The small pond of esports has been attracting some very big fish lately.

With juggernaut sports-business entities like the Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat moving into competitive gaming, smaller independent organizations are being put at a monetary disadvantage, and are in danger of being squeezed out.

So how does the small esports fish survive? They have to start start feeding the sharks, says Selfless Gaming’s Steve "Ryu" Rattacasa.

The Selfless team owner and CS:GO coach appeared on theScore esports Podcast Monday to talk about everything from the female Counter-Strike scene, to player burnout.

On the influx of big-money orgs into esports, the former Counter-Strike player doesn’t mince words.

“I think as those organizations get in, it’ll be a bad thing initially,” he said. “It’s been difficult at times with this external, and a lot of it NBA, money flooding into the space for an organization like ours to compete, to exist and to be successful.”

The problem, Ryu said, lies in their strategy of prioritizing brand visibility over the bottom line.

“Short term, there’s no interest in making a profit, there’s no interest in generating revenue. They want to make headlines and they want to squeeze out the orgs like us,” he said.

The survival strategy boils down to scouting talent and putting them on the big boys’ radar, said Ryu. “Where they have huge amounts of capital, I have things their capital can purchase,” Ryu said.

“So it sucks for us in that we know that that’s their model, but it’s good for us in that I know in order to build winning teams, I can find the players that they’ll eventually have.”

And there’s nothing wrong with being a farm team, he told theScore esports Podcast. “If it’s good for the players, it’s a step up in their career and I can sell it to an NBA owner who can write big cheques, then that’s the way that we’ll survive.”

Selfless recently sold their female CS:GO squad to Team Dignitas, after acquiring the team in June. Last summer, CS:GO players Michael "Uber" Stapells and Skyler "Relyks" Weaver also made the move from Selfless to compLexity Gaming and Team SoloMid, respectively.

“I’m willing to spend the time and invest the time to invest in up and coming players and also scout talent,” he said.

That’s for the short term. The long game, he said, is to either join the big orgs or get relegated.

“I do think in the long run, organizations like ours will probably get absorbed by the big guys and then the rest of them will probably play like a minor league or Triple-A kind of team.”

Colin McNeil is a supervising editor for theScore esports. You can follow him on Twitter.