Company: FJ Fantasy Sports
Launch date: May 2002
Became full-time operation: 2004

Even if you weren’t aware of FJ Fantasy Sports, you’ve probably seen their products. Those big cardboard displays with the multi-colored player stickers standing at the center at events such as the WCOFF and FSTA conferences? You’re looking at FJ. Co-founder Jeff Peters, who left a career in corrugated cardboard for another in decorating it with player names, took some time recently to share his company’s story with FSB.com

1. Let’s start at an obvious point: What does FJ stand for?

FJ is pig Latin for Jeff. When I was a kid, my best friend and I talked in pig Latin so his mother couldn’t figure out what kind of devious plans we were hatching. He was Ike-May and I was Eff-Jay. When it came time to choose a business name, Mike and I were sitting around trying to figure out a name, and this memory came back to us. It instantly became the business name.

2. Your site says that the boards came about when Mrs. Peters was charged with creating a grid for a baseball draft in 2002. What inspired her to create the board that launched the business, and what did the league like about it?

I knew she was a good artist, so I asked her to make me a grid for our upcoming baseball draft. The previous year we used an easel, but it was too small for anyone to see. So I asked her to make me a large grid, about 5 feet by 5 feet. I brought this piece of white corrugated home from work, and she decorated it beautifully with our league name and all the team names. We still have this “original” draft board.

3. You’ve been playing fantasy sports since 1990. What were those leagues doing for their drafts those first 12 years before requesting the board?

Back in 1990, during my first football draft, we used two gigantic pieces of brown corrugated. They were about 10 feet wide by 8 feet high. We had index cards with all the player names on them. All the cards were posted on one board (with push pins), and the grid was on the other. You’ve got to remember, we all worked at a corrugated box plant, so getting our “draft board” was easy!

4. How quickly did you envision a business sprouting from this board?

My wife, Pam, first brought the idea up. We had no idea if anything like this existed. We started checking ads in fantasy magazines and looking online to see if anyone made these. We found a few companies that did paper sheets. We knew that we had the resources to make a standup corrugated display that would not require any wall space. So we designed a draft board for 14 teams and 23 rounds, took a chance and invested some of our own money into the business and started with a small production run.

5. Describe the background in corrugated cardboard and the artistic skills that combined to make this happen. What has each meant to the creation (and sustainability) of FJ Fantasy Sports?

My background in selling corrugated for 30 years gave me the knowledge of what was possible to design and make out of corrugated. The company I worked for had some of the top designers in the industry, so I tapped their skill and knowledge, gave them the parameters of what I was trying to do and let them come up with the design. Everything was designed around UPS size limitations for shipping packages. Pam drew the design for the first FJ draft board grid, and we have stayed with it. It is a unique grid that allows us to use four different-sized labels on the same draft board.

6. How did you go about getting the business rolling back in 2002? How did you find that first round of customers (or how did they find you)?

When we started in May of 2002, it was already too late to buy any magazine ads for that football season. So we concentrated on trying to get our website recognized on the Internet. This is a tricky process when starting out, and we made a lot of mistakes. But we eventually got placement on Google, and that’s basically the only search engine you need to be on, since most others are fed by Google. In 2003, we bought some ads in fantasy magazines, and the business started to take off. But the biggest and best thing that happened to us was being found by Lenny Pappano, an original co-founder of the World Championship of Fantasy Football. Lenny needed a free-standing draft board for his Las Vegas tournament in 2003, and we had the makings of what he needed. He prodded us to develop the “Jumbo” board, and we ended up getting great exposure through his tournament.

7. What steps did you take to grow the business from there, and how quickly did growth come about?

Growth came quickly the first few years. We tried to introduce new products and features every year, such as adding 10-, 12-, and 16-team draft boards to our menu. We also added “Stands,” which turn the draft boards into 30-rounders. In addition, we added four more label sizes to the one that we started out with. So we now have a draft board for almost any size and type of draft.

8. The Internet had already made fantasy gaming so much easier by the time FJ was launched. What do you think still made your product so appealing to this marketplace? How has business changed in recent years with the array of fantasy-targeted products constantly widening?

