Matt Bailey founded GameOn, a sports prediction app, and Project S, a network to help entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 sports shutdown.Courtesy photo
As the global economy grapples with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, startups and small businesses are experiencing unprecedented levels of vulnerability. To help, startup founder and entrepreneur Matt Bailey has created a network for founders, investors and mentors to virtually meet and share uplifting advice during these turbulent times.
An Australian native living in New York City, Bailey is the founder and CEO of GameOn, a free-to-play sports prediction app that launched in 2018. The idea for the virtual startup network, which is currently operating under the working title “Project S,” came about when a LinkedIn connection of Bailey’s had “liked” a post from Direct By Restaurant, a startup that builds mobile ordering solutions for restaurants (ever valuable now that COVID-19 has largely reduced eateries to delivery and takeout only).
After seeing the post, Bailey reached out to a friend who founded Citizens Collective, a company that operates five Australian-style cafes in NYC. Bailey then connected Direct By Restaurant with Citizens Collective, resulting in a business opportunity between the two companies. Through Project S, Bailey is hoping to facilitate more of these connections and collaborations.
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“There are hundreds of those, maybe thousands of those partnerships that we can uncover, which are potentially business-saving in this climate,” he says. “The ‘why’ of this group is to help startups innovate, survive and thrive against the challenges that are ahead.”
On March 15, Bailey posted to his personal Twitter and LinkedIn about his ambition to start the group. The responses came fast and frequent, with more than 100 having joined Project S thus far. Project S doesn’t intend to be a place for startups to ask investors for capital; instead, it strives to be a community where startups explain the sudden challenges they’re facing and discover new innovations or ways of doing business.
Sports-related startups to join the network include high school sports social media app SportsHi, AI fan engagement platform Edison.AI, esports analytics platform Pivan Interactive, and rental sports facility startup Playeasy. Venture capital firms in the group include The Players Impact and DRIVE by DraftKings, as well as mentors who have worked or currently work at Adidas, Techstars, Comcast, DAZN, and CSM Sports & Entertainment.
Project S is divided into two subsets of members: founders (people running startups) and connectors (mentors, advisors, investors) who are willing to open their networks to aid startups and facilitate meaningful interactions. Some of the common issues facing startups right now, Bailey says, include investors pulling out, team members leaving, dramatic drops in revenue, and mental stress. Bailey has had one startup founder reach out to him crying over the phone because her co-founder left the company.
“The runway might be short but that’s not the issue she has right now, she feels alone and just needs a shoulder to cry on. It is heartbreaking,” Bailey says. “If I hadn’t posted that post, she wouldn’t have had anyone to speak to and she wouldn’t have reached out. I think that’s important as well, making sure that we’re here for each other from a mental health standpoint.
“A big thing is letting founders know that it’s OK to be transparent and tell us what your challenges are,” he adds. “Because we’re in a world where you always have to project milestones and achievements. Too often, the downfalls and the hard times aren’t spoken about. And keeping that inside isn’t always the best thing to do.”
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The first Project S video meetup took place yesterday on Zoom. The founders who presented included Kate Painter, CEO of non-profit Sports For Women; Yasin Abbak, CEO of fantasy sports app Fantasy Life; and Sneh Parmar, CEO of customer rewards platform Lucky. Founders presented for five minutes and then participated in a two-minute Q&A session with connectors. These virtual meetings will include experts presenting crash courses on topics such as teams working from home, executing crisis PR, and mental health and wellness. (Shauna Griffiths, SVP of integrated marketing and brand partnerships at CSM Sport & Entertainment, delivered the first crash course yesterday about working from home.)
While Bailey is focused on cultivating relationships to help other startups, GameOn has not been immune to the effects of coronavirus pandemic. Had sports not been disrupted, GameOn’s prediction app would have been integrated into TV screens across 7,000 sports bars in the U.S. and patrons would have been asked to join GameOn free prediction contests during the NCAA Tournament. With March Madness canceled, the activation was put on hold.
Bailey says he is prepared for all live sports in the U.S. to be suspended until the NFL season. But while American sports are paused, GameOn (which normally hosts contests on its own mobile app) is white-labeling its prediction engine to teams and leagues, and offering prediction contests around reality TV shows and current events in order to generate revenue.
CONNECT WITH PROJECT S: You can reach Matt Bailey by emailing him here
“This is an unprecedented time for startups, we have to innovate and find other ways to generate business,” Bailey says. “Our ask to the group Project S would be like, ’If you have any introductions to teams, leagues, TV networks, things like that.’ Others will have very different things they’ll be asking the group.”
Bailey is leaning on his experience from accelerator networks to help other entrepreneurs. GameOn became part of The Players Impact after winning its pitch contest at NBA All-Star Weekend in February, and Bailey was also part of a Techstars’ accelerator program in 2019. Next week, Project S plans to migrate to communications platform Helpful, which also went through Techstars.
“Going through Techstars turned me into a leader and made it instinctual for me to want to lead and stand up during this time to instill confidence and safeness in the startup world,” Bailey says. “We have the opportunity to come out the other end better and stronger.”
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