In the fall of 2023 our lean and invigorated team at Autograph was preparing to launch our new fandom rewards platform…from scratch.

The goal was to “reward people for their fandom” by creating an all-in-one sports news & content platform that tracked user activity and rewarded fans with points for their “acts of fandom.”

Think: airline miles or credit card points, but for being a sports fan.

If you’re a member of the Autograph Community, you know what I’m talking about.

Say you’re a Lakers fan. Every time you read an article, listen to your favorite podcast, or watch team highlights on the app, you earn coins. Then, redeem those coins for exclusive prizes, discounts, or experiences.

Pretty cool concept, but how do you start?

The First Team: Michigan

We chose the Michigan Wolverines as our first fan community.

Why?

• Tom Brady (co-founder) is an alum

• Multiple Autograph team members were alums or had deep ties

• The Wolverines were stacked with talent & experience - primed for a huge season

• The fanbase is one of the largest & most devoted in the country

A potent potion if you ask me.

Our sights were set on Ann Arbor, literally and figuratively. Over the next few weeks we called, cold-emailed, dm’d, and zoom’d every Michigan writer and podcaster we could find. Our partnerships lead had a connection to the head of their new NIL collective, which gave us some street cred on the ground.

The pitch was simple: we want to reward your readers and listeners for their Michigan fandom. You get a new targeted distribution channel, we’ll pay you for referrals, and you’ll get better insights into your top fans.

Speaking of the fans, they got all their favorite Michigan content in one place and they got rewarded for their daily consumption habits.

A win-win.

The Ground Game

When you work at a tech startup, you hear a lot of phrases:

“Do things that don’t scale” is undoubtedly one of the most common.

In this case, you absolutely have to put in the time to nurture relationships, establish trust, and build authenticity.

It’s all too easy to pitch a few podcasters for one team and move right on to the next. After all, an app for just one team isn’t gonna cut it.

But that’s just not how this works, and it isn’t how we’d want to do things anyway.

I come from a hospitality background - designing 6 figure travel itineraries for clientele that I spent years getting to know. Everybody, from a millionaire on safari to a lifelong Michigan blogger, to a young fan saving up for the playoffs, deserves white glove service.

That’s why our Autograph team flew out to Ann Arbor to meet everyone in the Michigan media community. Not once, but twice, before we launched the app.

The first trip was jam-packed with meetings: learning how we could help these creators (die-hard fans themselves) and sharing our goals for the app.

The second trip, well, thats where the fun begins.

After weeks of fine-tuning the app and getting our Michigan friends on board, we were ready for our final push to launch.

Our gratitude for our new friends and partners was immense. They took time out of their busy schedules to share their stories, experiences, and feedback with us so we could build the best platform possible for their loyal audience of fans.

We wanted to give thanks, and what better way to do that than to break bread…

The Chop House

If you’ve been to Ann Arbor you might be familiar with the Chop House, a classic steak joint right on Main Street. Downstairs they have a private room decked out with Michigan memorabilia: signed team photos, jerseys, and vintage gear from Schembechler to Harbaugh. I mean, it’s called the Lloyd Carr room.

With the perfect location set, we invited everyone to a private dinner.

This wasn’t just dinner. This was a meeting of the minds!

This was every big Michigan writer, podcaster, and NIL Collective member (frenemies?) all coming together under one roof to celebrate the community launch and realize our vision to revolutionize sports fandom.

A few “white glove” details:

• We sent personal invitations to each guest (I love those posters of dogs playing poker, so I used ai to re-create it with wolverines eating dinner.)

• We had a seating chart and individual name cards

• Everyone got their own personal food order

It truly was a glorious night.

Great company. Fat steaks. Good grapes. You name it.

Of course, we had a few tricks up our sleeves to close the deal…

The 🐐 Tom Brady zoomed in. We had to do it. We kept it under wraps until everyone was seated, and when the big screen stopped working, we passed the computer around to each guest so Tom could say hi and personally thank them for their support.

These guys were so stoked. I don’t care who you are, that’s a cool moment and one I’ll never forget.

I know you’re thinking: Sure, it’s easy to get Michigan fans on your side when you’ve got Tom Brady…but I will not apologize for using everything at our disposal!

The Highlight of the Night

As the night was coming to close, we couldn’t send everyone home without a personal gift. Something unique and thoughtful. It had to be good. I mean, how do you follow Tom Brady?

This is where the fun really kicked in for me. What is something Michigan-related I could get these guys that they don’t already have?

That’s when it hit me.

Remember that dinner invitation? I spent hours playing with ai, learning how to prompt and edit images. I finally got those Wolverines around an old tavern-style table for dinner, but what if I made them actually resemble each dinner guest?

Bingo.

Custom, ai-generated Wolverines for each of our partners, made in their likeness. It might sound a bit far-fetched reading it, but trust me when I say the room was howling when we started handing them out (this was 2023…imagine them now!).

Some examples:

Although I felt pretty good about these custom prints (each guest got to take theirs home), I didn’t anticipate just how much they would resonate.

Sam Webb even threw his in his studio!

The Takeaway

Michigan went on to win the CFP Championship that year.

In 2025, The Michigan community is still the largest and most engaged on the Autograph platform, and I can’t help but credit this to ai wolverines.

I kid, but you can understand why the community is so strong.

It’s clear that the output matches the input, and we poured all of our effort into building with the Michigan Community…the right way. We knew our platform would never take off without a solid foundation - one built on authenticity, trust, and human connection.

Simply put: take the time to do things “that don’t scale”. The little moments and experiences generated from genuine interest, curiosity, and mutual respect will yield beautiful fruit both personally and professionally.

Thanks for reading,

RP