LinkedIn and alumni kind of said it was kind of a good idea to have that presence because it was just something, you know, I needed to do is keep up with those connections. And it was for me, it seemed pretty obvious in terms of it was the best way to do it other than like, you know, individually texting people and try to do it one on one versus just have LinkedIn presence where everybody is already all the people I want to connect with are already on. It's very easy to have a keep presence of mind on a mass scale. And so that was really the main goal of it. And so, you know, I started posting about some stuff and the alumni kind of told me to start with a write an article about my college experience just because, you know, I started in 2019 and ended in 2024. Daniel: And so every year was a different rule change, COVID, et cetera. So, you know, a unique college experience. And so I wrote that. That kind of blew up a little bit. And then, you know, I saw the network really grow from there. And I'm like, all right, let's, you know, do this for a little bit. And then, you know, I, you know, I got into the league and, you know, I'm still currently on a, on a two way contract, which means, you know, it's not a guaranteed contract. And so, you know, I figured, you know, like, who knows how long I'll be here. Let's make the most of this platform, juice, juice it out as much as I can. And, you know, utilize what I have, you know, to build out that network for, for after my career. And I've always kind of had that, that pulse. And, you know, I was, that was the reason it started. And now it's grown to where, yeah, I got the, I got NBA, NBA sites and House of Highlights or Bleacher Report posting about it, which is pretty funny. And, you know, a lot of investment opportunities and then now a lot of great networking opportunities have come from it. It's been, it's been fantastic. Matt: It's genius. And I'm sure everyone in your network has also sent you that clip of you talking about LinkedIn going viral as well. Daniel: Yeah. Yeah. Everybody's been sending me a lot of stuff. It's been fun. A lot of people love to, love to crack jokes, call me like LinkedIn legend or whatever. My teammates give me, give me a little slap for it. It's fun. It's fun. Daniel: What's your process like for writing LinkedIn posts? Yeah. That's the one thing I like about, the one thing I really liked about LinkedIn is that, you know, it's different from other social media sites. You can't go on there and kind of throw out anything. It has to have substance for people to actually, you know, want to read it, want to follow you, want to connect with you, et cetera. Cause you know, these are all people that do or make, you know, you know, really cool things or run really cool companies. And, you know, those are the people you want to connect with. Obviously it's not just somebody just like scrolling through aimlessly and just, you know, looking for something for a quick attention hit or something. So like my process has always been, I like, I like to do two a week. And, you know, I, I have noticed after posts for a while that like, obviously people like the insights into the basketball game, but I always like to, you know, give a little insight there that, you know, people want to see while also connecting it to the broader, you know, business world, LinkedIn audience and everything like that to show the parallels of. you know, what I'm learning on the court, how it applies to business, basically, you know, also to say, like, look, this is a job that parallels well with a lot in the business world, especially within the startup community in terms of, you know, dealing with pressure and, you know, being able to work through chaos and stuff like that. Daniel: Like, you know, just showing the parallels there to say like, yeah, you know, sports professionals can be great business professionals as well. And then, you know, that's how I start a lot of my posts. And then, you know, naturally, just as I've gotten more into the investing side and visiting companies and stuff like that, I'll naturally post about, you know, that side of it, profiling a company or an investment I've done or people I've been meeting on the road and everything like that. So now it's just kind of a natural process of cool things I'm doing, you know, like, like I said, won a great game last night, wanted to talk about it, throw it up there. And yeah, now it's like one of my top performing posts, so that's kind of cool. Matt: Spencer, you mentioned the investing side of things that you've been getting into. Has LinkedIn helped you with just getting in touch with people or sourcing some of these opportunities? Daniel: Oh, yeah, 100%. I'm trying to think exactly how many investments have at least come from LinkedIn in some capacity. I want to say at least a third, maybe maybe almost up to half. If not from there, it's definitely been to where I've connected with somebody on LinkedIn and they've in a way set me towards the pathway towards some of my investments and stuff like that. Daniel: But yeah, no, like, I mean, it's at the point now to where, you know, I'll have to outsource to like my management team or something like that to kind of look through all the investment opportunities that come directly from LinkedIn. And then, you know, I'll I'll look at, I'd still make sure to prioritize, like, look, it's me on there. I'm looking through all the messages and stuff like that. But if I find an opportunity, I'll typically send it to my management team and then they'll tell me