Brando Babini started a company at 16 because the thing he needed didn't exist. Five years later he's running it from a train seat between Brown and Brooklyn — 1,000 players, a Nike partnership, and 30 million views he shot and edited himself. This one's about how he actually does it.
Brando is 21, still finishing his degree, and building Youth 4 Youth FC into one of the largest player-led soccer organizations in the country. He spotted the gap from his own playing career — no mentor, no one who'd walked the path ahead of him — and built the thing he wished he'd had. The 2026 World Cup is on U.S. soil right now and the whole country's suddenly paying attention to soccer. Strip the sport out, though, and you've still got the more interesting story: a Gen Z operator running a real company while most people his age are still picking a major.
What We Get Into
- Spotting a gap from lived experience and building the company you wished existed at 16
- Running an eight-state operation while taking the Amtrak back to class twice a week — the "drop-in," not the dropout
- Turning 30 million organic views into 4,000 player applications — and what to do when that engine slows down
- Landing a Nike partnership as a young, unproven founder
- The mission-vs-profit tension: building real access without building a handout
- Going need-blind by design — so the best kid plays whether his family can pay or not
- Scaling by "mega sub-regions" instead of chasing franchise growth
- Teaching 13-year-olds to represent themselves — agency as the actual product
Chapters
- 00:00 — The drop-in: running a company between Providence and New York
- 01:30 — Starting at 16, and the gap he was trying to close
- 03:45 — When the pro dream faded and the founder showed up
- 04:30 — The question that runs everything: "what do I wish existed?"
- 21:00 — Access without a handout: the mission-vs-profit tension
- 26:00 — Why profit incentives aren't the enemy, and going need-blind
- 33:00 — Teaching agency: parents, players, and an internal locus of control
- 50:00 — 30 million views, 4,000 applications, and rebuilding the funnel
- 52:00 — The Nike street-soccer project he's directing this week
- 58:00 — Rapid fire: the GOAT, the Prem, and a 2026 World Cup read
This first aired on SportsEpreneur. For the full sports-business take — youth soccer pathways, college recruiting, and pay-to-play — listen to the original conversation there.
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Entrepreneur Perspectives is a podcast about leaders think right now. No prep. No rehearsed answers. Just real conversations about what’s on their mind when the mic goes on.
Hosted by Eric Kasimov, founder of KazSource and creator of QuietLoud Studios, the show features founders, creatives, operators, and curious minds — all sharing what they’re working through, building toward, or rethinking in real time.
I’m Eric, and I ask people what they’re seeing from where they stand — in this moment.