May 14, 2026 • 51 mins
What if sports predictions were not about betting, but about skill?
In this episode of CEOs You Should Know Dallas, iHeartMedia Dallas Market President Chris Long sits down with Shani Raviv, Founder and CEO of SportsPredict.com, to explore how she is building a new category at the intersection of sports, data, and competition.
Shani shares her unconventional path, from growing up in Israel to serving nearly eight years in an elite Israeli intelligence unit, where she developed her expertise in data and decision-making under pressure. After earning a law degree and MBA, she went on to launch a tech startup grounded in those same principles. She also reflects on early influences, including tagging along to business meetings as a child and attending her first concert, the Backstreet Boys.
The conversation dives into the vision behind SportsPredict, a free to play platform where fans compete by making sports predictions and proving their ability to read data, not risk money. Shani explains why predictive thinking is becoming a critical skill in an AI driven world and how her platform could uncover talent far beyond sports.
Along the way, she shares insights on building a global team, leading with openness, moving fast without chasing perfection, and staying connected to users while scaling a business.
Guest: Shani Raviv, Founder and CEO, SportsPredict
Website: www.SportsPredict.com
CEOs You Should Know DFW features candid conversations with leaders shaping business in North Texas and beyond, hosted by Chris Long, Region President of iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth. Follow, Rate, and Subscribe on the podcast platform you are listening on!
In this episode of CEOs You Should Know Dallas, iHeartMedia Dallas Market President Chris Long sits down with Shani Raviv, Founder and CEO of SportsPredict.com, to explore how she is building a new category at the intersection of sports, data, and competition.
Shani shares her unconventional path, from growing up in Israel to serving nearly eight years in an elite Israeli intelligence unit, where she developed her expertise in data and decision-making under pressure. After earning a law degree and MBA, she went on to launch a tech startup grounded in those same principles. She also reflects on early influences, including tagging along to business meetings as a child and attending her first concert, the Backstreet Boys.
The conversation dives into the vision behind SportsPredict, a free to play platform where fans compete by making sports predictions and proving their ability to read data, not risk money. Shani explains why predictive thinking is becoming a critical skill in an AI driven world and how her platform could uncover talent far beyond sports.
Along the way, she shares insights on building a global team, leading with openness, moving fast without chasing perfection, and staying connected to users while scaling a business.
Guest: Shani Raviv, Founder and CEO, SportsPredict
Website: www.SportsPredict.com
CEOs You Should Know DFW features candid conversations with leaders shaping business in North Texas and beyond, hosted by Chris Long, Region President of iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth. Follow, Rate, and Subscribe on the podcast platform you are listening on!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is CEOs You Should Know with the Dallas market
president of iHeartMedia, Chris Long.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I want to welcome everybody to our latest episode of
CEOs You Should Know Dallas. I'm Chris Long, market president
for iHeartMedia, and I'm really excited about our guest today,
my good friend Shanie Reviv, founder and CEO.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Of Sports predict Shanee, how you doing today?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Doing great? Well?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
We're excited to have you you. This has been a
lot of fun for me to do with all of
our CEOs. Your story is a little bit different, which
will be I think fascinating to our listeners.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
But before we get started down that road, you know
that iHeartMedia is a massive audio platform with over eight
hundred and sixty radio stations at one hundred and sixty markets,
and podcasts and streaming and you name it audio, we
have it. So I think it's really important as we
start this conversation so our listeners can get to know
(01:04):
you a little bit better. I'm going to ask you
the standard question first concert, but yours is going to
have a caveat because you were born and raised in Israel.
First concert in Israel and first concert in the States,
and current podcast you're listening to all right.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
So first concert in Israel was Backstreet Boys. They came
to Israel, WHOA. My sister was forced to take me
with her.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
We have heard were you?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I was probably nine or eight and she's four years
older than I. Associhit. I went with her and her girlfriends.
But that was fun.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
There was no drama at home before that.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Oh no, no, no, that was fine. And my first
concert here in the US that was also fun because
I have a cousin who works for like a big
financial firm, and he took me to Bob Seeger the
country and he took me to watch it from the
box at Madison Square Garden. For a young Israeli teen
to go and watch a first concert in this setting
(02:05):
was you know, how do.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
You go back? So okay, So we Amanda as my
co pilot here.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
We rate all of our hosts. Now most have only
had one concert. And if you listen, people know my
first concert it was men at Work, which makes me
totally eighties.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
And at the.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Bottom of the list, you know, we've had a lot
of really interesting ones. Pink Floyd, Johnny Cash, Whitney Houston.
I don't know thoughts, Amanda I I'm going to put
the backstory boys a little bit up there, just because
I don't know I was like five.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
That was like one of the first like CDs. Do
you even know who Bob Seger is?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
No?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Oh, I knew that was coming, but I do. So
you really spanned some generations there. And then throwing the
Madison Square Garden. Most people saw their first concert in
you know, more intimate setting or a localized setting, Medison
Square Garden. It doesn't get much bigger than that. So okay, wow,
(03:07):
how do we follow that up on the podcast? And
what are you listening to besides this podcast?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
So I'm a big podcast person.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I have.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
I have one of my my tasks for the next
month is to do a playlist because I feel like
people ask me what I listen to because there's only
so much time that you can spend on that. And
I do it when I work out. So that's when
I listen to my podcasts. So I try to.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Pick that podcast when you work out.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yes, that's what I do when I work serious, Yes, yes,
about music? Okay, we have music on at home all
the time and I work from home, so that's that's
that's curdy. But podcasts I really like, I can choose,
I really try to get the best, and I listen
to everything parenting, a lot of that psychology tech obviously.
(03:54):
But the last one that's going to be a little embarrassing,
but was a Mel Robbins episode about Gut Gut Health.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Okay, wow, a lot of first today.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
So she interviewed this super interesting professor and it was.
It was fascinating, those those episodes that you like, take
home so many practical advice, so much practical advice, and
I love that. Yeah, so I enjoyed. I never recommend it.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So as every conversation goes when you and I speak,
it goes very far afield. I never know what we're
going to get. And didn't see gut health on the
bingo cart.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
We can talk about, you know, the color of I'd
rather not, but no, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Well perfect, So, okay, I'm not the best at bringing
things back around, but I'm going to have to. Let's
talk about your youth being raised in Israel.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Tell me about that a little.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Bit, right, So, as you mentioned, I was born and
raised in Israel in a small suburb of south of
Tel aviv Ye. My mom is originally from the US,
she was born and raised in New York, so I
spent a lot of time back and forth visiting my family,
but never lived here in the US until four years ago.
And we'll get we'll get to that later. And when
(05:09):
I was young, both of my parents used to take
me to work with them. That's like something that was
like I would pretend that I'm sick, Okay, come come to.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Work with me, and so Broy's dragging you around backstreet.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Boy, I know. And when I was at the university
where my mom worked, she was a faculty member in
nursing school. I would get like little tasks that you know,
take the exams from the office to the classroom, and
it made me feel like I was part of something serious.
So it started very young. But then with my dad,
who was a toy inventor, love that, Yeah, I was
(05:42):
exposed to like a completely different world. And I would
sit in meetings with big toy companies like Hasporo or
Tiger Mattel and they would ask me what do I
think about things? Obviously I'm I'm the ideal you know, customers,
So I.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Mean you focused group of one, yes, anything like serious
toy wise that you remember being involved.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Like what we were sent a few samples of Tamaguchi
before it was it went out. Yes, and a couple
of years later Ferbie as well. Up, yes, that was
from Asia, I think from Japan or but those were
your idea, No, unfortunately, but yes, that's that's very memorable.
Like the success of that later was you know, yeah,
(06:25):
it was one of the first users. It was super exciting.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So your dad was kind of like Willie Walker toy version.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Yeah. Yes, but I think that, you know, being this
person in the room that you're asked questions in your
opinion matters was had a very strong impact on me.
And then at the age of sixteen, I got a
summer job at a tech company that my dad founded
called Kibi, and that really took it to the next level.
I did market research. I worked with the engineering team,
(06:53):
with the marketing team. I worked with clients like the
marketing team in Coca Cola. It's a job that now
when when when I have a company, it's a project
like a legit project manager work. And I did it
when I was sixteen, and looking back it kind of
you know, it's it really shaped how I view myself,
(07:13):
my capabilities that you're like a real contributor in a
space and your voice matters. You don't need the age
or the or you know, some status or title. And
that was really impactful growing.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Up, I would imagine, you know, being I mean, in
all seriousness, you had a lot of take your daughter
to work day. It sounds like, but like impactfully in
that you know, you weren't counting paper clips or shred
and papers. You were being asked questions and being involved
at some level. And so to your point, as a
as a child, do you really understood I mean, really
(07:50):
how higher education worked and a business ran. I mean,
and even though it was I mean, toys just happened
to be the benefit of the whole deal as you
were growing up, I mean, your mom worked in the hospital,
said like any thoughts of going medical route or was
the stuff your dad doing more interesting to you?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
So definitely being in the space of an entrepreneur and
see how you control your success, that's something that really,
you know, was there all the time. It just took
a few years for me to realize that that is
the space. But that had a very strong impact on me.
I think also the fact that he was traveling a lot,
and you know, seeing the world, but I never failed.
(08:32):
He was not present. So I think that also made
me feel that you don't need to be the success
and the growth with being entrepreneur doesn't necessarily translate into
not being home and not being you know, doing what
you want to do. So those are kind of two
things that I took.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
So so you.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Know, we've talked about this, you know, when we've had
lunch and been together. You know, like every Israeli boy
and girl they grow up and they're going to have
a military commitment. So thinking about like you had a
really interesting exposure as a child from a seeing what
your parents did and really understanding it and honestly, probably
(09:10):
more so than most. You know, that's a unique thing
from your childhood.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Now you move into.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
That point of okay, now you're going to fulfill a
commitment and how.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Did that, How did you think about that?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
How did you think about that in terms of well,
could this help me for what I want to do
in my future once I've fulfilled my commitment.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
So I think that being treated seriously when I was
young really made me believe that I was capable of
doing big things and doing anything. And this is a
really strong feeling like now I really appreciate it, but
it was present then as well, Like I really remember
the feeling of I'm capable to do anything. Yeah, So
that confidence really comes from being trusted early. I think
(09:52):
this is really a key thing that I try to
take back to my kids now. Yeah. So that year
when I did that job, that summer job that I
really really enjoyed as was also the year that as
a sixteen year old Israeli you look for your what
you're going to do in the army. So in the US,
juniors and high school look for you know, Scotford colleges
(10:14):
and what they didn't. We look for what's going to
be are how how are two or three years are going.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
To look like? Okay, so it's a two or three
year minimum.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yes, it's a mandatory service. So in my days it
was two years for women, three years for men. It
changed a little since, but that's that's around the numbers, okay.
