AARON SWINTON
Aaron Swinton is a former college football player turned founder and investor. A Four-year starter, team captain, MVP his junior year, but a torn ACL shifted his focus from the field to finance.
He got his accounting degree, worked in corporate finance building a sports facility group in DC, and wasn't fulfilled. Started a blog called Maverick documenting founders as a passion project. Quit cold turkey, moved to Puerto Rico for three months, turned down offers from a family office and other VC funds, and decided to build his own thing.
Aaron is the founder of ShockVentures (syndicated startup fund, grew from 5 to 100+ investors), MAVRK Studio (branding agency focused on food and beverage), and Cha Lab, a matcha company sourcing from an eighth-generation tea farm in Kyoto.
HOW HE OPERATES:
How Aaron manages his health and energy while building a company:
Athletes are a good bet
As an investor, the numbers have to check out. But after that, it comes down to one thing: can this person do what they say they're going to do?
"You can't always know. You have to trust."
Former athletes and former founders are the best proxies for execution. "If you were an athlete or some type of high performer where everything was on you, you have that innate way of going about doing things."
Character matters as much as metrics, but you can't quantify it. "It's really hard to understand somebody's character if you never meet them in person."
Takes his time with evaluation now and really gets to know the people he’s working with.
Right-size the market, then find the founder who can penetrate it
Keeps deal evaluation simple: "What's the valuation? How do we get to 10x? What does that mean in terms of penetration into this market? And is this the person that can get us there?"
Has an extensive due diligence spreadsheet, waterfall analysis, the whole checklist. But admits that's just a box to check. It doesn't guarantee success.
The things that actually matter are market size, realistic penetration, and founder quality.
Simplicity wins
Consistent, simple actions every day is how you win.
"It's not this new idea you came up with last night. It's not this new industry. It's not this new shiny thing."
"Keep the main thing the main thing. If it's not simple, you're going to hurt yourself."
Not building for a two-year horizon anymore. Building for decades. "That's not a bright, new, shiny idea. That's consistency and discipline every day."
Deepen, don't widen
Best business improvement he's focused on right now: deepening relationships instead of chasing new ones.
"Not the big events. Dinners with people. Going even further in these relationships."
Quality over quantity across both the investment and agency side.
Practice what you preach
Started a matcha company partly as a venture studio case study. If you're telling CPG brands how to build, you should know how to do it yourself.
Planning to launch more brands internally using the same model. The matcha brand is the proof of concept.
Currently dealing with a global matcha shortage. Works with an eighth-generation farm in Kyoto, can only buy 100 units at a time, sells out weekly. Launching a barista line with a second supplier to scale.
Football gave him the structure. He just filled it with other things.
13 years of waking up early, doing extra work before anyone else, watching film on off days. When football ended, the structure stayed. He just redirected it.
"You don't change the structure. You just fill it with other things."
Felt relieved after his last game. Torn ACL, torn labrum. Loved the game but knew he had aspirations beyond it. Hasn't played once since.
Fluctuates, and knows it
After football, did almost nothing. Then swung the other way with raw food, plant-based for a year, working out seven days a week.
"I'm an extremist. I go one way or the other pretty far."
Now does Muay Thai and jiu jitsu. Needs the competitive feel, the skill development, and the camaraderie. Lifting weights for no reason doesn't do it for him.
Last four months fell off because the business got intense but knows that's exactly when he should be leaning in the most.
Prefers evenings, forces mornings
Though he prefers evening workouts, with how unpredictable his days are and how much he travels, mornings are the only option. "There can't be any question about what I'm going to do."
"I'm not a morning person. But you have to be."
Tracks his life like a portfolio
Has a personal KPI tracker he reviews every Saturday: what he learned, days worked out, books read, screen time, personal spending.
Color-coded with conditional formatting. Green if it's good, red if it's not. "I can tell how I'm doing visually."
The same energy he brings to due diligence on a deal he brings to himself.
Saturday morning is his film room
Every Saturday from 9am to noon: deep work, admin, accounting, no interruptions.
"That's the equivalent of when I played football and used to go watch film on Sundays. Nobody was there. It was just me."
"Predictability is really helpful in a life that's unpredictable."
“When you're young, you have all these ideas. But if you just do the right thing every single day, that's how you win."
MY TAKEAWAY:
Another athlete to founder pipeline, and one who, as an investor, recognizes that in others. There is so much drive and competitiveness, and after athletics, where do you put that? As an entrepreneur, the traits and principles are pretty aligned with competitive athletics, so it seems like a fitting next step. Plus, the all or nothing mindset is really common among athletes and entrepreneurs. I used to think it was a weakness sometimes and that balance was important, but I’ve owned it and know it’s a strength (though at times the balance could be nice).
Also, I think if you played a sport growing up, you went to practice after school. I know chronotypes are supposedly genetic, but I think a lot of athletes got used to working out in the evenings and hit their peak physical energy later in the day. However, the main thing from stopping people from evening workouts, that Aaron mentioned too, is that your day can vary greatly, so making sure you can get a workout in before the variability is necessary, especially because either motivation wanes or things just come up.
WHAT MOVES THE NEEDLE (From Aaron):
Create predictability in an unpredictable life. Find one block that’s yours, every week, non-negotiable. Whether it’s early morning, late at night, or Saturday morning. That’s where the real work gets done.
STEAL THIS:
Actions you can take right now
Block three hours this Saturday morning for your deepest work. No calls, no clients, no fires. Aaron's been doing this every week, and it's his version of watching film. You don't need more time. You need one protected block.
Build your own life KPI tracker. Doesn't have to be complicated. Days you worked out, hours of screen time, books you read, what you spent. Color code it. Green and red. You'll see patterns you've been ignoring.
WHAT HE IS BUILDING:
MAVRK Studio - a branding and marketing agency that started in tech but found its home in food and beverage. They design brands, build websites, run photo shoots, and help CPG companies stand out on the shelf.
ShockVentures - Aaron co-founded ShockVentures with his partner Tim, a former John Deere manufacturing veteran. The fund started with 5 investors and has grown to over 100, investing in startups across mobility, supply chain, manufacturing, and logistics. Their thesis: right-size the market, find the founder who can penetrate it, and take their time with evaluation. Character matters as much as the cap table.
Cha Lab - A matcha brand sourced from an eighth-generation tea farm in Kyoto, Japan. They sell small-batch, high-quality matcha that sells out weekly in runs of 100 units. A global matcha shortage has limited supply, but they're launching a barista-grade line through a second supplier to scale up. The brand started partly because Aaron saw the matcha wave coming before it hit, and partly because he wanted his team to go through exactly what they tell their CPG clients to do. It's the first brand out of what will eventually be a venture studio model, launching products internally using everything Maverick has learned building them for others.
CHECK OUT HIS COMPANIES:
Thank you for reading!
