Matt LaPorta

Matt LaPorta brings a rare combination of elite athletic credibility, private equity deal experience, and deep relationships across the sports and family-office worlds to every engagement. A former MLB first baseman, 7th overall pick in the 2007 MLB Draft, and 2008 Olympic Bronze Medalist with Team USA, Matt has spent the years since his playing career building expertise at the intersection of sports, capital markets, and wealth. He holds an Executive MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and is a two-time SEC Player of the Year from the University of Florida.

At Dynasty Financial Partners, Matt serves as Executive in Residence, connecting an institutional wealth platform to a world of relationships — professional athletes, founders, and family offices — that traditional financial firms struggle to reach.

As a current board member and former partner of True Up Capital, Matt works alongside family-office principals and UHNW investors as both an advisor and co-investor across the sports landscape. His deal experience spans professional franchises — including MLB and WNBA transactions — down to youth sports platforms. He has led or contributed to transactions ranging from eight to ten figures, bringing the same performance mindset to the boardroom that defined his career on the field. His athlete network and insider credibility provide access to ownership pipelines, league relationships, and co-investment opportunities that remain invisible to traditional institutional capital.

Through Wayfinder Capital Partners, Matt targets founder-owned businesses in sports, sports services, recreation, and adjacent industries with EBITDA of $3M–$10M. His focus is on buy-side acquisitions where his background as a professional athlete accelerates trust, unlocks proprietary deal flow, and creates a differentiated path to value creation that traditional PE firms simply cannot replicate.

Matt’s greatest differentiator is relational. Having lived the professional and Olympic athlete experience, he speaks the language of the clients he serves — bringing peer-level trust and credibility alongside real financial and deal sophistication. For the professional athletes, founders, and families in his network, that combination opens doors and earns confidence that traditional financial firms cannot replicate.

Matt is married to Dara — a better athlete than he’ll ever be — and together they are raising four incredible kids in Tampa, Florida. When he’s not closing deals or coaching youth tackle football and baseball, you’ll find him on the golf course, where he brings the same competitive intensity that got him to the big leagues (with slightly less success).