The Betting Startups Podcast

Ep. 109: Modeling the relationship between weather and home runs w/ John Leekley & Paul Dorian from Home Run Forecast

Ep. 109 features John Leekley & Paul Dorian from Home Run Forecast, which is an index rating that measures the favorability of conditions for ball fight.
 
Hear them discuss:
How Paul fused his background as a meteorologist with his passion for baseball to develop the Home Run Index
What goes into developing a model like the Home Run Index, which is “about 60-65% accurate”
How the Home Run Index helps bettors with over/under markets, and fantasy players with start/sit decisions
Their go-to-market strategy, and the different ways they are thinking about further commercializing the product
How recent changes to MLB rules have improved the game from a fan perspective
Their thoughts on baseball’s future
 
Learn more 👇
➡️ Home Run Forecast website
➡️ John Leekley on Linkedin
 
 
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This podcast is presented by Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry. Since 2012, Optimove has served iGaming Operators from startups to industry leaders. Today, 4 out of the Top 5 US Operators Personalize Player Experiences with Optimove. iGaming operators know their growth journey begins and continues with Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry.

Ep. 108: The value of building in public w/ Chris Shreeve from Locker Room Labs

Ep. 108 features Chris Shreeve from Locker Room Labs, which are sports app development specialists.
 
Hear him discuss:
His background owning a marketing services agency, and the lessons he learned running a services-based business
How Locker Room Labs is taking a different approach as a services business by “providing value first before aggressively selling”
The value of building in public for startups, and developing your personal brand as an entrepreneur
Why focusing on a niche and “a specific vertical and sticking to it is incredibly powerful”
How he views innovation within the sports betting industry through his first year in the space
Why he thinks “it's never too early to create, scalable enterprise level processes” for startups
 
Learn more 👇
➡️ Locker Room Labs website
➡️ Chris Shreeve on Linkedin
 
 
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This podcast is presented by Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry. Since 2012, Optimove has served iGaming Operators from startups to industry leaders. Today, 4 out of the Top 5 US Operators Personalize Player Experiences with Optimove. iGaming operators know their growth journey begins and continues with Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry.

The Gamble & The Glory: Ep. 06 - Rasmus Sojmark, SBC

We're back with Ep. 6 of The Gamble & The Glory, where we meet founders that have built their companies to become stalwarts of the sports betting, fantasy, and iGaming industry.
 
In this one, we speak with Rasmus Sojmark, CEO & Founder of SBC.
 
Hear him discuss:
How his interest in the psychology of sports betting led him to study it in university, which included writing a 175 page dissertation on the topic
His early days working in the industry, which led him to move from Copenhagen to London in 2007 to be closer to operators
The origins of SBC as an industry meetup group in London that ran quarterly meetups of 150-200 people
His decision to go all-in with SBC in 2012 to build an events and media business focused on the betting and gaming industry
How he validated he was on the right path with SBC, and how he knew he had found product/market fit
Why he’s “not looking for an exit” for SBC, despite generating “tens of millions” in revenue
The importance of building a strong network and reputation, and why “being helpful and nice to people certainly helps”
How he thinks about success, and why appreciating the journey is more important to him
“Being a perfectionist”, the art of delegation, and putting trust in your people
Why prioritizing his health has made him a better entrepreneur
 
Learn more 👇
➡️ SBC website
➡️ Rasmus Sojmark on Linkedin
 
 
The Gamble & The Glory is made possible by Segev LLP, a full solutions law firm purpose built for the gaming and betting industry. To learn more, visit: www.segev.ca

Ep. 107: Creating a new category of betting markets w/ Johnny Coetzer from BetLabs

Ep. 107 features Johnny Coetzer from BetLabs, which is reinvigorating the sports betting experience for bettors while helping operators elevate their game.
 
Hear him discuss:
The lessons he learned playing chess and tennis growing up, and how they prepared him for life as an entrepreneur
How his idea for Boost Bets was derived from the spread betting concept (except it provides the downside protection for players that spread betting doesn’t)
Why he’s prioritizing working with platform providers as his primary distribution strategy
B2B sales and the challenges of getting a product prioritized on an operator or platform provider’s roadmap
Winning the pitch competition at last week’s SiGMA Africa event in Cape Town
The insights from the recently published ‘Game Changers’ report published by BettingStartups.com, which included data from 68 industry startups (Free download at Next.io!)
 
