Everything you need to write about SuperDebate.

Fact sheet

Founder & CEO

John Thomas Connor

Headquarters

Chicago, IL (remote-first)

Incorporation

Delaware C-Corp

Round

$500K pre-seed open on standard SAFE

Live events

12+ live events, including an international championship

Cities

Operating in four cities, eight in active outreach

Community

250+ competitors and members, anchored by a 200-person Chicago community

Topic of the year

AI: nine questions, every town, all year

Flagship event

Chicago Debates Showcase at mHUB, coming in 2026

Format

1v1 to 5v5, structured rounds, judged + audience vote

Founder bio

John Thomas Connor is the founder of SuperDebate. He grew up in Chicago, worked in the Chicago Urban Debate League, and is rebuilding live competitive debate as a recurring club model, the way Toastmasters did for public speaking and Tough Mudder did for endurance racing.

Email: john@superdebate.org

Leadership

• John Thomas Connor
  Founder & CEO
  Debate champion. Coached the first Urban Debate League team to win a national championship. Built SuperDebate’s platform, brand, format, and operating model.
• Brian J. Esposito
  Chief Strategy Officer
  Founder & CEO of Esposito Intellectual Enterprises: 110+ entities across 25+ industries. Leads capital strategy, partnerships, sponsor architecture, and expansion relationships.

Advisors

• Stephen "Stix" Nilsen
  Brand & Culture
  VP of Cult Indoctrination at Liquid Death through its run from canned-water joke to billion-dollar cult brand. 20+ years building movements at Red Bull and Pabst Blue Ribbon.
• Matthew Rolnick
  Partnerships & Sponsorship
  SVP Partnerships at Real American Beer; former partnership lead at Yaymaker and Groupon. Attaches national consumer brands to live experiences at scale.
• Dr. Iain Lampert
  Competition Design
  National champion debater, elite coach, founder of Authentalk, COO at ModernBrain. Designs the formats and judging that make rounds fair and skill compound.
• John Hines
  AI & Pedagogy
  Championship debate coach and co-founder of DebaterHub. Builds AI-supported debate training used by students, coaches, and institutions.

Quick links for press

• · Live proof page: events shipped, cities live, founding members
• · Sponsor one-pager: printable, partnership tiers and audience
• · Founding Members wall: public list of early supporters
• · Ambassador program: open cities and warm contacts
• · Founder Arena: podcast / video series
• · The AI debate topic of the year

Logos & assets

Branded assets (logo PNG/SVG, founder headshot, photo selects, sample clips) live in the press-kit bucket on Supabase Storage. For now, email press@superdebate.org with your outlet and we'll send the kit directly.