Be a Sponge: Why Curiosity Is an Athlete’s Greatest Investment Advantage

One of the hardest adjustments for professional athletes after sport isn’t financial or logistical — it’s mental.

In sports, you’re rewarded for confidence, decisiveness, and execution. You train your instincts. You trust your preparation. You lead. Those traits are essential on the field. But when athletes step into the worlds of investing, ownership, and business, the environment changes. The same instincts that help you win games can work against you if they aren’t paired with curiosity and patience.

The athletes who transition well into investing aren’t the ones who rush to prove they belong in the room. They’re the ones who slow down, listen closely, and absorb everything around them. They understand that entering a new arena requires a different posture — not less confidence, but more curiosity.

That’s where the idea of “being a sponge” becomes so powerful.

I recently read an article featuring CJ Watson in which he said:

“You have to be a sponge. Working with people who know more than you will push you to ask better questions and see angles you wouldn’t have seen on your own.”

That mindset is the difference between athletes who dabble in investing and those who build real ownership over time.

Curiosity Over Ego: Athlete Investment Thesis

Athletes are smart. They’ve mastered complex systems, adjusted under pressure, and performed in high-stakes environments. But investing rewards a different kind of intelligence — one built slowly through pattern recognition, judgment, and experience across multiple cycles.

Those skills don’t come from rushing into deals. They come from being around people who have seen things break, recover, pivot, and fail — and who are willing to explain why decisions were made, not just what decisions were made.

The most successful athlete investors understand this. They don’t feel the need to dominate conversations early. They listen. They observe. They ask questions that help them understand how experienced investors think, not just what they invest in.

That humility isn’t weakness. It’s discipline.

Access Isn’t the Same as Understanding

One of the biggest advantages athletes bring into the investing world is access. Access to rooms, conversations, founders, and opportunities that many people never see. But access without understanding can be dangerous.

When curiosity is missing, access can lead to:

• investing based on relationships instead of fundamentals

• trusting excitement over execution

• moving too quickly because the opportunity feels exclusive

  
  

The sponge mentality reframes that entire dynamic. Instead of asking, “How do I get into this deal?” the better question becomes, “What can I learn by watching how this deal is evaluated?”

That shift alone protects athletes from many early mistakes.

What Being a Sponge Actually Looks Like

Being a sponge doesn’t mean being passive. It means being intentional about learning.

It looks like sitting in diligence calls and paying attention to how risk is discussed. It means noticing which questions cause hesitation and which answers build confidence. It means listening for what isn’t said in a pitch just as much as what is.

Over time, patterns emerge. You start to see why certain deals are passed on quietly. You understand why some opportunities that look exciting on the surface never move forward. That learning compounds — quietly, but powerfully.

How Better Questions Change the Game

Early in the transition, most athletes focus on surface-level details like valuation, upside, and who else is investing. That’s natural. But as curiosity deepens, the questions evolve.

You start asking:

• What assumptions have to be true for this to work?

• What happens if growth slows or capital dries up?

• How dependent is this business on one person?

• How has this team responded to adversity before?

Those questions don’t just lead to better decisions — they earn respect. Experienced investors can tell immediately when an athlete is serious about learning versus just participating.

Athletes Have Done This Before

Every athlete has already lived the sponge phase.

You were once the rookie. You watched veterans. You learned systems. You listened more than you talked. You absorbed habits, standards, and expectations before stepping fully into leadership.

The transition into investing follows the same arc.

You don’t skip the learning phase. You lean into it.

And the athletes who embrace that process are the ones who eventually combine two powerful perspectives: the investor’s framework and the athlete’s lived experience.

Seeing What Others Miss

Once athletes understand how deals are evaluated, their background becomes an advantage. They notice culture risk. They recognize leadership gaps. They understand performance incentives and human dynamics that don’t show up in spreadsheets.

But that edge only appears after curiosity has done its work.

You can’t shortcut it. You have to absorb first.

Final Thought

Athletes don’t need to rush into ownership or investing to prove they belong. The smartest ones stay curious, surround themselves with people who challenge them, and give themselves permission to learn before they lead.

Being a sponge isn’t about knowing less. It’s about respecting the process.

And for athletes transitioning into sports investing, it may be the most important advantage they bring with them.