Ep. 74 features Steve Gray, founder of ZeroFlucs, which provides pricing technology for sportsbook operators. Hear him discuss: His background building sportsbook trading solutions at Entain How ZeroFlucs is helping operators expand the appeal of same game parlays The challenges of being a B2B supplier on an operator’s integration roadmap Why he thinks that consolidation amongst operators creates opportunity for ZeroFlucs His decision to bootstrap the company thus far, and how he thinks about th...
Jul 18, 2023•35 min•Ep. 85
Ep. 73 features Martin Burt from ClearStake, which provides accurate, real-time customer risk profiling. Hear him discuss: ClearStake’s origins as a payments business, which it pivoted after “seeing operators try to figure out what to do with affordability” The impact of the UK government white paper to reform gambling regulations, and the increased emphasis it has placed on affordability checks How ClearStake is riding the ‘open banking’ wave in the UK to streamline the process for both operato...
Jul 10, 2023•29 min•Ep. 84
Ep. 72 features Stefano Vaccarino from FTN Network, a multi-site data and media company focused on sports betting, fantasy, DFS. Hear him discuss: How the origins of FTN can be traced back to a burner Twitter account that Stefano created to share his NBA picks Building the initial version of FTN during the pandemic, and encountering challenges finding affordable data feeds to power their network of sites How solving their own data problems for their B2C business led them to a B2B opportunity res...
Jun 30, 2023•35 min•Ep. 83
Ep. 71 features Filip Pacyna and Troy Lenihan from FoodFight, where winners eat, losers pay, and restaurants win. Hear them discuss: Validating their idea in Chicago-area bars with a “least viable product” How FoodFight is enhancing the restaurant patron experience by enabling bets using food and drinks as the currency Their vision for FoodFight to grow from an events business into a productized SaaS offering Drawing inspiration from Mattress Mack as an example of how sports betting is convergin...
Jun 22, 2023•34 min•Ep. 82
Ep. 70 features Justin Park from Betty, which is innovating at the intersection of real money online casino and casual mobile gaming. Hear him discuss: The story of his first two startups prior to co-founding Betty, both of which he successfully exited Why he views his first two startups as “singles and doubles” that have now prepared him to “go for a home run” with Betty How being an affiliate in his previous business helped him see the scale of the opportunity in becoming an operator and monet...
Jun 13, 2023•39 min•Ep. 81
Ep. 69 features Geoff Doyle from Bettor Vision, which is the first all-in-one sports betting and fantasy sports aggregator. Hear him discuss: Why being a product owner as an employee lacked the satisfaction that being a founder brings Overcoming adversity when you bomb a pitch on a public and high-profile stage How BettorVision is helping to unify the user experience across fantasy sports and betting Their current journey to raise a $2m round, and how they’ve been able to close $1.3m of it so fa...
Jun 09, 2023•35 min•Ep. 80
BettingStartups.com brings you Season 1 of Betting On It, an 8-episode series that follows one betting industry startup as it gets investor-ready ahead of its seed funding round. In the Season 1 finale, Drew and Sahil pitch BetsBooster to 3 industry investors, who share their feedback and perspectives on the opportunity. The subsequent Q&A leads to some excellent discussion, including: The potential challenges of offering different types of arbitrage bets in a gamified experience Aligning th...
Jun 08, 2023•37 min•Ep. 79
BettingStartups.com brings you Season 1 of Betting On It, an 8-episode series that follows one betting industry startup as it gets investor-ready ahead of its seed funding round. In this episode, Drew and Sahil from BetsBooster are joined by James McLoughlin from Stirling Mac , who shares a ton of practical, actionable marketing advice. They discuss: The basic set of 'marketing musts' for any B2C mobile app App store optimization, and which specific tactics help drive organic downloads using ASO...
May 30, 2023•31 min•Ep. 78
Ep. 68 features Dan Taren from Scrimmage, a retention tool for sports betting operators. Hear him discuss: His experience winning the SBC First Pitch competition, and what he thinks is a recipe for a successful pitch Scrimmage’s origins as a sports betting hedge fund based out of Gibraltar How going through the Techstars accelerator program led to a pivot into the current incarnation of Scrimmage Using gamification techniques to help drive customer loyalty for sports betting operators How he thi...
May 26, 2023•31 min•Ep. 77
BettingStartups.com brings you Season 1 of Betting On It, an 8-episode series that follows one betting industry startup as it gets investor-ready ahead of its seed funding round. In this episode, Drew and Sahil from BetsBooster are joined by Kenneth Giles from Forecastr.co, who drops a ton of knowledge on everything related to financial modeling for early-stage companies. They discuss: Different broad approaches to fundraising strategy, and the pros and cons to each The importance of doing botto...