if it's worth me personally going to look through. And then from there, I'll do further due diligence. But no, it's, it's definitely helped exponentially. Matt: Gotcha. And I imagine you probably get a lot of LinkedIn DMs. Do you actually, do you read through every single one of them or you have like someone managing your account? Daniel: So far, I look through, I look through the DMs. I have the, I have the time. I'll sift through and everything like that. You know, I like to, I try to, you know, for people to support, I try to at least send something, but now it's kind of, you know, it's, it's to the point where I can't, I can't do that with everybody. But no, I like, I like doing it on my own. It's still been something I'm able to keep up with. Hopefully it stays that way, but growing pretty fast these days, so who knows. But like I said, I always want to keep an authentic presence on there. And so as long as I'm able to do that within my schedule, I'll always, I'll always continue to do it. Matt: Now, I know you're posting a lot on LinkedIn, but when you're scrolling, are you scrolling a lot on LinkedIn too, or are you spending more time on Instagram? Daniel: Yeah. I think it's so unique too that you have more LinkedIn followers than Instagram followers. Yeah. I mean, it was a purpose. I never really, I never really went on LinkedIn to hope to become, I don't really want to say famous, but like, or really to gain a massive following. It was like, I wanted to gain a specific following. I wanted specific people I wanted to connect with and everything like that. That was the point of LinkedIn. Like otherwise, yeah, I would, I would be posting the same stuff on both sides, but it wasn't really the point. Like, yeah. And like, yeah, I definitely spend, I definitely spend more time on LinkedIn than I do Instagram and everything like that. Maybe Instagram just to keep up with friends and stuff like that. But I definitely prefer the LinkedIn profile. But it just, it just like the, the you know, the platform just fits kind of everything I wanted to need. I know I wanted to be with, you know, more business professionals and everything versus just the mass general audience. Daniel: Is there anything that you wish they would change? Like if you could go talk to Ryan Roslanski, the CEO of LinkedIn, would you ask him to like add a feature or change something? One thing I've been interested is, is it's, it's tough to get a full viewpoint of who I am at this point now. I mean, like you can, but like, you know, like I always thought like it's harder to follow along the full journey of everything, which, I mean, it's been pretty cool for me, you know, starting out barely playing to now, obviously having started, started a few games. If you were like the first, I don't know, a few thousand followers or whatever, you got to feel and see the journey through all those posts and everything like that. And the one thing is it's kind of tough. It's kind of tough as like if you were a new follower now to go back and get that same feel, you'd only see like, you know, the first couple of posts or whatever I feature or anything like that versus, you know, like Instagram, like, yeah, you'd still have to scroll, but you can kind of still in a broad picture, see the story through, you know, all the various posts. And so that, that's one thing, definitely. I would, I would like to see and everything like that. I think that was, that was the main thing. And I've talked to them a little bit, or at least mentioned it before and stuff like that. And so, yeah, that would be cool. Daniel: I just, it's just like, you know, with all these new followers and everything like that, it'd be cool if they could go back and actually see the full journey versus just kind of where I'm at now. Matt: Completely agree with you, Spencer. Uh, we ask this question to pretty much every single guest, and a lot of people have said things around how, you know, the profile, when someone first follows you and they jump on your profile, obviously they can see like the highlights, but they're not seeing, they're not seeing the posts that you put out maybe six months ago, unless they're featured on your profile. And there's only space for a couple of posts as well for the pinned ones. So it's a little bit more difficult to see the full journey. Daniel: Yeah. I think the solution here when we were talking to Sarah Rav, uh, Spencer, who's got like 3 million followers, is to have an Instagram like um like graph or something where you can get a much better scroll. Matt: Because that's what the fans need. Daniel: Yeah, 100%. Like, like I said, it's a cool story. The fact that, you know, like I said, I built it because like, you know, in my position of a two-way contract, it's it's more likely you pay you fall out of the league than pan out and stuff like that. And so, you know, it's a really cool story to follow. So I, you know, I hope and like I try to reference that in posts and everything like that. But if it was easier for them to naturally get that, of course, it would be great. Matt: Yeah, and Spencer, just for, because I feel like this is a pretty important detail, for people that aren't familiar, can you just break down like what a two-way contract is? Daniel: Yes. So, one second. Yeah, so, um NBA, there's 18 roster spots. 