And you just start to apply to different units and
and you know, I was, you know, I had the
good grades and I was, you know, come from a
strong background. I was everything was open for me. I
could go to combat, I couldn't go to I could
(10:42):
do office work, I could do anything.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
So it's kind of it really is comparable to kids
in the States applying to college. I want to go
to a junior college. I want to go to an
Ivy League school.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I want to go to.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Wherever, definitely, And you can apply to the elite units
and you can go and do like I wanted to
be in the Navy, like a naval officer that had
this dream I'm going to be a combat naval officer
and uh so I applyed to that, and you know,
they take you to like a full day of to
check how you're doing and so, uh and I just
I enjoyed missing school and going to do those things.
(11:14):
And you know, it's an excused absence, so no one
can tell you that you're you're that you have to
that you can't go and and and I enjoy that
a lot. But yes, you know, not to not to
uh not something that I consider that impacted anything. But
(11:35):
I was lucky enough to get accepted to an elite
intelligence units called eighty two hundred as a data analyst that.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Kind of tied back to that job you'd had.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yes, yes, I think you know, I'm saying data analyst
obviously it involved a lot of different aspects. But I
think what was interesting is that I found myself again
in an environment where age matter much less, and you know,
your contribution is what counts to the success and to
your growth. And obviously here it's not just your growth,
(12:06):
but it's the it's the impact that you have on
real things. Like you know, the stakes are high, the
stakes are real. Yes, you know. It was a very
powerful feeling again, uh, and it was it was very
hard to walk back, you know, away from that. And
I ended up staying almost eight years.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
So you started at eighteen, like you.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I started eighteen and while all my friends, uh finished
and went to backpacking trips in South America, India and
explain that that's a very Israeli culture. You finish the
army and then you go and you travel.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
And I think it's amazing. I think, you know, the
experience of being so far from home and you know,
living a simple life where you backpack and meet people.
I think it's very very strong. It's a good thing
to do before you go to college.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, so then you come back and go to college, yes.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
But there's no it's it's you go directly to grad school.
There's no undergrad in Israel, so interesting. You choose what
you want to do, so you go to medical school,
you go to law school, you go whatever. Okay, yeah,
so I ended up staying almost eight years. It was
I went to office to school. I climbed up the ranks.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Where your rank when you left captain nice?
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Yes, yes, And I got some you know awards of
all those you know, fun things, and I essentially I
got to be part of really interesting, incredible projects that
are in the intersection of technology and operations. And to
be twenty two, twenty three, you know, whatever age it was,
(13:42):
it was different things to sit in those rooms and
had to make those decisions. Was you know something that
I I loved, I enjoyed, and I really felt that
I'm doing the right thing right now for me.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
So okay, let me just kind of bring this all together.
You're you know, you're found You know, every every CEO
we've spoken to, founder, the foundations are all different but
similar in some areas.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
You know.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
So you come out at what twenty five, twenty six,
twenty your service, You've moved up the ranks, you've had
seniority to a degree, you've been involved in.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Very important things.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Then you walk away and did you do the year
of backpacking and all of that.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
No, I went directly to law school, like I had.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Oh that's right, you told me this, Yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
I did not. I just felt that I did create
a gap with those eight years of having fun and
I need to catch up. Okay, So I went to
I got accepted to this honors program that combined law
school n MBA together. So I like, you know, I said, okay,
four years, I'm finishing everything and I so I just
(14:51):
read went directly to school. I also married at that time.
Between in the I had one summer off, so that
between the army and school. So that summer I I
also got married.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
And we don't want to have any time on your hands,
would you. Yeah, got to keep moving.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Keep moving. Yes. Uh. Luckily my husband is the same
so you know, we were kind of on the same
uh on the same energy level in that in that aspect.
And yeah, I ended up starting law school n B
a while.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Was it three years?
Speaker 3 (15:28):
It was three and a half years, almost four years,
but uh, I think that you know, I felt that
I really need to uh close the gap. But I
didn't go to law school because I wanted to be
a lawyer. I just so I want to. I just
I wanted to get accepted to the best program I could.
Uh kind of feel that I have a deep the
(15:49):
first time that I'm diving deep into something and doing
it like really really good and not being spread on
so many projects and which turned out not something that
I can do. While I went to school, I worked
almost full top time in a tech company. I worked
from the library at the university. I had a baby.
I got the first year of law school, had to
(16:10):
maybe in the second year. And by the way, to
be a mom and a student is the best thing.
You don't have any guilt feelings that you don't go
to school, like you stay home with your kid if
you want to. They can't tell you, like it's it's
just it's fun. You don't need to feel bad that
you're missing days at work. Yeah, no one cares, right,
So that I did that. We built a house, Like
so many things happened in those four years, and I
(16:32):
was juggling so many balls at once. But you know
that was me, that's that's Sam.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah. But it sounds like that amazing preparation to start
to start a company and be a CEO, and you
know we'll get to that in a second.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Did you know, like at what point?
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I mean, again, your childhood gave you a really interesting
background and foundation the military and other piece, and I
would have to imagine even just at that point, you're like, Wow,
there's not anything I can't do in the world.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Then you layer on. I got a lot of agree
in an MBA as well.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
It's almost like the possibilities are endless. Did you know,
like I'm going to found a company. I want to
start my I want to be an entrepreneur and start something.
Did you know that or is it something you found
over time once you started working.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
No, I don't think that was in my trajectory, like
of you know, the next steps for me. I knew
that I would probably go back and I'm saying back
because my army unit is like funnels everybody out to
tech companies. But I know I'm going to go to tech.
But then I I'm very diverse, like I love doing
different things. I volunteer. I had noticed that, so I
(17:42):
wasn't sure what exactly. There was even one point in
COVID that me and my husband bought a franchise of
a school for I was like, I mean, yeah, it's
it's a long story, but I didn't know what I'm
going to do. But I knew that, you know, nothing
is not off the table, right, nothing is everything.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
For some people. For some people that's don though.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I mean, when there's so many things, like it's almost
like there's so many things, then there's nothing because I
don't know which thing I could be so good at.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
So I think making decisions in this case is super important.
So I said, I did this program at the university,
but I was probably the worst student. I did the
minimum needed, so I had to spreadsheet, and I knew
I needed an eighty five score my average. I knew
what to get in and to stay because they would
kick you out if you don't keep that average. And
(18:28):
every exam I got back with a grade, I put
it in the spreadsheet and I see if I'm still
on this average or not. If I got a seventy
seven and I'm still above eighty five, I'm not taking
a second chance. I'm not taking this again. And I
just that's how I managed my So it's not like
you know everything. I can do everything, and I'm going
to be great at everything. And everything. No, that's not
the case. You manage, you make decisions based on why
(18:48):
you understand. What's your next step is what you know
about yourself, and I think it's you know, So I
don't want it to sound like you know, everything's an option.
The world is pink, and I got everything I needed,
and you know, I.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Have sunshine and candy and I might have rich.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Parents who been No that's not the case.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Well, but I think that you know, when look to
found a company, that have the confidence to found a
company and succeed and do some of the things you've done.
You're an achiever, obviously, but I would almost add listening
to how you strategically did that, it's like you added
a pragmatic strategy to what you were doing. You didn't
feel the pressure to get ninety nine on everything you understood,
(19:32):
juggling so many different things. I need to excel to
a certain level to get to the next level, you
know what I mean. And that's an interesting way I'm
looking at because so many achievers don't accept anything other
than perfection or a certain level, and you took the
other way. I would view the more pragmatic approach of
I have a lot of things I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
This is how I get where I want to go.
I don't have to be number one at everything.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
I think perfect is our biggest enemy, interesting and everything life. Yeah,
you know, I don't want to be the perfect mom.
I don't want to be the perfect wife. I don't
I want to be I need to go and sleep
at night with myself. Right And Okay, it sounded bad.
I don't myself. That's my English as a second language
coming in.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
But I.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Need to, you know, live with with with what I okay,
live with yourself, Yeah, live with myself.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
So but but let's okay, let's take that to you
to being a founder. You know, we've.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Talked to some that scrutinize every little thing like it's interesting,
I mean talking.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
About the important and details are important.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
But like some of the founders we talk to talk
about agonizing over company emails that go out to customers,
over every word, which I understand it's a representation of
your company.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
How do you take that into how you lead?
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Like perfect, you know is not the end always the
end goal, like as your leadership style or like how
do you weave that into the way you lead? Ah?
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Wow, it's I think different stages of companies require different
you know, different things.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
And in our case, you know, I'm looking at myself
more at this point as a as a co founder
than a CEO. I think that I think that, you know,
it changes the way you you address those you know
this leadership you know, uh, strategy and and uh those things.
I think that in our case, you know, we're we're
(21:27):
right now still in the trenches. We're building something and
it's very hard. So it's not a polished, stable environment, uh,
where leadership is mostly about you know, managing from above
and getting things perfect and making sure that everything perfect
and KPI, No, we're not there, We're Uh. There's uncertainty,
there's setbacks, there's momentum, there's recalibration we needed, and you
(21:49):
know that requires you can't be perfect. You need to uh,
you know, digest information quick, understand where you were wrong.
And it requires a team that you know can do
the same thing with you obviously not alone. Who I'm
nothing without you know, my team.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
You hear that, Amanda, I'm nothing without you. I know
you two camera, this podcast is nothing without you too.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
So my my leadership, like philosophy, is grounded in openness
and honesty. I think those are the things that kind
of lead. I believe in open communications. I want people
to challenge me. You mentioned that I'm Israeli, so part
of me is being very direct and open, and I
want people to be direct with me as well. I
want to hear all the good things. I want to
hear all the bad things. And you know, building something
(22:35):
requires a lot of truth telling and a lot of
in a real way, not in.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
A well yeah because you could.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I mean, look, you surround yourself with people that just
want to tell you what you want to hear. You're
on a you know, a short road to really not
positive things. So let's go back to the beginning of
sports predict. You know you you mba law school. I
know you you worked some in post graduation. Let's talk
(23:04):
about sports predict and how.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
That came about.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
And you know, really you know the founding and you
know where you see things today.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
So fast forward A few years after I finished school
and worked for a few startups, we were offered to
move to relocate to Austin with a company that I
worked with. I was a construction tech company, and I
had a great time, but I really got involved in
Austin and the entrepreneur ecosystem, and I realized that that's
the right place for me, and I kind of open
up to different opportunities and that's when I met Steve.
