New technology from startup ventures is transforming the sports industry. The mission of this series will be to introduce startup companies in the sports technology space to a broader audience and allow Founders of promising new ventures to tell their story. Feel free to contact us if you know of a startup that should be considered for this series.
Company: Jebbit
CEO: Tom Coburn
Headquarters: Boston, MA
1. What is your elevator pitch?
Jebbit helps marketers convert more consumers once they arrive at your website. With a focus on mobile, Jebbit automates an interactive experience that overlays your web content. Based on how a consumer interacts or previous data, Jebbit’s technology activates that person to learn, engage, and convert. Marketers value Jebbit based on the technology’s ability to drive deeper sessions of engagement, capture unique consumer profiles, and drive new customer acquisition.
Jebbit has been named a “Top 25 Most Promising Company in the World” by CNBC and works with brands such as New Balance Warrior, the New England Revolution, Duke Athletics, and many others.
2. Problem & Solution
Jebbit helps sports marketers engage their fans in today’s era of micro-moments – any time a fan grabs his or her phone while at the game or during their regular day to day. Traditional methods of in-stadium and fan communication don’t truly engage fans or drive additional value for the team or sponsors. Jebbit powers genuine fan engagement while building robust fan profiles, which can then be used by sports marketers and brand sponsors to more effectively re-market to their fan base.
Jebbit automates an interactive experience that overlays a team’s website or landing page. Fans can answer questions about the team, players or sponsors in exchange for discounts on concessions and merchandise, behind-the-scenes content, or sweepstakes. Based on how fans answer the Jebbit-powered questions and interact with the content, their experience becomes more personalized to their preferences.
3. Market – your target market and the overall market
We work with innovative marketers across several industries. These marketers are eager to try new, effective strategies and recognize the importance of true engagement with their audiences. Our clients include the New England Revolution MLS team, New Balance Warrior, Duke Athletics, Harvard Athletics, Boston College Athletics, The Boston Globe, and EMC. Their goals range from eCommerce conversions, lead generation, user acquisition, consumer profiling, brand awareness, to fan engagement.
4. Business Model – how do you make money?
Jebbit is a SaaS (software-as-a-service) model where marketers can select a pricing tier that best aligns with their needs. Pricing increases based on the volume, product features and amount of service required from our Strategy Team. Our annual average customer value when we launched was around $22,000 and has quickly grown to over $81,000.
5. Management Team – with titles
Tom Coburn – CEO & Co-founder
Jonathan Lacoste – President & Co-founder
6. What else do you want the audience to know about your venture?
In the age of digital transformation, consumers have more information and power over brands than ever before. The companies best poised to succeed in this digital era are ones that have a unique consumer viewpoint and consistently put the consumer first. Jebbit’s founders were regular college students that noticed they ignored subpar marketing and advertising campaigns, despite brands’ best efforts to reach them. They saw the opportunity to completely flip the model of digital interaction on its head, where consumers would actually want to interact with digital ads and content.
As young, first time entrepreneurs, Jebbit’s founders have recruited a team of some of the best marketing, business development and technical leaders from the Boston ecosystem. The team brings extensive experience in the mar-tech and ad-tech space, and is 50 percent engineering, with a notable Boston engineer leading the department. In addition, Jebbit boasts one of the strongest advisor networks where industry visionaries from Facebook, Adobe, HubSpot and former CMOs of Nissan, Beats by Dre and others advise the company on where the industry is headed.
Bonus Question: If you were stuck on a desert island with any three athletes, who would they be and why?
Tom Brady, Bill Russell, and David Ortiz – I’m a Boston guy! What could possibly be better than spending quality time with three Boston sports legends who have won more championships for the city than anyone else?
