Logan Raven’s dorm room doesn’t look like the headquarters of a sports marketing agency. Textbooks are scattered across his desk, a basketball sits in the corner, and his laptop hums quietly as he juggles homework and endorsements.
At 19, most freshmen are figuring out the dining hall schedule. Raven, an experience industry management major, is busy helping college athletes build their brands.
“I haven’t even finished my freshman year,” Raven said. “But I’ve been working more than 40 hours a week on my business while still maintaining above-average grades at Cal Poly.”
That balancing act began long before he arrived in San Luis Obispo. From a young age, Raven loved sports and played basketball and lacrosse.Â
The transition from high school athlete to college entrepreneur wasn’t seamless. Raven had spent years as an athlete, but as graduation approached, reality set in that he wouldn’t have that opportunity in college.
“I wanted to do something where I could still stay around sports in a competitive way and use my knowledge that I had gained over my whole life,” Raven said.
Then an opportunity opened in 2021 when the NCAA lifted its restrictions on student-athletes’ ability to earn money off their name, image and likeness. Raven began to connect with emerging student-athletes in Northern California and build his agency.
Raven’s core philosophy is authenticity over everything. Unlike traditional sports agencies with suit-wearing executives, Branded NIL’s founders understand their athletes because they have lived similar experiences.
“I think athletes don’t want to work with someone in a suit 24/7,” said Raven’s partner in Branded NIL, Alexander Schnedecker. “They want someone in their support system that they can relate to.”
For Raven, that relatability stems from understanding the player’s mindset from his lived experiences on the court and field.
“We perfectly align our athletes with brands that can represent them in a positive way,” Raven said. “The clients we bring on are great people on and off the court and field, we want all of them to strive to be role models for their audience.”
Raven currently represents two Cal Poly athletes in men’s basketball player Cayden Ward and women’s tennis player Kennedy Buntrock. He represents other athletes from schools such as Cal, Hawai’i, Arizona State and Illinois.
Ward is a freshman standout on the Mustangs squad. Hailing from Stockton, California, he is hoping to have a long-lasting impact on the San Luis Obispo community through partnering with businesses and brands he loves.Â
“Logan and I communicate really well when talking business and life,” Ward said. “He has huge aspirations and goals for himself and Branded NIL, which also aligns with my way of thinking and what motivates me.”
For Raven, helping represent one of his friends on the business side of life is an experience not many can say they have had.
“Cayden was one of the earlier friends that I met at Cal Poly,” Raven said. “Alongside being a friend, we’re in the business world of things. So that can be tricky, but really fun helping him grow his media presence and land his first NIL deal.”
The personal connections matter to Raven in ways that go beyond just business metrics. For Buntrock, who will be a senior next year, Raven is preparing a deal to launch when she returns for the school year.
“All these brand deals, it’s a huge confidence booster, and with confidence, a lot can be accomplished on and off the court,” Raven said.
While his peers stress over midterms, Raven is thinking about industry transformation. He sees Branded NIL leading he social media charge, connecting brand and sport nationwide.
“The new social media age is what we see leading our industries, and that’s what our generation understands the most,” Raven said. “That’s where I see us really taking off and kind of completely revolutionizing the industry with our media techniques while helping our athletes become social influencers.”
The agency’s philosophy centers on quality over quantity. Rather than signing every available college athlete, Branded NIL carefully selects partnerships that align with both the lifestyle of the player and brand values.
“The reason why we keep it niche is so that our agency is able to learn all these things that our athletes have that are specific to themselves and their needs,” Raven said.
The transition from athlete to entrepreneur hasn’t been without its challenges. Startup life means being “attentive pretty much 24/7,” something Raven admits he “wasn’t totally expecting” when he began this journey.
But his athletic background prepared him for the grind in ways business school never could.
“As playing sports, if you put your head down and work hard at something and you work smart at it, good things are coming,” Raven said. “I learned that throughout sports, which really helped me.”
Those lessons extend to handling the inevitable ups and downs of startup life. When deals fall through or emails go unanswered, Raven falls back on a simple philosophy learned from sports: “Never get too high, never get too low.”
Key mentors like entrepreneurship professor Barry Lieberman have provided crucial guidance, while the campus atmosphere allows Raven to maintain his California-loving lifestyle.
“The environment at Cal Poly definitely addresses a good amount of happiness, good weather and good people,” Raven said. “I’m a California lover, so that’s allowing me to thrive and really take everything to the next level.”
Beyond the business metrics and growth targets, Raven is motivated by something more personal: watching his vision come to life.
“Watching something grow that you’ve built from the roots is a really special feeling,” Raven said.
