The Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) industry is projected to be a multibillion-dollar industry, yet only 2-3% of users account for winning over 80% of the prize money in these fantasy leagues. ThriveFantasy democratizes fantasy sports through its daily fantasy sports platform that is tailored to casual users who want a piece of the action but do not necessarily have the time to devote to becoming sports experts. The platform allows users to select top-tier athletes in a given sport to build a lineup for competition through an easy and efficient drafting process that takes less than ten minutes.
AlleyWatch spoke with founder and CEO Adam Weinstein to learn how he is fixing the biggest problem in fantasy sports.
Tell us about the product or service that ThriveFantasy offers.
ThriveFantasy is a new daily fantasy sports platform for prop bets. Instead of drafting the traditional fantasy lineup, users pick over/unders of only the top-tier athletes in a given sport.
How is ThriveFantasy different?
Thrive Fantasy is different because it gives a casual fan a better chance at competing since he/she doesn’t have to research every player on every team in order to be successful.
What market is ThriveFantasy targeting and how big is it?
ThriveFantasy targets the fantasy sports, daily fantasy sports, and sports betting markets. DFS is said to be over a $10B/year industry by 2020 and sports betting is so new that no one can confirm how big it can be.
What is Thrive’s business model?
At Thrive, we take a 10% commission on every contest we offer. Unlike the bigger sites who take upwards of 20% on certain contests, Thrive is committed to giving our users the best offerings.
What inspired the start of Thrive?
Thrive was started because I loved the concept of DFS and loved competing against others to test my sports knowledge. However, the biggest problem in DFS is that about 2-3% of users account for winning over 80% of the money. In any other industry, those numbers would be considered as a scam. Thrive wanted to shift the power paradigm back to the masses and we believe we have done that. It’s a more pick-up-and-play mentality, and we see users who win that created his/her lineup in less than 10 minutes. That is not possible with a salary cap format.
How does Thrive plan to keep continuous user engagement?
Keeping sustained engagement is always tough in DFS. Since it is seasonal, we always look at different strategies to keep our contests fresh. With that said, Thrive is unique because you will never see the same contest twice. We always ask about different athletes and different props on a given night. It’s a ton of fun and a completely different experience!
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
We are growing very quickly as of recent. Within the next 6 months, we hope to have several hundred daily active users and plan to offer over $100K a month in total prize pools!
What is the one piece of startup advice that you never got?
One piece of advice I never got is that you really need to understand the macro of growing a business and startup. Every small detail that you believe is going to derail your company, it is not. As a founder, you are so invested and in the trenches that you don’t realize in a week, or even the next day, the problem you had is no longer and was never that big of a deal. Try to take a step back (easier said than done) and breathe!
One piece of advice I never got is that you really need to understand the macro of growing a business and startup. Every small detail that you believe is going to derail your company, it is not. As a founder, you are so invested and in the trenches that you don’t realize in a week, or even the next day, the problem you had is no longer and was never that big of a deal. Try to take a step back (easier said than done) and breathe!
If you could be put in touch with anyone in the New York community who would it be and why?
Gary Vaynerchuk – no question. Gary has been a huge inspiration to me as he was a guy who gave me the belief that I could successfully start my own business. I left the New York Yankees after 3 years back in 2016 and we are super pumped to see what the future holds. Also, he is a big sports fan so there is a lot of opportunities to work together.
Why did you launch in New York?
I’m from NY so it wasn’t a tough decision. NY opens up a ton of doors as now we are the #1 city when it comes to tech startups.
What’s your favorite restaurant in the city
Tough question. I had Del Posto once and it was ridiculously good. However, more in my price range, I’d say Sparks steakhouse.