(23:36):
Steve Khon, my co founder. He was bullish about prediction
markets and probabilities, and that was before Calshi and polymarket
got very huh familiar uh, and there was a clique
between us and I had to decide if I'm accepting
an offer from a tech startup that I that I
just received, or I'm going to join forces with with Steve,
(23:58):
who's a factory of brilliant ideas. It just seems like
it's going to be a lot of fun, and obviously,
you know, I chose the latter, and Sports predict Is.
Our mission is to make sports predictions a real, recognized
skill and give fans a way to compete on being
right rather than risking money. We build a free to
(24:20):
play sports prediction platform where fans make their picks on
sports questions and compete with each other and being right,
and they build a measurable skill. And we work with influencers.
We work with media partners and communities to bring their
audiences into prediction competitions around real time events sports. Sports
(24:43):
is great, it's fun, it's connects people, it's fast, it
results fast. We don't need to wait who's going to
be the you know, who's going to be elected in
twenty twenty eight. We can we have the answer now,
and it's fun. Our monetization is brand driven, and brand sponsor.
(25:03):
Brand sponsor our competitions. They put up prices and they
use the space to show up in a much more
meaningful way than advertising, the normal advertising. And the simplest
way to think about it is that just like a
brand puts his logo on a basketball court, because the
attention is high and people are very involved emotionally in
this moment, that's how we look at the space on
(25:25):
our app. People are very involved and we see that
in the data, like we see people are coming back,
they're checking the leaderboard, they make more predictions, they're waiting
for more markets to open, and it's valuable.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
So it's funny. And I know that we've talked about
this a little bit. You know, in listening to you talk,
you do a good job of being down the middle
of the road on versus the data and the prediction
part versus the sports part of it. You want to
tell everybody really where you lean in your heart and
why you found this interesting as a whole.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Yeah. So I knew probably nothing about American sports until
I it's pork predict and and I think as previous
companies I worked for. I worked at a construction tech
company and at some point I was so knowledgeable about construction.
I loved it. Yeah, same thing here about sports. The
sport is American sports are fascinating. This this ecosystem is
(26:19):
something that I've never seen before in my life. And
I come to sports predict from the data aspect. I
think that, you know, the opportunity is crazy. And I
experienced a real big shift in the way we approach
data in my army service because when I started, there
(26:40):
was you know, the information was the information, and you
had to treat it the way, you know, in a
certain way. But then the big data concept was introduced
and there was so much information and in so much noise,
and you really had to understand how you extract those
insights the right data and bring the right insights in fast.
And I think, you know, living in a world of
(27:01):
so much information, sports and everything else, right, Uh, and
I just love it. I think data is is power, yeah. Uh,
And finding the right insights in the data is you know,
a superpower and applying it into predictions doesn't matter if
(27:21):
it's sports or not. It's a really really important skill. Uh.
And if we think about, you know, the conversation everybody
has at their home now, like HOWII is going to
take my job or what skills it's going to take,
this is such an important skill to be able to
take information, digest it, and make the right decision and
not let AI make decisions for you in specific areas.
(27:42):
So I agree that there's areas that is going to
do a better job than us making decisions. And I
found it fascinating. I think that sports is a really
good laboratory to practice that if you're going to be
a good predictorate sports, you can be a good predictorate,
which everything.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Else I would have to imagine coming from your background.
I mean, clearly, the data you were used to is
extremely serious, a lot of ramifications, so a little bit
of freeing that the data you're looking at now serious
but not as but it had to be not being
an American sports fan, you had to be like, oh
my gosh, it had to be the most amazing thing
(28:21):
to dig into and learn just coming in not being
a fan at all.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Was there like a what in the heck moment and
all of that?
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Yeah, I think that there was. So you know, you
can talk about the specific teams and the specific players
and the specific you know, act in the in the
sporting events. But when then I started making predictions obviously
you know, practicing and seeing it as a user, what happened?
And then I realized, wait, wait, maybe I'm looking I'm
(28:51):
not looking at the right way. Maybe I need to
know if I'm better at over unders or if I'm
better you know, it's specific type of predictions that are
not necessarily related to who's playing, but to the type
of prediction that we're doing. And maybe that's my edge,
like maybe I'm good at that, and yeah, so that's
that's that's something that I But the amount of data
(29:12):
that American sports you know, offer, oh yeah, insane.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Well, I mean, and we're coming off, you know, one
of the biggest predictive times, you know, around March Madness,
and of course everyone jokes that you get have people
like me that know everything they or think they know
about basketball and then in the family pool, I come
in last, and my daughter, who picks on jersey color,
wins the family pool, and it's maddening.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
So I think that it's interesting that you've you.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
And I've talked a lot about data and what it
means to so many other industries and how you utilize
it within sports and how other companies look at it.
You want to share a little bit about, like how
other companies come to you about the reading.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Of the data.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Yes, so I think one aspect that we're not looking at,
you know, we're looking at fan engagement and how you
know important it is, and how prediction free to play
prediction can increase fan engagement. And actually for media, for
the sports, what matters is the media rights and the
broadcast and not the gambling. But when we look at
(30:16):
that and what people what we can achieve by having
people predict on a platform that is free and open
to everybody, we can basically find the best talent for
predicting sports, but for many other things. And we look
at it as and I remember one of my first
conversations with Steve when he was talking about the ad.
(30:38):
Steve my co founder, I want to build the biggest
talent search in the world.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
And yeah, when you told me this, I was like,
wait what.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
And it's interesting because we're starting to see it. We're
seeing financial institutes that are interested in what we're doing
for different purposes. And again it's in it's in the
beginning of this of these conversations. But those predictive skills
are super super value superpowers. They're valuable. They can make
(31:07):
a lot of money for companies and there's no other
there's no way to know now maybe as efficient that
we can provide it. If someone is a good predictor
h and you can also put them an environment where
it's under uncertainty, you can change you can you can
impact the data, you can change things to see how
(31:28):
people make decisions judgment under uncertainty. A lot of really
really strong skills that are very hard to to find
and measure. So that's another aspect of our business that
we're exploring and finding that is valuable.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
All right, Let's let's talk a bit a little bit
about you know, we've talked about founder and your background.
Let's talk about Sports predict as a company and.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
How you lead.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
You're a CEO, you have how many employees right now?
We're fifteen fifteen, okay.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
And there's spread out. You know, you're in Austin. You
told me people in New York, people around the world.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Right, Yes, so we have I'm in Austin, we have
people in Philadelphia, New York, Manila, the Philippines. Steve, my
co founder, is now residing in Asia, mostly in Manila,
coming back and forth, and just hired someone in Chicago.
So we're and we have a development team in Ukraine,
(32:28):
so we're all over.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
How do you manage that as a leader.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
So people would think that the time difference is one
of the biggest challenges, and it is a challenge, but
I think you can leverage the time and you can
basically create a company that works twenty four hours. And
so that's that's one thing. And how do I think?
First of all, there's no hiary, it's flat, and I
(32:53):
think that's super important at this stage open communication. Everything's
on slack. Try to minimum the private, you know, one
on one conversation so everybody is aware of what's happening.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Fifteen people, yes, okay.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
Not not like iHeartMedia. Yeah, it's a little less, but
you know, feel less and I try and this is
something I try to bring everything that's happening to create
give clarity to the team so they know what's happening.
Most of the things they communication, they're involved in everything,
(33:29):
so there's not a lot of things that I do
and that are not you know, part of the team's efforts. So,
as I said before, openness, directness, just you know, challenging
each other and moving fast. I think moving fast is
one of the biggest of the biggest advantages and the
(33:52):
way we work because again, we don't lean towards perfect
because it's not going to be perfect. Uh, there's gonna
be a time for perfect. You're a B two c
app you use your work with you know, with end users,
you need to be almost perfect. Sure, but we're not
at this stage. We're the stage to move fast, to
try to fail fast, understand what didn't work, and move forward.
(34:14):
I think that data here is super important to support
our decisions. I believe that this is the main driver.
Gut is important. Gut feeling are important, and we need
to give them the right you know, the right space.
But make decisions based on data is super important. That's
why I insisted, you know, from day one, to have
(34:36):
tools that help us to make those decisions based on data,
so we know at every moment, you know what's happening.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Yeah, fail fast. One of my favorites is sooner rather
than later. Yes, but with fifteen people.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
So let me ask you this. I mean, coming from
a background in the military, where it's hierarchy, it's chain
of command and all of that, to.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
The complete opposite.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Obviously you're very flexible and just hearing how you manage
so many things through that period of time, law school
and new baby house and all of that. Has it
been hard to transition between the two?
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Do you see it?
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Have a vision for down the road when okay, when
we get to a certain point in my mind, we'll
have to start stepping up into a little bit more
of a hierarchical, you know environment, Like do you think
that far down the road?
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Yet I try not to because it is a little
you know, it's overwhelming.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
And could you ever be overwhelmed?
