How Do You Turn Sports Nutrition into a Career? Two Industry Leaders Share What It Really Takes

20 Oct, 2026

You can understand protein metabolism, follow the latest research and hold respected qualifications—and still have no clear idea how to enter the industry, get noticed by decision-makers or turn your knowledge into a sustainable career.

That gap between knowing sports nutrition and building a career or business from it is where GPNi’s next live podcast begins.

Beyond the Science: Building a Career and Business in Sports Nutrition

Date: Thursday, November 19, 2026

Time:

- Germany: 3:30 pm CET

- US East Coast: 9:30 am EST

- US West Coast: 6:30 am PST

- China: 10:30 pm

- Japan: 11:30 pm

Platform: Live worldwide on Zoom

Host: Drew Campbell, CISSN

Language: English, with AI-powered live translated captions

Free registration: https://nxkkc.share-na2.hsforms.com/2asfMJ5WgQlqYiRNi6W2lCg

Joining Drew for this conversation:

Martin Gratzer, Managing Director at BIOGENA, former professional athlete and 12-time Austrian national champion

Daniel Molina, founder and CEO of Genuino, an early mover in the European plant-protein industry

This will not be another lecture about what the science says. It will focus on what happens next: how knowledge becomes a career, how an idea becomes a product, and how a product becomes a business.

From 12-Time National Champion to Business Leader

What happens when a professional athlete spends 14 years in banking—and then brings both worlds into health and performance?

Martin Gratzer became a 12-time Austrian national champion as a professional shot putter. His sporting career led to more than three decades of practical experience in strength training, recovery, supplementation and human performance.

He studied and trained with internationally recognised experts, including the late Charles Poliquin, and has worked with recreational athletes, corporate executives, elite competitors and Olympic-level athletes.

Today, Martin is Managing Director at BIOGENA, where he is responsible for BIOGENA ONE as well as the company’s biohacking and longevity initiatives.

BIOGENA is an Austrian family-owned health company with around 500 employees, more than one million customers across over 90 countries, and a professional network of more than 30,000 doctors and therapists. Its portfolio includes over 300 products spanning micronutrients, diagnostics, longevity and biohacking.

Martin’s own areas of focus include sports nutrition, healthy aging, metabolic health, recovery, muscle and strength preservation, corporate health, and practical longevity strategies. He regularly speaks at conferences, corporate events and educational forums on high performance, sports nutrition, biohacking and longevity.

His perspective is shaped by both sides of performance: years in competitive sport and years in the corporate world. For Martin, better performance today should not come at the expense of health tomorrow.

His guiding principle is simple:

High performance should not come at the expense of long-term health. The goal is performance for the long run.

During the podcast, Martin will discuss how training, nutrition, recovery and lifestyle can support both immediate performance and long-term health. He will also explore how scientific ideas become practical products and strategies that athletes, professionals and organisations can actually use.

His experience can help answer:

How can athletes pursue performance while protecting their long-term health?
What supports muscle, strength and metabolic health as we age?
How can sporting experience become an advantage in leadership and business?
How does a scientific concept become a practical health solution?

He Saw a Business Opportunity in What Others Threw Away

Daniel Molina entered the industry from a different direction.

He grew up playing football in the youth academy of Austria Vienna, where he learned early how closely nutrition and performance are connected. Fourteen years ago, before plant-based protein became a mainstream category, he began working in alternative proteins.

His business started with something others often treated as waste.

After high-quality seeds were pressed to make premium oils, the remaining press cake was usually considered a low-value by-product. Daniel saw a raw material that could be transformed into almond, hemp, sesame and other plant proteins.

What others discarded became the foundation of Genuino.

Today, Genuino supplies brands and food manufacturers across Europe. The company operates across the complete chain—from sourcing and oil milling to functional proteins and finished-product support. Its official production profile includes five specialised production lines and industrial capacity of up to 50,000 tonnes per year.

That gives Daniel a perspective few people have. He understands the industry not only from the consumer or finished-brand level, but from the farms, raw materials and factories behind the products on the shelf.

For anyone interested in entrepreneurship, product development or the ingredient business, his experience can help explain:

How do you identify an opportunity before it becomes an obvious trend?
When does a clever technical idea become a viable business?
How do you convince customers to value something the market previously overlooked?
What does it take to build reliable international supply chains?
How do small ideas grow into industrial-scale operations?

Daniel did not enter plant protein after the market became popular. He helped build in the category while it was still developing.

Career Lessons You Can Apply

Career stories often look simple in retrospect: the athlete became an executive; the founder spotted an opportunity; the company grew.

The difficult parts are usually missing.

This conversation will also explore the wrong decisions, missed opportunities, financial risks and career transitions behind the polished biographies. Drew will ask Martin and Daniel:

what cost them time
what they would do differently
which experiences ultimately proved more valuable than expected.

That is where this podcast connects most directly with GPNi’s purpose. Education should provide scientific knowledge—but it should also help people understand how the industry works, where their abilities fit and what they still need to develop.

Ask Them Directly

The live Q&A will give participants the opportunity to put their own questions to Martin, Daniel and Drew.

You might want to ask:

Which roles are growing across sports nutrition, wellness and functional foods?
What do companies value beyond degrees and certifications?
How can someone gain meaningful experience without established industry connections?
What makes a person worth hiring, mentoring or partnering with?
How can athletes turn their sporting background into a long-term career?
Where are new business and employment opportunities beginning to appear?

This is a rare chance to hear directly from people who build businesses, develop products, manage teams and choose commercial partners.

For students and early-career professionals, it can offer a clearer picture of what employers actually need. For practitioners and founders, it may reveal new ways to think about products, positioning and growth.

Who Should Join?

This live podcast is designed for sports nutritionists, students, personal trainers, coaches, athletes, researchers, product developers, founders and professionals working in supplements, functional foods, wellness or protein ingredients.

Zoom will provide AI-powered live translated captions, helping German-, Chinese-, Japanese- and other language audiences follow the conversation.

If you already know why sports nutrition matters but still want to understand how people build real careers and businesses from it, save the date.

Come with questions. You may leave with a much clearer idea of your next move.