15 are regular contracts. So everybody you see on the bench, suit up for all 82 games. Three of those spots are what they call two-way contracts. And you think of those, you think of those as like development players. So it's a two, they call it two-way because you're intended to bounce back and forth between the NBA team and their G League affiliate team. And the G League is just a whole development League. But every team has its own kind of G League team that it represents and everything like that. And they send, they'll send their young players and guys, they want to develop up and everything like that. And so, but because I'm bouncing back and forth, there are some limitations on how many games I can play with the main NBA team and stuff like that. So, for example, I can only play or suit up for 50 games. We're coming up close to that. And that's why, you know, there could be some talk of, you know, a different contract coming up and stuff like that. And then also you can't play playoffs. And so, yeah, I mean, like I said, you kind of think of those players as development players. Typically, they don't just numbers wise, pan out, you know, some do and everything like that. Daniel: And it's looking like, you know, hopefully that's where that's where I'm at and stuff like that. But it's, it's, yeah, it's a great position to be in, but also like you still have to make your way, you're still trying to make your way into league, although you're still part of the team. You're, you're just bouncing back and forth. Matt: And, you know, I was, I had the same contract last year and I bounced back and forth, I think nine or 10 times between the main team and the G League team. And so it was a, it was a lot of travel last year. Yeah, I, I saw one of your posts, I think from last year, you had like a video showing the insane schedule that you have where like one day you're playing with the Nuggets and then like the next day you, you got to drive and you're playing or preparing for a game with the G League team. And there's just a ton of travel and I can imagine it's a crazy time commitment. Daniel: So I'm also just curious, like mindset wise, like what, what drives you and what, what pushes you to, to keep going when it's clearly a super demanding schedule? Matt: Um, I mean, there's a lot of things. Um, one is just like, you know, like how blessed you are to kind of be in this position. I mean, there's a lot to gain um from here from being an NBA athlete and everything like that. And like, yes, it's, it's a grind, everything like that, but you're, you're inspired by, you know, all the older guys who have gone through it, all the kind of work you've put in all these years to get here. Daniel: And then now, you know, that competitive spirit doesn't just end there. You want to then try to thrive in this, in this new spot. And then, you know, I'm just, I've always been a continuous learner. That's kind of why I'm on LinkedIn as well. And so, um, I mean, shoot, like I said, I put in as much work to get here. I mean, like, yeah, the schedule is long and uh, everything like that, but you're always trying to, trying to push yourself to, to, you know, Excel at every, every stage, you know, I'll be doing that when my career is over and whatever the next step is. Matt: So I'm so impressed by this, Spencer, because if someone were to go to Stanford, gotten in basketball scholarship, just getting into Stanford would have been enough. And then playing on an NBA team, you know, that would have been enough. Hitting 10,000 followers on LinkedIn, that would have been enough. And to keep grinding after all this on the road and not giving up and adding LinkedIn in the NBA, like. It's honestly insane, and I think Matt and I and a lot of the audience admires your work ethic a lot for keeping your foot on the gas. Daniel: I appreciate that. It's funny. You know, you say that, but like, you know, I think of it as like, I just, I've always hedged my bets all the time. Like, throughout my entire basketball career, I've hedged my bets. That's why I grab, like, it was out of, I guess you could say a little bit of fear of failure. Daniel: That's why you always hedge your bets, or I'm just like, although I'm a, you know, angel investor, I'd still consider myself pretty risk-averse personally. And, you know, like I said, yeah, I've always hedged my bets. Like I knew, you know, it was funny in, what, high school, I still took the common apps and stuff like that to see what kind of schools I'd get into if I didn't get into the right basketball school or anything like that. Obviously, you know, study and, you know, grind my way through school to make sure there's another option besides basketball. And then, you know, you get to Stanford. I want to take an engineering major because, you know, I want to have lucrative job opportunities in case the basketball thing doesn't work out. And then obviously, you know, I'm in the NBA, but who knows for how long? I want to build this LinkedIn thing to have it again, to still keep that viable option of a lucrative career if, you know, God forbid, knock on wood, I get injured or something else happens, you know, unprecedented. So I don't know, I've just always, I've always had that mindset of always hedging my bets, and, you know, look, I'm in these great opportunities, but I can always, because I'm in these great opportunities, you can always, you know, put yourself in better positions to, you know, be able to get through whatever, you know, could happen and leverage yourself in a way to where you're protected and stuff like that. Daniel: And so I've always, I've always had that kind of mindset, whether good or bad, but that's kind of how I've been. When you're posting on LinkedIn a lot, I'm sure your teammates are making fun of you a lot, but