The Betting Startups Podcast

Ep. 37 - Kenneth Giles, SimBull

Ep. 37 introduces you to Kenneth Giles, co-founder and CEO of SimBull, which is the stock market for sports.
Hear him discuss:
Leaving his “very stable nine to five job” as an actuary and why he decided to follow in his family’s path of entrepreneurship
How he came up with the concept of a sports stock market, which he believes can grow into a standalone category alongside betting and fantasy
Taking a contrarian approach by focusing on longer-term markets at a time when microbetting is attracting a large amount of attention and investment
His experience going through the Techstars Sports Accelerator, and how “it makes you think about all aspects of your business”
How he views the fundraising environment as SimBull finalizes plans to raise a $1.5m seed round this fall
 
Learn more:
➡️ SimBull website
➡️ SimBull Twitter
➡️ SimBull in Apple app store
➡️ Kenneth Giles on Linkedin

Ep. 36 - Ross Fruin, GridRival

Ep. 36 introduces you to Ross Fruin, co-founder and CEO of GridRival, which is the home screen for race fans.
Hear him discuss:
How GridRival acquired 22,000 users within the first 5 days after launching, and how product virality helped it scale it to over 180,000 users in the first year
GridRival’s progression from season-long fantasy into DFS, and what he’s thinking about as the next step in his long-term plan
The challenges of the quickly changing data landscape within motorsports, and why he thinks it’s possible that data collection “may be a problem we end up solving internally”
Being dismissed by investors as a niche operator before successfully raising $3m from investors who saw the motorsports audience as on that could drive venture-scale returns
How he built an all-star advisory board at GridRival, and his advice for other entrepreneurs on what they should consider when looking for advisors
 
Learn more:
➡️ GridRival website
➡️ Ross Fruin on Linkedin

Ep. 35 - Cooper Lycan, SoBet

Ep. 35 introduces you to Cooper Lycan from SoBet, a sports betting media platform that publishes sports betting content from independent experts.
Hear him discuss:
SoBet’s origins as a peer-to-peer betting product, which he pivoted into a premium content platform after learning about the challenges of “the liquidity issue”
His take on the creator economy and why it’s important to build a platform that allows creators to remain independent
His experience raising money in the current environment, and why it was the “hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life”
How serving in the military helped has helped make him a more resilient entrepreneur and leader
Learn more👇
➡️ SoBet website
➡️ Cooper Lycan on Linkedin

Ep. 34 - Dean Sisun & Jake Benzaquen, Prophet Exchange

Ep. 34 introduces you to Dean Sisun and Jake Benzaquen from Prophet Exchange, which is the US sports betting exchange.
Hear them discuss:
Moving to the UK to build experience in a regulated market where betting exchanges are a mature product category
Their impending product launch in New Jersey, and what it means to each of them to reach this milestone after four years of effort
The need to educate US customers on the benefits of using an exchange, and their focus on “building the most simple product possible”
What they are doing to ensure there is liquidity on the platform on launch day
Their experience raising money from investors against a plan that carried regulatory uncertainty, and why theirs was “not the sexy pitch, but the right one"
 
Learn more 👇
➡️ Prophet Exchange website
➡️ Dean Sisun on Linkedin
➡️ Jake Benzaquen on Linkedin

Ep. 33 - Brent Winston, BetSwap

Ep. 33 introduces you to Brent Winston, co-founder and CEO of BetSwap, which is the most efficient, fully integrated, secondary marketplace technology for sportsbooks and platform providers.
Hear him discuss:
His recent experience winning the First Pitch competition at the SBC Summit North America event
How BetSwap’s secondary marketplace for sports bets complements existing cashout features to the benefit of both bettors and operators
Being met with skepticism by trading teams during the B2B sales process, and how he’s overcome that to sign several partnerships for the upcoming NFL season
The importance of getting validation by “having the right people backing you”
His perspective of the newly regulated Ontario betting market as a resident of Toronto
 
