Rich Kleiman is building Boardroom into a membership club, and it’s all about legacy
Since launching Boardroom in 2019, Rich Kleiman and NBA star Kevin Durant have grown the media company into an influential player that confidently straddles business, sports, and entertainment across content, films, TV, and events. Its newest venture is a membership club that Kleiman sees as key to building a long-lasting brand legacy.
“I really want to build a sustainable brand that lasts,” Kleiman tells Fast Company. “By having this core membership community, and having them become, in a lot of ways, voices of this brand, I thought was really crucial.”
Launching today, the Boardroom Members Club will feature regular members-only events; VIP access to Boardroom flagship activations at NBA All-Star, Art Basel, and more; exclusive networking opportunities; and a private digital platform.
“For me, I saw this boom in membership clubs in the city, and while they all have their own thing, whether it’s the food or the location or the brand name or the type of people that go there, I didn’t think that there were actually communities there that benefited your career,” says Kleiman. “And for me, I felt like that was my special sauce, understanding the importance of being in a room with the right mix of people.”
Boardroom’s media arm churns out newsletters, social posts, and content that reaches over 52 million unique monthly visitors. The company is on track to nearly double revenue in 2025, and average monthly reach has increased by 74% in 2025. Its film and TV output in recent years includes the Apple TV series Swagger, Showtime’s Emmy-nominated doc NYC Point Gods, and the Oscar-winning short Two Distant Strangers.
However, it was events like Boardroom’s annual CNBC and Boardroom Game Plan Summit that showed Kleiman the potential in combining quality content and the community of people who gather around it. Like an IRL LinkedIn for cool people, “I thought that was really exciting, and I wanted to create a version of it that was exclusive to members,” he says. “I wanted that to feel a bit exclusive, because those conferences can be overwhelming for people that are trying to get information and trying to connect.”
Last week in New York City, Boardroom has partnered with Fanatics on a three-day career and networking program aimed at helping athletes translate their skillset for business. The program featured 29 current and retired athletes across the NFL, NBA, and NHL (and now Membership Club members) discussing mentorship, networking, an exclusive CEO dinner series, and potential employment opportunities.
Members Club events will have the same vibe and feel of the brand’s bigger events but with more intimate programming. “The big names are still in the room, but make them truly accessible and they understand that like they’re there now to integrate with this community,” says Kleiman. “And [those big names] want that too. It’s really infectious for anyone at any level, to be around that type of hunger and that type of curiosity and excitement. Seeing our consumers and knowing they’re part of our brand and in our comments and at our parties, but they wanted more, and I wanted to give them more.”
The combination of not only connecting with Boardroom content, but with fellow fans and members that can impact their own careers and businesses, is where Kleiman sees the most long-term potential.
“For me, the real excitement is creating something that I can point to potentially decades from now and say, ‘That was us, we built that.’”