In 2020, we spoke with M.S. in Commerce alumnus Ken Jee about how he was helping aspiring data scientists build careers through YouTube and online education. At the time, he was running Scouts Consulting Group’s satellite office in Chicago and creating content focused on coding, analytics, and athletic stats for aspiring data scientists.
Today, Jee is based in Austin, TX, and his work has expanded far beyond technical tutorials. While he still works in sports analytics with Scout, his work also spans performance psychology, newsletters, local community building, and AI strategy. Throughout our recent conversation, four themes emerged: human performance beyond analytics, adapting to AI disruption, owning your audience, and the importance of designing a career around energy and leverage.
Athletic Results That Go Far Beyond Numbers
Although analytics remains central to Jee’s professional work, he has grown increasingly interested in what data cannot fully explain.
“My work, 9-to-5-ish, is in sports performance, but it’s all focused on analytics,” he says. “Analytics is really great for the what and a little bit of the how. But there’s not a whole lot of the how about what makes an athlete great.”
That curiosity led him to launch “The Exponential Athlete,” a podcast exploring elite performance. Through interviews and deep research, he became fascinated with visualization techniques used by top competitors. One moment stood out: a conversation about how Michael Phelps prepared for races.
“He doesn’t just visualize everything going well,” Jee explains. “He visualizes everything going wrong and how he would overcome that.”
After reading approximately 250 research papers, Jee wrote The Visualization Handbook for Elite Athletes to translate academic research into practical guidance. In studying the science, he uncovered a surprising insight about manifestation culture.
“It is actually likely to make you less motivated to pursue whatever you’re manifesting,” he says, referencing research on fantasizing idealized outcomes. Visualization can boost confidence, but used incorrectly, it can reduce drive.
For Jee, performance is multidimensional: Data may measure output, but mindset drives excellence.
Navigating AI Disruption and Building Resilient Skills
Jee’s earlier career advice centered on becoming a data scientist. But the rise of artificial intelligence has reshaped that landscape rapidly.
“Even a year ago,” he says, reflecting on how quickly coding has changed. “It’s crazy to think about how fast that moves.”
He believes technical degrees have been “devalued really aggressively” as AI tools automate more coding tasks. In response, he focuses on identifying resilient skills for shorter time horizons.
“My focus is how do I build skills that are resilient in the next three to five years?” he says, explaining that when the next timeline is met, repeat the process to stay a step ahead of emerging changes.
Through his AI newsletter, Jee analyzes broader societal shifts. He sees AI as potentially “a net negative for the human race” at a global level due to inequality and information trust issues, yet a “massive net benefit locally” for individuals and companies who leverage it effectively.
Rather than panic, he advocates adaptability. In an exponential environment, flexibility becomes strategy.
The Power of Newsletters, Having a Local Focus, and Owning Your Audience
One of Jee’s strongest convictions today is the value of owning distribution.
“I am super bullish on the newsletter business in general,” he says.
After years of creating algorithm-dependent content, he pivoted to email-based audiences. He now runs multiple newsletters, including one focused on AI, “The AI Survival Guide,” the “Austin Founders Feed” dedicated to the city’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, and “The Growth Account,” which documents the development process for the aforementioned local Austin newsletter. His Austin newsletter, which curates weekly startup events and local business news, has grown quickly.
“We started that on Dec. 7, 2025, and we’re already at around 2,900 subscribers,” he notes. “It’s a reason to talk to any entrepreneur in Austin.” He says in a globally connected world, shifting that focus to the world he’s living in is making a difference in the often thorny online landscape of AI-manufactured disinformation and images. “It’s easy to impact and make decisions around that locally. From my perspective, the best thing to do is talk to people about how they can improve their quality of life or hedge themselves for many of these changes.”
Email, he argues, offers something rare in today’s digital ecosystem: ownership.
“It’s the only way you own your audience,” he says. Compared with social platforms, newsletters offer clearer monetization, predictable customer acquisition, and insulation from algorithm shifts.
Designing a Career Around Energy and Leverage
Perhaps the most distinctive element of Jee’s journey is how intentionally he structures his work.
“I like working on a lot of projects. It gives me a lot of energy,” he says. But he pairs that variety with systems and partnerships to avoid burnout. “If I hyperfocus on one thing, I get burned out.”
Drawing on lessons from the M.S. in Commerce Program, especially collaboration and self-awareness, Jee emphasizes maximizing strengths while building teams that complement weaknesses.
He also offers counterintuitive advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: “Think smaller rather than larger. Local businesses are incredibly good, incredibly lucrative. And there’s way less competition.”
Jee’s path reflects a broader shift in modern careers. Titles matter less than adaptability, ownership, and the willingness to evolve. As he continues developing his ideas across analytics, AI, and community, one principle remains constant: Design your work around curiosity, and build systems that let that interest scale.
