Keep your Sports Techie virtual eye on Sports Tradex. Sports Tradex is a prediction market that holds a variety of contests. Founder Ben Lipson handles their Business Development and Marketing. He was gracious enough to speak with the Sports Techie blog from his office in Houston about his sports technology startup and their Sportsbiz formula for success.
Sports Tradex
Sports Tradex measures a user’s “virtual trading performance,” in 100% player-based competitions. Ben believes their approach allows a contestant to showcase his or her skill best in comparison to other daily fantasy sports sites where a contestant must contend with the site’s athlete valuation algorithm.
Customers can win prize pools and cash contests in free skills competitions that are tracked in real-time. Ben shared how,” data from these contests give great insights into the real-world probability of an event happening.” We are entering what Sports Tradex calls, “the new age of fantasy sports.”
Sports Tradex Web Site: https://www.sportstradex.com/
Bens focus was to create a fantasy sports company in a legal environment. Therefore to play, you need to be 18 years old and not reside in Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Vermont, and Quebec. Sports Tradex’s mission is to provide entertaining, skill-based competitions that allow their users to make predictions about real-world events and fantasy sports. Statistics such as box scores and player numbers are delivered by Sports Direct in real-time.
Sports Tradex Real Money Fantasy Sports YouTube Video
Play the Prediction Market
Sign up is free and you get $5,000 Sports Tradex dollars for doing so, Sports Techie. They have free and paid contests. Contests may have a $5 – $25 sign-up fee but everything else is free to play with zero deposit money or financial risks. Users join open contests or they can create their own Leagues. If you lose a contest, you simply lose the buy-in. All of the real-world prediction games are free to enter, so there is absolutely no cost or potential loss to you by entering those contests like I did.
When joining a NBA or NFL contest, all players are given a fixed amount of fake money (SportsTradex dollars) with which to trade in the contest. The goal of the contest is to increase your balance of fake money as much as possible by making good predictions. They have ongoing NBA contests with the following values: (Point=1, Rebound=1, Assist=1.5, Steal=2, Block=2, TO=-0.5). Weekly contest are coming soon.
The prices for each team are displayed as 0-100. If a team ultimately wins, their price will be set at 100. If the team loses, it will go to 0. If the team hasn’t played yet or is currently playing, the price they are currently trading at reflects what the market believes their percentage chance of winning is. For example, a team trading at 60 is viewed as having a 60% chance of winning.
Users in the market set the price. The prices will fluctuate daily, even during a game. If your player was injured during a game you are watching, you can buy or sell in real-time before the dump off or bargain shopping begins. This fact that this fantasy game allows you to buy or sell orders in real-time is novel.
How to Win
You win the contests by having a larger final balance than your competitors. The top finishers win prizes. Read the contest description to see how many places are paid out. The real-world prediction markets allow players to make predictions as to who will win real-world events, such the Masters, French Open or World Series.
You can increase your Sports Tradex dollar balance in two ways. First, you can make a prediction and hold those shares until the contest finishes. For example, if you buy a team’s shares at 40 and they win their game, those shares will go to 100. You will make a profit of 60 a share times the amount of shares you own. If you bought 20 shares at 40 and the team won, your balance would increase by 1200 (60X20). Likewise, if you sold a team and they lose, your balance will increase. If you sold a team at 40 for 20 shares and they lose, you would profit 800 (40 X 20).
You can also increase your balance by buying and selling a team within the contest. For example, if you buy a team at 40 and they are doing well in a game, you may be able to sell them at 70. Your profit is 30 per share. Even if the team goes on to lose the game, you still made a profit since you sold all of the shares you bought.
Social Media
Sports Tradex is ready to ride the coattails of what Ben labels “social competing.” The concept is that most Sports Techies like to compete within our social networks of friends and followers, as well as with competitors, or even the person next door. Because of humans innate desire to compete, the fantasy sports market is valued to be in the $1.5 billion a year range and growing rapidly. DualFan is the Industry’s best model for success to date having raised $11 million in investment capital last month.
Ben explained that by adding extra incentives such as Sports Tradex prizes to friendly bragging rights bets, they can succeed because their software product has high user adoption rates. Trash talking opportunities on Facebook and Twitter abound inside this environment, Sports Techie.
