We bet you’ve never heard this story before: a twitter page, turned apparel brand, turned sports management agency. This is the story of the founder and CEO of PG Sports, Paul Guarino.
Paul is a 28-year-old entrepreneur from West Haven, Connecticut who’s always held an immense passion for sports. As a sophomore in college, he decided he’d start teaching himself everything about the business behind the sports industry. In 2011, he started a Twitter page under the name PG Sports, where he’d update followers about important news within the industry. He also went ahead and created a simple logo for his brand, along with a few basic merchandise tees. As the follower count grew and the brand obtained higher interest on the platform, Guarino decided he’d need to up the ante.
He then went ahead and created a full-blown merchandise line created specifically for athletes and sports fanatics like himself. In attempts to grow his brand, Guarino would reach out to professional athletes and offer them gear in exchange for a post on their social media of them wearing it. PG Sports gained traction quickly, and before long, hundreds of athletes were repping the well-known brand.
Guarino began to establish relationships with the athletes until he was comfortable enough to let them know he was interested in pursuing a career in sports management. After lots of hard work, some word of mouth, and a few essential solidified relationships, Paul turned PG Sports into a multifaceted sports marketing company, now representing over a dozen professional athletes in almost every facet of the industry. Today, his company’s aim is to help the athletes deal with business off the field so that they can focus on what they do best: keeping their head on the field. His role of sports marketing manager consists of anything from brand sponsorships, to public relations, to social media, and more. Guarino currently represents big names like boxer Tramaine Williams and WNBA player Renee Montgomery.
In the last nine years, PG Sports has grown a cumulative following of over 42,000 on Twitter and Instagram. It now also hosts a podcast and a YouTube series.
And Guarino’s nowhere near done. He plans to continue expanding his brand and growing his list of clients to contain even bigger names within the industry. At the rate he’s going, there’s no telling what he’ll do next.
To follow the journey of Paul and his company, PG Sports, follow him on Instagram and Twitter at @pgsports. You can also visit www.pg-sports.com for more.
