SuperDebate is building competitive debate infrastructure for adults. Local clubs, a technology platform, and championship tournaments designed to give millions of people a place to compete with their minds the way others compete with their bodies. We have run events across Chicago, Portland, and Bali, and just finished our first international tournament in Roatan, Honduras.
As we scale, partnerships and sponsorships will be central to how SuperDebate grows. Live competitive debate is a uniquely powerful format for brand activations, corporate engagement, and audience building. To help us execute on that potential, we are bringing in one of the best in the business.
Today, we are excited to announce that Matthew Rolnick is joining SuperDebate's Advisory Board.
Matt is currently the SVP of Partnerships and Events at Real American Beer, where he helps develop partnerships across sports, music, entertainment, athletes, and distributors. He is also known to bring energy to live events and occasionally emcee on stage.
Before that, he served as VP of Strategy and Innovation at Yaymaker, where he helped grow new revenue streams by developing unique experiences and partnerships and spearheaded a lecture series—both virtual and in-person—featuring motivational speakers, athletes, and celebrities.
Earlier in his career at Groupon, he built and led sales teams that generated over $10 million in revenue. Across his career, he has helped orchestrate partnerships and collaborations with Fortune 500 companies including Google, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Meta, and Procter & Gamble.
Beyond his professional experience, Matt is a Forbes Business Development Council member and contributing writer. He is an Amazon bestselling author of two books on entrepreneurship and leadership. His courses on Udemy have reached over 140,000 students, and he was named a 2023 LinkedIn Top Voice in Entrepreneurship. He is not just someone who builds partnerships—he teaches and writes about how to do it at the highest level.
That combination of strategic thinking and a track record of growing revenue through relationships and partnerships is exactly what SuperDebate needs at this stage.
Advisory Role
As an advisor, Matt will focus on partnership and sponsorship strategy. That means helping SuperDebate build relationships with brands, corporate sponsors, and media partners who want to be part of live competitive experiences. It means bringing the playbook he has used to build partnerships and drive revenue with major brands and applying it to a format that is genuinely new: structured, high-energy intellectual competition with real audiences and real stakes.
Competitive debate is one of the most undervalued live formats in the events world. The energy in the room when two sharp minds go head to head on a real topic is something audiences do not forget. Matt sees that. More importantly, he understands how to build the business infrastructure around it.
SuperDebate is raising a pre-seed round and assembling an advisory team of leaders who bring real networks, real experience, and the ability to open doors. Matt is exactly that kind of advisor. We are thrilled to have him on board.
If you want to see what we are building, our next event is the Chicago Debate Showcase. Details at superdebate.org. And if you want to help build the future of competitive discourse, reach out. We are always looking for great people.
John Connor
Founder & CEO, SuperDebate
superdebate.org