Speaker 3 (35:34):
So, yes, it is over and I will go back
to my military service. And I think one of the
biggest advantages of the unit that I serve that it
does operate in like a startup in small teams and
fail fast.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
And yeah, fail fast, I'm sure y, but.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Really it is. I mean, there is hierarchy because it's
the army, but you know, I could sit next to
very very high ranks and you know, make decisions, they
would ask me questions, and I mean it's it's I
learned that, you know, the higherarchy is not a good
(36:09):
it's not a good structure for specific environments, and it's
good for bigger organizations, and you know it's you have
to move towards. But that's not where I ever. You know,
operated inn in my army service well.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
And especially in the world you were in around you know,
analyzing data and you were looked at upon as an
expert and you were trusted for that information. So having
been in that role, I would imagine for you you
you demand it of anybody you hire. I need you
to tell me if there's a problem. I need you
to tell me where we could go off course, and
(36:44):
you have to communicate that with people because I mean, look,
not everybody's comfortable with that, you know.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Yeah, I think that the consequences is what is what
kind of changes a little of bit a little bit,
And I think, you know, in our work life, if
we don't need to live in a place where we
think that everything we'll do, will you know, general will
create a very uh, you know, meaningful impact to their
to their to the to our career. I think, you know,
(37:11):
at the end, you want people to wake up in
the morning and to enjoy and want to come back
to work. So it's a little I can't operate under
those assumptions.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Yeah, the final score of the Chiefs Broncos game is
not change life changing.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Not not for not for our standard user, but you know,
but for some people it may and uh, and we
want to treat it, you know, the best, the best
that we you know. But yes, so as I said, perfect,
I think it has there will be a time where
we'll have to start operating in this way. But right now,
(37:44):
when we're all in the trenches and trying to to
build something that that's not it's not going to work
that way.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
All right.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
So it's April. If we were talking in December, where
do you think sports is in terms of headcount and
the company, like, what's your vision by the end of
the year.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Well, company like us kind of operates according to the
sports schedule of the US. So there are a lot
of big events until December. Two main ones, one is
the World Cup and the other one is the NFL season,
which kind of determines the growth of the companies and
(38:28):
specifically hours as well. We also launched a partnership with
an academic institute that we're built a online prediction program
with them, and we'll get announced that soon. But we
built an online prediction program that teaches high school students
to be better predictors and they practice on sporting events
(38:50):
that happened at the same time.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Does it show them how to read data and then
make how to.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
Read Yeah, lots of videos how to read data and practice,
so practice and get feedback and that's yeah, that's awesome
because that's you can translate that to many other things.
And I think that it'll be fun, which is, you
know what, the way you want to engage with kids
this age. So that's happening, and as I said, there
are a lot of financially not a lot a few
(39:15):
financial institutes that are interested. So I hope that from
the growth side of users, you know, and that determines
the size of the company, right. We want to we
want to be at a certain area where we have
a certain amount of users, and for that we need
the company to support this, right, we need more marketing,
(39:36):
more developers, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Of course.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
So I'm hoping to be in a nice size amount
of users, a meaningful partnership with a big brand. Right now,
we have a few smaller partnerships and we want one,
you know, meaningful, big partnerships. And yeah, I don't know,
it's you know, it changes so often. It's such a
moving target.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Yeah, what as a leader in a startup company, what's
the biggest challenge you face every day?
Speaker 3 (40:05):
You know, it's mostly challenges, right, Like, it's that's that's
that's what we do like every day is you have
so many challenges. But I think the biggest one is
to is to not let the challenges kind of take
you down, Yeah, and and just continue and you know, uh,
(40:29):
look at the next target. So I think that's one
thing because there's so many things that are not happening,
so many emails that are not you know, being answered,
and so many and users that don't return, right, There's
so many things that are not happening. Yeah, uh, And
to focus on what is happening and the success and
that that's something that I, uh that I find challenging.
But you know, obviously that's my main My main job
(40:50):
is to make sure that we operate you know, this way.
I think also that one of the biggest challenges is
we're an I'm sure many tech startups founders are are
experiencing the same as the changes in technology, the the
you know, it's it's just crazy to shift to from
(41:14):
manual old you know, old old fashioned coding into AI.
You know, we have I have developers that write code,
and I have developers that don't write code, and have
you know, claude right code for them, and you know,
kind of being able to combine these two and understand
how you know this works together and where is the
right do we accept for the quality and not one
(41:40):
hundred percent? But it took us, you know, twenty percent
of the time that it would take us if we
did it for one hundred percent quality. So sorry about that.
But it's all decisions that you need to make all
the time on how are you going to you know,
as I said, I want to move fast, I want
to fail fast. But then we have users and we
need the best quality for them. So how do you
(42:01):
turn this into a system that actually works and grows?
Speaker 2 (42:05):
It's a lot, it's a lot you know, and everything
you just said is fifteen people doing all of that
all funneling to you.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
Yes, And I will say that they're all amazing, dedicated,
smart passion, I mean, amazing team and I'm lucky, and yeah,
it really determines, like it really determines the next hires.
I'm really careful about to the team.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
For sure, was there something because one of my things
I believe happening in is that you know, as companies
grow and evolve, you know, everyone likes to think there's
going to be that big moment, that that seismic thing
and everything is going to be different, and that happens,
But it's really.
Speaker 1 (42:54):
More I believe about doing.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
The small things well and how do you continue forward
and build you know, your organization. I call it, you know,
winning in the cracks and the gray spaces. You're in
a little bit different situation because you've got fifteen people,
but like, how do you look at what are some
smaller things that you think you do? Like these are
fundamental to who we are and I think I know
from what you're saying, but these are fundamental to who
(43:16):
we are going to be as an organization that you
really lean on and you think about as a leader
of Sports.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
Predict, I think that looking at our user base right
now and making sure that they like what they see
and come back is something we deeply care about.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
So it means that if we have someone that won
the leaderboard that week for March Madness and he got
a prize, I want to get on a call with them,
Like I want to talk to them.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (43:43):
And I have had so many conversations until now with
users and they're from such different backgrounds.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
And that has to be fascinating, and it's.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Fascinating and like, first of all, like, how did you
hear about us? What brings you back? Why are you
not sharing it with your kids? Like things like that,
and and and again I asked the questions and even
when I get, you know, tough answers, but the end,
these are people that literally, you know, went into our app.
And sometimes I find myself like out of sitting and
(44:13):
and finding hard to believe that they're actually you know,
thousands of users that go in and make predictions on
Sports Predict and it's it's it's you know, we started
a year and a half ago and we're growing, and
we're growing in a nice pace and so so so
so thinking about you know, even when we get to
one hundred thousand and you know above users. I want
(44:34):
to keep in mind and I want everyone on the
team to keep in mind that there's a user at
the end and we need to know and it's it's
and it's hard with with uh B two C companies
because you don't's like a company that I can come
and you know, meet you and and talk to you.
It's hard to get those people. But we can, we
can get to them and we can be I have
I have a funny story that there was someone who
signed up and I I recognized the name. It was
(44:58):
an Israeli nam in the in the in the email.
It was early on and and it was a time
that I looked at all the users like I looked
at their at their sign up names, and I was
very surprised that someone that I don't know from Israel
sign up, Like how do they hear about the app?
I didn't advertise it, And I reached out to him.
(45:21):
And I'm not going to like expose the person, but
he was a very important person in the country and
was until now, Like he sends me emails about ideas
and thoughts and what are you going to do? MLB
and this money line like this line is wrong or
(45:42):
like things like that, and it's so exciting because people
want to help you. And yeah, so I hope that
you know, we can continue to really listen to our
users and to our partners. Right, we're working with content creators.
We're now working with a media company where work with brands,
(46:02):
and you know, I want to have access to everybody
that's in this in this uh ecosystem of sports predict.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
So so Amanda's telling me we have to wrap up,
but I'm going to break the rules because I have
to ask a couple more questions because I find that
it's interesting. So you as the founder, somebody wins, somebody
does something. You just reach out to money emails. I'd
love to talk to you and get your feedback.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
Yeah, I love that. Are they are they surprised? Do
they think it's cool? Do they?
Speaker 3 (46:28):
I think when you were reached out and asked to
get on a Zoom call to give your feedback about
a product, you want to do it like this is fun?
People care about what and when I come back to
them and tell them that we, you know, made those
changes and updates, and I try to follow up and
kind of.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Let them know you follow their usage and all that.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
Yeah, but but not even that, even if this person
was not going to come back, the fact that they
suggested something and we did it. I think that's fun, Like,
you know, to know that you said, oh, take this
thing off, this button is too confusing things like that,
you know, user experience basics, and so yeah, they and
anyone everyone I asked to talk to said yes until now.
(47:09):
I didn't get a I didn't get a no.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
And yeah, so it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
I talked to our sales teams a lot about you know,
when you're working with clients, you know, listen more, talk less,
and it's the same thing like you're going to uncover.
And I'm sure there's been a lot of aha, like
oh I never thought of that moments that made the
product better totally that it wasn't a hard thing to
do when you think about it.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
I want our roadmap to include eighty percent of the
items that are feedback items from users, Like I don't
want us to make up things. I want to hear
from them what they want. They know better than me, right,
I mean, a person that decides that they want to predict,
make predictions. They know much much, way better than what
I know about what they want to see there, and
(47:56):
usually you'll get the same You'll get the same answers
from people. I don't matter if it's a construction manager
from Minneapolis or it's a professor at LSU, it doesn't
matter who he is. They want saying things.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
Oh that's amazing, Well, Shani, were coming to the end.
We have a last thing that we do with every guest,
and we are calling this in honor of sports predict
call your shot roulette. So we have questions in each
one of these envelopes.
Speaker 1 (48:25):
We have the.
Speaker 2 (48:26):
Football envelope, the golf envelope, and the basketball envelope, and
there will be a question that we are going to
ask you to answer. So you pick the sport and
we'll give you the envelope. You can open it and
answer the question.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
And we remember that I'm not a big sports fan.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
Well, it's not like a quiz on.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
Just making sure you know the team here may never work. Okay,
I'll do basketball, all right. Oh, it's a real envelope. Oh,
Dallas MAVs or San Antono Spurs. Which fan base are
you betting on to adopt sports predict first.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
Oh wow, wow, no pressure here.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
Wow my god, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (49:09):
I think this is a very political answer of not
wanting to alienate either fan base.
Speaker 3 (49:14):
It's it's it's you know, it's a strategic decision. It's
a strategic decision for me what to answer here because.
Speaker 2 (49:23):
I know there's no perfect now she's trying to come
up with the perfect games with the right answer.
Speaker 3 (49:29):
So Dallas MAVs CEO is a was on this podcast,
Yes he was, if I answer to you know, and
then it's San Antonio's first. They do so much with data,
like they're like big data.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
Are they known as that?
Speaker 2 (49:42):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (49:43):
Yes, yes, yes, interesting and yeah so and also Santin
is like Austin, right because Austin doesn't have a team,
so they're like the Austin team, right.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
Yeah, but you're in Dallas.
Speaker 3 (49:55):
I'm in Dallas.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
I think we could say this question goes into overtime,
and what I'm going to do is say I'm going
to give her the football envelope and she's gonna have
a new question.
Speaker 3 (50:05):
Okay, but if I had to, like if you and
you can decide to like cut it and if you
want me. Ton't want to do one question, but I'd
go with Dallas. I think it's a bigger, bigger audience.
