In honor of homecoming week, our Big Idea Blog is showing some Panther pride with a new article written by Pitt College of Business Administration alum and former student-athlete Michael Vardzel '19, Founder & President of AithELITE! In our latest blog post, learn how Mike used his experience as a student-athlete and passion for coaching to develop his sports tech startup. Also, Mike shares some sport-inspired lessons that influenced his approach to entrepreneurship.
I grew up in Charleston, SC in a large family that revolved around sports. When it came to deciding what college I was going to attend, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to play college football and one of my greatest decisions was picking to play at the University of Pittsburgh. Like most college students, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study. I liked numbers and business, so I ended up selecting to major in finance. Athletically, I was a wide receiver on the football team and even got to play two seasons with my younger brother, which made playing at Pitt even more special. Unfortunately, I had sustained back-to-back season-ending injuries in my sophomore and junior years. During that time, the coaching staff allowed me to be involved as a player coach. As I recovered from my injuries, I got great coaching experience. Ultimately, I discovered that I really enjoyed coaching and wanted to pursue it as a career. Fast-forwarding a few years, I graduated from Pitt as a football letterman and Summa Cum Laude, as well as being named to the prestigious Hampshire Honor Society by the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.
When I graduated, COVID just broke out and there were hiring freezes across the country. As a result, my path to becoming a college football coach was put on pause. One day, I was sitting with my father out on our dock talking about business and sports. I was asking him about his life sciences businesses and how I could do something similar but with sports. During my playing career, I had a lot of teammates and friends that had transferred in to and out of Pitt. Overall, the biggest problem they faced was that they needed help in finding a new school and making sure it was the right fit for them. Over the next few months, I started building out the first half of my business idea which focused on matching student athletes to schools that fit them athletically, academically, and socially.
While this was happening, I was also coaching at my high school alma mater (where I got to coach my youngest brother during his senior year). A few months later, I got the opportunity to coach college football at Wofford College, a smaller Division I school in South Carolina. I had various titles, from being a Quality Control Coach working with wide receivers to running the tight end room and then coaching the running backs. As a coach, I realized that coaches’ days are long and I wanted to figure out a way to help them save time in their busy schedule. This is where I developed the other side of my business idea which provided a time-saving solution for coaches. Now with a fully-baked idea in my mind, I made the decision to step away from coaching and a few job offers to create my company, AithELITE.
At AithELITE, we combine college athletics and artificial intelligence (AI) to help de-risk major decisions made by universities and student-athletes. Our team consists of former college coaches and players who want to make a difference by helping both audiences. I have to say, it’s been very interesting learning about AI and all that it can do. As we bring on team members with extensive experience in predictive models and machine learning, exciting ideas are coming to life as we continue to grow. However, with growth comes its lessons. A lot of the lessons I learned while starting this company are very similar to lessons learned while playing a college sport.
Right off the bat, having the right team with the right culture is a must. Just like in sports, there are long, difficult days, but having a team that persists through the challenges to continue to build what we believe in makes it worth it. The team we have in place at AithELITE works well together and has been putting in a lot of time and effort, similar to how a well-oiled sports team operates.
Another important lesson is to have the right mentorship in place and take their advice to heart. We have great advisors and fortunately for me, my father is one of them. He is an invaluable resource; getting advice from him and being able to use him as a sounding board has been greatly beneficial.
One piece of advice that I would give to any Pitt student is to take advantage of the opportunities Pitt has. You never know where life takes you -- honestly, I never thought I would be doing this! Pitt has a lot of great resources, especially the Big Idea Center which has been great to us and has provided a ton of support. Also, be intentional about growing your network because your connections could help you in ways you could never imagine.
While running AithELITE, it’s been a pleasure meeting with other major universities across the nation and their athletic departments and coaches. I’m thankful that the University of Pittsburgh has been supporting us from both the athletic and academic sides of the institution. I’m excited to continue to grow my business and see where our predictive models grow.
As for the City of Pittsburgh, it’s proven to be a great place for our company to grow. It’s the perfect combination of a proud sports town and a leader in artificial intelligence. We’ve received great assistance from the universities within the city and are excited to use the resources given to us. In the next few years, we believe our technology will not only be a staple across high school and collegiate athletic departments but also a strong support service to student athletes.