Ep. 112 is the official First Pitch preview episode, where we will meet the 5 startups selected to present at SBC Summit North America on May 9.   In this episode, you will hear from: John Goehrke and Steven Astrachan from 916 Gaming John Pereira and Ben Howard from EdgeSports Calvin Konya from Linemate Shawn Tucker from StatX Sports Desiree Dickerson from THNDR   These startups will be competing for a prize package valued at over $40,000 on May 9 at SBC Summit North America.   If you don't...

Ep. 111 features Andrew Pace from inplayLIVE, which is the #1 in-play sports investing platform.   Hear him discuss: His background earning a living betting on sports, and how that journey has evolved over the years The “aha” moment he had during Covid to build a community of people dedicated to in-play betting How inplayLIVE has applied an e-learning framework to sports betting to educate people through a masterclass-style curriculum The success that their teachings have created, including...

Ep. 110 is our quarterly Investor Vibe Check, where we chat with 3 industry investors to get their perspective on the landscape from their side of the table.     The vibe check for Q1 features Connor Williams (Velo Partners), Andrew Ehrenberg (Eberg Capital) and Robin Reed (HappyHour.io).     Hear them discuss: What they make of the uptick in 2024 Q1 funding announcements, and whether they expect to see that pace persist Why Q1 saw several notable strategic investments into B2B startups by...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Ep. 101 features Chris Spagnuolo from Probly, which helps bettors win more and lose less.   Hear him discuss: His background in content and helping to grow Barstool “from a regionalized sports blog to a national powerhouse” Learning to use data to become a successful DFS player while working at Stokastic How Probly is using data to help people make educated bets in a simplified mobile UX The importance of user feedback during the journey towards finding product-market fit The role that he...

Ep. 100 features John Gordon from Incentive Games, which is the leading free-to-play games provider.   Hear him discuss: The progress that Incentive Games has made since John appeared on Ep. 1 of the podcast, which includes partnerships with tier-1 operators like Fanduel and bet365 Why focusing heavily on player retention has helped Incentive Games position itself as the leading free-to-play games provider How the culture he’s built at Incentive Games has driven employee retention and earned...

Ep. 99 features Greg Dean & Gianni Settino from HotStreak, which is AI-powered sports gaming technology.   Hear them discuss: Their backgrounds at other startups, including Gianni’s time as the first engineer at Draft before its acquisition by Paddy Power Betfair The origins of HotStreak as an NFT-based collectibles game that they pivoted into the current in-play DFS product The challenges of building scalable in-play microbetting technology, and why “risk management became the dominant...

Ep. 98 features Pierre Lindh from Next.io, which is a content-driven conference company that focuses on both in-person and online events.   Hear him discuss: His reflections on 2023, which included new investment, a major re-brand, and a doubling of the headcount of the NEXT.io team Rising up to meet the new challenges that come with being on a growth trajectory His assessment on the state of the industry’s startup ecosystem, and why he thinks it’s important to look at North America and...

Ep. 97 is our quarterly Investor Vibe Check, where we chat with 3 industry investors to get their perspective on the landscape from their side of the table.     The vibe check for Q3 features Jeffrey Haas (Dreamcraft Ventures), Quinton Singleton (Zero Labs) and Tom Waterhouse (Waterhouse VC).     The investors reflect back on a Q4 that saw more funding announcements, but also saw some evidence of early-stage companies struggling. They also discussed the importance of implementing sound...

We're back with Ep. 4 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 Pini Yakuel, Founder & CEO of Optimove.   Hear him discuss: Life in Israel right now, and how the Optimove organization is adapting to the realities of being based in Tel Aviv His background in math and data science, and how "it was mostly instincts" that led him to discover the...

Ep. 96 features Kyle Wiltshire from Testa, which is crowdsourced quality testing built for the iGaming industry.   Hear him discuss: His 10+ year background in the industry, and how that experience led him to discover the problem that Testa is now solving The challenges faced by operators to localize the customer experience, and the role that crowdsourced testing plays in that How his experience raising VC money for his last startup informed his decision to self-fund Testa Why he decided to...

Ep. 95 features Jonathan Strause from Invincible GG, which is AI powered virtual sports.   Hear him discuss: How InvincibleGG is combining AI, NFT’s, and horse racing to create a new category of “competitive gaming” The multi-year journey building the Invincible GG technology, and how he feels about the impending beta product launch The process to get AI simulated games approved by regulators in Nevada Why they chose to incorporate NFT’s into the product mix despite the flight away from NFT’s...

Ep. 94 features David Isaacson from Spectrum Gaming Capital Tech Exchange, which is helping connect gaming industry companies and investors.   Hear him discuss: His background as an investment banker in the real-money gaming industry for the last 10+ years How the SGX platform is giving industry founders a new channel to reach investors with zero cost The types of companies and businesses investors on the platform are looking to back His expectation for capital markets and the general funding...

Ep. 93 features Shubs Kausal & Jaiden Sarai from SharpStakes, which turns your passion for sports into profits.   Hear them discuss: Their passion for business and entrepreneurship, which led them to co-founding SharpStakes as full-time university students How they’re taking a different approach to building betting tools specifically targeted towards Gen-Z Their perspective on Gen-Z’s relationship with sports betting, and how SharpStakes is leaning into that The story of traveling from...