Alistair Gosling, "Mr Extreme", A 25 Year Journey

Key Highlights

1. Al talks about how he got into the business of Extreme Sports thru his passion for that type of Sports in his youth
2. How he felt Dyslexia has helped him to be mentally tough and ready for a role as an Entrepreneur
3. How the business was scaled and the first big break thru launching the Extreme Sports Channel with UPC as investor (raising US$ 35 million)
4. Al talks us thru the different facets of the business now, selling the channel to Liberty Media and focusing on building the “Extreme” brand
5. New digital media space, short form content, new revenue streams (10 year journey)
6. Extreme Events and Marcus’ story about “Danny Way - Great Wall of China Jump” (2005)
7. Al goes into details on the new projects in Saudi Arabia and his role developing Extreme Sports in the Kingdom (Tourism Vision for the country)
8. Key Learning from his 25 years, all about People, having the right team and how to manage them
9. His thoughts on institutional investors, dealing with them, legal challenges at times (when to fight and when to talk)
10. What Private Equity investors can bring to an entrepreneurial company
11. “Extreme sports” 25 years ago, where it is now and future (experiential)
12. His view on Esports (and his dogs view on it) and parallels to Extreme sports

About

Alistair Gosling is a seasoned entrepreneur and investor with over 25 years of experience spanning media, marketing, events and large scale sport and leisure destination development. Always armed with a ‘Can Do’ attitude, Alistair is the driving force behind The Extreme Sports Company and holds overall responsibility for the strategic direction, critical decisions and management of the business.

Initially focused on the fast-paced media sector, Alistair built a world-leading TV distribution company, then in 1998, aged 27, he saw a gap in the market and had the vision for the EXTREME brand franchise and The Extreme Sports TV Channel. He partnered with UPC and Liberty Media, raised $35m and went on to launch the brand in over 60 counties around the world.

Today backed by Kleinwort Hambros and Soc Gen banks Alistair is working alongside brilliant teams building EXTREME across media and marketing, events and arenas, destinations and resorts, and is operating between London, Riyadh and Dubai.

He is honoured and privileged to be on the International advisory board of Qiddiya, ة القدية للاستثمار the 334-square-km sports, entertainment and cultural destination being developed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is a supporter of Medshr.net the award-winning medical network that is helping save lives through peer to peer learning between doctors. Alistair is a passionate sailor, skier, pilot, dive master and significant supporter of several global marine conservation projects.