Creed Mangrum’s path to founding SponsorCX did not begin in the sponsorship world at all. His background is rooted in technology, building web and mobile applications, starting small companies and solving practical problems for real users. As Chief Technology Officer, he brings that builder’s instinct to an industry long overdue for reinvention.

An earlier venture proved formative. Mangrum helped build a company focused on managing game contracts for colleges and universities, work adjacent to sports that sharpened his understanding of how complex, high-stakes agreements are created, negotiated and managed. He saw firsthand how inefficient legacy systems could slow everything to a crawl, and the experience fed an instinct that has guided him throughout his career.

That instinct led him to Jason Smith, whose deep experience on the sponsorship and brand side complemented Mangrum’s technical background. Through their partnership he was introduced to a sponsorship landscape struggling with fragmentation, limited visibility and legacy technology that had not kept pace with modern needs. Teams were managing inventory, contracts, reporting and fulfillment across disconnected spreadsheets and files, with little clarity about what was available or how partnerships were performing.

SponsorCX answers that problem directly, combining the ease of a spreadsheet with the efficiency of automation to help teams move faster and smarter. The platform simplifies and elevates partnership operations for those who sell sponsorships and those who invest in them, replacing scattered tools with a single coherent source of truth.

Mangrum’s philosophy is grounded in proximity to the work. He does not view leadership as separate from execution, staying involved in product, engineering, customer conversations and sales while holding himself to the standards he asks of his team. When something is difficult or high-risk, he believes leaders should step into it directly, a conviction that keeps the company’s technical direction anchored in real customer needs. His Titan 100 Honoree recognition affirms that hands-on approach.

Equally important is his awareness of where he is not strongest. Mangrum surrounds himself with people who exceed him in their domains and gives them autonomy to make meaningful decisions, cultivating a culture where trust is operational rather than aspirational. Team members understand how their work connects to real customers and outcomes, and that sense of ownership has allowed the company to accomplish more with fewer resources.

The team he has built is the accomplishment he values most, a group of capable, thoughtful people with strong retention and deep institutional knowledge. One defining moment showed what that culture can do. When the NFL requested information about a product SponsorCX did not yet offer, Mangrum chose to build a working solution immediately, designing and developing it within a week rather than responding with conceptual plans.

The five-year plan he champions is to make SponsorCX the unifying platform for sponsorship management, eliminating fragmentation and expanding access to organizations that historically lacked the resources to participate fully. His guiding principle stays constant throughout: Be in the trenches, close to the work and the people it serves.

Editorial Note: This profile reflects information submitted by the honoree at the time of their Titan 100 recognition in August 2026. Professional roles and affiliations may have changed since publication.