The appeal of the FJ draft boards is that you don’t need a big wall to hang a paper sheet on. You can use our board anywhere in a room, and we have a label size that can be read from up to 35 feet away. This was ideal for the WCOFF tournament, and all the other tournaments picked up on it. Soon, all their customers wanted a draft board like they used at their high-stakes tournaments, and we were the only ones doing this. Because we do all the tournaments, our player label lists are the most extensive in the industry by far. We do not want to be embarrassed at a high-stakes tournament by having a lot of write-ins. The final “slice” of our success pie is customer service. Hundreds of our customers know us personally, and thousands more know us from talking on the phone. And they know they can trust us to do things quickly and correctly.

9. How have your products and your catalog changed to fit demand over the life of the business?

As mentioned (earlier), we added different sizes of draft boards, which would accommodate almost any league sizes. We started with a 14-team, 23-round board. Now we can handle any number of teams 10 or beyond, and up to 32 rounds. And most can be had in 5 different label sizes. So there is something for every league. We have added ancillary products such as draft clocks and Personal Draftlogs, tools to help in conducting a fantasy draft. We also branched out from the original football-baseball idea to now include hockey and basketball.

10. Any new directions that you plan to go or envision coming into play in the near future?

We constantly look for new ideas and ways to make things better for our customers, but we feel that we are in sort of a “mature” stage of our business evolution. We have kicked around the NASCAR idea for years but just can’t seem to get a handle on what to do with it.

Company: RotoExperts.com
Launch date: February 2008
Became full-time operation: June 2008
No. of employees: More than 30

RotoExperts blew onto the fantasy scene two years ago, making a particular splash by pulling in Scott Engel fresh off his stint with ESPN. Now Engel runs the day-to-day operations and took some time recently to tell FSB.com about what’s going on with his growing company.

1. What gap did RotoExperts see in a fairly saturated market of fantasy content when it launched in 2008?

We saw a need for more professional-style, high-level fantasy content. We treat fantasy content as seriously as any newspaper or wire service treats its standard sports coverages. We follow AP style and demand the highest professional standards from our writers. Fantasy sports is serious, and we take it seriously. Our syndication partners have a desire for high quality content and we meet their needs. Plus, many outlets are outsourcing these days, and we are nimble and can customize content with our partners’ needs foremost in our plans.

2. What did you see in RotoExperts that led you there after stints with big boys CBS and ESPN?

During my CBS SportsLine days, I was part of a thrilling ride as the company became a major player in fantasy sports. I can always know and say I was part of something truly special. The same thrill ride is taking place at RotoExperts. We have very quickly built a highly recognized and credible site and have made some serious headway in an industry that is not easy to make a mark in. Landing the platforms we have has been a very rewarding experience, and I work with some great people who really know the business. Being part of a great management team is a spectacular experience in addition to continuing as a fantasy content generator.

3. The site seemed to be building its brand in the early going as much as building up the content. How important has that brand building been, and what kind of steps were or are key to that process?

It has been very important to us to establish credibility with both users and with our peers in the industry. Partnerships have helped us establish our presence very quickly as one of the top independent fantasy sites in the industry. People have come to know and trust us, and we highly value those that follow us and work with us. The steps in the process include identifying and adding staffers who are willing to meet standards and help the business grow. Also, to share the quality of our content and experience and visions of our management team with partners.

4. How did you go about building content partnerships with major outlets such as NFL.com and Yahoo! Sports?

Such sites have high standards when it comes to fantasy content, and we share similar views and commitments to quality. Having worked closely with many of the NFL.com people in the past, we knew we were on the same page in terms of delivering analysis and insights. Yahoo! Sports appreciates the diversity of our content as well as the approach, and our editorial teams have worked closely with each other since the beginning. Again, having previous relationships with current and key Yahoo! staffers only eased the initial process.

5. RotoExperts has maintained a pretty strong Fantasy Sports Channel presence from early on, and you just added the SIRIUS XM deal. What has been the role of radio in building your site’s identity? How did the SIRIUS gig come about, and what does it mean for you guys?

Building and maintaining strong broadcasting presences has always been a goal of ours, and being on BlogTalkRadio allowed us to get more personal with users and further establish credibility while allowing us to build another professional presence. Fantasy players do not always want to sit and read, they like to be informed and entertained, too. We have a strong relationship with the Sirius XM team and had shared similar visions about a Fantasy Sports Channel. Now is the time to make such an idea become reality, and as the morning drive program, we lead off history in the making every day. That says a lot about the credibility and impact of the RotoExperts brand. Again, we demand high standards of content in all mediums, whether it’s written or spoken word.

6. Making money as a free content site is harder now than it might have been a few years back. What led you guys to go free and stay that way, even with material such as draft kits that some free sites might sell? What are the chances of going pay - or even adding a pay component such as a “premium” content level - down the road?

