Miles McBride’s Bold Leap: From Knicks Guard to Tech Entrepreneur
NBA player Miles McBride has launched Mmotion, a location‑sharing and friendship app currently in beta in New York City as of November 2025. The app is designed to help young adults find friends based on shared interests and nearby places marks McBride’s transition from sports star to startup founder, and signals athletes’ growing roles in venture technology and subscription business models.
From rookie to innovator
When Miles “Deuce” McBride arrived in New York as a 20‑year‑old rookie with the New York Knicks, he encountered a struggle familiar to many young professionals: loneliness in a big city. “When I got up here, everyone on my team was married with kids or just kind of loners,” he reflects in an interview with TechCrunch. “I wish there was a way to meet people organically who have the same interests.” TechCrunch
That insight planted the seed for Mmotion. Partnering with veteran startup founder Joe Einhorn, McBride embarked on creating a social platform focused not on dating—but on friendship, groups, location discovery, and genuine connection.
The App Experience: Shared Interests and Nearby Discovery
Mmotion diverges from traditional friendship platforms by combining location tracking, group‑interest communities (“Circles”), and venue recommendations. Users join circles such as hiking, basketball, or art gallery outings—and can explore who is nearby with similar interests. The app’s core features include a private location diary, world of recommendations and a “Vault Mode” that disables location sharing by default.
Crucially, Mmotion also enables “Personas” multiple identity profiles, one public, one private creating flexibility for influencers or professionals (like McBride himself) to share selectively. This layered privacy feature differentiates the platform and raises stakes around data governance.
Miles McBride
Financial Strategy and Monetization
From a business perspective, Mmotion is as much a monetization play as a social innovation. The app operates on a monthly subscription model with co‑founder Einhorn describing it as “not going to be more than a cup of coffee per month.” TechCrunch Additional revenue comes from local‑business partnerships: bars, restaurants and studios pay for anonymized foot‐traffic insights and targeted promotions.
For McBride, this venture signals a broader shift among athletes: from game‑day paychecks to long‑term brand equity and platform ownership. Analysts note that athlete‑founded products must deliver sustained engagement, not just celebrity endorsement. “The real challenge isn’t just building social features, it’s managing a viable business and regulatory framework around personal location data,” says digital‑business analyst Dr Laura Simmons.
According to analysis reviewed by CEO Today, McBride’s entrepreneurial shift offers a blueprint for converting personal brand into tech business, but success will depend on scaling, retention and revenue innovation.
Legal, privacy and regulatory perspectives
Location‑sharing apps exist in a complex legal and regulatory environment. Mmotion must navigate privacy laws such as the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) and Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), plus address consent, data retention and anonymized analytics. The introduction of Personas and Vault Mode demonstrates that the app is built with privacy obligations in mind.
Risk also flows into local‑business partnerships. If anonymized foot‑traffic data is de‑identified inadequately, Mmotion could face liability under data‑protection laws or exposure to litigation. McBride’s public figure status adds profile risk: public personas attract scrutiny and potential reputational exposure if features are misused.
What’s Ahead and Competitive Landscape
Mmotion enters a crowded field. Established platforms like Snapchat with Snap Map (400 million+ monthly users) and Instagram (with its Map feature) dominate location‑sharing social networks. For Mmotion to thrive, it must carve a distinct niche and scale quickly.
McBride’s athlete‑founder status offers a unique marketing angle, but execution will determine outcomes. Launching in New York City’s beta with 1,000 users (via invite‑only rollout) sets the test stage. Beyond growth, the business must prove monetization through subscription and local‑business partnerships to deliver viable recurring revenue.
Miles McBride
Lessons for business leaders
McBride’s venture offers several take‑aways for executives and brand strategists:
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Convert personal brand into business platform: Turning sports or celebrity equity into venture capital and ownership stakes.
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Design products with regulatory foresight: Embedding privacy and consent frameworks earlier rather than retrofitting compliance.
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Think long term in monetization and engagement: Subscription and analytics models require sustained user retention.
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Adapt to competitive urgency: Entering markets with entrenched players demands differentiators and disciplined scaling.
McBride’s leap into tech highlights how modern leaders—whether in sport, media or enterprise—can transform themselves into founders. But the path demands more than fame—it requires strategic alignment, regulatory awareness and execution discipline.
FAQ
What is Mmotion? Mmotion is a location‑sharing friendship app launched by Miles McBride in November 2025 that connects users through shared interests and venue recommendations.
How does Mmotion monetize? The app uses a monthly subscription model (priced modestly) and local‑business partnerships that pay for anonymized foot‑traffic data.
What privacy features does Mmotion offer? It includes “Vault Mode” (location sharing off by default) and “Personas” (multiple profiles per user) to manage public and private identity.
Why is Miles McBride launching a tech startup? McBride created Mmotion based on his own experience of social isolation in New York, turning his personal brand into a venture and exploring athlete‑entrepreneurship beyond sports.
