What if the way you manage your fantasy football roster is exactly how you should run your business? Squeeze's leadership trio breaks down six gridiron strategies—draft capital, hidden gems, handcuffs, bye-week pivots, recency bias, and volume—and shows how each one maps directly to building a resilient, predictable company.
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Key takeaways
- Invest early-round draft capital in proven anchor talent; save later picks for high-upside, lower-cost rookies you can develop internally.
- Combine data with contextual observation—the 'eye test'—to avoid misreading one-week anomalies as long-term trends.
- Build redundancy by developing backups for every key role so the business runs without interruption when someone steps away.
- Anticipate predictable market 'bye weeks' and diversify revenue streams before the downturn hits, not after.
- Prioritize stable, high-volume client partnerships over unpredictable ones; unproductive labor is the costliest outcome of volatile workloads.
- Counter recency bias by basing promotions and trade decisions on meaningful sample sizes, not standout single performances.
- Win by as many points as possible—marginal gains in attention to detail compound into sustainable competitive advantage.
Running Your Business Like a Winning Fantasy Roster
Carson Poppenger, Jacob Thorpe, and host Nate open with a confession: Carson once told Jacob to manage client accounts the way he manages his fantasy teams. That offhand compliment became the operating philosophy behind this episode—and the lens through which Squeeze evaluates talent, risk, and revenue.
Six Fantasy Football Lessons with Real Business Payoff
1. Draft Strategy: Core Anchors vs. High-Upside Rookies
Early-round picks represent your foundational hires—experienced, higher-cost, team-defining. Later rounds are for high-ceiling, lower-cost talent: recent grads and emerging contributors who haven’t proven it yet but show obvious potential. Jacob draws a direct parallel to Squeeze’s account management and ops teams, where identifying raw talent early and developing it internally has repeatedly outperformed expensive outside hires.
2. Finding Hidden Gems: Stats + the Eye Test
Pure data can mislead. A running back posting a bad line against the league’s top run defense with his starting left tackle out looks worse on paper than he actually is. The same is true in business: leaders who stay close to day-to-day context make better decisions than those who react to a single bad metric. Combining quantitative KPIs with qualitative observation catches the difference between a systemic problem and a one-week anomaly.
3. Handcuffs: Building Redundancy into Your Roster
Always draft the backup to your star running back—because injuries happen. In business terms, every key person should be actively developing their own replacement. Squeeze treats internal bench depth as a strategic asset, not a backup plan.
4. Managing Bye Weeks: Anticipating Market Shifts
When Squeeze noticed roughly 75–80% of its revenue was tied to mortgage lead generation, the team saw the “bye week” coming: rising interest rates. Within six months they diversified into personal lending, home services, and business development. When rates spiked in March 2022, the mortgage market cratered—but Squeeze had already pivoted.
5. Volume and Predictability: The Real Championship Formula
Volume is king in fantasy football; predictable volume is king in business. Squeeze tracks revenue projections daily, landing within one or two percentage points of forecast virtually every month. Volatile client relationships—where lead flow swings from 20 to 80 to zero in a week—create the worst cost in the business: unproductive labor. Stable, scalable partnerships make every other metric easier to manage.
6. Recency Bias and the Buy-Low, Sell-High Trade
A player who scores 40 points in one week looks like a must-start; Jacob lists that player for trade immediately, knowing someone will overpay. The business equivalent: don’t promote someone based on a single hallway interaction, and don’t panic-drop a solid performer after one rough stretch. Decisions need significant sample sizes, not highlight-reel moments.
The Honest Dealer Rule
Carson once drafted a league-mate’s team in absentia, tried to be scrupulously fair—and then lost the championship to that very team. The lesson the hosts land on: integrity in negotiation (whether a fantasy trade or a client contract) builds the kind of reputation that compounds over time.
Manage this business like you manage your fantasy football team.
— Carson Poppenger
Volume is king in fantasy football.
— Jacob Thorpe
I want to win by as many points as possible. I don't want to win by one point, I want to win by 50.
— Jacob Thorpe
You've got to have a significant sample to make a good decision.
— Nate
Episode chapters
- 00:11 — Introductions & the origin of the fantasy football business metaphor
- 02:01 — Why fantasy football matters at Squeeze (and in the family)
- 05:25 — Lesson 1 – Draft strategy: core anchors vs. high-upside rookies
- 08:25 — Lesson 2 – Finding hidden gems: stats vs. the eye test
- 11:41 — Lesson 3 – Handcuffs: building business redundancy
- 12:41 — Lesson 4 – Bye weeks: anticipating market shifts and diversifying
- 14:03 — Schedule & matchup awareness: drafting for favorable conditions
- 20:35 — Lesson 5 – Volume and predictability as the championship formula
- 24:10 — Lesson 6 – Recency bias and the buy-low, sell-high trade mindset
- 28:18 — Wrap-up: honesty, integrity, and keeping the Secret Sauce
Frequently asked questions
How does fantasy football draft strategy apply to hiring?
Early-round picks mirror foundational, higher-cost hires who anchor the team, while later rounds favor high-potential, lower-cost talent you develop over time—just like recruiting recent grads with strong upside.
What is the 'handcuff' strategy in business?
In fantasy football, a handcuff means drafting the backup to your star player. In business it means actively training replacements for key roles so operations continue without interruption if someone leaves or steps away.
How did Squeeze handle the 2022 mortgage market collapse?
Anticipating rising interest rates, Squeeze diversified away from mortgage lead generation—which had been 75–80% of revenue—into personal lending, home services, and other verticals before rates spiked in March 2022.
What is recency bias and why does it matter in business decisions?
Recency bias is over-weighting the most recent event when making a judgment. In hiring or performance reviews it means promoting someone after one impressive moment rather than evaluating their full track record.
Why does Squeeze track revenue projections daily?
Daily forecasting keeps projected and actual revenue within one to two percentage points each month, allowing the team to align costs with revenue and avoid the unproductive labor that comes from unpredictable workloads.
What is the buy-low, sell-high trade strategy and how does it translate to business?
After a player has a breakout week, savvy managers trade them while their perceived value peaks and acquire undervalued assets in return. In business, this maps to making personnel and partnership decisions based on long-term data rather than short-term highs or lows.