It was important for us to establish trust and credibility with users. We have reached those goals and now have a significant following. We have just launched our first-ever premium package, named the Xclusive Edge. People already know what they can get for free from us, and now they can get even higher levels of content and tools in a very price-friendly bundle. At the heart of our new package is our Xclusive Edge rankings and projections, for both drafting and lineup purposes. The RotoExperts “Supercomputer” takes more than 30 factors into account to come up with amazingly accurate player ratings, preseason and in-season. We are also offering live fantasy advice every day of the week. Get personal answers from some of the best of the biz, all year long. Fantasy experts are standing by!

7. RotoExperts has always sported a pretty large writing staff. How have you gone about scouting and adding writers?

We receive a lot of interested applicants, but we also seek out those who are willing to learn in a very professional environment. Our management team has a knack for identifying and adding only the best prospects. They have to be willing to meet our high standards and help us continue to build the brand. I personally review every applicant, and after many years in this business, not just anyone is going to pass the initial test or interview. It’s a rare bird who fuses promising writing skills with expert analysis. It’s our goal to find those people and mold them into something and someone fantasy players can trust.

8. You introduced Upset Challenge during football season last year. Should we expect to see more games from RotoExperts? If so, what role will they serve from a business standpoint?

We will be rolling out the Upset Challenge again this year, and it will be even bigger, better and more compelling. Look for the launch this summer. It’s the most unique and addictive game that you should play this year. You pick three NFL teams every week to possibly score the biggest upsets and earn big points and win great prizes. It makes rooting for the underdog better than ever. It really rewards your predictive skills in pro football.

9. Earlier this year, you put together a new board of directors, headed by Spackman Capital Group CEO Martin Mohabeer. What do he and the other board members mean for the site going forward?

Martin’s addition validates our visions to further grow RotoExperts as a major player in the industry. He sees the growth potential and exciting opportunities that still are there for the taking in a fantasy industry that is only going to continue to explode. Martin’s benchmarks and background in financial services and strategic development can only help us identify and seize the best opportunities out there. Our board is dedicated to making RotoExperts a long-lasting presence in the industry, one that will only continue to grow in reach and presence. We have some great visions of how to bring our top-notch fantasy information and insights to unique and distinctive platforms.

10. What are your plans for Fantasy Grinder, acquired earlier this year?

It’s a great application that can be a real difference-maker in the fantasy industry. Incorporate the Grinder into your league, and no more surfing all over the league site for all the info you need in one place, including expert advice and even trash talk.

The Grinder acts as a digital “beat reporter” for your Fantasy team and churns out unique and distinctive game previews and wrap-ups for every team in your league. It’s sleek, highly versatile and fresh, entertaining and informative. It makes the average fantasy league manager or game even more compelling and retentive. It’s drawn rave reviews from those who have been allowed behind the curtain so far. Think of a digital beat reporter assigned to your team who not only covers the games, but quotes you and offers advice of his own.

We plan to make the Grinder a reality in fantasy leagues, and once we do, those who play in such leagues will find it to be completely addictive. There have been attempts by others to do a Grinder-like product, but none matches ours for its customization and personalization.

Company: Fantrax
Launch date: October 2008
Became full-time operation: 2006
No. of employees: 8 (Some part-time)

There are many players in the fantasy league management space that the general playing public probably never hears about. That’s due in large part to the big three: Yahoo!, ESPN and CBS Sports. Lee Kleiner and his band of programmers, however, brought to market a slick site that supports a lot of sports and lets you play for free. The president of Fantrax took some time out this week to tell FSB.com about the creation of their system and where the company is headed.

1. Your site talks about starting with “a group of fantasy sports enthusiasts.” How big a group was this to start, how did it come together and what kind of programming experience was brought to the table?

There were five of us at the start, soon after to be seven. As highly skilled software developers, we felt our talent was being “wasted” in the corporate world, which largely lacks innovation and the desire to incur the time and expense to build top-quality software. We felt that if we could find an industry with a high barrier to entry due to software complexity, and where we could build a vastly superior product and have the capability to sell it, we would have a winning combination. Not only did fantasy sports fit the bill, but several of us were already seasoned fantasy sports players. Our team primarily consisted of highly talented and very experienced software architects and developers working in the corporate sector.

2. How long was the “vision” for your platform discussed before you began to develop it? How long was it in development before going live?