if you're to peel the onion layer deeper, you know, and hear this response from you about why and to diversify, because the reality is, most NBA players can't be like LeBron James. Have you started to notice that you think more NBA players might not just post on LinkedIn, but diversify what they're up to, whether it's investing, whether it's a YouTube channel, whether it's streaming or other things like that? Matt: Yeah, I mean, you see that happening with a lot of guys. I mean, you know, you got my teammate Cam Johnson, who's got his podcast rolling and everything like that. I've definitely networked with a lot of NBA guys who are very avid investors, although, you know, It's more at their later stages of their career, but they're definitely thinking about it. And, you know, some of the teammates on my team have asked a little bit about what I'm doing and everything like that. So yeah, I mean, there's definitely an interest and definitely guys doing that. And, you know, especially being an NBA athlete, you're so visible and marketable and everything like that, business opportunities come to you and there's so many learning opportunities there. A lot more people are, you know, grasping onto it, and it's definitely something you'll, you'll see. Matt: I mean, look, getting equity in companies and everything like that has been a huge deal over this last decade and everything like that for a lot of guys and building portfolios and stuff like that. You're hearing more and more about it and more. And I'm definitely running into more and more of these type of kind of like athlete-specific investments, VC firms, you know, that are pulling in only athlete investors and stuff like that and building communities that way and stuff like that. So that's become a huge popular ecosystem these days. And like, although, like I said, it is mostly dominated by those who are a little bit older in their careers, it is getting younger and younger. And so it's been great to see. Daniel: How do you think about evaluating those business opportunities? Because when we had Marshall Sandman, and he does a lot of the venture capital for like Griffin Johnson, Paris Hilton, a lot of these influencers, and he started to shift a lot away from like CPG and typical e-commerce stuff and more to B2B software. So how are you thinking about investing or even doing your promotions, whether it's something you're going to buy like a Prime or a B2B software? Matt: Yeah, I'll kind of take you through my investing journey. Yeah, I mean, like, look, come from Stanford, Silicon Valley, tech is definitely, you know, the heavy thing that's on my mind and, you know, what I have kind of experience and exposure with. And so I've always, I've always enjoyed that. Matt: And it's also kind of, it was an easier one for me to grasp because like you said, CPG is different because it's, you know, big marketing, you know, a lot of it goes into the marketing and the storytelling of it. And, you know, products can be very similar, but have the drastically different in performance just based on those qualities versus tech. It's like, look, if, and obviously there's, you know, caveats to it, but like if you're the best and you have, you know, a certain IP that's just clearly indefensible, then you can kind of gauge, you know, how great of a company that is. And that's Daniel: That's kind of why I like tech. But more into that is like, look, you know, you know what they say. They always say invest in what you know. And, you know, clearly I've done the sports, you know, clearly I've been in sports all my life. I have a little bit of family background in medicine and stuff like that. And so health and wellness, human performance and everything like that was the first few investments. One, because like I said, it's what I knew in terms of tech and health and everything like that. And second was it, it's stuff and products that I can use that help me with my current career, help me with the longevity and performance of my career so I can implement them and it doesn't feel like it's distracting from my career initially. Daniel: And also I can be more involved in these companies in terms of product development, data collection, et cetera, and, you know, learn more and more by being involved there. And so that's, that was the premise in the beginning. And, you know, LinkedIn's also helped great with a lot of this stuff in terms of, you know, I already had the Stanford network to, you know, talk to several people about certain companies to vet and everything like that. And as the LinkedIn presence grew, now I had certain people in who were at the top of certain industries and everything like that to just be able to throw to and be like, hey, what do you think about this? Or have you heard of this founder or what's your opinion there? And, you know, the VC world, you'll come to find out, you know, it's definitely, a lot of people know a lot of people and it comes to feel really small. And so, you know, I'll get great analysis on founders, their history, you know, what people think about companies and, you know, from people who actually built similar things. And so it's been, it's been a great kind of informal kind of due diligence process that I've been able to build through the network and stuff like that. And then now I'm at the point to where, you know, I've done about eight to 10 investments and stuff like that. And I can kind of, you know, look at it, you know, at a broader view and start to look to diversify it and really start to build out a solid fund here. Matt: Spencer, this is, this is fascinating, first of all. When you, so when you meet a founder or, you know, there's a new investment opportunity that comes their way, what do you look for in, in these founders, especially if it's like early stage company, a lot of the times you're sort of like investing in a person. So I'm curious if there's certain qualities that or traits that you look for when investing. Daniel: Yeah. You know, it's not too, honestly, not too different to, you know, it isn't like a, you know, it isn't like a list of certain things. You know, it's a little bit of feel, a little bit of intuition, a little bit of like, yeah, there are some very specific things, but it's, it's, you know, the more I think of it, the more, the more it is like pretty tailored to similar to how I would think about like who would I want to pick on my team or something like that. Like, you know, you need the resiliency, you need the drive, you need the adaptability. And, but also the key is like, you also need like the humble and awareness and everything like that, because like sometimes you can have with a lot of these founders, the fierce drive and everything like that, but you can kind of get the tunnel vision where they're, you know, so into, you know, who they are, what they're building and everything like that. They're not able to see the broader ecosystem and, you know, maybe that might affect their adaptability in the future and everything like that. Daniel: And so, you know, it's a, it's a lot of those things that I would, I would, I kind of think of like picking a founder as I would want to pick kind of my teammate on the floor where it's like, you know, look, you're in a tough game like, you know, last night where we're two nights ago where we're, you know, we're down seven of our best players and we've got to figure out how to win this game against, you know, one of the better teams in the East and, you know, how that mindset and how they, how they, you know, take care of that. And so that's, you know, it's a little bit of corny. It's a little bit of a corny answer, but that's, that's how I would say it. Cause it's like, it is, you know, it is a little bit of a feel there because, you know, there are very, like I said, there are a lot of similarities between, you know, what I do as a professional athlete and, you know, what these founders have to, have to deal with in, in building startups. Matt: That was a great answer. And I don't think that, yeah, I think there's a lot of truth in it. There seems to be a lot of overlap between what you're doing with sports and the lessons that you take away from that, as well as you're investing. Daniel: And I would imagine with content as well, even the way that you think about, you know, what, what kind of post is going to perform well and also overcoming maybe some of the, the cringe or the, the imposter syndrome that I think a lot of people who post on LinkedIn may feel sometimes before they hit post. There's probably a lot of lessons there that you, you also draw from, from sports that overlap. 100%. Before we get into good idea, bad idea, Spencer, I was curious building off of that analogy. What has been similar and different from the Stanford and the MBA? Because from what I could imagine, they're both pretty intense environments and, you know, whether it's academics or basketball. So yeah, I'm curious what's the same and what's different. Like, I mean, in terms of competition and the kind of greatness. So you're seen around and have to figure out your way through. And, you know, Matt alluded like imposter syndrome in both, in both ways. There's a hundred percent of that. I mean, like, you know, like you get the same kind of feeling walking into your first Stanford classroom where you feel like you're the dumbest person in the room because you expect all these people to, you know, know everything because, you know, half of these people are going to become uber successful and, you know, one of them is going to build the next trillion dollar startup or something like that. Daniel: So you all, you have that expectation running in and, you know, you feel like you're the odd man out. Same thing as, you know, me running into my first summer workout and, you know, looking at Jokic and Jamal Murray and all these guys who I would, you know, love to have their jersey on my wall and stuff like that and trying to figure out how, you know, how I'm going to fit in with the Nats. So it's definitely, though, that same kind of feeling starting out and everything like that. Different. I mean, you know, obviously NBA, you get a more similarity of types of people just because, you know, it's all people who are, you know, basketball is their main thing. And, you know, obviously, you get, you know, they're definitely everybody has a, you know, different subsets of themselves outside of that. But, you know, you get a little bit more cohesion of similarities of people there versus, you know, Stanford, it's, you know, that's one thing I always loved is, oh, it's so easy to keep a wide perspective of everything. Actually, one of my favorite things was that, you know, I could have a great game and, you know, I walked in the dining hall, half of the people wouldn't, wouldn't have known, you know, everything like that. And, you know, it's kind of refreshing a little bit to be able to get away from that and then also know that a lot of these people are doing something probably much more important than I'm doing and always puts into perspective. Daniel: You know, although, like, yeah, I