Website: www.fantasysportslive.com

Interview With: Kevin Bonnet

How many founders does Fantasy Sports Live have and what are their names?

Kevin Bonnet, Paul McGuire, Jay, Mike, and Kent.

What are the founders’ backgrounds and qualifications?

I am a Product Manager at a technology company. I have a BSEE and an MBA from Pepperdine. My background experiences in online poker, sports betting, and fantasy sports gave me the opportunity to envision a post UIGEA fantasy sports industry, and develop the unique concept for the website. Paul McGuire is a well-known writer and blogger that covers professional poker. Readers of the Tao of Poker blog and the poker blogging community in general provided the initial seed of users for the website at launch. Jay is an ex-MLB pitcher and initial investor. His connections have been huge in securing our biggest additional investors. Mike is well known sales rep in the action sports industry. Kent aka Joe Speaker, is the spokesman for our website. Kent is a sports addict, accomplished writer, and poker blogger. Our website’s sports humor theme would have been difficult to pull off without Kent’s contributions.

What does your website do?

Our website allows people to profit from their sports knowledge by providing daily, fair fantasy sports contests of skill. Our contests are daily, so you don’t need to carry a rooster, make trades, waive players, make sit/start decisions, or make any type of season long commitment. You simply use your sports knowledge to craft the best possible fantasy team from today’s games and match-ups within the constraints of a salary cap. Our various salary cap draft methods allows for contests to form around the clock, and for the draft to be performed in just minutes at anytime prior to the start of the first game in the contest.

The best thing about our website is that it allows fantasy sports enthusiasts to profit long-term from competing in fantasy sports contests. This was something that is just not possible with traditional fantasy sports offerings. We run our contests every day, and payout over 91% of our entry fees in prizes on average. It is possible to gain a big enough edge, and run enough trials to be profitable long-term at fantasy sports on our website. With traditional season long fantasy contests too much of the entry fees are withheld, and you can only get one trial per year. Even if you win a massive prize one time, you will never know if it was because you got lucky or are truly great with the traditional offerings. FantasySportsLive.com allows you to find out where you stand long-term, and even where you stand today. The playing field is completely leveled everyday.

When did you launch?

June 2007

How do you plan on building your community?

We seeded the website with the poker blogger community, and are using an affiliate marketing model to expand on that.

What types of marketing do you utilize?

Affiliate Marketing, Sponsored Search, SEO, Gorilla Marketing, and Print

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

We do not have any advertising on FSL. Our site is supported entirely through the fees we charge to enter fantasy contests.

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

Self funded with family and friends

Are you looking for more funding?

Not currently, but would listen to the right offer.

What is your favorite feature on your site?>

Ability to enter contests and draft in minutes anytime 24/7 at your own convenience.

What type(s) of technology do you use?

XML for the live stat feed. Basic HTML for the website.

Any bold predictions for sports and technology in the future?

I think there is surge of innovation currently taken place in the fantasy sports industry that will lead to increased overall growth for many years to come. With the legality issues straightened out by the UIGEA, and licensing requirements evaporating away as we speak we are entering into unchartered, but very exciting times. I think those that can innovate and build a community the fastest in this evolving industry can overtake the well-established leaders. The technologies of live scoring updates and improved mobile Internet access combined with compressed fantasy seasons is leading to a sort of revolution. Imagine the sports junkie with no time for traditional fantasy sports. He could be stuck in a line at the post office or something, pull out his iPhone, and enter a contest on our website that starts in minutes and ends later that day. Now that is a reason to multitask.

STN’s Take:

That is one heck of a team Fantasy Sports Live has behind it. We really believe that one website is going to come out on top in the daily fantasy sports for money market and Fantasy Sports Live has a chance. Their site is designed well and they seem to have a solid amount of users. We set up an account and it was easy enough. We signed up for a no-cap contest and picked our team for tomorrow.

We have two suggestions. The first is that we would like to see a live draft option. For a site like this to come out on top, we really think a live draft option is very important. Last month we covered Draft Mix as one of our first featured websites. They had a live draft option but a much smaller community. Our second suggestion would be to involve some type of projection system and fantasy news content in the draft room so a person can quickly check information.

Website: www.hardballtimes.com

Interview With: Dave Studeman

How many founders does Hardball Times have and what are there names?

