New technology from startup ventures is transforming the sports industry. The mission of this series is to introduce startup companies in the sports technology space to a broader audience and allow Founders of promising new ventures to tell their story. This particular startup is taking part in the Hype Global Sport Innovation Competition In Rio De Janeiro on August 24th, 2016.
Company name: Picking Duck
Founder(s): Kenneth Manubay, Michael Boontanom, Charles Lising, Chard Fune
Headquarters: California
1. What is your elevator pitch?
Picking Duck is an online marketplace for sports pick information. Players make picks on the site and their win percentage is tracked. Based on that win percentage, other players can purchase the pick information if they believe that player has good insight on a game.
2. Problem & Solution
In sports gambling, there are so called “professional” handicappers that sell sports pick information. Unfortunately, the only thing they’re good at is sales and marketing, and not really picking winners. They don’t care if you win because their money is already made on the sale of the information so the outcome becomes irrelevant.
To solve this problem, we’ve created an online marketplace similar to eBay, except we are selling information. Seller’s wins and losses are tracked on the site, creating transparency in the seller’s sports pick history. From this information, other players can decide whom to purchase from. Additionally, the seller only gets paid if they sold a winning pick, creating a win-win situation for both the seller and buyer.
3. Market – your target market and the overall market
Our target market are sports gamblers that are already purchasing sports pick information from a handicapper. We want to show them the new way to buy sports pick information from sellers you can trust that only get paid when the buyer wins.
Sports gambling is a huge industry with over $300 Billion wagered annually in the U.S. alone. We want all sports gamblers that may need just a little bit of advice to come to our site to get them the information they need to make a winning pick.
4. Business Model – how do you make money?
We make money on every sale through a transaction fee. When a winning pick is sold, the seller gets 70% and the site keeps 30%. When a losing pick is sold, the seller gets nothing. The buyer gets a 90% refund and the site keeps a 10% fee.
5. Management Team – with titles
CEO – Kenneth Manubay
COO – Michael Boontanom
VP Business Development – Charles Lising
VP Marketing – Chad Fune
6. What else do you want the audience to know about your venture?
Our founders are a group of high school friends that have been sports gambling since their younger days, being taught the game from their dads and uncles. Some of them were purchasing sports picks and found it to be a horrible experience. They wanted to create a more advantageous way for everyone to win by sharing information on games without the feeling of being scammed. This is why they created Picking Duck.