Willpower returns to Austin during Formula 1 race week with World of Sports 2026, a one-day summit on Thursday, October 22 at Padel39 East Austin bringing together consumer brand leaders, sports team executives, and wellness culture leaders to dig into where business, brands, and athletics meet. This year’s summit is presented in partnership with Vibe.co, the streaming TV advertising platform trusted by 14,500+ marketers to put their brands on the big screen and track real results, making the day officially Willpowered by Vibe.co.
The invite-only summit gathers 150-200 founders, CMOs, and operators from brands doing $10M to $1B+ in revenue, with programming built around one question: how do consumer brands win through sport?
World of Sports is more than a race week event. It’s a room where brand leaders, team executives, and athletes meet, trade playbooks, and build relationships that carry through the year. The day brings together panels, padel with professional athletes, and partner activations, followed by a full weekend of Austin sports.
In partnership with Vibe.co
2026 Speaker Lineup
This year’s speakers represent leading voices across sport, consumer brands, and human performance:
(by panel)
- Ahmed “Meddy” Iqbal (CMO) Cadillac F1 Team
- Shergul Arshad (Head of North America) Aston Martin F1 Team
- Rob Bloom (CMO) Aston Martin F1 Team
- Giancarlo Morena (VP Sports & Entertainment) CELSIUS
- Holly Thaggard (Co-Founder & Founder) WaterOuai! & Supergoop!
- Emily McCarthy, (Co-Founder, Head of Community) GORUCK
- Dr. Ara Suppiah (Scientific Advisory Board) IM8
- Brian Le Gette (Co-Founder, CEO) Ammortal
- Mike Buckley (Team Principal, CEO & Co-Owner of the United States) SailGP Team
- Drew Martin (Director of Athletic Affairs) UT Athletics
- Joel Kocher (Founder, CEO) HUMANN
- Mystery NBA guest
Additional panelists on the way
In partnership with Vibe.co
Programming Highlights
- Morning movement: The day opens at 8:00 AM with a morning Ruck led by GORUCK Co-founder, Emily McCarthy & a run and workout
- Padel activation: Padel with professional athletes across Padel39’s 12 lighted courts, with a “hit it to win it” activation with partner giveaways
- Food: Sweetgreen caters the day. Willpower founder, Bill Murphy, has been eating only Sweetgreen for 30 days as part of the ‘30 Days of Sweetgreen Challenge.’ He will share his before-and-after transformation at lunch
- Recovery: WaterOuai! for hydration throughout the day, IM8 keeps everyone refreshed, GetWell Health offers on-site IV drips and B12 shots, NeuFit provides Neubie demos.
- Willpower Wellness Bodega: AG1, Create, Magic Mind, David, Good Wipes, Everyday Dose, UPDATE, Momentous, Gruns, and more.
- Performance Lab powered by Anthroby Ghost Labs: Guests receive demos from performance based technology in partnership with Ghost Labs in Austin (Afference, Evolve, Ammortal, Vollebak)
- Race weekend:
- Friday, Oct 23: Spurs vs. Rockets
- Saturday, Oct 24: Texas vs. Ole Miss SEC football
- Sunday, Oct 25: the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas
Our Partners:
- Vibe.co
- Optimizely
- Simplistic
- PostPilot
- Sweetgreen
- Hotspex Media
- Retention.com
- Anthropy Partners
- Faves.xyz
- Paul Street
- LSKD
- Afference
- Aston Martin
- Ammortal
- IM8
- WaterOuai!
- AIIR
- Wellworthy
- Jack Taylor
Willpower is a curated community for consumer brand operators, built on the belief that the brands that win will be built by operators who know each other. Founder Bill Murphy started Willpower after launching a wellness mezcal RTD brand and building community around it. Today, Willpower brings together 250+ founders, CMOs, and operators from brands including Red Bull, AG1, YETI, WHOOP, and Barry’s, hosting 12+ invite-only events a year across three series: Catalyst, World of Sports, and Wellness House.
Bill@willpowerhq.com
Willpower
marlee@willpowerhq.com
Willpower
