FOUNDERS IN FOCUS (Part 1) with Jen Mackesy (World Sevens Football) – From Incorporation to Game Day

A vision with purpose

When the founders of W7F first gathered in late 2024, they had big aspirations and big ideas, but no name or branding, venue, football clubs, sponsors, staff, or a targeted tournament date. And just six months later, the inaugural tournament went off with great fanfare just outside of Lisbon, Portugal.

Jen, whose background includes playing football through college and holding ownership stakes at Gotham FC and Chelsea FC, told us how her inspiration for W7F drew on her professional and personal experiences and desire to make a meaningful impact on women’s football and women’s sport overall.

Jen witnessed first-hand the energy of football crowds, including the spectacle of a pre-season friendly between Arsenal and Chelsea women’s teams at the Audi Field in Washington DC, which attracted a healthy crowd of non-core fans; and the global spectators converging on the Paris Olympics, where fans supported athletes, irrespective of discipline or nationality.

All of this formed a clear idea to Jen and her founding team – a player-first, fun and exciting festival-style global seven-a-side tournament series, featuring the top football clubs and players, and a new competition that could positively impact women’s football to help support and grow the entire ecosystem.

Structuring for speed and protection

With a compressed timetable and short runway to launching the first event, Jen describes how the W7F founders brought in key team members and advisers (including Onside Law) from the outset to tackle some immediate priorities.

“The lawyers weren’t an afterthought – they were part of the team from day one. That meant our decisions on structure, brand, and player agreements were aligned from the start.”

These matters are typically essential for any start-up business, such as:

• set up and incorporation of a legal entity to house the business;
• putting in place founder arrangements (i.e. some form of shareholders’ agreement) to govern the founders’ relationship concerning matters such as equity and funding;
• developing a distinctive brand and key messages;
• implementing an initial brand protection strategy (including registration of IP in core markets);
• establishing governance structures to facilitate efficient decision-making; and
• future-proofing the corporate structure to accommodate incentive equity and further fundraising.

In parallel, Jen and her team worked hard on the commercial side to propel themselves along the short runway towards the first edition of the tournament, including:

• securing a venue at Estádio António Coimbra da Mota (home to Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia);
• agreeing to a broadcasting deal with DAZN and their YouTube channel, resulting in matches being streamed for free across the world, and numerous commercial partnerships with sponsors like Invisalign;
• achieving ticket sales of 3,500 supporters;
• boosting their social media presence, with such an effect that W7F’s Instagram page grew to over 20,000 followers following the first tournament; and
• launching a merchandise range including hoodies, sweatshirts, t-shirts, bags and hats, with clothing available featuring both the W7F brand and the logos of participating clubs.

Regulatory considerations

Given W7F was a brand-new sporting event, there were additional immediate key workstreams to consider, including navigating the global football regulatory framework and securing the buy-in from some of the top football clubs in the world.

Relevant football regulations and rules (including those published by FIFA and UEFA) were reviewed to understand the regulatory framework for bringing to market a non-traditional format of the game (seven-a-side) which is not expressly referred to in the regulations.

Commitment from some of the top football clubs in the world (global sporting brands in their own right) was critical. Participation terms were negotiated and agreed, covering aspects such as future participation and support of W7F events and the use of club IP, allowing W7F to commercially exploit their rights.

Having the above building blocks in place allowed Jen, the founders, and their team to concentrate on executing the first event.

Players at the heart

Jen and her fellow founders were clear from day one that W7F would put players at the heart, with current and former players playing an integral role in developing the concept. A player advisory group was set up with former professionals, who also acted as ambassadors and helped every step of the way to ensure the players’ experience and the product on the field was of a high standard.

Jen is of the view that, regardless of what was set out in contracts, the ambassadors, clubs, and players surpassed her wildest expectations. For example, the clubs went all out by posting their own social media content in support of W7F and the first tournament without being prompted or required to. The players naturally followed suit and posted their own incredible stories. Jen believes that the players’ contributions demonstrate the positive impact that your business can experience if your stakeholders are aligned, feel valued, and are bought into the vision and mission.

Funding with flexibility

Like any other start-up, Jen spoke about how the founders had to choose wisely where to spend money. This included brand, ambassadors, event production, PR, and offering one of the largest prize pools in women’s sports: US $5,000,000 per tournament.

Rather than spend time and resources fundraising before the first ball was kicked, the founders were in a position where they could self-fund the inaugural tournament, allowing them to concentrate on delivering the first tournament. In Jen’s own words:

“Timing was a major concern with fundraising, and we knew what we wanted to achieve in terms of proof of concept. With that in mind, we pushed ahead with our own funds and vision.”

Two important considerations for any start-up are (1) how to fund the business from the outset (whether that is self-funding via equity or debt, or whether to partner with a third-party investor) and (2) if the self-funding route is chosen, when is the right time to seek and secure third-party investment. Jen and her co-founders may now look towards fundraising in the future, with the advantage of a developed proof of concept and the time to find the right strategic partner(s).

The long game

Looking ahead, Jen and her team are planning more events with the second tournament recently announced to take place in Fort Lauderdale from 5 to 7 December 2025.

Continuing to grow core revenue streams, including broadcast, sponsorship, ticketing, and merchandise, and building a bigger and digitally engaged fan base worldwide are on the agenda. Potentially diversifying age groups of competition, live entertainment, and working towards being a recognised part of the football calendar are also part of the longer term plan.

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Onside Law advised W7F on the formation and launch of its seven-a-side women’s football tournament on a broad range of matters including club participation terms, rules and regulations and IP and brand protection, and  looks forward to continuing working with Jen and the rest of the team going forwards.

If you require further information and/or would like to discuss in more detail, please contact Harriet Leach (Harriet.Leach@onsidelaw.co.uk) or Jack Reed (Jack.Reed@onsidelaw.co.uk).