THT was founded by Aaron Gleeman and Matthew Namee. I was brought in during the planning stages.

What are the founders’ backgrounds and qualifications?

Aaron has had a baseball blog for many years, www.aarongleeman.com, that has been recognized as one of the best baseball blogs forever. Matthew was a research assistant to Bill James at the time we founded THT. I created the www.baseballgraphs.com site.

What does your website do?

We think of THT as an online baseball magazine. We have several articles a day, usually 1,000 words or more and edited by our editorial staff. We also have daily updated baseball statistics.

We’re not really a baseball news site. The goal of THT is expressed by our slogan “Baseball. Insight. Daily.” We try to present new insights for baseball fans, usually (but not always) based on current events.

We also have a baseball fantasy column, with content developed specifically for fantasy baseball players.

When did you launch?

March, 2004.

How have you built your community?

That’s hard to say. I guess it’s been word of mouth, primarily. Many bloggers have referred to our work over time, and we’ve received a lot of references from mainstream media, too. I think it’s fair to say that we’ve developed a reputation for quality work.

What types of marketing do you utilize?

Our most important marketing effort is the Hardball Times Baseball Annual, which has been published each of the last four years. We like to think that it harks back to the days of Bill James’ Baseball Abstracts. The THT Annual is sold on our site and in bookstores. The Annual has really helped get our name out there.

We have also started publishing an annual Season Preview, which contains statistical projections, team comments and fantasy baseball strategy.

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

We use Blogads and Google Ads, but most of our advertising is sold directly.

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

Self funded.

Are you looking for more funding?

Nope.

What is your favorite feature on your site?

We have developed a tremendous stable of writers over the years. I love reading all of their work, and I’m proud to be associated with them. Several of our writers (including one of our founders, Aaron Gleeman) have been hired by mainstream media outlets, and a couple of others have been hired by major league teams.

Any bold predictions for sports and technology in the future?

I think you’ll see tremendous use of the data being generated by MLB’s Pitch f/x, and the potential for synergy between mlb.com and the baseball blogging community is huge. I hope mlb.com remains as open as they are today.

STN’s Take:

For all you baseball junkies out there, Hardball Times is a must read. Their articles are definitely not for those of you that have ADD. You have to really love baseball to read all their information. One can tell that they have good writers by just reading their website, but one can also tell they have good writers by the way they have been able to build traffic over the years. We believe it is extremely hard nowadays to build a website following that is pumping out three 1000 word articles a day. With so much information available on the web, it is hard to dedicate that much time to one site.

We have a few suggestions and the first is to have a commenting system on their web pages. It is annoying that we have to go to BallHype to comment on an article. No one wants to go to another website to submit comments for an article. Maybe BallHype is paying them to do it but it just doesn’t seem worth it. It is much more beneficial to build that community of commenters on your website. They are basically handing over free page views and content to Ball Hype. The second would be to have a contextual ad at the end of each article. Seems like they are missing out on some money there.

Website: www.fantasysportsupdate.com

Interview With: Jason Molinet

How many founders does Fantasy Sports Update! have and what are there names?

Fantasy Sports Update! was founded by Jason Molinet in November 2006. We have an office in Huntington, N.Y. Our site is www.fantasysportsupdate.com.

What are the founders’ backgrounds and qualifications?

Molinet spent 11 years as a sports reporter at Newsday (N.Y.) covering everything from high schools, colleges, NFL, NBA and MLB along the way. As a sports insider and avid fantasy fan, he saw an opportunity to fill a void in the industry – free features, commentary and news. You can view my profile at LinkedIn.

What does your website do?

Fantasy Sports Update! covers pro basketball, baseball, football and hockey, along with college football. We offer up regular features andcommentary, in addition to regular news updates. We give our contributors a regular voice thanks to blogs and we regularly post the most timely sports clips from YouTube.

When did you launch?

The site debuted Jan. 1, 2007.

How have you built your community and continue to grow it?