Sports Tradex networked through Twitter and developed a new relationship as a non-client with Warren Moon’s sports marketing firm in L.A. that led to some cross-promotion. Leigh Steinberg wrote about Sports Tradex in Forbes magazine. You can feel the Big Mo growing for this aggressive company.
Ben wanted to know my perspective on LinkedIn for business and I shared with him why I feel it is the right platform for some of his most pressing and long-term company needs.
SportsBiz
Ben has an MBA and a commodities background. His two company business partners who work with web, tech, and social media needs, have been at it for three months. Sports Tradex is about to go through a second round of financing. The company just hit a milestone of 1,000 users. I asked Ben if they have any Super Users since going live 90-days ago and he joyfully responded, “Yes.”
Ben was asked to enter the MIT Sloan Business Sports Analytics Conference pitch competition this week which is an impressive honor. Although Ben has not met Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey yet, he was looking forward to the opportunity if it presents itself at the event.
Ben’s high-level understanding of business helps him grow this sports technology company the right way. After getting to know Ben and understanding his platform, it felt like he might be missing some sports passion because of his extremely professional demeanor on the phone. Was his Sports Techie balance leaning too much to the right I wanted to know? That question struck a chord all Sports Techies have inside. At times, we all have an overwhelming affinity for sports related moments, teams and players.
With his fanhood challenged, Ben talked about his immense love for the San Francisco 49ers that goes back to their last Super Bowl XXIX victory when he was ten years old. The fact that Ben launched an innovative sports tech startup the same season the S.F. 49ers returned to the Super Bowl was a thrill for him. Ben has, “never really gambled and might do it if he goes to Las Vegas,” which in actuality, saved him real money but not his Sports Tradex dollars when his 49ers lost to the Baltimore Ravens in SB 47. After that, I was convinced his passion for sports was all there, it is just guarded like some fans do.
Logo
The Sports Tradex logo caught my attention and Ben enjoyed explaining its birth. The concept was to have a logo that has a fantasy sports centric look and feel. It has elements of old school blended together with the new school. The X’s & O’s signify the drawing up of a play that could be on a digital screen, chalk board, or paper napkin, which sits inside of a mobile technology friendly border. Green and black are designed to give the feel of a Finance and Sports mix.
Biz Dev
The next sports they will dive into include baseball, golf, European soccer, and NHL hockey next year. I wondered if the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games was on their list. Ben said, “for sure.” A new mobile app which complements their business model is schedule for summer. Look for new live Chat functionality perhaps this year. Fantasy Games makes up the core of Sports Tradex business so developing a fantasy competition training methodology is smart sportsbiz.
Sports Techie, Fire up you PC, tablet or mobile device and start your Sports Tradex exchanges now. I am entered into today’s freeroll. On the Marketplace page I purchased a pre bundled fantasy team. Ten shares of team “Lin’s Sanity” cost me an average price of $25. Will Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and Jeremy Lin have big games tonight? For sure they will, right. I put in a bid of $37 for 20 shares of team “Durant Machine” which is Al Horford, Tony Parker and Kevin Durant. This might be a steal because shares have sold for $70.00 each. Let me know if you join Sports Tradex and invite me into your League.
Thank you once again to Ben for his Sportsbiz insight. Sports Tradex has developed a well thought out niche inside of the fantasy gaming Industry with their unique prediction market platform. May the Sports Techie community force be with you.
I will see ya when I see ya, THE Sports Techie – http://twitter.com/THESportsTechie
Sports Techie Twitter: @sportstechieNET, http://twitter.com/SportsTechieNET
Sports Techie Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/SportsTechie
Sports Techie YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/sportstechie
Sports Techie Google+: http://gplus.to/SportsTechie
Sports Techie Linkedin Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Sports-Techie-2958439
Sports Techie Mobypicture: http://www.mobypicture.com/user/sportstechieNET
Sports Techie MySpace (Bob Roble): http://www.myspace.com/549000677
Sports Techie Flicker: http://www.flickr.com/photos/67964145@N05
Sports Techie Klout: http://klout.com/sportstechieNET
Sports Techie Blog: https://n5y.1cd.myftpupload.com/