can get paid a lot of money to do this. There are a lot of other, other things going on. And so, yeah, always having that perspective. That's awesome. Matt: Now, as we alluded to earlier, Spencer, I've got some very exciting ideas prepared and you're going to tell me if you think they're a good idea or a bad idea and why. And the first one is something the audience has not seen before. And it's a connection accepted beanie. Check this out. First ever seen on a show. Now, Spencer, do you like these hoodies or are you fading them or what? What do we have to change as the expert? Daniel: I like it. I like it. It looks solid. Logo, maybe I'd, maybe I'd change the logo just a little bit, but I'm thinking, I'm thinking how, but maybe a little bit. I think I'd go a little bit smaller on the logo. I think I'd go a little bit smaller on the logos. Matt: Okay. Well, that's my only. Next is a connection accepted hoodie with this logo is smaller because the manufacturer, we had to make it smaller. So I don't know whose manufacturer was on this thing. Daniel: I like that one. Oh. And if, if you want it, Spencer, we can drop it off at your hotel before you leave for Boston. A beanie and a hoodie. That's what that to keep you warm because we all know it's cold. Now, the next one is a little bit more serious, and I don't know if you saw the LinkedIn post about where someone sold patches on their wedding jacket to like a bunch of software companies. Matt: So the thought here is for one of your pregame fits Spencer, sell patches to a bunch of different companies and make some money there. Daniel: Yeah, I. Good idea if it's the companies that invested in them, then it'd be a good idea because my better ROI. Otherwise, you know, I, I think the fits are a, you know, people like NBA fits because it's kind of an expression of yourself. Everybody's so different. I mean, we have Bruce who's dressed in a country all the time. P.Y. does more street wear and stuff like that. And so, you know, you get to get a feel for people. So you take that away. You take, you know, you take away a, you know, a valuable point for fans to feel, you know, more connected to their players. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be, I wouldn't be for advertising that. Matt: Okay, maybe, maybe we'll fade that one then. What about Ghostwriters on LinkedIn? Is that a good idea or a bad idea? Daniel: You know, I'm all for authenticity. But I mean, look, if, if. I think you should have some input into what's what's being put out, um, for sure. Like it should feel like your voice is there, but I definitely see the reason to have, you know, some help, maybe, but there needs to be some sense of authenticity there. And like, like I said, the reason, another reason I like LinkedIn is like, you know, you can, it's not like Instagram where I have to photo edit and do all this stuff. TikTok as well. Daniel: Like you can just, you know, just write out what you're kind of thinking and it's pretty quick. So I think it's, I think it's doable for everybody to be somewhat authentic on the platform. I love that. The next idea is to change your personal title on LinkedIn to a controversial statement like I've done. And I'm sure you've seen with. a lot of my red boxes. So I'm curious if you think that's a good idea or a bad idea. Matt: Mmm, for me, I don't love the idea. Like, if you're, I like it if you're already well-known. If you're not, then like, like, like, for example, like, if I go through my connections requests, like, but there's so many, I rely on like that little bit of the title that I kind of get and everything like that. Um, you know, because I, like, I want to use my thing, like my LinkedIn connections as a Rolodex to refer back to, so I don't want to just like keep adding people aimlessly. Uh, so like I rely on kind of like what's put there and everything like that. So if you put a controversial statement and like, your name's not that well-known, I, I might just scroll past it versus like you put some clean stuff on, like, what you do, who you are and stuff like that, and maybe have that controversial statement under. Matt: I think, yeah, I think putting it, I definitely think it's not a bad idea to separate yourself, but you got to put like credentials and who you are, you know, like things that people would, you know, typically want to know about you first, and then put something on there. At least that's from my perspective. That makes sense. Daniel: And you got to be careful, Spencer. You can't accept everyone because LinkedIn has a connection request limit of 30,000. So I know you're getting up there in followers, so you're, you're getting close. Matt: That is a good thing to know. Thank you very much. Um, okay. Other quick LinkedIn trivia then. Do you know how many users are on LinkedIn? Daniel: Uh... What would be my guess? I don't know. Uh, 300, no, I don't know, I have no clue. 200 million? I don't know. Matt: 1.3 billion. Daniel: Oh wow. Oh wow. That's impressive. What percent of the U.S. has a LinkedIn account? Matt: Um... 40 percent. Daniel: 73. Matt: That's impressive. Daniel: All right. Matt: Okay. I bet most of them have probably seen your stuff too. A lot more users than I thought. Daniel: A lot more users than I thought. I mean, how many impressions does that post have? It's got to have a million. Matt: I haven't even checked. Um, shoot. I just know, I know, I know both notifications in my, um, network, so both said, you know, that 99 plus. So it's, it's, it's somewhere up there for sure. But we'll, we'll, we'll check and