Prodigy Agency CEO Jérôme Coupez: “When you negotiate contracts for the likes of TenZ or ZywOo, you have more leverage to push for better conditions for all players.”

From competitive CS:GO, to motorsports, to helping players all around the world negotiate contracts and build their brands — that’s in short how Prodigy Agency CEO Jérôme Coupez embarked on his mission to support player prodigies on their journey to becoming superstars. 

All the experience, knowledge, and network he gained along the way allowed Jérôme to support and protect players, who, back in the days of the “esports boom” around 2016, didn’t really have anyone to help them with the business side of things. According to his words, it was a no-brainer. He wanted to help the industry to grow.

Today, Jérôme’s Prodigy Agency represents some of the biggest esports players in all major esports titles and all major competitive regions, including the likes of ZywOo, nitr0, apEX, EliGE, TenZ, ScreaM, or zekken. With the #PlayersFirst mindset, the agency enables players to focus on what is most important to them: play, perform, and win.

In this interview, we sit down with Jérôme to talk about his journey of building the Prodigy Agency, the company’s core values, and its contribution to the growth of many great players, as well as what’s important for building a personal player brand, growth management and getting established on the professional scene. 

Left everything to help players all around the world

Fragster: Jérôme, you have vast experience in various positions in the esports industry before you founded Prodigy, even used to play CS:GO professionally. Can you talk about what motivated you to get into talent management/representation specifically?

Jérôme: I was a player more than 15 years ago I’ve competed in more than 60 LANs on CS 1.6, but it was nothing like nowadays. We were almost not getting paid or very low salaries etc., and it was almost impossible to have a proper career. So I decided to focus on studies and work, while still doing some LANs but I always refused to be “full-time”. I’ve mainly been working in sports and motorsports, including Formula 1, World Endurance Championships, and more for a lot of years. I’ve been traveling all around the world, working on a lot of different topics (Marketing, communications, sponsors, managing athletes, PR, etc).

When esports had a “boom” around 2016, I wanted to help the industry to grow, and I was helping some brands to enter esports, some sports clubs, esports teams, etc.
Then some of the best CS:GO players in the world have been put in contact with me because they needed help, especially on developing their brand and finding individual sponsors – which was non-existent for esports players at the time. I quickly saw that they needed way more than that, as they didn’t even know where their contract was. And they didn’t really know that they gave away all their image rights to their teams, making it almost impossible to have individual sponsors.

I told these players that they should have a full staff around them like in sports; lawyers, an agent, etc. As they didn’t know anyone to help them, they asked me to do it for them, and that’s how I started working with some of the best players in the world. I had the experience, knowledge, and network to properly support and protect them, and I used to be a player, so it was a no-brainer for me to help them.

I decided to create Prodigy Agency in 2019 as it was working super well, and a lot of players asked for my help as they have seen or heard good things about myself and the work I was doing for my players.

And what did that journey look like for you? How would you describe the beginnings of the agency?

At the beginning, I was basically helping some “friends”, and I wasn’t having a cut (%) on their salaries. I was still working in motorsports and Formula 1 on the side. Then the players asked me to become their official agent and to negotiate their team contracts for them.

It was very thrilling to be able to help players, and the contracts looked very one-sided at the time so it was more than needed. There were almost no agents, especially on CS:GO and the players – including the best in the world – were signing very very bad contracts.
I instantly knew that I needed to leave everything (Formula 1 etc) to help players all around the world.

Players first

How’s the agency doing now? It represents some of the biggest esports stars, including the likes of ZywOo, nitr0, apEX, EliGE, TenZ, ScreaM, zekken, and others, so it seems to be on a path of success since its inception in 2019. Can you say that’s true?

I would humbly think that we have become the biggest players’ agency in the world, representing players in all major games and all major regions, and I’m proud of that. We are still doing it with the same values and mindset as when I started as a one-man army, and we always put our #PlayersFirst!

