The Betting Startups Podcast

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

Ep. 27 - Thomas Willomitzer, SnapOdds

Ep. 27 introduces you to Thomas Willomitzer, founder and CEO of SnapOdds, "the Shazam for sports betting" that makes it easier for people to find and place bets while watching games live.
Hear him discuss:
His past startup experiences as co-founder of Last.fm (acquired for $280m) and identity verification platform Jumio
How he got the idea for creating 'the Shazam for sports' while watching the Superbowl with friends, which catalyzed the journey of developing the underlying computer vision technology that powers Snap Odds
Why investors in Snap Odds saw it as a “rare combination” of a product that improved UX, provided utility, and had a clear path to monetization
Why he decided to participate in the TechStars accelerator despite his past successes, network, and credibility, and how he benefitted from that experience
The importance of having passion as an entrepreneur, and why money cannot be the sole motivation to start a business
Learn More:
➡️  Thomas Willomitzer on Linkedin
➡️  SnapOdds website

Ep. 26 - Robin MacDonald, Rubik Talent

Ep. 26 introduces you to Robin MacDonald, co-founder and managing partner of Rubik Talent, which cultivates smart, diverse talent for global iGaming, PayTech & FinTech enterprises.
Hear him discuss:
The unique way that Rubik is developing talent with specialized skills specific to the iGaming industry, and how it is helping to deploy that talent into partner organizations
Why Rubik prefers to work with industry employers that “have a long-term view of the skills” they want to develop within their organizations, and why stakeholder buy-in is so important
What he thinks about the iGaming industry’s effort to market and position itself as it competes to attract talent with other fast-growing sectors
Why he decided to focus on the iGaming industry despite the fact that it’s not the only industry that is struggling to develop digital talent
Why he thinks the current market contraction “is a very short term one”, and why macroeconomic headwinds will not decrease the demand for people with digital skills
Learn More:
➡️  Robin MacDonald on Linkedin
➡️  Rubik Talent website

Ep. 25 - Pete Smaluck, props.cash

Ep. 25 introduces you to Pete Smaluck, founder and CEO of props.cash, which is the most comprehensive and effective player prop research tool on the market.
Hear him discuss:
His former career as an elementary school math teacher, and how his passion for finding intuitive ways to teach math has influenced the props.cash product
How he developed math learning software using NBA data, and how he pivoted that software from education to become a props research tool that ultimately became props.cash
Why he decided that props.cash would be a subscription-based business model, and the challenges of scaling a subscription-based B2C product
How his experience working at VC-funded startups has informed his decision to bootstrap props.cash and focus on organic growth
His perception of the newly regulated Ontario gaming market as a resident of that province, and why "there's a huge culture of sports betting" in Ontario
Learn More:
➡️  Pete Smaluck on Linkedin
➡️  props.cash website