see. But, yeah, it's kind of going all over even Instagram now, right now. So it's gotta be up there. Daniel: You're a beast. Matt: I can't believe you're so disciplined to not check your impressions. I mean, I think that's the first thing I'd check up, check before I check my texts. I, I get pretty lost in it. I get pretty lost in it, then I'd forget to check my texts. So I got it for sure. I make sure it's the last thing I do before I go to bed at night. Before an NBA game though, are you listening to music or are you checking LinkedIn impressions? Like, you need that dopamine hit. Daniel: That's, that's, that's the opposite of when I need my, my dopamine hit. Uh, no, no, I'll listen. I'll listen to music sometimes, sometimes not. It kind of depends. I'm not, I don't like, like, you know, I'm not a very superstitious person, so I don't need a very clean, um, and direct, um, uh, pregame routine. I have, I have things that I definitely keep consistent and everything like that, but I kind of like the, you know, I kind of like to mess around with it sometimes depending on how I feel and stuff like that and, you know, feel like I can do that and still perform well. Um, so yeah, yeah. I'll, I'll only check the uh LinkedIn stuff, uh, either in the morning or late at night. Um, what about country music? You in or out on that one? Matt: I like country, I mean, I'm in Denver now. Teammates with Bruce. A few of my teammates, uh, uh, listen to country as well. They've got me into it. I'm, I'm, I'm slowly creeping. I'm slowly creeping up there. I've been to Red Rock, seen a couple. Matt: I, I forget the artist, but I've seen a couple of country concerts up there, so I'm in on it. I'm in. That plays. Daniel: Matt, uh, do you have any other questions? I feel like I've hogged this interview. Matt: I've had so many things I want to ask you, Spencer. I've been letting you run with it, Daniel. Yeah, I'm just curious, Spencer, like, if another NBA player or like one of your teammates comes to you and wants to, or is interested in starting to post on LinkedIn, what kind of advice do you give them? You just say, just start posting whatever or you have like tips that you, you typically give folks? Daniel: I would say one, like, figure out, you know, what's the end goal uh for you. Um, you know, what are you hoping to get out of it? Uh, is it, like, yeah, is it just to like, keep up with the network you ever, you already have? Is it to build um a network? What type of network are you um aiming to build? Like, what... You know, use it to use it to actually get you to think about, you know, what do you want to do after your, your career? Because that's the whole point of it. Um, I, you know, I think, I think um some things that kind of lose athletes that, you know, they go on and they're only talking about their sports career and, you know, how it blends with business and everything like that. And that's great, but like, dig, you know, go a little deeper in terms of, all right, that's cool. Daniel: What's next for you? Like, what Are you trying, like, what goal are you trying to get to? Because everybody on LinkedIn has a goal and everything like that. And, you know, if you're just talking about the past or, you know, what you've done, not exactly what you're going to, you're not going to get, um, you're not going to get a lot out of it. So that would be, that would be the biggest thing. Like, yes, as much as I'm talking about what's going on in the sport as well, half, more of my posts, or at least half, are also about, um, the tech investments I'm going into, what industries I'm trying to uh go into, whether that's, you know, now I'm doing a little dive in like neurotech investments and stuff like that, um, and other stuff. And so people can see like, oh, okay, this is the industries he's interested in, and now it's like, okay, among your connections, these people now know who they can connect you with and who should be reading your post and everything like that. And it's, it's funny that, like, yes, despite the basketball stuff being the most top-performing, the ones that have been the most self-serving are those more business posts where I'm being specific on, you know, what I'm talking about, whether it's, you know, the data or whatever new tech company I'm investing in or looking to invest in, or, you know, something different that's, you know, only serving a specific sector of my audience. Matt: That sector is going to be much more, you know, reactive and responsive to something like that because they know what I'm looking for. And so that's what I'd say. Like, it's not about, like I said, if it was about just gaining followers, I'd be on Instagram. Um, it's, you know, it's about getting the most out of, out of the uh out of the network you're trying to build. So. Daniel: That makes a ton of sense, Spencer. And I feel like one of the things that I've picked up on during our conversation is you're pretty thoughtful about why you're actually building this audience on LinkedIn. And I know in the beginning you told us the reason why you started was, you know, you just wanted to keep in touch with a lot of the people at Stanford. But over time, you know, you're also thinking ahead, post your basketball career, like, what do you want to do? And how can I set myself up best so that when that day does come, you know, you've already built up this massive network and you've already got the presence online and the opportunities are probably already just waiting for you. And it sounds like you're very interested in either investing