It’s admittedly a tough space to crack. And ESPN has really stepped up thequality of its fantasy content within the last year. But as with any web venture, SEO and paying for positioning among several key words is one way to get the name out there. Becoming a recognizable name in the fantasy community by becoming dues-paying members of the Fantasy Sports Trade
Association (FSTA) and the Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) is important in my mind. Hitting forums is another (less than desirable) way to get traffic. And trying to put out a quality – and accurate – product you hope will create buzz. Getting it right wins fans too. We told anyone who would listen to rate Tom Brady and Randy Moss high on their draft boards. In fact, Moss was our No. 1 receiver going into a season where most other fantasy sites rated Moss in the middle of the pack. We were also high on Adrian Peterson.

What types of marketing do you utilize?

Aside from the aforementioned examples, building a presence on MySpace was another way we chose to reach out to fantasy sports fans. Unless you have deep pockets or belong to a major media company, you try to look for as many free opportunities on the web to get your brand in front of people. That means a lot of blogging.

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

We’ve partnered with VERTualMedia and obviously signed up for Google AdSense to provide a steady stream of advertising.

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

Bootstrapped all the way.

Are you looking for more funding?

I think the concept of fantasy sports is just now working its way into the consciousness of Americans. The keepers of capitalism will follow. So while the industry has grown tremendously over the last decade, it’s still in its infancy.

That’s where Fantasy Sports Update! is at right now. We’re young and eager to grow and realize our potential. There’s no doubt an infusion of cash and / or strategic partnership will help make that happen sooner than later. So while we’re not actively looking, we are open and receptive to anything.

What is your favorite feature on your site?

I can’t give you one. Our core is built around weekly (in-season) rundowns in each sport. Readers get an awful lot of fantasy information for the week ahead in an easily digestible format. I’m proudest of that.

Any bold predictions for sports and technology in the future?

To your high school and college readers, plunk down a few dollars and purchase your domain name. The Internet is real estate. And if your name is Joe Smith, you should own www.joesmith.com.

As for fantasy: Dontrelle Willis — in a pitcher’s park, new league and with an offense behind him – will reemerge as an ace and fantasy stud.

STN’s Take:

First, we want to apologize to Jason for what we are going to say but its for his own good. When we went to Fantasy Sports Update, the first thought that comes to mind is too busy. There are pictures everywhere along with ads and they are all different shapes and sizes. Nothing is lined up correctly and information is very hard to find. When we think of the title Fantasy Sports Update, we think of updated player information but there really isn’t anything there or we can’t find it very easily. It can be tough to produce updates for all fantasy players, but there are services that websites can pay for to syndicate fantasy player news on their site. All the good fantasy sites have this info easily accessible on the front page.

Jason discusses SEO but his site is definitely not optimized for search. His blogging system does not even have separate pages for each post so Google really does not know much about those pages. He would be better served to use Wordpress or Typepad and incorporate those platforms in his website. All articles should be run through the platform. Jason is a very accomplished writer but with all the competition out there, you need more than writing to take you to the top.

Website: www.protourfantasygolf.com

Interview With: John Hohlen

How many founders does Pro Tour Fantasy Golf have and what are their names?

Pro Tour Fantasy Golf was founded by John Hohlen and Steve Molitor.

What are the founders’ backgrounds and qualifications?

John and Steve each have over 20 years of experience in software engineering. For the last 8 years, their focus has been developing web-based applications using technologies such as Java / J2EE and Ruby / Rails.

John has a Computer Science degree from the University of Missouri and an MBA from Washington University – St. Louis. John has worked in for firms in aerospace, financial information, and transportation industries. Steve has a Music degree from DePaul University in Chicago. Steve has worked for firms in aerospace, transporation, and health care industries.

What does your website do?

Our website is a new fantasy golf game offering a new and innovative approach where participants pick 3 golfers for each week’s golf tournament with the option to substitute 1 golfer with another after the 2nd round. But a golfer can only be used twice throughout the course of the PTFG season (24 weeks). Whatever money each golfer wins is how many points you get. There are few other features such as double earnings, mulligans, and 4-week sessions which add to the overall strategy.

When did you launch?

Our fantasy golf game was actually invented about 10 years ago, but we didn’t have an Internet based version of our game until 2006. In 2006 and 2007, we launched two pilot sites; one for friends and family, the other for a local country club. Developing these pilot sites allowed us to flush out the features of our game as well as one or two bugs (okay, maybe a few more bugs than that!) This year, 2008, is our inaugural year for offering our game to the public under the brand names www.ProTourFantasyGolf.com and www.HighStakesFantasyGolf.com.