Learn more 👇
➡️ BetSwap website
➡️ Brent Winston on Linkedin
 

Ep. 32 - Will Armitage & Philipp Stritzke, BestOdds.com

Ep. 32 introduces you to Will Armitage and Phillip Stritzke from BestOdds.com, the destination for US bettors.
Hear them discuss:
The advantage it provides to build a new brand with a category-defining domain name that “is part of the vernacular”
Their views on the affiliate landscape in the US market, and why the trend towards consolidation of affiliates “does make sense”
The advice they have for new aspiring affiliates to best navigate the compliance path in the regulated US market
The main cultural differences they see between UK and US bettors, and how those differences are helping influence their strategy for BestOdds.com
What sectors and industries (outside of betting!) Will is currently making angel investments into both personally and through his VC funds
 
Learn more 👇
➡️ BestOdds.com website
➡️ Will Armitage on Linkedin
➡️ Philipp Stritzke on Linkedin

Ep. 31 - Ben Cary, CapWize

Ep. 31 introduces you to Ben Cary, co-founder and CEO of CapWize, which combines expert human opinion with cutting-edge simulation models to help bettors make smarter picks.
Hear him discuss:
His 2 key takeaways from the SBC Summit North America event, and what those might mean for the future of the North American betting and iGaming industry
Being selected as one of five finalists to present at the SBC First Pitch competition, and how that platform helped him make valuable new connections
How he leveraged platforms like Twitch and TikTok to build an audience using educational content first while he developed the CapWize product
The importance of simplifying the complex math behind simulations to deliver insightful and actionable insights to bettors
The opportunity he sees for CapWize to help bettors make smarter same-game parlays with a new analysis tool that will be launched later this year
 
Learn more 👇
➡️ CapWize website
➡️ CapWize Twitter
➡️ CapWize Twitch
➡️ Ben Cary on Linkedin and Twitter

Ep. 30 - Sanjay Thakur, Verdict MMA

Ep. 30 introduces you to Sanjay Thakur, co-founder & CEO of Verdict MMA, which is the engagement platform for Mixed Martial Arts.
Hear him discuss:
How a controversial judge’s decision in a UFC fight sparked the idea for Verdict, which started as a passion project with his high school friends
Why MMA as a sport is known for its passionate fans, and how Verdict was able to tap into that passion to acquire over 100k users
Verdict’s recent launch of real-money fantasy sports, and why it made sense for them now despite the relative maturation of the DFS space
Being a niche operator focusing on a single sport, and resisting the temptation to expand horizontally to other sports
Getting ex-UFC fighter Ben Askren involved as an investor, who he “spoke to on a Monday… by Friday we had a wire transfer”
His vote for MMA GOAT (spoiler alert: Sanjay is Canadian and the episode was recorded on Canada Day!)
 
Learn more:
➡️ Verdict MMA website
➡️ Sanjay Thakur on Twitter and Linkedin
 

Ep. 29 - Brady Sharp, BroThrow

Ep. 29 introduces you to Brady Sharp, co-founder & CEO of BroThrow, a patent-pending, social sports betting network.
Hear him discuss:
The importance of establishing trust amongst users, and the need to build constraints in the product to enforce social accountability
Why the peer-to-peer model used by BroThrow makes it exempt from sports betting regulations, despite the fact that users are betting real money
The marketing channel that allowed BroThrow to successfully acquire its users, which they are doubling down on for the upcoming NFL season
When he knew the time was right to leave the comfort of his corporate finance job to pursue BroThrow full-time
How he pitched the idea for BroThrow to a former boss, who liked the idea so much that his boss gifted him the domain name BroThrow.com
 
Learn more:
➡️ BroThrow website
➡️ Brady Sharp on Linkedin

Ep. 28 - Zac Litwack, Savage Sports

Ep. 28 introduces you to Zac Litwack, partner at Savage Ventures which is a venture operator that invests in, acquires, and operates high growth digital-first businesses.
Hear him discuss:
Savage Ventures’ unique model being a “venture operator”, and how it is differentiated from more traditional venture investment firms
The opportunity they saw to apply their growth marketing expertise to the sports betting vertical, which led to them being Fanduel’s #1 affiliate during the 2020 NFL season
How they proved the venture operator concept through a partnership with Clay Travis and Outkick, which was acquired by Fox in 2021
What types of companies and products that they are looking to add to the Savage Sports portfolio as they go deeper into the sports betting vertical
Why a bear market is the best time to build, and the advice that Zac has for people that are thinking about taking the leap into entrepreneurship
 
Learn more:
➡️  Savage Ventures website
➡️  Zac Litwack on Linkedin