Open your mind to what's possible
Your game plan
Athlete founders game
the game plan
Discover business ideas, which ones will give you a real shot, and which quietly set you up to fail. Build a first working version of your idea using the latest AI tools. Learn from 4 mentors with four completely different blueprints.
Networking & mentorship
Twenty athletes from different sports, active and retired, careers short and long. All sharing one hunger: to create their own business instead of taking a 9-to-5. Two days to connect, learn, and build together.
VIBRANT startup city
The game takes place at Ghent's Wintercircus, in a city ranked top 20 globally for a strong innovation network. Compete in the startup arena by day. Bond with athletes in the medieval city by night.
You don't need the perfect idea. Just the first step.
While elite athletes have the perfect profile, many don't succeed as entrepreneurs
I studied 1,000+ of them. Three mistakes keep showing up:
- Copy-paste ideas. Most launch nearly identical companies. Only a handful actually win.
- No focus. Most try to do too much at once. The ones who win pick one thing and dominate.
- Yesterday's playbook. Most are unprepared for the AI and robotics decade already rewriting the rules.
This game is for active or retired elite athletes, whether their careers were short or long, who want to make or build things instead of working a 9-to-5 job
Passion project, INTRAPRENEUR or all-in founder. This game works for all three.
We've mapped 30+ industries from 1,000+ athlete founder stories. Whether you have an idea or not, you'll stress test it against real companies already launched: what worked, what didn't, and where each industry is heading.
Some of the industries we cover:
- Keynote speaking
- Sports equipment
- Sports clubs and academies
- …and 27 more
Come with an idea, or come to find one.
two days. Three moves.
- Learn: From 4 mentors who lived it. From an Athlete Founder expert who studied 1,000+ founder stories that has never been done before.
- Open your mind: take advantage of easy to use tools, based on the most complete database of ideas, to get a new fresh perspective on what is possible as an athlete
- Build: Stress test your idea against real businesses build by athletes and understand why they succeeded or failed. Use the latest AI tools to build a first working version
Join for one or two days. Your call.
Learn from the past. Anticipate the future.
It is built on the analysis of over 1,000 real athlete founder stories — their successes, their failures, their patterns — studied through podcast data. Nobody else has done this work.
The game compresses three types of insight:
- The past. What 1,000+ athlete founders got right and wrong.
- The future. Where each industry is heading, and what's about to be obsolete.
- The doing. Every insight applied immediately to your own idea.
Walk away 10 steps ahead.
The best place to turn your athlete experience into concrete ideas.
Athlete Founders Game helps athletes discover new ideas:
- Through our unique database, you will open your mind to the most original ideas developed by athletes, born from their lived experience as athletes
- A research partner will also present patent-protected idea opportunities within athlete domains, for which they are looking for a founder to bring them to market.
You could be the one to build it.
launch and compete in a startup arena
Build together in the ultimate startup arena at Wintercircus, one of Europe's most iconic startup hubs in Ghent, where startups, investors, education all come together. Ghent is ranked by Dealroom in global top 20 for innovation density. This is the perfect place to bring together the worlds of athletes and startups.
MENTORSHIP FROM experienced athlete founders
Ann Wauters
Elite Basketball Career
Ann Wauters was the first Belgian female basketball player in the WNBA, as well as the number one pick by the New York Liberty. She had a phenomenal career in women's basketball across both Europe and the USA. After retiring following the 2021 Olympics, Ann transitioned into coaching, serving as assistant coach for the Chicago Sky in the WNBA from 2022–2023.
Athlete Founder Career
Ann Wauters is also a pioneer in Belgium when it comes to her Athlete Founder story. She began her Athlete Founder career through keynotes and workshops, has written multiple books drawing on her own experience and how it can inspire people in business, and launched Assist, a mentor matchmaking platform connecting young athletes with experienced mentors. She is now also launching an e-learning solution called Teamship, designed to help companies improve how their teams work together.
Athlete Founders Game
Ann Wauters will be our first guest athlete founder mentor on the first day of the game event. She will offer clear insights on how former elite athletes can get started on the business ventures she has pursued.
Felix Denayer
Elite Field Hockey Player
Felix Denayer is a legendary Belgian field hockey midfielder who was the captain of the Belgian Red Lions, leading the team to Olympic Silver in 2016 and Gold in 2020. Denayer retired from international hockey after the Paris 2024 Olympics, his fifth Games, capping a 17-year senior career. He still plays at Belgian club level.
Athlete Founder Career
The reason why we invited Felix to become a mentor at our event is to show a less traditional blueprint on how you can be an entrepreneur. Instead of launching a company himself, he joined as a late co-founder in an existing startup called Naked Hockey, where he was involved in the strategy, business and product development, and where there was a strong fit between Felix's profile and this venture. Next to this, he has also worked as a Chief of Staff within a thriving scale-up, which gave him a more intrapreneurial role.