How do you plan on building your community?

We’re currently offering an introductory league for $25 with smaller cash prizes to allow users to get familiar with our game while building our credibility. Our standard league entry fee is $100 and our high stakes league is $500. Based on the results from our pilot leagues, we have found our game is viral in the sense that participants really enjoy our game, so they tell their friends about it so they can compete against them is well. Participants like the simplicity of our game, but yet the numerous ways that strategy comes into play throughout the season. They also like our larger cash prizes (compared to other fantasy golf games) and the better odds of winning a cash prize since each league is limited to 200 participants. According to the FSTA, there are over 5.5 million Americans who play fantasy golf, and we expect that number to continue to grow in the future. So there are already plenty of players out there.

What types of marketing will you do?

We joined the Fantasy Sports Trade Association www.fsta.org and they helped us issue a press release . Since then, we have been advertising on the Internet, and have formed relationships with several other fantasy sports companies who are helping us promote our game. Fantasy golf is a niche market compared to fantasy football and baseball. Many fantasy sports companies don’t have a golf product or if they do, they don’t put nearly the time and resources into compared to their other games. The companies we’ve hooked up with think we have a great game that is more appealing than the other golf games out there. Unlike fantasy football and baseball, there is no dominant format for fantasy golf so there are a variety of ways to play the game. Hence, we also have to market the rules of our game and why it’s fun to play.

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

We currently pride ourselves in being an ad-free so when participants come to our site, it’s all about our game and not trying to get you to sign up for a bunch of other stuff. Since the Internet Gambling Act of 2006 requires all prizes to be fixed and announced in advance, we can’t just take a percentage of each entry fee. So we have to make sure the numbers work out for everyone. It would be a lot simpler if we could take a small cut of every entry fee and therefore have a built-in profit margin, like most businesses, but Congress decided that’s illegal; go figure.

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

Self-funded.

Are you currently looking for funding?

No. Right now, we’re only looking for participants to play our game. Our structure is such that entry fees are used to cover our cash prizes and our operating costs.

What is your favorite feature on your site?

I don’t think I have one single favorite feature. In general, I really like the layout of our site and how easy it is to navigate. The Weekly Results screen makes it really easy to see everyone’s lineup once play begins. So you know which golfers to root for because you picked them and who to root against because others picked them. I also like the Golfers Used screen which allows you to easily see how many times a golfer has been used by yourself and everyone else. We do some cool AJAX stuff on that page. Lastly, the Statistics page is a favorite because we keep some interesting stats pertinent to our game and we know how fantasy players love statistics.

Besides Pro Tour Fantasy Golf, what is one of your favorite sports sites that many people would not know about?

Sports Tech Now, what else? Seriously, we weren’t familiar with your site until you contacted us for an interview. Now, we’ve subscribed to your RSS feed.

What type of technology do you use?

Our application was written in Ruby On Rails (ROR). Ruby is a dynamic programming language and Rails is a relatively new framework designed specifically for building web applications. Ruby On Rails allowed us to greatly improve our productivity. We feel it would have taken us 3-4 times longer to develop our game using traditional languages such as Java or C++. Plus, we’re doing things via ROR that we could have never done using Java.

Any bold predictions for sports and technology in the future?

We think you’ll see an increased use of dynamic languages like Ruby over more traditional languages like Java. Ruby continues to steal web developer mind share from PHP. Ruby is dynamic like PHP, but more object oriented and with more advanced features for building larger and more maintainable sites. We also think you’ll see richer user interfaces, as already seen in popular applications like GMail or Google Maps, for fantasy sports applications. It’s difficult to predict however, which RIA (Rich Internet Application) approach will win out: AJAX (which build on the capabilities of HTML and the web browser) or plug-in based systems like Flash or Microsoft’s new Silverlight technology.

STN’s Take

Fantasy Golf definitely has a ton of growth potential on the internet.  After taking a look at the site it is extremely simple and easy to use.  They may want to think about a re-design when it becomes more popular cause it looks like its out of the Mid 90s.