We represent some of the biggest and best players, but we also have a big focus on young and promising talents that we help develop to their full potential.

Can you talk more about the kind of approach Prodigy takes toward its clients? If I was a rising esports star, why should I pick Prodigy?

I created Prodigy Agency with a simple goal: to allow the players to focus on what is most important to them: Play, Perform, and Win. All the rest, we can do it for them. That’s the #PlayersFirst mindset!

Of course, nowadays, we have more than 35 employees around the world to be able to take care of everything needed for our players. But we keep our family mindset at the core center of everything we do. We really care about our players, we are close to them and we have all the human resources, network, and expertise to support them from all angles.

What about your vision for the company further on? 

I think there are still plenty of things to develop in order to protect and support the players, and we are constantly working on it. My goal is for Prodigy Agency to stay the leader of player representation and be seen by the players and the industry as the best to take care of and protect the players. I still want Prodigy to be here in 20 or 40 years, doing its best for the players and paving the way for player representation.

The importance of identity and streaming

As a head of Prodigy, your job naturally involves taking care of many different things. Which part of your job is your favorite and which one is the least, and why?

It’s great to represent the superstars of esports like ZywOo, TenZ, ScreaM, Inspired, etc… but what I prefer the most is to scout and discover unknown raw talents, then provide them all the support they could need until they become top-tier players, competing on the biggest stages. This is really the best part of my life right now, and I’m always so proud of our players!

My favorite thing is to attend the events and to see some of our players lifting a trophy. It’s always a magical moment!

 

Besides representation, guidance, and all that stuff that comes with talent representation, one of its important parts is managing growth. What is most important for the proper organic growth of a personal brand in esports?

If we talk about players, it’s important to have an identity, something unique. Being the best in the world and winning the biggest trophies is obviously the main goal for any player, and would allow them to grow organically pretty fast. But they can’t all be the best in their game.

In the current shape of esports and gaming, I would say that one of the key factors is probably to stream. Streaming allows to create an authentic and committed fan base, it’s very appealing for brands and sponsors or partners. It allows capitalizing on the audience and content, to grow the other social media and the personal brand.

Being connected and engaging with the fans and the community is crucial to be able to grow a personal brand as a player. But it’s not easy for players who are focusing on their careers to do all of that. This is why agencies like Prodigy Agency are here to help them, manage their social media, content, and more. But players also need to make the needed efforts if they ambition to grow their brand and audience. Agencies can’t stream or produce extensive content without the players themselves.

Find the best support around you

Since you’ve been working with some pretty big names, how would you sum up your experience working with esports stars so far? Do you remember any interesting or maybe quaint cases of what you dealt with?

It’s always a challenge, but at the same time, it’s with the big names that you can pave the way for all the players. When you negotiate contracts for the like of TenZ or ZywOo, who are the best in the world, you have more leverage, and you can push for better conditions that could apply to all the players afterward.

What about the most difficult issue you encountered/ had to tackle for a client?

I would say the most difficult is always when teams are not being fair or trying to screw a player. A lot of players did sign with Prodigy Agency after signing a bad contract with an organization, as they understood that they made a mistake. They didn’t have anyone to protect them before that, and it’s always complicated to try to change things when the contract has been signed. There have been a lot of fights in the past to improve the standards of player contracts – and there still are.

What advice would give to an upcoming talent looking to establish themselves on the scene?

As a pro player, the most important will always be to try to be the best player possible and have the best work ethic possible. You always need to be able to self-reflect, learn and improve. You need to be committed and always have the right attitude and mindset. Furthermore, you can be one of the most talented players in the world, but if you can’t fit into teams because of your ego or attitude, you won’t have a sustainable career. It’s best if you can find and have the best support around you, to guide you in the right direction, and allow you to focus on the game.

I’m obviously biased, but I do think having a good agency/good agent is also key for upcoming players, in order to be able to navigate properly into esports and have the best opportunities.