The Arizona-based company recently signed MMA athletes Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Frank Mir, Henry Cejudo, Tito Ortiz and Benson Henderson as equity partners rather than traditional paid endorsers. According to Founder and CEO Harrison Rogers, the model was born less from a desire to rethink athlete marketing than from the realities of building a bootstrapped business.
“We were never going to win a bidding war for athletes, so we stopped trying to rent credibility and offered ownership instead,” he said. “Several of these athletes came to us after years with mainstream energy sponsors, and what they wanted wasn’t another check; it was a piece of something they’d help build.
The strategy echoes another recent example in sports nutrition. Earlier this year, David Beckham-backed IM8 structured its partnership with Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami CF around shared ownership rather than a traditional sponsorship, with co-founder Danny Yeung stating that ownership created stronger alignment between athletes and the brand.
While IM8 positioned equity as part of a long-term partnership strategy, Rogers said F3 arrived at a similar model from a different starting point: finding a way to recruit athletes without matching the endorsement budgets of larger competitors.
Beyond endorsements
Founded in 2023, F3 sells functional energy, mood and naturally sweetened beverages through The Vitamin Shoppe, Amazon, Walmart and TikTok Shop.
In the F3 model, ownership changes the nature of the relationship. Rather than limiting their involvement to scheduled promotional campaigns, athlete-partners have expanded their roles by introducing retail opportunities, contributing to product discussions before launch and creating content independently.
For example, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson brought F3 onto The Joe Rogan Experience, noting that Jackson pursued the appearance because he viewed himself as an owner of the business, not simply an endorser.
“An endorsement is a marketing expense with an end date, [but] equity partners compound,” Rogers said, emphaszing that ownership is not simply a substitute for paying endorsement fees.
The company worked with SEC attorneys to structure the ownership program, with equity designed for athletes who already use and believe in the products they promote. Otherwise, Roger explained, ownership risks reinforcing a poor fit between the athlete and the brand.
Ownership changes incentives, not compliance
Commenting on the broader trend, Jennifer Adams, partner at Amin Wasserman Gurnani, said she has seen athletes, celebrities and influencers becoming more closely connected to supplement companies.
“Generally yes, we’ve seen an uptick in celebrities and influencers becoming more deeply connected with supplements...in my experience, they are often looking to drive the company as a personal brand,” she said.
Athletes are often more interested in equity relationships that allow them to remain affiliated with a company without taking on day-to-day operational responsibilities. In contrast, influencers may be less inclined to pursue ownership because those with established personal brands often prefer the flexibility to work with multiple companies.
From a legal standpoint, however, Adams said ownership does not fundamentally change a company’s advertising obligations.
“If it is widely known that the athlete is an owner and this is ‘their’ brand, then disclosure may not necessarily be required...but when in doubt, disclosure is best,” she explained.
Companies should also recognize that athlete-backed supplement brands may draw additional attention because celebrity-driven promotions often reach wider audiences.
“The difference we tend to consider is that athlete and celebrity promoted brands may be more likely to be scrutinized by regulators and class action attorneys,” Adams said. “Their messages typically reach a large audience, and anecdotally with more eyeballs usually comes more incentive for noncompliance enforcement.”
For companies considering ownership arrangements, Adams cautioned that the same compliance expectations should apply regardless of how athletes are compensated.
“It’s important to train them just as you would any other marketer—the dos and don’ts on what can be said and how to say it, and while social posts can be more easily managed, media training for interviews and organic content is critical,” she said.