May 22, 2023•35 min•Ep. 76
BettingStartups.com brings you Season 1 of Betting On It, an 8-episode series that follows one betting industry startup as it gets investor-ready ahead of its seed funding round. In this episode, Drew and Sahil from BetsBooster are joined by Aaron Basch from Sparket, who shares his experience running a successful crowdfunding campaign. They discuss: How to prepare to launch a public fundraising campaign in a compliant way Determining what incentives to offer backers of a crowdfunding campaign Wh...
May 16, 2023•23 min•Ep. 75
Ep. 67 features Hussain Naqi from Inside The Pocket, a free-to-play content aggregation platform, and WonderWins, a DFS product for cricket and soccer fans in emerging markets. Hear him discuss: His background working for professional sports leagues, including the NFL, MLB, NCAA - plus a long tenure with the Jacksonville Jaguars The current state of the free-to-play landscape Why he thinks that operators shouldn't "tie up their marketing and acquisition strategy in one product" Raising a Series ...
May 05, 2023•34 min•Ep. 74
BettingStartups.com brings you Season 1 of Betting On It, an 8-episode series that follows one betting industry startup as it gets investor-ready ahead of its seed funding round. In this episode, Drew from BetsBooster is joined by Colin Davy from Betscope, who discuss their respective entrepreneurial journeys from a number of perspectives. They discuss: What motivated them to take the leap from corporate jobs to entrepreneurship How they think about the word "sacrifice" within the context of the...
May 04, 2023•39 min•Ep. 73
BettingStartups.com brings you Season 1 of Betting On It, an 8-episode series that follows one betting industry startup as it gets investor-ready ahead of its seed funding round. In this episode, Drew and Sahil from BetsBooster are joined by the world's top gamification guru, Yu-Kai Chou. This episode was an absolute masterclass in game mechanics, which is especially relevant to B2C products. They discuss: The Octalysis Framework for Gamification & Behavioral Design Which game mechanics best...
Apr 28, 2023•36 min•Ep. 72
Ep. 66 features Evan Kirkham from Outlier, where sports fans can browse, analyze, and execute bets with confidence. Hear him discuss: Outlier's origins as a social sports talk app before pivoting the product Why he and his cofounders decided to execute on the pivot, despite having over 10,000 MAUs How the current Outlier product is creating a one-stop-shop for all stages of the sports bettors' journey Why he thinks "the most successful partnerships are ones where there's actually no exchange of ...
Apr 25, 2023•30 min•Ep. 71
BettingStartups.com brings you Season 1 of Betting On It, an 8-episode series that follows one betting industry startup as it gets investor-ready ahead of its seed funding round. In this episode, Drew and Sahil from BetsBooster are joined by guest John Gordon, co-founder & CEO of Incentive Games. They discuss: Learnings from the mature UK betting market as the guys look at the US opportunity for BetsBooster John's thoughts on launching a B2C betting product in the current environment, and wh...
Apr 20, 2023•28 min•Ep. 70
On Part 2 of Ep. 65, we welcome back Karolina Pelc from BeyondPlay, which is transforming solitary game sessions into engaging multiplayer, entertainment experiences. Hear her discuss: What investors saw in the BeyondPlay opportunity that led to their just-announced $5m+ oversubscribed funding round Her advice for other startups that are fundraising in the current economic environment, and why “you have to be adaptive” as a founder Building workplace culture as a fully-remote team, and how she i...
Apr 17, 2023•30 min•Ep. 69
BettingStartups.com brings you Season 1 of Betting On It, an 8-episode series that follows one betting industry startup as it gets investor-ready ahead of its seed funding round. In Episode 1, Jesse introduces the startup and its founders that will be featured in season 1. They walk through the current status of the company, and explore some of the key assumptions that are being used in their business plan as they get investor-ready. To do this, they use the lean canvas framework, which is a qui...
Apr 14, 2023•25 min•Ep. 68
Ep. 65 features Karolina Pelc from BeyondPlay, which is transforming solitary game sessions into engaging multiplayer, entertainment experiences. Hear her discuss: The arc of her 21-year career in the industry, starting as a casino dealer and working her way to the top levels of the global iGaming industry How she leveraged her reputation and credibility within the industry to generate initial support from advisors and investors in the early days of BeyondPlay How BeyondPlay is innovating in the...
Apr 13, 2023•30 min•Ep. 67
Ep. 64 features Caleb Dykema from Vault, which is the Mint of sports betting. Hear him discuss: His background as a Mechanical Engineer and creating physical products before getting into software (including one that he patented!) How the initial version of Vault as a simulation engine led to the discovery of new user problems, resulting in an early pivot Why he focuses so much of his time on customer development, and how interviewing hundreds of people has helped shape the product Generating 25,...