Learn more 👇
➡️ BetLabs website
➡️ Johnny Coetzer on Linkedin
 
 
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This podcast is presented by Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry. Since 2012, Optimove has served iGaming Operators from startups to industry leaders. Today, 4 out of the Top 5 US Operators Personalize Player Experiences with Optimove. iGaming operators know their growth journey begins and continues with Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry.

Ep. 106: Building HQ Trivia for live sports w/ Noah Bernstein from Locker

Ep. 106 features Noah Bernstein from Locker, which is getting fans off the bench and in the game.
 
Hear him discuss:
The million dollar offer he received to drop out of college to start his first company - which he didn’t take on the advice of his Mom
How Locker is blending mechanics from HQ Trivia and traditional fantasy sports to create a live second screen experience
The ideation process he followed to develop the Locker concept and ensure it was sufficiently differentiated in a crowded DFS market
His vision for building Locker into “a game studio for watching experiences of sports”
The increased regulatory scrutiny on the DFS space right now, and why he is confident that Locker’s game format is compliant
How building a team of experienced mentors and advisors has helped him to grow as a younger entrepreneur
Opening a new round of funding around the Superbowl, which became oversubscribed within two weeks
 
Learn more 👇
➡️ Locker website
➡️ Noah Bernstein on Linkedin
 
 
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This podcast is presented by Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry. Since 2012, Optimove has served iGaming Operators from startups to industry leaders. Today, 4 out of the Top 5 US Operators Personalize Player Experiences with Optimove. iGaming operators know their growth journey begins and continues with Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry.

Ep. 105: Building audiences before products w/ Trevis Waters from PlayerProps.ai

Ep. 105 features Trevis Waters from PlayerProps.ai, which is a new app fully powered by AI for all things player props research.
 
Hear him discuss:
How his passion for fantasy sports led him to write an ebook in 2011, which was the catalyst for him focusing his career on producing educational content within the space
His journey as co-founder and COO of DFS Karma and Bet Karma, which were both acquired just last week
Why he has focused on building an audience through Facebook groups, which now represent over 100,000 engaged users
How he is leveraging Discord, and why he’s “a million percent confident” that he has “the largest pre-product, pre-revenue Discord group in the industry”
How he is leveraging his audience to launch PlayerProps.ai with a goal of generating “$100,000 in subscription revenue in the first 24 hours” after launching
Where he sees PlayerProps.ai fitting into the ‘betting tools’ ecosystem, and how he is differentiating it from the many other tools in the market
How he thinks about the sports betting education, and whether people want to put the work in to actually learn core concepts
 
Learn more 👇
➡️ PlayerProps.ai website
➡️ Trevis Waters on Linkedin
 
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This podcast is presented by Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry. Since 2012, Optimove has served iGaming Operators from startups to industry leaders. Today, 4 out of the Top 5 US Operators Personalize Player Experiences with Optimove. iGaming operators know their growth journey begins and continues with Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry.

Ep. 104: Facilitating real-money bets for golfers w/ Matt Rum from LoopGolf

Ep. 104 features Matt Rum from LoopGolf, which is golf’s premium betting app.
 
Hear him discuss:
How Matt and his co-founder conceived the LoopGolf concept while working together at Square
How LoopGolf is streamlining the competitive nature of golf by facilitating popular game formats with integrated payments
The regulatory complexity of the payments domain, and why payments are LoopGolf’s “single biggest moat”
How Matt thinks about team structure as he builds out the LoopGolf organization
Feature prioritization and developing product roadmaps
The marketing channels and tactics that LoopGolf is leveraging to drive product awareness and user acquisition
Why onboarding is so important with consumer apps, and how Matt is thinking about optimizing it for LoopGolf
 
Learn more 👇
➡️ LoopGolf website
➡️ Matt Rum on Linkedin
 
 
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This podcast is presented by Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry. Since 2012, Optimove has served iGaming Operators from startups to industry leaders. Today, 4 out of the Top 5 US Operators Personalize Player Experiences with Optimove. iGaming operators know their growth journey begins and continues with Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry.

