Sir Michael Moritz’s sixth sense for investing made him a multi-billionaire, so when he gives a rare interview and talks up the trajectory of one of his latest ventures, the T100 Triathlon World Tour, it seems smart to listen.
The Welshman, 70, was among the first to believe in the potential of the tour and backed it in its very early stages, much as he did with Apple, Google, PayPal, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Airbnb – bets which earned him legendary status in venture capital circles.
Almost five years on, Moritz was on hand in Dubai this month to watch the conclusion of the first T100 season proper and, having overcome the disruption of a pandemic, is bullish about its prospects of proving to be another canny investment.
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What is the T100 Triathlon World Tour?
“What struck me about it was the fact that there was a sport that had the idea of redefining itself; a sport that had appealed to a certain number of people, but was coming up with a proposition that would make it attractive in two ways,” he tells City AM.
“One, as a much more compelling spectator sport, and secondly, as a much more compelling participation sport. This was an opportunity to create a brand new league and own the league, and therefore shape its entire trajectory, in partnership with the participants.
“And I thought that perhaps we would be at the beginning of what potentially could be a sport that was very little known, that we would bring to a much bigger audience and have a far greater number of participants.
“I know there were a lot of sceptics at the beginning, but I think we’re now proving the case that actually we were correct – or the founders and collectively, the people involved early on were correct – about those assumptions.”
San Francisco resident Moritz and the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) borrowed a trick from Silicon Valley by sharing equity in the tour with athletes and global broadcast partner Warner Bros Discovery.
It has helped attract the likes of Kristian Blummenfelt, Alistair Brownlee, Lucy Charles-Barclay and Flora Duffy and provide a platform for T100’s made-for-TV, 100km format to rival Ironman as the pre-eminent triathlon series.
“When you think about a business, you’ve got to check all the boxes before the profits that will flow. You never put revenue and profits first or shareholder returns first. Those always come as a result of doing the other things,” says Moritz.
“It attracts the world’s best athletes competing in destination places around the wall. That’s number one. Number two, those athletes attract a sizable broadcast audience. Three, they attract lots of amateur participants. Four, this cadre, this coterie of people, attract sponsors.
“If we do all of those things, then it works very well as an investment. I think that’s what success looks like. And we’re well along.”
Why investor Moritz is doubling down on T100
Moritz credits the PTO leadership with getting the T100 tour on its feet, in particular CEO Sam Renouf, a former triathlete himself, and chair Chris Kermode, previously president of the ATP Tour in men’s tennis.
“If my ineptitude had been allowed to guide the premise, we wouldn’t be anywhere. All of the credit belongs to the team who have gone on this journey against all odds, like so many startup companies,” he says.
Moritz is in regular contact with the board, however, as they plot a possible expansion of the T100 tour’s seven-race calendar, which currently also calls in London, Ibiza, Miami, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Singapore.
“We communicate frequently and on all sort of larger questions about the direction we want to take the business, about how we think it will roll out over the next three to four years, what the important business goals are, and the targets and benchmarks we’re setting ourselves. I’m very current on all that stuff,” he says.
The T100 Triathlon World Tour calls in seven cities, including Ibiza, London and Las Vegas
A measure of Moritz’s involvement and confidence in the tour is that he is taking part in the latest funding round, both by investing capital and helping to sell the vision to potential partners.
While in Dubai he discussed T100 at an event that also included owners of Premier League teams, Goldman Sachs bankers and leading figures from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
An ardent watcher of Manchester United and cricket, Moritz is also a keen cyclist and swimmer but had no formal connection to triathlon before backing it though his vehicle Crankstart Investments.
He prefers it that way, considering it “dangerous” to mix fandom and business. “It doesn’t matter whether you happen to have a lifelong devotion to ice cream, or you’re partial to a particular sport. It’s easy for your emotions to get ahead of your business brain,” he says.
Moritz on Ferguson, Man Utd and Ratcliffe
Moritz was part of the Sequoia Capital team that provided early backing for Strava, the wearable tech company which shares a similar, affluent target audience with triathlon and the mass-participation events that take place alongside the T100 tour’s elite races.
“The demographic that participates in triathlons is obviously fairly well-heeled, has a huge amount of spending power and therefore is attractive to sponsors who want to tap into those communities,” he says.
Moritz is close to Sir Alex Ferguson, with whom he wrote a 2015 book about leadership, although he has not yet attempted to convert the legendary former Manchester United manager to triathlon.
“I actually went to the Leicester City game with him [this month], which was a fantastic 3-0 thumping of Leicester in a stadium that was bubbling with excitement,” he says. “But we tend to talk more about football and things than cycling, swimming and running. I admire him tremendously. I’m very fond of him and relish being in his company.”
Moritz is friends with Sir Alex Ferguson but not minded to follow Sir Jim Ratcliffe and invest in Manchester United
Fellow British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe took his own love of the club to its natural conclusion by buying an influential minority stake at Old Trafford but Moritz has no interest in following in the Ineos tycoon’s footsteps.
“I have always been much more interested in investing in businesses that didn’t really exist before founders came up with the idea,” he says. “I admire the way in which Sir Jim has taken the reins at United. I think that’ll be wonderful for everybody. But I’m far more partial to working on ideas that emerge from the cradle.”