Sports Your Way - Relevance of information.

At KlickSports we take sports feeds/data and we give it meaning to the sports fan. So, 3 words about content: Relevance, Timeliness and Expectations (of the receiver). And, ok, I will add a 4th - social (relevance) - good content we care about almost certainly generates new content - who hasn't watched an amazing play and talked about it around the water-cooler Monday morning? At my job we make that happen in real time on top of "re-cooking" the data with the flavor the fan likes...sports your way :)

Actually (boldly) Google's new mantra should be something like - understanding and serving the world's information needs - your way :). Information is just that...information - and these days it's too much. In my small pond of Sports clearly there is something happening already. Or better the information game is changing and how fans of sports consume it is changing. It's no longer just about content delivery. It's about much more. It's insane ...there is so much info out there...just look at all the Sports apps popping up on the iPhone. I have been working the "competition" section of the KlickSports pitch and reworking all financials and other materials - yes, yes, we are fund raising in this environment...rub it in but wish me luck - and the competitive analysis is really interesting. I find it hard anyone out there can make up their mind about what to use to get their info fix...it's a mess and in overdosage!

What we are doing at KlickSports is definetely unique and it's a completely different tack on the subject of predictive sports. However, we also make it more interesting and less cluttered for a fan to get his fix of information. Nowadays there is an overabundance of information. Some tools are even smart at achieving the task of providing to the minute information. Some fantasy sites even do it in real time. But, it's all a bit old school and not so smart in the end. One thing I hate these days is that there is so much information that I don't have time for any information. The simple task of casually getting what I need or want becomes a filtering exercise...no matter how many tools I use to filter, pre-select, etc.

I have had this idea for a long time that sports (and information in general) should come to the fan in a meaningful way. In the case of KlickSports information is delivered based on how the fan works the system. That is, by the way he sets his favorites, the game he plays, the predictions he makes, etc. I have been trying to play as many games as I can (even though it seems I cant do as much as our users since it was one of our users who busted our per handset limits on SMS :). It's actually good to see an idea come to life. I am now capable of playing games concurrently and when the conversation strikes I also know what happened that is relevant...that is I get what is cool about what I care about...not every freaking piece of data all the time. Then, when I am somewhere like it just happened during the bowls, and I get an alert question...there is my conversations piece - yes I am not a 100% fanatic on US sports as some others even though I do this for a living...some people just know it all...so I need "memory aids" :). Anyway, during the Rose Bowl I got a message that said "Mark Sanchez just threw for 300 yards, will he throw for 350+?" and certainly as he did go over 350 I got an alert and ...I missed :)...who does over 350?!!?!...he threw for a total of 413... :)...that was a good conversation piece, and I am a Bruin :)))...and amazingly I won the game against those Trojan fans...shame shame :) -> check it here

10.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2.1...liftoff

We're finally releasing a site we can say is "public". We're not making any big splashes. There will be no big parties, no dancers, no fireworks. But after many years of toiling away we can finally say a vision has been implemented at www.klicksports.com.

A lot is missing, a LOT. But this is the best fit to what we always wanted to do. But dont get me wrong. This is the vision of all the people involved in this company; not just my own or Kent's. This is truly a team work which includes the contribution of all team-members. We're fortunate to have a great team and hopefully we will meet the numbers, expand to different sports, countries and even topics.

Very aware of the risk of sounding like Howard Dean in 2004...YEPPEEEEEE!!! :)))

Let's Find Out...

I am shameless, lazy, or just too demanding on myself.

Long story short, this blog actually started long time ago, I wrote numerous drafts and never published. I thought I really had not much to contribute to the ocean of noise this world has become. But in my defense, the real reason has been time; or better, I just never thought my time was worth committing to showcasing something I wasn't sure was all that relevant - my views, experiences, etc. 2 kids and a startup don't leave a lot of room for blogging. So why am I posting now? Not that now I have more time, on the contrary, but I believe my recent experiences as an entrepreneur are worthy of mention and my overall track record might be unique enough for my opinions and thoughts to count - I guess we will find out, wont we?!?!

We have been going through some pretty harsh times and KlickSports.com is a now reality. This after a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. Yep, I know this sounds corny, but it's truthful. We've been through hell and back and it's not getting any better. The only way I can put the statement about blood sweat and tears in perspective is to say that it's like when you are going to have the first kid and people tell you your life is going to change, people even give you the details and go through the trouble of explaining why. But until it happens there is no way you get it. Well...this whole startup experience has been like that. I had started 4 other companies before and participated in the start of 2-3 more. But until I decided to go about it in a big way, I just did not get it. If you check my resume (linkedIn) you can see what I am talking about. I did a couple of things here and there, but this whole startup experience is as they say "a different ball game" (I can use sports analogies because after all KlickSports is all about sports :).

Besides, sharing my thoughts and experiences turns out to be somewhat valuable - people started asking for it.

Let's find out, shall we?