Apr 06, 2023•27 min•Ep. 66
Ep. 63 is our first follow-up episode, featuring Kelly Pracht and Jeremy Jones from nVenue, which leverages the power of machine learning & AI to predict every possible outcome of each play. Hear them discuss: How life has changed at nVenue since their first appearance on the podcast in March 2022 Their takeaways and insights as attendees and panelists at the recent iGaming NEXT NYC event The recent announcement of being accepted as one of seven startups in the NBA Launchpad program - and th...
Apr 03, 2023•26 min•Ep. 65
Ep. 62 introduces you to Jaymee Messler, co-founder of The Gaming Society, which is a betting education company on a mission to build an inclusive community that ignites the sports fan in us all. Hear her discuss: Her background in sports management, representing professional athletes like Pete Sampras, Paul Pierce, and Lamar Odom How her and Derek Jeter connected on the idea empowering athletes to own their story and narrative, which led to them co-founding The Player’s Tribune The work her tea...
Mar 14, 2023•32 min•Ep. 64
Ep. 61 introduces you to Alex Monahan, co-founder of OddsJam, which is the home page of sports betting. Hear him discuss: How his background as a quant trader helped him see sports betting from a market and data perspective The growing ‘betting tools’ category, and why he thinks that OddsJam is uniquely positioned within it Why OddsJam emphasizes education through content, and why audience growth of that content is their biggest focus Last year’s acquisition of Odds Boom, how the deal came toget...
Mar 01, 2023•29 min•Ep. 63
Ep. 60 introduces you to Pierre Lindh, founder and Managing Director of iGaming NEXT, which is a content-driven conference company that focuses on both in-person and online events. Hear him discuss: His career in the iGaming industry, which started at the age of 15 when he was organizing poker games at school - much to the annoyance of his teachers The crazy story of how the cancelation of live events in the early days of the pandemic almost killed iGaming NEXT, and the sacrifices that he and hi...
Feb 16, 2023•50 min•Ep. 62
Ep. 59 brings you the face of fantasy football himself, Matthew Berry. Hear him discuss: How he encouraged a fan engagement app to go all in on sports betting in Dallas after a “terrible” pitch contest His journey from writing jokes in Hollywood to becoming the face of fantasy football How he monetized a passion and hobby by leveraging his expertise and reach through strategic channels Beyond being a girl dad, Matthew shares what he most proud of and why he prefers his title of “writer” above hi...
Feb 08, 2023•43 min•Ep. 61
Ep. 58 introduces you to Andy Westmeyer, CEO of UBetOhio, which is a licensed Type-C operator in the state of Ohio. Learn more 👇 ➡️ UBetOhio website ➡️ Andy Westmeyer on Linkedin
Feb 06, 2023•23 min•Ep. 60
Ep. 57 introduces you to Bart Stein, co-founder & COO of Mojo, which is the stock market for sports. Hear him discuss: How the four-person founding team of Mojo came together, which includes Alex Rodriguez and Mark Lore Mojo’s unique concept of a ‘sports stock market’, which allows people to bet on the career statistics of professional athletes The story of raising $100m for Mojo, including why they decided to raise so much so early Why he’s “amped” by the idea of the Mojo price becoming par...
Jan 26, 2023•30 min•Ep. 59
Ep. 56 introduces you to Drew Tabor, co-founder & CEO of BetsBooster, which is taking the gambling out of betting. Hear him discuss: Being the former #1 Guitar Hero player in the world on four different titles Using gamification to build a matched betting product for the US market that is seen as “an entertainment product instead of a financial product” Early adopter success using BetsBooster, including some power users who are “up at about $20,000” How books like Antifragile and The Million...
Jan 19, 2023•28 min•Ep. 58
Ep. 55 introduces you to Cameron Conn, CEO of OneComply. Hear him discuss: Growing up in Las Vegas and being “literally born and raised in this industry” with his family’s deep roots in the gaming and casino industry How his career in the industry has allowed him to experience the pains and challenges of getting and maintaining gaming licenses What OneComply is doing to make life easier for both licensees and regulators How he thinks about product-market fit, and whether OneComply has found it W...
Jan 13, 2023•32 min•Ep. 57
Ep. 54 introduces you to Joey Levy, founder and CEO of betr. Hear him discuss: Launching Draftpot in 2015 to simplify the fantasy sports product experience, which “was an incredible learning experience” for him How his experience with Draftpot helped him realize that “the traditional sports betting user experience was even worse” than it was for fantasy sports The story of how he and his cofounders at Simplebet decided to focus on micro markets, and how an unexpected insight influenced an early ...
Jan 04, 2023•41 min•Ep. 56