Personally, I think they may be making a mistake by not offering free private leagues as well.  Private leagues are usually more viral in nature because one person usually has to convince another nine people to use the site and those people may choose to play in the money leagues.  Plus they could put ads on the private league pages.  They also may want to think about having shorter time period leagues as well.  I think there are many people out there that are fans of watching the Masters and want to have something to root for but they don’t want to watch all the other tournaments during the year.  Draft Mix which was previously covered on STN was able to do this for weekly Fantasy Football.

All in all I think its a great idea and you can tell John and Steve are very intelligent people so they could definitely become a leader in the Fantasy Golf Niche.

Website: www.sportsjudge.com

Interview With: Marc Edelman

How many founders does Sports Judge have and what are there names?

I am the sole founder of SportsJudge.com. However, a lot of other people contribute to the site including: Matt Cohen (senior deputy justice); Brett Smiley (deputy justice); Ed Gefen (deputy justice emeritus); John O’Malley (senior columnist & director of marketing) Jeremy Mittler (strategy & statistical expert); Michael Miranda (baseball columnist); Joe Romano (hockey columnist); Dave Horowitz (hockey columnist); Parker Gold (basketball columnist); Kent Malmros (logo designer); and Bruce Feinberg (website designer).

What is your background and qualifications?

I am a professor of sports law at New York Law School, Seton Hall University, and Manhattanville College. I also do some consulting in the sports industry. Before entering academia, I practiced sports and antitrust law in New York, NY. I earned my degrees from Michigan Law School and the Wharton School.

What does your website do?

SportsJudge.com is an online fantasy sports arbitration service that uses legal principles to resolve fantasy-sports disputes. Fantasy team owners submit their disputes by email, and within 48 hours they receive a formal, written decision.

When did you launch?

I have been resolving fantasy sports disputes via email since September 2000; however, I had no Internet presence until recently. In January 2005, SportsJudge.net launched as a bare bones dispute-resolution site providing a link to my personal email address. Then, in January 2007, I launched the more comprehensive SportsJudge.com, equipped with some bells and whistles, including a daily-updated blog on fantasy sports strategies.

What is the story behind starting Sports Judge?

In addition to having a traditional legal career, I have been a closet fantasy sports fanatic since 1989. In that year, my father and I co-managed our first fantasy baseball team to the J&J Fantasy Sports Championship. That was back in the days when roster transactions were made through the mail, and trades were made by phone.

Because of my dual expertise—law and fantasy sports—beginning around the year 2000, I began to receive requests from friends to resolve their fantasy sports disputes. Somehow, a cult following ensued. Within a few years, I was receiving unsolicited requests to resolve disputes from fantasy sports contestants throughout the country.

After operating for many years exclusively through word-of-mouth, family and friends began to encourage me to launch a formal website. By this point, I had already developed much case law and was using precedent to decide most cases.

What other websites do you have partnerships with?

SportsJudge.com has two formal partnerships. We serve as the Official Fantasy Dispute Resolution Service for iRoto.com members, and as the Official Fantasy Football League Arbitrator for Fantasy Football Whiz.

We also provide free content to Write on Sports LLC and participate in a public fantasy baseball contest hosted by the New York Daily News’s Jesse Spector.

How many dispute resolutions are you doing on a monthly basis?

It varies significantly from month-to-month. In September 2007, we resolved about 30 disputes from new customers alone. September, however, was an especially busy month.

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

We charge $15 to resolve traditional disputes. Nobody is going to get rich from that kind of cash. However, these fees cover some of our website expenses, as well as dissuade people from sending us spam requests.

We charge substantially more money to perform other services such as drafting league constitutions and hosting live drafts. These other services, however, are only a small part of our overall business.

Google is our ad provider.

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

We are entirely self funded.

Are you looking for more funding?

Funding is always nice; however, we are not willing to sacrifice our core values just for fast cash. Even if we were to accept outside funding, we would want to maintain day-to-day control over the website. We also want to keep the site family friendly.

What is your favorite feature on your site?

Definitely, the five sample opinions. We initially posted these opinions so that potential customers would understand the intricacies of our analysis.

What is the plan for Sports Judge in the future?

The SportsJudge.com launch has enabled me to venture into three new areas. First, I am now working with major corporations to structure fantasy sports contests on their websites. Also, I am beginning to arbitrate real-world disputes between fantasy sports service providers and their customers. Finally, I have accepted the role of outside commissioner to various real-life recreational sports leagues.

