E1H: The Sports & Entertainment Entrepreneurs Podcast
Oct 22, 2026 · 1 hr · 14 segments
Fifteen years ago, former GB 800m runner Gareth Balch co-founded Two Circles around a kitchen table. Today it's a global sports marketing business with more than 1,000 people in 10 offices, working…
Gareth BalchGuestJamie CunninghamHostI always look at you and think that your starting point, when I first came across Two Circles, when we were sort of running a sports marketing agency, is that you were the why agency.
The words we use internally are that we always wanted to be thinkers and doers.
And we believe that there was a scientific approach to how you could deconstruct the industry and pull it back together and make it bigger for your interests.
The industry... historically was a who you know industry and we felt there was a future to make it a what you know industry
and you do that by thinking hard about what drives fandom what drives people to love something and then how do you make that something that they love to to spend their time and money on and it wasn't ever done before and then To do that, we've then got to be a technology company and we've got to be a content creation company.
We've got to be a great company at being able to transact around all those things that come with that.
And so that thinker and doer characteristic of us was something from the very outset 15 years ago when we started.
It was like, we are always going to think hard about this industry, but we're always going to work harder to deliver that in the doing of the ideas that we think are good for the growth of the industry.
We've certainly tried to build an industry we think is fit for the future of an industry we care a lot about.
And I mean, obviously, there's some interesting pieces there, because ultimately, you know, data and the science, but actually, it's about the delivery and the art.
And that's always been, I've always found it an interesting part of the journey of, you know, I think, for a lot of clients, they want to make sponsorship a science, because that feels comfortable.
I always look at you and think that your starting point, when I first came across Two Circles, when we were sort of running a sports marketing agency, is that you were the why agency.
The words we use internally are that we always wanted to be thinkers and doers.
And we believe that there was a scientific approach to how you could deconstruct the industry and pull it back together and make it bigger for your interests.
The industry... historically was a who you know industry and we felt there was a future to make it a what you know industry
and you do that by thinking hard about what drives fandom what drives people to love something and then how do you make that something that they love to to spend their time and money on and it wasn't ever done before and then To do that, we've then got to be a technology company and we've got to be a content creation company.
We've got to be a great company at being able to transact around all those things that come with that.
And so that thinker and doer characteristic of us was something from the very outset 15 years ago when we started.
It was like, we are always going to think hard about this industry, but we're always going to work harder to deliver that in the doing of the ideas that we think are good for the growth of the industry.
We've certainly tried to build an industry we think is fit for the future of an industry we care a lot about.
And I mean, obviously, there's some interesting pieces there, because ultimately, you know, data and the science, but actually, it's about the delivery and the art.
And that's always been, I've always found it an interesting part of the journey of, you know, I think, for a lot of clients, they want to make sponsorship a science, because that feels comfortable.
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