Speaker 2 (50:19):
Okay, we'll see the football one just for fun. Okay,
see what we got here.
Speaker 3 (50:25):
You're launching sports predict at the Super Bowl with a
thirty second hand. What is the one image on the screen?
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (50:33):
I have to say, these are the hardest questions we've
ever given. No.
Speaker 3 (50:37):
Actually, I have this one image on the screen. It's
a family. It's it's a dad that you know, did
sports like that's his life. He coached his sons in
their football or soccer or whatever, and he loves and
he has his college you know friends that they have
their pool and they have their meth like the group
(50:58):
and these his is with his two sons or a
son and daughter sitting in the living room and he's
predicting sports with his fourteen thirteen years old And that's
a good He wants him to do it. It's like
it's a skill that he wants them to okay, sue,
versus going to gambling. So I think there's something you
can do with your family, with your kids.
Speaker 1 (51:19):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (51:20):
And that's so clearly something someone's thought about so we
should expect a Super Bowl ad next year.
Speaker 1 (51:28):
Let's hope.
Speaker 3 (51:29):
So, let's hope.
Speaker 1 (51:29):
So awesome, Thank you. This is a lot of fun.
I appreciate you coming in. Thank you, all right,
This is CEOs You Should Know with the Dallas market
president of iHeartMedia, Chris Long.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I want to welcome everybody to our latest episode of
CEOs You Should Know Dallas. I'm Chris Long, market president
for iHeartMedia, and I'm really excited about our guest today,
my good friend Shanie Reviv, founder and CEO.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Of Sports predict Shanee, how you doing today?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Doing great? Well?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
We're excited to have you you. This has been a
lot of fun for me to do with all of
our CEOs. Your story is a little bit different, which
will be I think fascinating to our listeners.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
But before we get started down that road, you know
that iHeartMedia is a massive audio platform with over eight
hundred and sixty radio stations at one hundred and sixty markets,
and podcasts and streaming and you name it audio, we
have it. So I think it's really important as we
start this conversation so our listeners can get to know
(01:04):
you a little bit better. I'm going to ask you
the standard question first concert, but yours is going to
have a caveat because you were born and raised in Israel.
First concert in Israel and first concert in the States,
and current podcast you're listening to all right.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
So first concert in Israel was Backstreet Boys. They came
to Israel, WHOA. My sister was forced to take me
with her.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
We have heard were you?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I was probably nine or eight and she's four years
older than I. Associhit. I went with her and her girlfriends.
But that was fun.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
There was no drama at home before that.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Oh no, no, no, that was fine. And my first
concert here in the US that was also fun because
I have a cousin who works for like a big
financial firm, and he took me to Bob Seeger the
country and he took me to watch it from the
box at Madison Square Garden. For a young Israeli teen
to go and watch a first concert in this setting
(02:05):
was you know, how do.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
You go back? So okay, So we Amanda as my
co pilot here.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
We rate all of our hosts. Now most have only
had one concert. And if you listen, people know my
first concert it was men at Work, which makes me
totally eighties.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
And at the.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Bottom of the list, you know, we've had a lot
of really interesting ones. Pink Floyd, Johnny Cash, Whitney Houston.
I don't know thoughts, Amanda I I'm going to put
the backstory boys a little bit up there, just because
I don't know I was like five.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
That was like one of the first like CDs. Do
you even know who Bob Seger is?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
No?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Oh, I knew that was coming, but I do. So
you really spanned some generations there. And then throwing the
Madison Square Garden. Most people saw their first concert in
you know, more intimate setting or a localized setting, Medison
Square Garden. It doesn't get much bigger than that. So okay, wow,
(03:07):
how do we follow that up on the podcast? And
what are you listening to besides this podcast?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
So I'm a big podcast person.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I have.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
I have one of my my tasks for the next
month is to do a playlist because I feel like
people ask me what I listen to because there's only
so much time that you can spend on that. And
I do it when I work out. So that's when
I listen to my podcasts. So I try to.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Pick that podcast when you work out.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yes, that's what I do when I work serious, Yes, yes,
about music? Okay, we have music on at home all
the time and I work from home, so that's that's
that's curdy. But podcasts I really like, I can choose,
I really try to get the best, and I listen
to everything parenting, a lot of that psychology tech obviously.
(03:54):
But the last one that's going to be a little embarrassing,
but was a Mel Robbins episode about Gut Gut Health.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Okay, wow, a lot of first today.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
So she interviewed this super interesting professor and it was.
It was fascinating, those those episodes that you like, take
home so many practical advice, so much practical advice, and
I love that. Yeah, so I enjoyed. I never recommend it.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So as every conversation goes when you and I speak,
it goes very far afield. I never know what we're
going to get. And didn't see gut health on the
bingo cart.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
We can talk about, you know, the color of I'd
rather not, but no, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Well perfect, So, okay, I'm not the best at bringing
things back around, but I'm going to have to. Let's
talk about your youth being raised in Israel.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Tell me about that a little.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Bit, right, So, as you mentioned, I was born and
raised in Israel in a small suburb of south of
Tel aviv Ye. My mom is originally from the US,
she was born and raised in New York, so I
spent a lot of time back and forth visiting my family,
but never lived here in the US until four years ago.
And we'll get we'll get to that later. And when
(05:09):
I was young, both of my parents used to take
me to work with them. That's like something that was
like I would pretend that I'm sick, Okay, come come to.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Work with me, and so Broy's dragging you around backstreet.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Boy, I know. And when I was at the university
where my mom worked, she was a faculty member in
nursing school. I would get like little tasks that you know,
take the exams from the office to the classroom, and
it made me feel like I was part of something serious.
So it started very young. But then with my dad,
who was a toy inventor, love that, Yeah, I was
(05:42):
exposed to like a completely different world. And I would
sit in meetings with big toy companies like Hasporo or
Tiger Mattel and they would ask me what do I
think about things? Obviously I'm I'm the ideal you know, customers,
So I.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Mean you focused group of one, yes, anything like serious
toy wise that you remember being involved.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Like what we were sent a few samples of Tamaguchi
before it was it went out. Yes, and a couple
of years later Ferbie as well. Up, yes, that was
from Asia, I think from Japan or but those were
your idea, No, unfortunately, but yes, that's that's very memorable.
Like the success of that later was you know, yeah,
(06:25):
it was one of the first users. It was super exciting.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So your dad was kind of like Willie Walker toy version.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Yeah. Yes, but I think that, you know, being this
person in the room that you're asked questions in your
opinion matters was had a very strong impact on me.
And then at the age of sixteen, I got a
summer job at a tech company that my dad founded
called Kibi, and that really took it to the next level.
I did market research. I worked with the engineering team,
(06:53):
with the marketing team. I worked with clients like the
marketing team in Coca Cola. It's a job that now
when when when I have a company, it's a project
like a legit project manager work. And I did it
when I was sixteen, and looking back it kind of
you know, it's it really shaped how I view myself,
(07:13):
my capabilities that you're like a real contributor in a
space and your voice matters. You don't need the age
or the or you know, some status or title. And
that was really impactful growing.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Up, I would imagine, you know, being I mean, in
all seriousness, you had a lot of take your daughter
to work day. It sounds like, but like impactfully in
that you know, you weren't counting paper clips or shred
and papers. You were being asked questions and being involved
at some level. And so to your point, as a
as a child, do you really understood I mean, really
(07:50):
how higher education worked and a business ran. I mean,
and even though it was I mean, toys just happened
to be the benefit of the whole deal as you
were growing up, I mean, your mom worked in the hospital,
said like any thoughts of going medical route or was
the stuff your dad doing more interesting to you?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
So definitely being in the space of an entrepreneur and
see how you control your success, that's something that really,
you know, was there all the time. It just took
a few years for me to realize that that is
the space. But that had a very strong impact on me.
I think also the fact that he was traveling a lot,
and you know, seeing the world, but I never failed.
(08:32):
He was not present. So I think that also made
me feel that you don't need to be the success
and the growth with being entrepreneur doesn't necessarily translate into
not being home and not being you know, doing what
you want to do. So those are kind of two
things that I took.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
So so you.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Know, we've talked about this, you know, when we've had
lunch and been together. You know, like every Israeli boy
and girl they grow up and they're going to have
a military commitment. So thinking about like you had a
really interesting exposure as a child from a seeing what
your parents did and really understanding it and honestly, probably
(09:10):
more so than most. You know, that's a unique thing
from your childhood.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Now you move into.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
That point of okay, now you're going to fulfill a
commitment and how.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Did that, How did you think about that?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
How did you think about that in terms of well,
could this help me for what I want to do
in my future once I've fulfilled my commitment.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
So I think that being treated seriously when I was
young really made me believe that I was capable of
doing big things and doing anything. And this is a
really strong feeling like now I really appreciate it, but
it was present then as well, Like I really remember
the feeling of I'm capable to do anything. Yeah, So
that confidence really comes from being trusted early. I think
(09:52):
this is really a key thing that I try to
take back to my kids now. Yeah. So that year
when I did that job, that summer job that I
really really enjoyed as was also the year that as
a sixteen year old Israeli you look for your what
you're going to do in the army. So in the US,
juniors and high school look for you know, Scotford colleges
(10:14):
and what they didn't. We look for what's going to
be are how how are two or three years are going.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
To look like? Okay, so it's a two or three
year minimum.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yes, it's a mandatory service. So in my days it
was two years for women, three years for men. It
changed a little since, but that's that's around the numbers, okay.
And you just start to apply to different units and
and you know, I was, you know, I had the
good grades and I was, you know, come from a
strong background. I was everything was open for me. I
could go to combat, I couldn't go to I could
(10:42):
do office work, I could do anything.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
So it's kind of it really is comparable to kids
in the States applying to college. I want to go
to a junior college. I want to go to an
Ivy League school.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I want to go to.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Wherever, definitely, And you can apply to the elite units
and you can go and do like I wanted to
be in the Navy, like a naval officer that had
this dream I'm going to be a combat naval officer
and uh so I applyed to that, and you know,
they take you to like a full day of to
check how you're doing and so, uh and I just
I enjoyed missing school and going to do those things.