or entrepreneurship, startups, that space. Is that generally the direction that you see your yourself headed post your basketball career? Matt: Yeah, yeah. There are three directions I kind of, I kind of see it taking. And one is that entrepreneurship sector where, like, look, I'm learning a lot. Daniel: Wow, Matt, it sounds like you've got a really solid plan and a lot of options. It's impressive how you're leveraging your current position and preparing for the future. How do you manage to balance all of these interests alongside your sports career? Matt: I'm curious for you as well, Spencer, you know, there's a lot of stuff going on, a lot on your plate right now. What's like the biggest challenge or is there anything that keeps you up at night right now as you think about, you know, basketball content, you know, this business stuff? What's like top of mind for you? I'm genuinely curious. Daniel: Um, I don't know. I mean, you know, naturally as you get more eyes on you, you know, it puts a little bit more pressure to perform on the basketball side. I mean, like, maybe a little bit, but then again, like, at this point in my career, kind of used to having eyes on you at some point and everything like that. Um, I guess like, you know, now that this is, you know, kind of blown up a little bit in the last couple of days, it's like, you know, like I said, the goal wasn't ever to be the LinkedIn NBA guy. It was just to kind of, you know, build what I wanted off the court and everything like that. So I don't know, you know, making sure I have a lid on, on kind of all this notoriety and, you know, make sure it doesn't turn into something that, you know, wasn't intended, um, from the beginning and everything like that. Like I, you know, I, I don't, although, yeah, I'm probably a content creator, I don't necessarily consider myself that. I'm just, you know, providing value to people who see it that way and building authentic connections. And, you know, if this is the byproduct, this is the byproduct. Matt: But just making sure that the byproduct doesn't turn into the main thing, I guess is the, hey, this is the only, uh, somewhat fear that kind of goes on, but I've got a handle on it so far. It's a great answer. Daniel, anything else from you? Otherwise, I think we probably wrap soon. Daniel: Spencer, you crushed it. Is there anything else you want to say to the audience that we didn't touch on? Matt: No, just get on LinkedIn. That'd pretty much be it. Daniel: That's the perfect way to end it. Thanks for coming on, Spencer. Matt: I appreciate you guys. Thanks for having me. Daniel: All right, Daniel. What just happened? Break it down. Matt: Dude, that was insane. We just had an NBA player on the show. We made connection accepted history. We showed merch. We haven't worn a suit for the first time. I've never showed my apartment kitchen for the first time. I mean, there were a lot of firsts, and that was an awesome episode. Daniel: I'm honestly still in shock. I was super impressed. I mean, first of all, the fact that he has the discipline to consistently post on LinkedIn while he's handling the basketball and the investments and all those different startups and everything else that's on his plate, I think it's super impressive. And I think the audience and myself included can take a lot away from this conversation, just in terms of how to create content that's good, but also just generally how to think about your career and hedging your bets. Matt: And man, so many, so many gems and bits and pieces that I'm excited to go back and re-watch that entire interview. Daniel: Me too. You know, we all joke about an NBA player being on LinkedIn, and I know that's gone viral a lot, but I have a lot of respect for Spencer to be on a two-way contract where he really doesn't know his future in the NBA. He is posting on LinkedIn, trying to gain a social media following, which he's done incredibly well. And he's investing. He's literally doing three more than full-time jobs and excelling at all of them on a high level. Like, if that's not inspiring to get you going in the new year, I don't know what will. Matt: I agree. If that doesn't at least light some inkling of a fire under your butt, then I don't know what will. I think this was an absolutely killer episode to kick off the new year. Connection accepted 2026. I mean, it's Tuesday, January 6th, as we're sitting here at 10 p.m., 10:30 p.m. on a Tuesday night and filming our first guest of 2026. But to me, it's just, it's a great sign. I think there's so much more to come on this podcast. And as you know, Daniel, we've got some other really, really great, solid guests lined up as well for the rest of the month. So I'm excited to see the learnings from them as well. But this one was an awesome episode. I was blown away by Spencer. Matt: I think he's got a good head on his shoulders, and he's definitely very forward-thinking about his career and very realistic mindset, I think, of hedging his bets around being on that dual track and still wanting to set himself up well, which is why he's doing the LinkedIn thing as a long-term play. But at the same time also, you know, being really open to doing things that can lead to really big upside, whether it's investing in startups, being super involved in that Silicon Valley, Stanford VC world, or posting content on LinkedIn. Spencer, thank you so much for coming on the show. To the audience that made it this far, thank you for listening. And we can't wait to continue Connection Accepted in the rest of the year. Stay tuned for more.