KO Fantasy Boxing

Interview With: Alex Pierpaoli

What is your background?

I worked for about seven years in customer service and I have always wanted to do something that involved writing. i have been a boxing fan for decades so the fusion of internet, writing and boxing seemed like a comfortable fit..

What is the story behind starting KO Fantasy Boxing?

It was purchased as a partnership at first back in 2005 and then in June of 2006 it became a solo operation. The idea was to offer the fantasy game and to also offer some press releases and boxing news.

What does your website do?

KOFantasyBoxing allows visitors to create and monitor their own virtual boxing gyms by picking up professional boxers before big fights and then scoring points for their gyms when their fighters win or lose in the ring. Unlike football or baseball where a myriad of statistics are tracked KOFantasyBoxing tries to be as realistic as possible with the statistics available to fight fans. When fighters are kayoed or injured they go on a disabled list due to the mandatory suspension period approved by the association of boxing commissions. Kayoed or injured fighters are then able to be swapped at no charge. Prizes are awarded on a monthly basis to the top point scoring gyms and there is a cash prize at the end of each fantasy league as well.

When did you launch?

Officially launched as Webhead Entertainment, LLC on 6/6/06 which is hopefully not as demonic a date as it might look.

How do you plan on building your community?

satisfied customers, enthusiastic visitors, and t-shirt giveaways at the boxing hall of fame weekend

What types of marketing do you utilize?

So far just google and yahoo and word of mouth at fights

Do you have any revenue streams besides advertisement? Who is your ad provider?

Customers playing the game

Funding: Self funded, Angel Investment, or Venture Capital?

self funded

Are you looking for more funding?

no

What is your favorite feature on your site?

The fight results page is pretty cool. I like seeing how extensive we are in covering so many fights that take place all over the world between known and unknown fighters. It has really been fun for me as a fan of the sport.

Any bold predictions for sports and technology in the future?

I see an all-steroid dog fighting league with pay-per-view reality show style coverage. There would be profiles of each dog, visits to their respective dawg pounds, etc. The program would be hosted by Cesar Milan and of course Jeff Probst.

STN’s Take:

KO Fantasy Boxing is a cool concept but the website needs a ton of work. For those of you that are boxing fans this is the ticket to really get into your sport. We really like that you get to manage your own gym. We think it may be a good idea to add MMA fighters as well and maybe do a rebrand called KO Figthers Fantasy or something like that. We think that boxing is kind of on a downturn and MMA is on a big upswing with many more passionate fans.

In regards to the website, we really don’t think its a good user experience. On the signup page it says you can pay by Paypal, credit card, cashiers check, or money orders. The only problem is that we can’t seem to find the Paypal link anywhere to sign up. When people find something cool, a website has to have the fastest way possible for them to sign up or you are just going to lose them. We think that Alex’s best shot to succeed is to find a good UI designer to help him redesign the site and ad MMA fighters. He has a good niche. He just needs to make it easier to use and attract more people.