(11:14):
And you know, it's an excused absence, so no one
can tell you that you're you're that you have to
that you can't go and and and I enjoy that
a lot. But yes, you know, not to not to
uh not something that I consider that impacted anything. But
(11:35):
I was lucky enough to get accepted to an elite
intelligence units called eighty two hundred as a data analyst that.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Kind of tied back to that job you'd had.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yes, yes, I think you know, I'm saying data analyst
obviously it involved a lot of different aspects. But I
think what was interesting is that I found myself again
in an environment where age matter much less, and you know,
your contribution is what counts to the success and to
your growth. And obviously here it's not just your growth,
(12:06):
but it's the it's the impact that you have on
real things. Like you know, the stakes are high, the
stakes are real. Yes, you know. It was a very
powerful feeling again, uh, and it was it was very
hard to walk back, you know, away from that. And
I ended up staying almost eight years.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
So you started at eighteen, like you.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I started eighteen and while all my friends, uh finished
and went to backpacking trips in South America, India and
explain that that's a very Israeli culture. You finish the
army and then you go and you travel.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
And I think it's amazing. I think, you know, the
experience of being so far from home and you know,
living a simple life where you backpack and meet people.
I think it's very very strong. It's a good thing
to do before you go to college.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, so then you come back and go to college, yes.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
But there's no it's it's you go directly to grad school.
There's no undergrad in Israel, so interesting. You choose what
you want to do, so you go to medical school,
you go to law school, you go whatever. Okay, yeah,
so I ended up staying almost eight years. It was
I went to office to school. I climbed up the ranks.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Where your rank when you left captain nice?
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Yes, yes, And I got some you know awards of
all those you know, fun things, and I essentially I
got to be part of really interesting, incredible projects that
are in the intersection of technology and operations. And to
be twenty two, twenty three, you know, whatever age it was,
(13:42):
it was different things to sit in those rooms and
had to make those decisions. Was you know something that
I I loved, I enjoyed, and I really felt that
I'm doing the right thing right now for me.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
So okay, let me just kind of bring this all together.
You're you know, you're found You know, every every CEO
we've spoken to, founder, the foundations are all different but
similar in some areas.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
You know.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
So you come out at what twenty five, twenty six,
twenty your service, You've moved up the ranks, you've had
seniority to a degree, you've been involved in.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Very important things.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Then you walk away and did you do the year
of backpacking and all of that.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
No, I went directly to law school, like I had.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Oh that's right, you told me this, Yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
I did not. I just felt that I did create
a gap with those eight years of having fun and
I need to catch up. Okay, So I went to
I got accepted to this honors program that combined law
school n MBA together. So I like, you know, I said, okay,
four years, I'm finishing everything and I so I just
(14:51):
read went directly to school. I also married at that time.
Between in the I had one summer off, so that
between the army and school. So that summer I I
also got married.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
And we don't want to have any time on your hands,
would you. Yeah, got to keep moving.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Keep moving. Yes. Uh. Luckily my husband is the same
so you know, we were kind of on the same
uh on the same energy level in that in that aspect.
And yeah, I ended up starting law school n B
a while.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Was it three years?
Speaker 3 (15:28):
It was three and a half years, almost four years,
but uh, I think that you know, I felt that
I really need to uh close the gap. But I
didn't go to law school because I wanted to be
a lawyer. I just so I want to. I just
I wanted to get accepted to the best program I could.
Uh kind of feel that I have a deep the
(15:49):
first time that I'm diving deep into something and doing
it like really really good and not being spread on
so many projects and which turned out not something that
I can do. While I went to school, I worked
almost full top time in a tech company. I worked
from the library at the university. I had a baby.
I got the first year of law school, had to
(16:10):
maybe in the second year. And by the way, to
be a mom and a student is the best thing.
You don't have any guilt feelings that you don't go
to school, like you stay home with your kid if
you want to. They can't tell you, like it's it's
just it's fun. You don't need to feel bad that
you're missing days at work. Yeah, no one cares, right,
So that I did that. We built a house, Like
so many things happened in those four years, and I
(16:32):
was juggling so many balls at once. But you know
that was me, that's that's Sam.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah. But it sounds like that amazing preparation to start
to start a company and be a CEO, and you
know we'll get to that in a second.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Did you know, like at what point?
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I mean, again, your childhood gave you a really interesting
background and foundation the military and other piece, and I
would have to imagine even just at that point, you're like, Wow,
there's not anything I can't do in the world.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Then you layer on. I got a lot of agree
in an MBA as well.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
It's almost like the possibilities are endless. Did you know,
like I'm going to found a company. I want to
start my I want to be an entrepreneur and start something.
Did you know that or is it something you found
over time once you started working.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
No, I don't think that was in my trajectory, like
of you know, the next steps for me. I knew
that I would probably go back and I'm saying back
because my army unit is like funnels everybody out to
tech companies. But I know I'm going to go to tech.
But then I I'm very diverse, like I love doing
different things. I volunteer. I had noticed that, so I
(17:42):
wasn't sure what exactly. There was even one point in
COVID that me and my husband bought a franchise of
a school for I was like, I mean, yeah, it's
it's a long story, but I didn't know what I'm
going to do. But I knew that, you know, nothing
is not off the table, right, nothing is everything.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
For some people. For some people that's don though.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I mean, when there's so many things, like it's almost
like there's so many things, then there's nothing because I
don't know which thing I could be so good at.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
So I think making decisions in this case is super important.
So I said, I did this program at the university,
but I was probably the worst student. I did the
minimum needed, so I had to spreadsheet, and I knew
I needed an eighty five score my average. I knew
what to get in and to stay because they would
kick you out if you don't keep that average. And
(18:28):
every exam I got back with a grade, I put
it in the spreadsheet and I see if I'm still
on this average or not. If I got a seventy
seven and I'm still above eighty five, I'm not taking
a second chance. I'm not taking this again. And I
just that's how I managed my So it's not like
you know everything. I can do everything, and I'm going
to be great at everything. And everything. No, that's not
the case. You manage, you make decisions based on why
(18:48):
you understand. What's your next step is what you know
about yourself, and I think it's you know, So I
don't want it to sound like you know, everything's an option.
The world is pink, and I got everything I needed,
and you know, I.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Have sunshine and candy and I might have rich.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Parents who been No that's not the case.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Well, but I think that you know, when look to
found a company, that have the confidence to found a
company and succeed and do some of the things you've done.
You're an achiever, obviously, but I would almost add listening
to how you strategically did that, it's like you added
a pragmatic strategy to what you were doing. You didn't
feel the pressure to get ninety nine on everything you understood,
(19:32):
juggling so many different things. I need to excel to
a certain level to get to the next level, you
know what I mean. And that's an interesting way I'm
looking at because so many achievers don't accept anything other
than perfection or a certain level, and you took the
other way. I would view the more pragmatic approach of
I have a lot of things I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
This is how I get where I want to go.
I don't have to be number one at everything.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
I think perfect is our biggest enemy, interesting and everything life. Yeah,
you know, I don't want to be the perfect mom.
I don't want to be the perfect wife. I don't
I want to be I need to go and sleep
at night with myself. Right And Okay, it sounded bad.
I don't myself. That's my English as a second language
coming in.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
But I.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Need to, you know, live with with with what I okay,
live with yourself, Yeah, live with myself.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
So but but let's okay, let's take that to you
to being a founder. You know, we've.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Talked to some that scrutinize every little thing like it's interesting,
I mean talking.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
About the important and details are important.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
But like some of the founders we talk to talk
about agonizing over company emails that go out to customers,
over every word, which I understand it's a representation of
your company.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
How do you take that into how you lead?
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Like perfect, you know is not the end always the
end goal, like as your leadership style or like how
do you weave that into the way you lead? Ah?
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Wow, it's I think different stages of companies require different
you know, different things.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
And in our case, you know, I'm looking at myself
more at this point as a as a co founder
than a CEO. I think that I think that, you know,
it changes the way you you address those you know
this leadership you know, uh, strategy and and uh those things.
I think that in our case, you know, we're we're
(21:27):
right now still in the trenches. We're building something and
it's very hard. So it's not a polished, stable environment, uh,
where leadership is mostly about you know, managing from above
and getting things perfect and making sure that everything perfect
and KPI, No, we're not there, We're Uh. There's uncertainty,
there's setbacks, there's momentum, there's recalibration we needed, and you
(21:49):
know that requires you can't be perfect. You need to uh,
you know, digest information quick, understand where you were wrong.
And it requires a team that you know can do
the same thing with you obviously not alone. Who I'm
nothing without you know, my team.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
You hear that, Amanda, I'm nothing without you. I know
you two camera, this podcast is nothing without you too.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
So my my leadership, like philosophy, is grounded in openness
and honesty. I think those are the things that kind
of lead. I believe in open communications. I want people
to challenge me. You mentioned that I'm Israeli, so part
of me is being very direct and open, and I
want people to be direct with me as well. I
want to hear all the good things. I want to
hear all the bad things. And you know, building something
(22:35):
requires a lot of truth telling and a lot of
in a real way, not in.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
A well yeah because you could.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I mean, look, you surround yourself with people that just
want to tell you what you want to hear. You're
on a you know, a short road to really not
positive things. So let's go back to the beginning of
sports predict. You know you you mba law school. I
know you you worked some in post graduation. Let's talk
(23:04):
about sports predict and how.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
That came about.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
And you know, really you know the founding and you
know where you see things today.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
So fast forward A few years after I finished school
and worked for a few startups, we were offered to
move to relocate to Austin with a company that I
worked with. I was a construction tech company, and I
had a great time, but I really got involved in
Austin and the entrepreneur ecosystem, and I realized that that's
the right place for me, and I kind of open
up to different opportunities and that's when I met Steve.
(23:36):
Steve Khon, my co founder. He was bullish about prediction
markets and probabilities, and that was before Calshi and polymarket
got very huh familiar uh, and there was a clique
between us and I had to decide if I'm accepting
an offer from a tech startup that I that I
just received, or I'm going to join forces with with Steve,
(23:58):
who's a factory of brilliant ideas. It just seems like
it's going to be a lot of fun, and obviously,
you know, I chose the latter, and Sports predict Is.
Our mission is to make sports predictions a real, recognized
skill and give fans a way to compete on being
right rather than risking money. We build a free to
(24:20):
play sports prediction platform where fans make their picks on
sports questions and compete with each other and being right,
and they build a measurable skill. And we work with influencers.