As far as the SportsJudge.com itself, our blog content has expanded in content over the months, and we now offer daily columns on fantasy-sports strategy. In January 2008, a group of four medical doctors will join our staff and provide free advice on fantasy sports injuries. That should take the blog to a whole new level.

Any bold predictions for sports and technology in the future?

A new professional football league called to UFL is planning to launch in 2008. The UFL was founded by financial expert Bill Hambrecht, and Google North America’s President of Advertising and Commerce Tim Armstrong. The league is also supported by Mark Cuban. If the UFL is able to survive its inaugural season, I predict this league will emerge at the forefront in developing new Internet technologies.

STN’s Take:

This is exactly why we created Sports Tech Now. If we just came across Sports Judge in passing we would generally think nothing of it. After interviewing Marc on the phone though, we found out that he is actually doing a ton of dispute resolutions on a monthly basis. We also noticed his amazing passion for fantasy sports and Sports Judge. There is no doubt in my mind that Sports Judge will succeed. They just need a deal with one large sports site to put them over the top along with upping their prices a bit because right now $15 is a steal especially for a high stakes league.

Our only suggestion would be a redesign of his website and to work his blog content into his site.  We know Marc is very professional but at this point don’t think his website is.

Website: www.iroto.com

Interview with: Elliot Schor

How many founders does iRoto have and what are their names?

2 Founders. Elliot Schor and Joshua Wolf

What are the founders’ backgrounds and qualifications?

Elliot has an undergraduate degree from the University at Albany and a MBA from the University of Miami. Elliot has worked in different capacities ranging from investment banking to automotive strategic planning.

Josh has an undergraduate degree from Binghamton University and a MBA from Baruch College. Josh has worked in various technology capacities at prestigious technology firms.

What does your website do?

iRoto is a free independent social network for fantasy sports players. Members can enjoy typical social networking features and numerous other innovative and valuable features unique to iRoto and specifically built for fantasy sports players.

When did you launch?

September 2007

Has it been easy or difficult to build your community?

We are very pleased with iRoto’s membership growth. While registration is open to the public, our current focus is not on building the community quickly. We are using this exciting period as a time to listen to our early members to find out what is really valuable to them. Once we feel we have features that will be valuable to fantasy sports players, we will focus on growing the community.

What types of marketing have you done?

We have done a minimal amount of marketing. This is part of our overall strategy of first making sure we have the features fantasy sports players value. We do this by listening to our members suggestions and recommendations. When we feel we have the features that fantasy sports players truly want, we have an innovative marketing attack waiting to be unleashed. Having said that, we do have an advertising deal in place where we will appear in major baseball and football stadiums across the east coast. Additionally, we have done some interviews and press releases, but that’s about it.

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

We have no other revenue streams at the moment but we have others planned for the future. One thing we will never do is charge people to become members or charge for “premium”services. We currently use Google as our ad provider.

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

Self-funded

Are you currently looking for funding?

No. But we are open to having informal meetings with potential investors.

What is your favorite feature on your site?

The iRoto Rep is my favorite feature. The iRoto Rep is a unique ranking/points system that ranks each member of iRoto based on their community involvement and their fantasy sports integrity. Virtually all your activity on iRoto is considered in your iRoto Rep. The iRoto Rep has many practical applications for all fantasy sports players. Players need to know that the stranger they invite to join their league is reputable and won’t ruin the league. The iRoto Rep solves this problem by being able to research someones fantasy sports history. Additionally, how do you know that the stranger you’re taking advice from on some random message board knows fantasy sports? The iRoto Rep ensures that your getting advice from credible people as you can go back and look at how their previous advice has turned out. Finally, the so called fantasy sports “experts” rarely hold themselves accountable for their predictions and recommendations. At iRoto, we believe anyone can be an expert and we give you the opportunity to prove it with the iRoto Rep.

What type(s) of technology do you use?

Mostly Web 2.0 technology. Soon, we will be have new features that use some Web 3.0 technology.

Any bold predictions for sports and technology in the future?