Ep. 103: Bootstrapping to 100k app downloads w/ Calvin Konya from Linemate

Ep. 103 features Calvin Konya from Linemate, which is sports analytics for everyone.
 
Hear him discuss:
His vision for how Linemate will become “the Expedia of sports betting”
Iterating the Linemate product from its origins as a “research and analysis” tool to now helping users with “the discovery aspect” of betting
How they generated 100,000+ organic app downloads in the last year, half of which has come in the last 60 days
Using customer feedback loops to continually iterate and improve the product
Co-founding Linemate with his brother, and how they’ve been able to manage that dynamic as business partners
Bootstrapping Linemate through its first two years, and how he’s now thinking about capitalizing the next stage of growth
Which other companies and products in the space he finds most impressive
His best restaurant recommendations in Montreal
 
Learn more 👇
➡️ Linemate website
➡️ Calvin Konya on Linkedin
 
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This podcast is presented by Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry. Since 2012, Optimove has served iGaming Operators from startups to industry leaders. Today, 4 out of the Top 5 US Operators Personalize Player Experiences with Optimove. iGaming operators know their growth journey begins and continues with Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry.

The Gamble & The Glory: Ep. 05 - Charles Gillespie & Kevin McCrystle, Gambling.com

We're back with Ep. 5 of The Gamble & The Glory, where we meet founders that have built their companies to become stalwarts of the sports betting, fantasy, and iGaming industry.
 
In this one, we speak with Charles Gillespie & Kevin McCrystle, CEO & COO of Gambling.com Group.
 
Hear them discuss:
The go-to-market plan for launching the business in 2006, which involved moving to Shanghai to launch a sports betting information site focusing on the Chinese market
Abandoning the China strategy after 4 years to "make two really key pivots" that better leveraged their SEO expertise
The story of acquiring the Gambling.com domain name for $2.5m in 2011, and why that helped them achieve product-market fit
How the repeal of PASPA derailed their plans to list the company in Sweden, and instead led them to list on the NASDAQ in 2021
Whether the perception of affiliates as "a necessary evil" by operators aligns to their experience as one of the industry's largest performance marketing companies
Gambling.com's role as a founding member of the Responsible Gambling Affiliate Association, and what the trade association serves to achieve
How they've maintained their strong co-founder relationship over the almost 20 years since starting the company
Advice to other entrepreneurs based on their main lessons learned from building Gambling.com to a nine-figure market cap
Their perspective on ambition, and what continues to drive them as entrepreneurs despite all the success they've achieved to date
 
Learn more: 
➡️ Gambling.com Group website
➡️ Charles Gillespie on Linkedin
➡️ Kevin McCrystle on Linkedin
 
The Gamble & The Glory is made possible by Segev LLP, a full solutions law firm purpose built for the gaming and betting industry. To learn more, visit: www.segev.ca 

Ep. 102: Building a family business investing in betting startups w/ Andrew & Ethan Ehrenberg from Eberg Capital

Ep. 102 features Andrew & Ethan Ehrenberg from Eberg Capital, which help creators and their fans develop closer, more authentic relationships across sports, gaming and the arts.
 
Hear them discuss:
The origins of Eberg Capital, which they started alongside their father after graduating from university
Their thesis on the betting industry, and why they decided to align their investing activity to opportunities within the space
The inner workings of how their firm evaluates deals and makes investment decisions
Navigating the dynamics of investing together as a family, and how that might potentially evolve in the future
How being relatively young in age allows them to be “the voice of the user” and “really understand what consumers in that demo are looking for”
The role they play within their portfolio companies, and what they’re doing to support their founders
What project they would pursue as founders if they weren’t focused on investing through Eberg Capital
Which companies they are most excited about and keeping a close eye on
 
Learn more 👇
➡️ Eberg Capital website
➡️ Andrew Ehrenberg on Linkedin
➡️ Ethan Ehrenberg on Linkedin
 
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This podcast is presented by Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry. Since 2012, Optimove has served iGaming Operators from startups to industry leaders. Today, 4 out of the Top 5 US Operators Personalize Player Experiences with Optimove. iGaming operators know their growth journey begins and continues with Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry.