Draft Kings Case Study

Transcription

1 Ed Hannush Sociology of Entrepreneurship Draft Kings Case Study The world of fantasy sports is not a new one. However, expected to be a near $5 billion industry this year, the market for them is bigger now than it has ever been. 1 Fantasy games are founded on a simple premise: participants virtually build and compete using teams of professional athletes that produce points based on reallife statistical performance. A large proportion of the growth in this industry can be attributed to its increasingly popular sub-set: daily fantasy sports. While traditional fantasy games are played over the course of the given sports entire season, daily games are carried out over single games, days, or a week at most. Arguably the largest, and indisputably the fastest growing, company in this realm of fantasy games is Draft Kings Inc. A provider of online and mobile daily fantasy sports, Draft Kings is a corporation founded in 2012, located in Boston, Massachusetts. Originally only offering two-man head-to-head fantasy competitions, they have since grown and offer competitions that include anywhere up to 400,000 participants across a variety of sports including baseball, soccer, hockey, golf, and most popularly, football. Targeting the already large market of fantasy sport gamers, the company s plan is to achieve the top position in their niche market. Their goal is to do so by providing fans with thorough access to fantasy sports without the big time commitment and obtrusive elements of conventional play, distilling the game to 1

2 players favorite aspects of fantasy sports 2. There are no season-long commitments, and no problems getting a group of guys together and collecting payment. However, arguably the biggest reason that there are thousands of people signing up each day in 2015 is because of how large and plentiful the prizes offered by Draft Kings are. Players want to compete in a big prize pool, and with Draft Kings paying out $22.4 million a week in prizes 3 to customers who are paying an average of $11 per competition, 4 their membership numbers are increasing rapidly. To many people, this may sound like sports gambling, which, according to the American Gaming Association, is illegal in 46 of 50 states. However, Draft Kings is absolutely legal for now due to the protection under a federal law called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act which establishes fantasy sports as a game of skill, as opposed to a game of chance. If the latter were the case, then betting in this form would be illegal. 5 The key entrepreneurs who co-founded Draft Kings are the company s CEO Jason Robbins, CRO Matthew Kalish, and COO Paul Lieberman. Led to this idea by their passion for fantasy football and boredom of their previous jobs, their backgrounds help shine a light on why they have been so successful. To focus full time on Draft Kings, all three founders left their jobs as executives at Vistaprint, an online marketing material producer, where they worked heavily on data-driven 2 Betting-DraftKings-Fantasy-Sports-Startup-Raises#.VhuukBNViko

3 marketing strategies. Due to their skills and experience in this side of corporate America, the original three founders have been able to guide the evolution of aggressive marketing strategies, and the user interface of both the Draft Kings website and app. 6 Jason Robbins, the CEO, explains this further in an interview with Rotogrinders (a daily fantasy blog): We use [data and analytics] in everything we do, from the marketing tactics to the product, gameplay, and user interface. There isn t a thing we don t look at when it comes to data. Outside of corporate America, I have been an avid fantasy sports player for most of my life. [This helped me build the Draft Kings team]. 7 Aside from the core group of employees at the company, the business partnerships providing the most help are the ones with sports businesses (such as ESPN, Fox Sports, and professional teams), and the venture capitalists. ESPN will be a huge help on the marketing front, as Draft Kings will be the official daily fantasy sports partner of the network, and all fantasy football related talk shows and articles will feature Draft King branding and references. 8 Much like ESPN, professional sports teams such as the New England Patriots have inked deals with the rapidly growing daily fantasy sports provider that gives the company much more exposure to attendees on game day. Fox Sports has been a helping partner because they are what pushed the company s value to skyrocket. In just 25 months, 6 Betting-DraftKings-Fantasy-Sports-Startup-Raises#.VhuukBNViko

4 Draft Kings valuation skyrocketed from the July 2013 number of $28 million 9 to their August 2015 valuation of close to $1.5 billion. This was after a $300 million investment in the company by Fox Sports. 10 Since Draft Kings founding in 2012, there have been some key events that have helped enormously in the growth process. One notable event was when Robbins, Kalish, and Lieberman all left their top positions at Vistaprint to focus on Draft Kings full time. However, obviously, the most important catalysts for the rapid evolution of the company are the very successful stages of funding for the company from investors and venture capitalists. Starting with a seed round of funding that closed at $1.4 million, then a total of $34 million in 2013, and $41 million in 2014, Atlas Venture (the lead venture capital firm) was only to be topped by 21 st Century Fox s Fox Sports branch in 2015 when they closed a deal with Draft Kings worth $250 million. 11 In continuation, another key point in the venture s nascent days, as mentioned before, was when the company added the option to enter large competitions with big payouts instead of just head to head competitions. Although they did not profit in 2013 or , Draft Kings attracted their biggest influx of users through an aggressive marketing campaign that highlighted the size of the prize pool. The importance of marketing and how Draft Kings was marketed cannot be stressed enough. From being named a Forbes 2014 Hottest Startup, to signing

5 the exclusive marketing partnership with ESPN mentioned earlier, these were all major catalysts for growth. Fantasy football in particular has become increasingly popular in North America and is what drives the industry, with upwards of 70 million projected participants for the 2015 NFL season 13, compared to the projected near 30 million in 2012 in the US alone 14. Nevertheless, in creating Draft Kings, co-founder and CEO Jason Robbins has found that the biggest hurdle is driving awareness There is a massive market of fantasy sports players and an even bigger market of sports fans but the main issue is that most people have simply never heard of [daily fantasy games]. 15 Robbins believes everyone would find the daily format to be better than the traditional season-long one if they try it, which is why Draft Kings is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing. Draft Kings states seven values as its core values to attract employees: integrity, innovation, authenticity, quality, excitement, community, and collaboration. With these values, it seems to be pushing a commitment model of employment. The basis of attachment and retention appears to be a unique love for Draft Kings. There is an emphasis on the community aspect of the company, with the career-recruiting page discussing the open environment of the office. In fact, part of the recruitment video is of colleagues tossing a ball to each other at the office. Some , 15

6 of the benefits they mention include an office rivalry in the game room and socials on Fridays. The value authenticity is elaborated on with the comment We intrinsically understand our players. We get the lifestyle because we live it too. Draft Kings is recruiting people who want to work in the daily fantasy sports industry because they love the industry and its products. These are people that have immersed themselves in the culture of fantasy sports and would be committed to the work they re doing, not because of the actual technology but because of how the product contributes to what they love. Draft Kings seems to heavily recruit based on fit. Although exceptional talent is mentioned specifically in the video, DraftKings seems to care more about the employee s fit into the community. DraftKings does want people that will be able to take the company to new heights and pushes innovation, but focuses a lot more on how the community and environment can benefit and appeal to the employee. The means of control and coordination is not quite as clear as the other two qualities, but from an outsider s perspective, it seems to be peer and/or cultural control. Some key points in the recruiting website that point to this include their policy on sick days, which they claim is flexible. The office environment is also described as casual. When coupled with the more social events and aspects of the office, it seems highly unlikely that there are many formal processes and procedures used to regulate the employees. Professional standards are also more effective in a more formal work environment, while direct monitoring appears to be too rigid for a community like Draft Kings.

7 It would be interesting to see whether DraftKings can sustain such a work environment in the future. The company seems to be targeting a younger demographic, even appearing at college career fairs to recruit. A commitment-style employment blueprint typically intends to keep people on for a long time, and that particular demographic, who is just starting their careers, are not known for long term retention within a company. Draft Kings was launched in an environment dominated by season-long fantasy sports. Although FanDuel had been around for a few years already, Draft Kings was the company that launched daily fantasy sports into the spotlight. There were a few key deals that differentiated Draft Kings from other corporations, particularly in the early stages of development. The first of these efforts was Draft Kings ability to enter agreements with key players in the industry to cement its place as a viable fantasy sports entity. Major League Baseball (MLB) invested in Draft Kings early on, marking the first time that a major sports league had invested in daily fantasy sports. In addition to the MLB, Draft Kings also has an advertising agreement with ESPN and received financing from Fox Sports, the National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Soccer (MLS), and even the Kraft Group, who owns the NewEngland Patriots. [ By adopting some of its competition, notable Start Street and Draft Street, Draft Kings has maintained its position as one of the premiere daily fantasy sports sites, with FanDuel as its only comparable competition. [ 41-million-acquires-cambridge-competitor-starstreet/].

8 By quickly and aggressively obtaining shares, Draft Kings has ensured that FanDuel did not have an early-mover advantage. Between FanDuel and DraftKings, 95% of the daily fantasy sports market is covered, despite spending by Draft Kings exceeding four times what competitors are investing. In the first week of the NFL season in 2015, DraftKings spent $20 million in advertising, demonstrating their willingness to spend big to gain a solid customer base on a weekly basis. [ Although DraftKings was able to gain early support, over time its success has led to questions regarding its legality. Some complaints have associated Draft Kings gaming with online gambling, which is prohibited by the Unlawful Online Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006: an act requiring daily fantasy sports websites to meet certain requirements. Sports betting, which is illegal in almost every state under the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, has also been brought into the conversation of legality. However, daily fantasy sports supposedly gets around potentially being categorized as online gambling or sports betting acts by emphasizing skill, knowledge, and attention to detail required by the drafting process. ( Aside from questions of legality, daily fantasy sports have returned to the spotlight regarding a few recent major incidents. The most notable, a lawsuit against Draft Kings and FanDuel, alleged that employees from both companies used insider knowledge to win money playing daily fantasy sports. Employees of each company

9 were prohibited from participating in their own company s challenges, but were allowed to play on the competing site for money. These employees had access to crucial data that was kept secret from the public about players, which could be extrapolated to the other site, which attracted a similar consumer base. Employees were allegedly exploiting the system through their working knowledge of how this type of website functioned. The sum of winnings from this cheated knowledge, in some cases, ended up trumping their wages earned from their actual job within their own site. It is unclear whether their actions were illegal or not, as insider knowledge is illegal in the stock market, but regulations outside of this market are nonexistent. In addition, the employees were not guaranteed a win when they played, rather, they just had an edge when it came to information which may have allowed them to make more informed decisions. In response to the allegations, Draft Kings and FanDuel have revoked the policy allowing their employees to play in daily fantasy sports, yet they stand by the claim that previously allowing employees to play was not illegal. [ Returning to the issue of legality, daily fantasy sports are now facing a reevaluation of the laws and workings of the companies. The US attorney s office in Tampa, Florida is investigating daily fantasy sports operators to see whether unlawful activity is being conducted. Due to legality issues, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Arizona, and Washington have deemed daily fantasy sports illegal [ leading other states, such as Indiana, to consider such a stance on the idea. If an increasing number of states pass legislation banning daily fantasy sports, the market

10 will shift back towards season-long fantasy sports, which have not been subject to the same harsh investigations and targeting by the law [ Draft Kings is still run by its three founders, Jason Robbins, Matt Kalish, and Paul Liberman. Though the founders have sometimes switched roles since the company s birth, all three have remained in C-level positions, playing a decisive role in the future of the company. Both Jason Robbins and Matt Kalish have maintained their respective roles of CEO and CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) since the founding of the company. Paul Liberman, however, has fulfilled a number of different roles for the company, starting as CTO, moving to CMO, and finally acting as COO, the position he maintains today [LinkedIn]. Although the three founders have stayed with the company, they have incorporated other people into the management of the company to help assist with the overwhelming growth of the company, and to supplement the shortcomings of the original trio themselves. In 2013, Tim Dent was added as CFO and Jason MacInnes was brought on to take the role of CTO. There have also been some alterations in management type, with the relinquishment of the CMO position, replaced by Director of Marketing by Emily Fallon-Markoda. Management of the company may have expanded since the founding of the corporation, but there has been a lack of diversification. All three founders, in addition to Jason MacInnes and Emily Fallon-Markoda, worked at VistaPrint at some point in their careers before joining Draft Kings. VistaPrint, a company that helps

11 business owners to create marketing materials more affordably, has been successful yet likely did not provide much relevant experience for the founding of the company. Though Draft Kings has been wildly successful, its founders and management have little management experience. Between his time at VistaPrint and joining Draft Kings, Jason MacInnes founded his own startup: SellFire. It brought useful experience to the management of Draft Kings, which was lacking with many of the other employees. His four years with his own startup supply the only outside management experience that the company has to offer. Tim Dent also added experience to the management team, by serving as CFO, COO, and CEO of Cambridge Interactive Development Corporation, He also was CEO of Everest Poker, which provided him with insight on the management of a gambling company, from the perspective of a true gambler [ While Draft Kings undoubtedly receives copious amounts of feedback from its investors for its future direction, the corporation would also benefit from having more industry experience within the management rankings of the company. The passion is clearly present through the dedication and interest of the founders; however, much of the experience brought to the table is relatively irrelevant. Particularly concerning diversity in knowledge of the management, almost all of the company s leaders have gained their experience working for the same company. All of the management are familiar with each other, creating a positive level of trust, however, creating a more diverse background of leaders would allow

12 for more innovation and creativity when looking at future plans for the company. By now, Draft Kings has established itself as a leader in daily fantasy sports, but in order to maintain this position, the company needs to invest in more cost-effective methods to attack FanDuel s portion of the market, in addition to ensuring the company s legality. To accomplish this, the company may want to consider hiring someone into a leadership position with a better understanding of the market. Having in-house lobbyists would be another good addition to the company, to help the corporation to more efficiently battle with state regulations and legal cases. Although DraftKings, FanDuel, and the Fantasy Sports Trade Association work together to lobby against such regulations [ DraftKings needs to prepare their company and lobbyists for a more independent future as a monopoly in the industry, without the presence of FanDuel. Since DraftKings was founded in 2012, the company has undergone some significant changes while continually adapting to their growing consumer base. Starting as a company focused on baseball out of co-founder Paul Lieberman s Boston apartment, the company s growth began to accelerate rapidly after a series of million-dollar investments in By the second year of the company s existence, Major League Baseball, a thirty-six billion dollar sports organization, had invested an estimated large yet undisclosed amount into DraftKings. Within that same year, the company reached over one million registered users. That number would go on to double by 2015.

13 Much of DraftKings consumer growth can be attributed to the expansion of their product. Beginning as a daily fantasy baseball company, the corporation was targeting a limited group of consumers. By expanding their product to daily fantasy sports, DraftKings became a more marketable company, including more sports fans across the board. DraftKings now features nine sports categories including everything from baseball and football to esports (competitive online video games). Fox Sports, like many other organizations, soon became interested in the up and coming industry of daily fantasy sports, and as a result, in this past summer, DraftKings reached $300 million in funding. (recode) The world of daily fantasy sports is a very new industry that has been spearheaded by only a handful of companies. Draft Kings has spent its short history in competition with a few other companies, such as FanDuel and DraftStreet, for market space. FanDuel,, being the first major company of this type, has had an advantage and lead over the other companies in the market. In July of 2014, DraftKings made one of its most pivotal decisions yet, by deciding to purchase one of their competitors, DraftStreet. The acquisition of DraftStreet increased DraftKings consumer base by fifty percent, because at the time, DraftStreet was the third largest daily fantasy sports company. One month after the purchase, Draft Kings made another notable move within the industry by purchasing StarStreet, another smaller but competitive fantasy sports company. These additions may have also been key in forming a team of employees going forward in competition with FanDuel. (BostonGlobe) Along with their expanding consumer base and employee team, the company eventually expanded their workspace from Lieberman s garage

14 to the entire fifth floor of a large office building in the Boston financial district. (WashingtonPost) Part of DraftKings goal has been to provide an easy and fun product for consumers to use. In attempt to achieve this goal, DraftKings is constantly working to make the product more consumer-friendly. Over the short product history, DraftKings has seen a variety of changes in options and features, with the biggest change being the addition sports other than baseball. Another key feature change was the addition of an alarm bell to alert users of game invites from friends Accepted game invites rose seventy percent on the first day of this change. Today, DraftKings is constantly testing new, easy-to-use features that keep the product up to date and as attractive to the consumer as possible. DraftKings CEO Jason Robins considers this dynamic aspect to the company to be one of their most important qualities and points of success. (Redpoint) Moving forward, the two major concerns for the continual success and growth of Draft Kings are controlling legality and competition. Daily fantasy sports has clearly been a hot product and growing industry over the past several years, with DraftKings remaining neck-to-neck with competition, while still maintaining a lead in the industry. Americans love sports, and daily fantasy sports create another great way to get even closer to the sport that they love. It allows the public to understand why companies such as DraftKings and FanDuel have over two million users each day, with increasing daily traffic. With recent success in funding and their major commitments to companies such as ESPN for advertisement, DraftKings will not struggle to stay in the consumer s eye. Any American sports fan will have

15 trouble avoiding exposure to the world of DraftKings, due to their success and excessive advertisement. Legal risks have the potential to cause this promising industry many issues. Currently, majority of U.S. states recognize daily fantasy sports as games of skill rather than sports gambling. This wrinkle allows for the companies like DraftKings to operate legally in all but a handful of states. Several factors go into the decision of game of skill versus sports gambling, the major factor being degree of skill versus degree of chance. For example, in the state of Iowa, any degree of chance in such contest is considered gambling and is illegal. Therefore, Draft Kings cannot operate in the state of Iowa, but most other states only require the degree of skill to outweigh the degree of chance or be equal to the degree of chance and most states have in fact interpreted these types of contests as legal. (CNBC) If operations continued as they currently are, and legal interpretations of Draft Kings do not change, the future for the company looks bright. However, as DraftKings expands its field into more sports while gaining attention, larger groups of people are questioning the legality of the industry. DraftKings CEO Jason Robins has stated that there is no question whether or not Draft Kings and daily fantasy sports are legal, but this statement alone caused additional unwanted attention and suspicion. Chief Executive of MLB Advanced Media has been on record stating that daily fantasy sports are akin to the flip of a coin. These statements by public figures put the credibility of daily fantasy sports in jeopardy. Battling legal issues while keeping hundreds of million-dollar advertising commitments to companies such as ESPN could be dangerous for the company s future.

16 For now, the legitimacy of daily fantasy sports appears to be safe and Draft Kings is very optimistic about its personal future. Draft Kings has been very successful at getting attention from consumers, making their goal of an easy-to-use fantasy sports system without a long-term commitment very apparent. Although they have not turned a profit to this date, they are anticipating their first annual profit this coming year and are clearly a valued organization. There is even a possibility of expanding into foreign countries with their new marketing point of English Premier League soccer. With net revenue projections for the year 2020 have been seen as high as $2.6 billion, barring any major legal issues, projections for the next few years look very promising for Draft Kings. (BizJournals)