Lacrosse balls are not glamorous products. They are rubber, they are white or yellow, and most players never think about them. Dan Soviero did. The product he started with, a premium lacrosse ball, became the first step in a company that now runs uniform stores, a media business and a group of community sports clubs.
The ball
Forbes, which named Soviero to its 30 Under 30 list for sports in 2021, records that he founded Signature Lacrosse in 2015 to create the first “premium” lacrosse ball. The company describes the start as a better lacrosse ball built out of a college dorm room.
According to Forbes, the ball went on to partnerships with professional and collegiate leagues including the NLL, WPLL, MLL and CLL, and was in use by more than 300 college lacrosse programs.
The personal reason
Soviero frames the business around his own experience in sport. “Sports saved my life,” he says on the company’s website. “We exist to give more kids the same opportunities we were fortunate enough to have through sport to millions of kids every year.”
That line explains the direction the company took next. A ball company sells to players. A platform that wants to reach millions of children has to work with the programs that serve them.
From product to platform
Signature expanded from equipment into custom team apparel and a streamlined ordering system, which became Signature Locker, its on-demand uniform and team store platform. Then the company kept adding layers:
- Signature Media, a media and sponsorship arm with newsletters for program directors and parents, and a national jersey sponsorship program.
- Signature Sports Brands, which acquires community programs such as Carolina Lacrosse Association while keeping local leaders in place.
- Signature Growth Services, the shared back office for hiring, payroll, finance and marketing.
- The Signature Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that runs free Try Sports Days and scholarship programs.
The company now describes itself as serving more than 500,000 athletes and has set a mission of giving 10 million kids access to sport by 2030.
Growth on the record
Inc. named Signature Athletics to its 2026 Inc. 5000 list at No. 1,180, with three-year growth of 297 percent. The company had appeared on the list before, at No. 2,926 in 2024 and No. 4,810 in 2022, and Inc. has also recognised it as a Best Workplaces honoree. Inc. lists the company in Tampa, Florida, with between 51 and 200 employees.
The team around him
Soviero has built a leadership group with operating and acquisition experience. The company’s site lists Andy Perry, a three-time founder, as chief operating and technology officer; Kim Pope as strategic advisor and president of Signature Sports Brands; and Kylee Renouf as director of marketing and president of the Signature Foundation.
What the story says about building in youth sports
Many youth sports businesses stay in one lane: uniforms, registration software, tournaments. Soviero’s path went the other way, from a single product to a connected set of services. His bet is that programs gain more when those pieces work together, and that a company built around the reason he played sport can grow faster by making the season easier for everyone else.