We work with media partners and communities to bring their
audiences into prediction competitions around real time events sports. Sports
(24:43):
is great, it's fun, it's connects people, it's fast, it
results fast. We don't need to wait who's going to
be the you know, who's going to be elected in
twenty twenty eight. We can we have the answer now,
and it's fun. Our monetization is brand driven, and brand sponsor.
(25:03):
Brand sponsor our competitions. They put up prices and they
use the space to show up in a much more
meaningful way than advertising, the normal advertising. And the simplest
way to think about it is that just like a
brand puts his logo on a basketball court, because the
attention is high and people are very involved emotionally in
this moment, that's how we look at the space on
(25:25):
our app. People are very involved and we see that
in the data, like we see people are coming back,
they're checking the leaderboard, they make more predictions, they're waiting
for more markets to open, and it's valuable.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
So it's funny. And I know that we've talked about
this a little bit. You know, in listening to you talk,
you do a good job of being down the middle
of the road on versus the data and the prediction
part versus the sports part of it. You want to
tell everybody really where you lean in your heart and
why you found this interesting as a whole.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Yeah. So I knew probably nothing about American sports until
I it's pork predict and and I think as previous
companies I worked for. I worked at a construction tech
company and at some point I was so knowledgeable about construction.
I loved it. Yeah, same thing here about sports. The
sport is American sports are fascinating. This this ecosystem is
(26:19):
something that I've never seen before in my life. And
I come to sports predict from the data aspect. I
think that, you know, the opportunity is crazy. And I
experienced a real big shift in the way we approach
data in my army service because when I started, there
(26:40):
was you know, the information was the information, and you
had to treat it the way, you know, in a
certain way. But then the big data concept was introduced
and there was so much information and in so much noise,
and you really had to understand how you extract those
insights the right data and bring the right insights in fast.
And I think, you know, living in a world of
(27:01):
so much information, sports and everything else, right, Uh, and
I just love it. I think data is is power, yeah. Uh,
And finding the right insights in the data is you know,
a superpower and applying it into predictions doesn't matter if
(27:21):
it's sports or not. It's a really really important skill. Uh.
And if we think about, you know, the conversation everybody
has at their home now, like HOWII is going to
take my job or what skills it's going to take,
this is such an important skill to be able to
take information, digest it, and make the right decision and
not let AI make decisions for you in specific areas.
(27:42):
So I agree that there's areas that is going to
do a better job than us making decisions. And I
found it fascinating. I think that sports is a really
good laboratory to practice that if you're going to be
a good predictorate sports, you can be a good predictorate,
which everything.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Else I would have to imagine coming from your background.
I mean, clearly, the data you were used to is
extremely serious, a lot of ramifications, so a little bit
of freeing that the data you're looking at now serious
but not as but it had to be not being
an American sports fan, you had to be like, oh
my gosh, it had to be the most amazing thing
(28:21):
to dig into and learn just coming in not being
a fan at all.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Was there like a what in the heck moment and
all of that?
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Yeah, I think that there was. So you know, you
can talk about the specific teams and the specific players
and the specific you know, act in the in the
sporting events. But when then I started making predictions obviously
you know, practicing and seeing it as a user, what happened?
And then I realized, wait, wait, maybe I'm looking I'm
(28:51):
not looking at the right way. Maybe I need to
know if I'm better at over unders or if I'm
better you know, it's specific type of predictions that are
not necessarily related to who's playing, but to the type
of prediction that we're doing. And maybe that's my edge,
like maybe I'm good at that, and yeah, so that's
that's that's something that I But the amount of data
(29:12):
that American sports you know, offer, oh yeah, insane.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Well, I mean, and we're coming off, you know, one
of the biggest predictive times, you know, around March Madness,
and of course everyone jokes that you get have people
like me that know everything they or think they know
about basketball and then in the family pool, I come
in last, and my daughter, who picks on jersey color,
wins the family pool, and it's maddening.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
So I think that it's interesting that you've you.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
And I've talked a lot about data and what it
means to so many other industries and how you utilize
it within sports and how other companies look at it.
You want to share a little bit about, like how
other companies come to you about the reading.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Of the data.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Yes, so I think one aspect that we're not looking at,
you know, we're looking at fan engagement and how you
know important it is, and how prediction free to play
prediction can increase fan engagement. And actually for media, for
the sports, what matters is the media rights and the
broadcast and not the gambling. But when we look at
(30:16):
that and what people what we can achieve by having
people predict on a platform that is free and open
to everybody, we can basically find the best talent for
predicting sports, but for many other things. And we look
at it as and I remember one of my first
conversations with Steve when he was talking about the ad.
(30:38):
Steve my co founder, I want to build the biggest
talent search in the world.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
And yeah, when you told me this, I was like,
wait what.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
And it's interesting because we're starting to see it. We're
seeing financial institutes that are interested in what we're doing
for different purposes. And again it's in it's in the
beginning of this of these conversations. But those predictive skills
are super super value superpowers. They're valuable. They can make
(31:07):
a lot of money for companies and there's no other
there's no way to know now maybe as efficient that
we can provide it. If someone is a good predictor
h and you can also put them an environment where
it's under uncertainty, you can change you can you can
impact the data, you can change things to see how
(31:28):
people make decisions judgment under uncertainty. A lot of really
really strong skills that are very hard to to find
and measure. So that's another aspect of our business that
we're exploring and finding that is valuable.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
All right, Let's let's talk a bit a little bit
about you know, we've talked about founder and your background.
Let's talk about Sports predict as a company and.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
How you lead.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
You're a CEO, you have how many employees right now?
We're fifteen fifteen, okay.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
And there's spread out. You know, you're in Austin. You
told me people in New York, people around the world.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Right, Yes, so we have I'm in Austin, we have
people in Philadelphia, New York, Manila, the Philippines. Steve, my
co founder, is now residing in Asia, mostly in Manila,
coming back and forth, and just hired someone in Chicago.
So we're and we have a development team in Ukraine,
(32:28):
so we're all over.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
How do you manage that as a leader.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
So people would think that the time difference is one
of the biggest challenges, and it is a challenge, but
I think you can leverage the time and you can
basically create a company that works twenty four hours. And
so that's that's one thing. And how do I think?
First of all, there's no hiary, it's flat, and I
(32:53):
think that's super important at this stage open communication. Everything's
on slack. Try to minimum the private, you know, one
on one conversation so everybody is aware of what's happening.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Fifteen people, yes, okay.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
Not not like iHeartMedia. Yeah, it's a little less, but
you know, feel less and I try and this is
something I try to bring everything that's happening to create
give clarity to the team so they know what's happening.
Most of the things they communication, they're involved in everything,
(33:29):
so there's not a lot of things that I do
and that are not you know, part of the team's efforts. So,
as I said before, openness, directness, just you know, challenging
each other and moving fast. I think moving fast is
one of the biggest of the biggest advantages and the
(33:52):
way we work because again, we don't lean towards perfect
because it's not going to be perfect. Uh, there's gonna
be a time for perfect. You're a B two c
app you use your work with you know, with end users,
you need to be almost perfect. Sure, but we're not
at this stage. We're the stage to move fast, to
try to fail fast, understand what didn't work, and move forward.
(34:14):
I think that data here is super important to support
our decisions. I believe that this is the main driver.
Gut is important. Gut feeling are important, and we need
to give them the right you know, the right space.
But make decisions based on data is super important. That's
why I insisted, you know, from day one, to have
(34:36):
tools that help us to make those decisions based on data,
so we know at every moment, you know what's happening.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Yeah, fail fast. One of my favorites is sooner rather
than later. Yes, but with fifteen people.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
So let me ask you this. I mean, coming from
a background in the military, where it's hierarchy, it's chain
of command and all of that, to.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
The complete opposite.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Obviously you're very flexible and just hearing how you manage
so many things through that period of time, law school
and new baby house and all of that. Has it
been hard to transition between the two?
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Do you see it?
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Have a vision for down the road when okay, when
we get to a certain point in my mind, we'll
have to start stepping up into a little bit more
of a hierarchical, you know environment, Like do you think
that far down the road?
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Yet I try not to because it is a little
you know, it's overwhelming.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
And could you ever be overwhelmed?
Speaker 3 (35:34):
So, yes, it is over and I will go back
to my military service. And I think one of the
biggest advantages of the unit that I serve that it
does operate in like a startup in small teams and
fail fast.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
And yeah, fail fast, I'm sure y, but.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Really it is. I mean, there is hierarchy because it's
the army, but you know, I could sit next to
very very high ranks and you know, make decisions, they
would ask me questions, and I mean it's it's I
learned that, you know, the higherarchy is not a good
(36:09):
it's not a good structure for specific environments, and it's
good for bigger organizations, and you know it's you have
to move towards. But that's not where I ever. You know,
operated inn in my army service well.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
And especially in the world you were in around you know,
analyzing data and you were looked at upon as an
expert and you were trusted for that information. So having
been in that role, I would imagine for you you
you demand it of anybody you hire. I need you
to tell me if there's a problem. I need you
to tell me where we could go off course, and
(36:44):
you have to communicate that with people because I mean, look,
not everybody's comfortable with that, you know.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Yeah, I think that the consequences is what is what
kind of changes a little of bit a little bit,
And I think, you know, in our work life, if
we don't need to live in a place where we
think that everything we'll do, will you know, general will
create a very uh, you know, meaningful impact to their
to their to the to our career. I think, you know,
(37:11):
at the end, you want people to wake up in
the morning and to enjoy and want to come back
to work. So it's a little I can't operate under
those assumptions.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Yeah, the final score of the Chiefs Broncos game is
not change life changing.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Not not for not for our standard user, but you know,
but for some people it may and uh, and we
want to treat it, you know, the best, the best
that we you know. But yes, so as I said, perfect,
I think it has there will be a time where
we'll have to start operating in this way. But right now,
(37:44):
when we're all in the trenches and trying to to
build something that that's not it's not going to work
that way.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
All right.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
So it's April. If we were talking in December, where
do you think sports is in terms of headcount and
the company, like, what's your vision by the end of
the year.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Well, company like us kind of operates according to the
sports schedule of the US. So there are a lot
of big events until December. Two main ones, one is
the World Cup and the other one is the NFL season,
which kind of determines the growth of the companies and
(38:28):
specifically hours as well. We also launched a partnership with
an academic institute that we're built a online prediction program
with them, and we'll get announced that soon. But we
built an online prediction program that teaches high school students
to be better predictors and they practice on sporting events
(38:50):
that happened at the same time.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Does it show them how to read data and then
make how to.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
Read Yeah, lots of videos how to read data and practice,
so practice and get feedback and that's yeah, that's awesome
because that's you can translate that to many other things.