Felix is a clear and inspiring example of how you can find your founder-venture fit by joining existing startup founders that match well with your profile. This will be especially interesting for athletes who are curious to become an athlete founder by joining existing founders instead of launching their own venture.
Athlete Founders Game
Felix will be our guest mentor on the second day in the morning. Felix Denayer is perhaps one of the biggest names in field hockey on a global scale. Yet, Felix also has a very inspiring story to tell on his athlete founder journey so far.
Brent Luyckx
Elite Cycling Career
Brent Luyckx was a promising road cyclist who showed early talent in the junior and U23 ranks. He competed actively from 2012 to 2015, racing primarily in Belgian and international events. As a young pro, Luyckx dealt with severe health challenges: he collapsed twice from heat exhaustion/stroke during races, and around 2015, he was diagnosed with debilitating Crohn's disease after years of misdiagnoses. It eventually led him to quit his elite career after a few years, yet this was also the start of his journey towards becoming an entrepreneur.
Athlete Founder Career
Through his own experience, he was able to manage his condition better through trial and error and to work much more effectively with data, including historical health records. He first launched 4Gold, a supplement startup together with 2 other founders, one of whom is Mathieu Van der Poel, one of the biggest names in cycling. He eventually exited 4Gold and decided to focus on Superhlth, a digital health startup that incorporates his own experience in dealing with personal health challenges.
Athlete Founders Game
Brent will be our guest athlete founder mentor on the first day of the game event. The reason we invited Brent is that his founder-venture story is extremely inspirational, to say the least.
Brent is an excellent example of an athlete founder who turned a key problem he experienced as an athlete into a business opportunity. He learned how to solve it and decided to launch a company around it. His founder-venture fit is obvious — almost every element of his story makes sense, which explains why he has been able to build such an inspiring company.
Anthony Swolfs
Elite Football Career
Anthony Swolfs is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Belgian and Dutch clubs. At 23, he decided to retire from football despite being part of the first team with a promising transfer on the horizon. He saw greater possibilities in trading and investments and chose to focus entirely on this new chapter.
Athlete Founder Career
He found myself in a world nobody had prepared him for. He left football and started a business, but he knew little about money, not taught in school, and certainly not in the locker room. He blindly trusted the wrong people. A bad accountant costed him between €50,000 and €100,000. Then he lost money in crypto, not because the system failed, but because he followed his emotions instead of my plan. From those mistakes, he founded Archer Academy. He saw that almost nobody had access to honest, complete knowledge about trading and investing. Today he manages over €20 million with Archer and has a very successful academy helping people based on what he could have used himself at 20.
Athlete Founders Game
We decided to go with Anthony as he is a clear and inspiring example of how you can also find a founder-venture fit outside of the usual domains that athletes launch companies in, which are sport, nutrition & well-being.
Anthony Swolfs will be our guest athlete founder mentor on the second day in the afternoon of the game event.
Where athletes can inspire each other from different sports
Athlete Founders Game is the only event in Europe where athletes from different sports and countries collaborate on new ideas within the sports environment, backed by evidence on how well athletes perform as founders in each business model, with one requirement: start building.
Take the first step, leave 10 steps ahead
If you're a retired athlete, especially one forced out too soon, you know exactly what this feels like. There is an undeniable void, and then, slowly, the fire. Your mission within the sports world is not over.
That fire is an asset. It is the same competitive drive that made you elite. Athletes who channel it well become formidable founders, yet it's easier said than done, and many settle for more accessible opportunities.
This event exists to make that first step easier. And you won't just take one step, you'll leave 10 steps ahead, in just two days.
bonding in a vibrant medieval city
Bonding is central to this event, together with other athletes who are on the same journey as you. Ghent is a hidden gem in Europe with many bars, restaurants, beautiful streets, and boat trips to enjoy during or after the game. This is an ideal reunion for former teammates, classmates, and rivals, or a great chance to meet new people.
Timeline Athlete founders game
Breakfast at the Wintercircus & introduction Athlete Founders Game
Interactive discussion with Ann Wauters, Felix Denayer on their journey
From Athlete to Founder: Key Lessons from 1,000+ Real Cases
Lunch Break at Wintercircus
Interactive discussion with Brent Luyckx, Anthony Swolfs on their journey
AI for Athlete Founders: how to position yourself in a changing landscape.
Restaurant in the center & evening walk
Breakfast at Wintercircus
Presentation of patented-protected business ideas for athlete founders
Discover your own idea or in team via Athlete Founders Database
Lunch & Tour in Wintercircus
Disrupt the idea you decide with all new technological solutions
Game ends
Breakfast at Wintercircus
Challenge 5: Build your website + breaks
Lunch at Wintercircus
Extra time for building your website
Pitch Event with experienced founders + Winner
Closing reception with Food & Drinks in Wintercircus
APPLICATION STEPS
In case of any questions, contact us at info@athletefounders.eu
call to discuss fit
Admission Results & payment
founder profile
Join for 1 or 2 days, your choice
Can't make both days? Join for the day that suits you best.
