Kick off

It has been almost two months since Dean, Brett, and I started Sideline and like most preproduct companies, a lot has changed from our initial plan. Our vision is more defined, our plan is clearer. We now look forward to delivering for our future customers.

A Little Product Journey

We started out, identifying that score apps all suck and believing we could build a better one. However, that isn’t a business. Our backgrounds in fantasy, did give us a way to monetize, however we recognized that the competition in the space means acquiring customers wouldn’t be easy with just a better score app.

This lead us down a path to understand our customer better. What do users seek in sports apps today. What are the issues with betting apps and fantasy apps. We centralized around this idea that all of these apps are very transactional. As a fan you open them to place a bet, and then go away. You have no loyalty to an app, outside maybe you have a preference for one over the other. This is demonstrated in the poor retention numbers in the industry. There is nothing binding customers to a brand.

Underdog had success using content creators to acquire customers; we used social proof in these communities to convince them to try and use our product. This was widely successful and has been copied around the industry. I am not saying Underdog pioneered it, but we did advance the practice.

Community was key, if your friends are on an app, it’s likely you’re on the app. You don’t want to feel left out. But right now the way users communicate about sports is through general platforms like group chats, sending screenshots back and forth. We saw an opportunity to bring the community into our app.

But we got stuck, how do you create an organic community. By definition creating a community, is not organic if you create it. What kick starts community? What drives meaningful conversation?

Our hypothesis is identity. Your identity is a central force with how we engage with people, and by putting weight on that we can create more genuine interactions. The anonymity of other apps leads to bad discourse and low engagement.

We believe we can help you show your identity as a fan by creating a profile that shows what teams, players, and leagues you’re following. That shows how you interact with the sports you love. That allows you to compare yourself with your friends and other fans. Identity is used on many platforms that we are inspired by — Spotify, Strava, Reddit, Duolingo — now we are on a mission to figure out what that means for sports fans.

How you can help

If you like what we had to say, join our waitlist as a bonus you can reserve your username. If you have any feedback or just want to talk, shoot me an email trevor@thirdhalf.io.