And I think that it'll be fun, which is, you
know what, the way you want to engage with kids
this age. So that's happening, and as I said, there
are a lot of financially not a lot a few
(39:15):
financial institutes that are interested. So I hope that from
the growth side of users, you know, and that determines
the size of the company, right. We want to we
want to be at a certain area where we have
a certain amount of users, and for that we need
the company to support this, right, we need more marketing,
(39:36):
more developers, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Of course.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
So I'm hoping to be in a nice size amount
of users, a meaningful partnership with a big brand. Right now,
we have a few smaller partnerships and we want one,
you know, meaningful, big partnerships. And yeah, I don't know,
it's you know, it changes so often. It's such a
moving target.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Yeah, what as a leader in a startup company, what's
the biggest challenge you face every day?
Speaker 3 (40:05):
You know, it's mostly challenges, right, Like, it's that's that's
that's what we do like every day is you have
so many challenges. But I think the biggest one is
to is to not let the challenges kind of take
you down, Yeah, and and just continue and you know, uh,
(40:29):
look at the next target. So I think that's one
thing because there's so many things that are not happening,
so many emails that are not you know, being answered,
and so many and users that don't return, right, There's
so many things that are not happening. Yeah, uh, And
to focus on what is happening and the success and
that that's something that I, uh that I find challenging.
But you know, obviously that's my main My main job
(40:50):
is to make sure that we operate you know, this way.
I think also that one of the biggest challenges is
we're an I'm sure many tech startups founders are are
experiencing the same as the changes in technology, the the
you know, it's it's just crazy to shift to from
(41:14):
manual old you know, old old fashioned coding into AI.
You know, we have I have developers that write code,
and I have developers that don't write code, and have
you know, claude right code for them, and you know,
kind of being able to combine these two and understand
how you know this works together and where is the
right do we accept for the quality and not one
(41:40):
hundred percent? But it took us, you know, twenty percent
of the time that it would take us if we
did it for one hundred percent quality. So sorry about that.
But it's all decisions that you need to make all
the time on how are you going to you know,
as I said, I want to move fast, I want
to fail fast. But then we have users and we
need the best quality for them. So how do you
(42:01):
turn this into a system that actually works and grows?
Speaker 2 (42:05):
It's a lot, it's a lot you know, and everything
you just said is fifteen people doing all of that
all funneling to you.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
Yes, And I will say that they're all amazing, dedicated,
smart passion, I mean, amazing team and I'm lucky, and yeah,
it really determines, like it really determines the next hires.
I'm really careful about to the team.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
For sure, was there something because one of my things
I believe happening in is that you know, as companies
grow and evolve, you know, everyone likes to think there's
going to be that big moment, that that seismic thing
and everything is going to be different, and that happens,
But it's really.
Speaker 1 (42:54):
More I believe about doing.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
The small things well and how do you continue forward
and build you know, your organization. I call it, you know,
winning in the cracks and the gray spaces. You're in
a little bit different situation because you've got fifteen people,
but like, how do you look at what are some
smaller things that you think you do? Like these are
fundamental to who we are and I think I know
from what you're saying, but these are fundamental to who
(43:16):
we are going to be as an organization that you
really lean on and you think about as a leader
of Sports.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
Predict, I think that looking at our user base right
now and making sure that they like what they see
and come back is something we deeply care about.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
So it means that if we have someone that won
the leaderboard that week for March Madness and he got
a prize, I want to get on a call with them,
Like I want to talk to them.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (43:43):
And I have had so many conversations until now with
users and they're from such different backgrounds.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
And that has to be fascinating, and it's.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Fascinating and like, first of all, like, how did you
hear about us? What brings you back? Why are you
not sharing it with your kids? Like things like that,
and and and again I asked the questions and even
when I get, you know, tough answers, but the end,
these are people that literally, you know, went into our app.
And sometimes I find myself like out of sitting and
(44:13):
and finding hard to believe that they're actually you know,
thousands of users that go in and make predictions on
Sports Predict and it's it's it's you know, we started
a year and a half ago and we're growing, and
we're growing in a nice pace and so so so
so thinking about you know, even when we get to
one hundred thousand and you know above users. I want
(44:34):
to keep in mind and I want everyone on the
team to keep in mind that there's a user at
the end and we need to know and it's it's
and it's hard with with uh B two C companies
because you don't's like a company that I can come
and you know, meet you and and talk to you.
It's hard to get those people. But we can, we
can get to them and we can be I have
I have a funny story that there was someone who
signed up and I I recognized the name. It was
(44:58):
an Israeli nam in the in the in the email.
It was early on and and it was a time
that I looked at all the users like I looked
at their at their sign up names, and I was
very surprised that someone that I don't know from Israel
sign up, Like how do they hear about the app?
I didn't advertise it, And I reached out to him.
(45:21):
And I'm not going to like expose the person, but
he was a very important person in the country and
was until now, Like he sends me emails about ideas
and thoughts and what are you going to do? MLB
and this money line like this line is wrong or
(45:42):
like things like that, and it's so exciting because people
want to help you. And yeah, so I hope that
you know, we can continue to really listen to our
users and to our partners. Right, we're working with content creators.
We're now working with a media company where work with brands,
(46:02):
and you know, I want to have access to everybody
that's in this in this uh ecosystem of sports predict.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
So so Amanda's telling me we have to wrap up,
but I'm going to break the rules because I have
to ask a couple more questions because I find that
it's interesting. So you as the founder, somebody wins, somebody
does something. You just reach out to money emails. I'd
love to talk to you and get your feedback.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
Yeah, I love that. Are they are they surprised? Do
they think it's cool? Do they?
Speaker 3 (46:28):
I think when you were reached out and asked to
get on a Zoom call to give your feedback about
a product, you want to do it like this is fun?
People care about what and when I come back to
them and tell them that we, you know, made those
changes and updates, and I try to follow up and
kind of.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Let them know you follow their usage and all that.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
Yeah, but but not even that, even if this person
was not going to come back, the fact that they
suggested something and we did it. I think that's fun, Like,
you know, to know that you said, oh, take this
thing off, this button is too confusing things like that,
you know, user experience basics, and so yeah, they and
anyone everyone I asked to talk to said yes until now.
(47:09):
I didn't get a I didn't get a no.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
And yeah, so it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
I talked to our sales teams a lot about you know,
when you're working with clients, you know, listen more, talk less,
and it's the same thing like you're going to uncover.
And I'm sure there's been a lot of aha, like
oh I never thought of that moments that made the
product better totally that it wasn't a hard thing to
do when you think about it.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
I want our roadmap to include eighty percent of the
items that are feedback items from users, Like I don't
want us to make up things. I want to hear
from them what they want. They know better than me, right,
I mean, a person that decides that they want to predict,
make predictions. They know much much, way better than what
I know about what they want to see there, and
(47:56):
usually you'll get the same You'll get the same answers
from people. I don't matter if it's a construction manager
from Minneapolis or it's a professor at LSU, it doesn't
matter who he is. They want saying things.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
Oh that's amazing, Well, Shani, were coming to the end.
We have a last thing that we do with every guest,
and we are calling this in honor of sports predict
call your shot roulette. So we have questions in each
one of these envelopes.
Speaker 1 (48:25):
We have the.
Speaker 2 (48:26):
Football envelope, the golf envelope, and the basketball envelope, and
there will be a question that we are going to
ask you to answer. So you pick the sport and
we'll give you the envelope. You can open it and
answer the question.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
And we remember that I'm not a big sports fan.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
Well, it's not like a quiz on.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
Just making sure you know the team here may never work. Okay,
I'll do basketball, all right. Oh, it's a real envelope. Oh,
Dallas MAVs or San Antono Spurs. Which fan base are
you betting on to adopt sports predict first.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
Oh wow, wow, no pressure here.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
Wow my god, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (49:09):
I think this is a very political answer of not
wanting to alienate either fan base.
Speaker 3 (49:14):
It's it's it's you know, it's a strategic decision. It's
a strategic decision for me what to answer here because.
Speaker 2 (49:23):
I know there's no perfect now she's trying to come
up with the perfect games with the right answer.
Speaker 3 (49:29):
So Dallas MAVs CEO is a was on this podcast,
Yes he was, if I answer to you know, and
then it's San Antonio's first. They do so much with data,
like they're like big data.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
Are they known as that?
Speaker 2 (49:42):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (49:43):
Yes, yes, yes, interesting and yeah so and also Santin
is like Austin, right because Austin doesn't have a team,
so they're like the Austin team, right.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
Yeah, but you're in Dallas.
Speaker 3 (49:55):
I'm in Dallas.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
I think we could say this question goes into overtime,
and what I'm going to do is say I'm going
to give her the football envelope and she's gonna have
a new question.
Speaker 3 (50:05):
Okay, but if I had to, like if you and
you can decide to like cut it and if you
want me. Ton't want to do one question, but I'd
go with Dallas. I think it's a bigger, bigger audience.
Speaker 2 (50:19):
Okay, we'll see the football one just for fun. Okay,
see what we got here.
Speaker 3 (50:25):
You're launching sports predict at the Super Bowl with a
thirty second hand. What is the one image on the screen?
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (50:33):
I have to say, these are the hardest questions we've
ever given. No.
Speaker 3 (50:37):
Actually, I have this one image on the screen. It's
a family. It's it's a dad that you know, did
sports like that's his life. He coached his sons in
their football or soccer or whatever, and he loves and
he has his college you know friends that they have
their pool and they have their meth like the group
(50:58):
and these his is with his two sons or a
son and daughter sitting in the living room and he's
predicting sports with his fourteen thirteen years old And that's
a good He wants him to do it. It's like
it's a skill that he wants them to okay, sue,
versus going to gambling. So I think there's something you
can do with your family, with your kids.
Speaker 1 (51:19):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (51:20):
And that's so clearly something someone's thought about so we
should expect a Super Bowl ad next year.
Speaker 1 (51:28):
Let's hope.
Speaker 3 (51:29):
So, let's hope.
Speaker 1 (51:29):
So awesome, Thank you. This is a lot of fun.
I appreciate you coming in. Thank you, all right,
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