1 day ticket
This is included:
- 1 day access to business game in Wintercircus
- 4 inspirational Athlete Founder speakers (30/11)
- Access to database of 1,000+ Athlete Founders (01/12)
- Top notch catering & bar assortment included
- Iconic location for networking
- Exclusive access to patent ideas (01/12)
Not included:
- Evening dinner 30/11
This is included:
- 1 day access to business game in Wintercircus
- 4 inspirational Athlete Founder speakers (30/11)
- Access to database of 1,000+ Athlete Founders (01/12)
- Top notch catering & bar assortment included
- Iconic location for networking
- Exclusive access to patent ideas (01/12)
Not included:
- Evening dinner 30/11
2 day tickets
This is included:
- 2 day access to business game in Wintercircus
- 4 inspirational Athlete Founder speakers
- Access to database of 1,000+ Athlete Founders
- Top notch catering & bar assortment included
- Iconic location for networking
- Exclusive access to patent ideas
Not included:
- Accommodation 30/11
- Evening dinner 30/11
This is included:
- 2 day access to business game in Wintercircus
- 4 inspirational Athlete Founder speakers
- Access to database of 1,000+ Athlete Founders
- Top notch catering & bar assortment included
- Iconic location for networking
- Exclusive access to patent ideas
- Accommodation 30/11
Not included:
- Evening dinner 30/11
Passion for the athlete world & entrepreneurship
At 16, I realised becoming a pro basketball player wasn't going to happen. It left a void. My connection to the athlete world was suddenly gone, and I had no idea what to do with it.
So I moved on. I spent 5 years as a business strategist helping multinationals identify the innovations that would matter in 5 to 10 years. The next 3, I spent building my own business. I was enjoying the autonomy, but something was always missing.
Two years ago, I returned to that void. I started studying 1,000+ athletes turned entrepreneurs, talking to them, learning from them. And a painful truth emerged: athletes have the ideal entrepreneurial profile, yet too many fail, not because of lack of drive, but because no one gave them the right head start.
That's why I created Athlete Founders Game. Everything I learned in 10 years of business, combined with 1,000+ real athlete founder cases, distilled into two days so you don't have to figure it out alone.
Andres Vanryckeghem
Frequently asked questions
Belgium, Ghent in The Wintercircus: November 30 - December 01, 2026
Type of Athlete:
- People who aimed at becoming a pro athlete but just did not make the final cut yet are still eager to use this fire
- Elite Athletes who had a short-lived career
- Elite Athletes who had a long-lived career
- From any sport or country (it will be in English)
The only requirement: have a clear motivation and be curious to get started as an entrepreneur or to become independent
We define entrepreneurship in the broadest sense
- Self-employed (individual)
- Startup (grow a team)
- Intrapreneurship (work in an entrepreneurial role at a company)
- Join a startup as a late founder
Schedule call via "Apply Now": during the call we have an honest conversation about your motivation, your starting point and what you would like to achieve. Based on this we can both figure out if the game is the right solution for this.
Receive a final confirmation: at the end of the call, if there is a good match, you will receive an invitation to confirm your spot
Confirm your spot: by email or message, confirm your sport, you will receive an invoice and once payment is confirmed, you are official part of this unique program
Short answer: no you don't need a business idea to participate in this game. The whole purpose is for you to take the first step in discovering ideas.
If you already have an idea: this game will be relevant you if you are not convinced by your current idea or you want to future-proof your idea.
Payments can be made by credit card or bank transfer based on an invoice you will receive. Installment options are not available.
We work with Yalo Hotels, a 5-minute walk from the Wintercircus. We can offer you a 10% discount, depending on room availability. Other good options nearby:
- Hotel NH Collection Ghent (12 mins walk)
- Jam Hotel (15 mins walk)
- Ghent Marriott Hotel (15 mins walk)
By train: The nearest train station (2.1-kilometer walk) is Ghent-Sint-Pieters. From the station, you can either take a taxi or public transportation such as tram 1 toward Evergem and get off at Plateaustraat to reach the Wintercircus.
By plane: The closest airport is Brussels Airport (BRU) - 56.3 kilometers from Ghent. Trains are available from the airport to Sint-Pieters station (about 1 hour and 41 minutes).
The Athlete Founder Game includes a 30-day money-back guarantee, starting from the transaction date (the day of purchase, not the day of application). Refunds will be processed within 14 days after a valid request and will be sent back to your bank account.
We invited 4 Athlete Founder mentors who each have a different athlete background, entrepreneurial blueprint and starting point
Andres is the mentor related to everything of learnings on how athlete founders build businesses through his own study
In partnership with