I believe in the future, everything about sports will be much more interactive than today. From the way we watch sports, to the way we keep track of our favorite teams and players, to the way we interact with other sports fans, technology will play an ever increasng roll in the equation. The fantasy sports industry will be strong contributor to the merging of sports and technology by using innovative methods to increase the connection between the fans and their favorite sports, teams, and players.

STN’s Take:

I can understand that Elliot is not focused on building a community yet but it seems to me that they may not have a good enough user base to get enough feedback about their product. I logged in and created an account. There is a good amount of tools to create content and communicate that look great but there really isn’t much content. I believe that in order for a site like this to succeed they need to have good fantasy content with player updates and I don’t know if they can expect the community to do that for them in the beginning. The IRoto rep feature could be great but its not really feasible until 1000s of people are using the site. They need more of an attraction then being able to post a blog and have a profile about fantasy football. You technically can do that anywhere. Right now they are basically a message board.

Website: www.draftmix.com

Interview with: Matt Maroon

How many founders does Draft Mix have and what are their names?

4. Matt, John, Chad, and Russ

What are the founders’ backgrounds and qualifications?

2 former professional poker players (one of whom has a CS degree) and two professional programmers.

What does your website do?

Fantasy Sports for money. Right now we’re mostly short season lengths (i.e. one weekend in football) to allow people to draft as much as possible, but will soon have full seasons as well.

What is Draft Mix’s cut of the money?

We’ll typically take somewhere on the order of 10% of the prize pool for ourselves, though right now we have a lot of free tournaments and such where we are actually adding money. So our current cut is a negative number, though obviously we hope to change that eventually.

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

We participated in Y Combinator’s funding program and did a small Angel round. We’re now getting ready to raise a Series A.

Do you worry about your site being thought of as gambling? Are there
any legal ramifications?

Yes. We can only operate our cash games in 39 states due to varying state laws. We don’t really worry about any problems at the Federal level, but we definitely will be spending a lot in legal fees (and already have) to remaincompliant with various state laws.

Do you worry that the big guys like ESPN, CBSSportsline, and Yahoo
will just copy what you do if its successful?

Not really. They all seem to have stopped innovating almost a decade ago. They still use Java Applets, and as a rule I never worry about anyone who uses those because it means they haven’t updated their software in a very long time. They’re not paying attention to what’s going on in the industry or adapting to it because of their size, and they won’t until it’s too late.

I worry more about other startups. I think the industry will see some big changes in the near future. A fantasy sports site is essentially a network, and as such its value increases exponentially along with the user base. So
we’re going to do what we can to gain that early lead.

Draft Mix has a feeling of Poker on its site? Are you an avid poker player and did this help in the development of the site?

I played professionally for over five years and have published a book on the topic. I was also involved in some of the marketing aspect of the industry. It did help a lot. I’ve seen poker go from a tiny little niche in 2000 to a multi billion dollar industry in 2006, and have experimented with marketing and found what works and what doesn’t. I know why it blossomed like it did,
and think I can bring the same underlying principles to fantasy sports.

Are you trying to patent some of the processes on your site?

Not yet, though we have one we may file a provisional for at some point.

What type of technology does Draft Mix use?

We use Flash for the live portions of our site because it’s ubiquitous. More people have Flash than JavaScript turned on, and those who don’t can get it with a couple clicks.

STN’s Take:

I logged in to the site and created an account. It was pretty simple. I deposited using Paypal and there was a $25 minimum. Until the community is built up they may want to think about making it $5 for Paypal. I went ahead and chose a “heads up” game for this past weekend. The only problem is that there wasn’t anyone there so I had to sit and wait. I queued up some players and then I went to work on something else. I came back every couple of minutes but no one had come in yet. Then I forget about it for a while and came back and the draft was already half way done. I didn’t have my headphones on so it was partly my fault that I missed it because there is a sound that alerts you. They may want to think about also having a flash alert like an IM or pop the web page back up when the draft starts especially if people are drafting at work where they have sound turned off. A few other suggestions:

• In the draft room the website should show a player’s opponent for the coming week
• There should also be a link to news, injury status, and a weekly projection for the players. They could probably partner with a fantasy news site for that information

All in all I really believe this site has a ton of potential. For people who love drafting a team it is great because you get that fun on a weekly basis. I would even like to see this on a game by game basis so you could just do a draft for a Monday Night Game.