We started development on a prototype quite quickly. The product was in development for approximately 5 years before going live.

3. The league-hosting universe is dominated by some of the biggest names and outlets in sports media. What made Fantrax decide to seek a place at the same table? What kind of goals have you set along the way for realistic audience size?

We saw the fantasy sports industry as underserved by the (existing) providers in several ways. Firstly, there was no multi-sport, multi-language leader consolidating the market. Secondly, the technology that the existing providers employed would make it very difficult to extend their products to the kind of customizability we felt was necessary for a true commissioner product with global reach. We also believed that some of the big players were unable or unwilling to offer sports that were not already part of their established business. For example, we didn’t believe CBS would offer Premiership soccer, because they don’t broadcast it.

We set modest growth targets of 50,000 users in our first phase (which we have now surpassed), and significant accelerated growth targets in our next phase.

4. What kind of startup costs went into Fantrax, which features an impressively broad and probably labor intensive platform? How have you gone about marketing the service?

The cost to build such a platform is quite immense, as anyone in the commissioner product business would understand. We have been investing primarily in (research and development) thus far, but are now ready to ramp up our marketing spend. So far, targeted web marketing, cross-promotional activities and, of course, word of mouth have been successful for us.

5. What sports did you offer at the start, and what has been the timeline for adding to that lineup? How do the user bases for your various other sports compare with that for NFL?

Although our platform has always supported all sports, we released NHL hockey and NBA basketball first, since they were a little simpler in their intricacies. We have been able to add new sports in very short order — typically about 3-4 months. That timeline has been even shorter for adding new leagues in sports we already have (e.g. college football and college basketball).

Although NFL is the leader as expected, we are getting solid traction in all our sports (except golf so far, which we released this season in Beta), and our usage in other sports relative to NFL is higher than industry standards.

6. Fantrax prides itself on free offerings, but doesn’t that limit your growth in a marketplace that is so loaded with big-name providers? What kind of revenue is generated by the pay-to-play games?

From the beginning, our strategy has been to balance the user-growth capabilities of offering a free service with the revenue that comes from offering premium products. We will always offer some form of free commissioner product but plan to offer premium products for a fee in the near future.

7. Your site says “free forever,” but is there a level that other revenue generation has to sustain to make that doable?

We have plans to roll out some very exciting “premium” (fee-based) products and contests that a very large number of fantasy sports players are going to use and participate in.

8. The site also touts the speed with which user-requested changes are implemented. How often are such adjustments made, and what have been some of the most significant alterations asked for by users?

New features are added pretty much every week, sometimes several in a week. The product roadmap is a healthy mix of user requests and our own innovations. One recent example is the capability to replicate the player pool across divisions, so each division can draft from their own pool, as opposed to a single pool for the entire league. Requests for this feature came from the football users.

9. How has your rate of audience growth been each year?

About 300 percent.

10. What’s next for Fantrax? Any new sports on the horizon, new wrinkles in the business plan, etc.?

Some of the upcoming sports offered by Fantrax are soccer, Formula 1, and cricket. We are also adding new language translations for our worldwide audience. Plus, we have an exciting lineup of premium products and pay-to-play contests.

Company: Draft Sharks
Launch date: June 1999
Became full-time operation: 2000
No. of employees: 4

Back before he co-founded the World Championship of Fantasy Football, Lenny Pappano launched his fantasy football content site, DraftSharks.com. Although much has changed throughout the fantasy industry since then and free content abounds, Draft Sharks has stuck to what it set out to do: direct its unique brand of fantasy football insight to a smallish, loyal set of paid subscribers. Pappano recently took the time to answer some questions for FSB.com.

1. What led you to create Draft Sharks back in 1999? Why did you settle on that name for your site?

At the time, I was working as a copywriter at a political fundraising firm in the D.C.-area (part of the vast right-wing conspiracy). It struck me that a lot of the fantasy sites that existed were being run by tech geeks and not by anyone who could write well or had any background in journalism. I convinced my wife to drain our bank account to build a site and put some ads in a couple fantasy mags. We got a fairly large and loyal following in the first few years, and the rest, as they say, is history. We came up with the Draft Sharks name because I also moonlighted as a hold ‘em poker player 4 or 5 nights per week (back in the day of no kids). So I went from being somewhat of a “card shark”… to being a “Draft Shark.” The name had a ring to it, and a friend of mine came up with a pretty sweet logo, which we still use today.

2. What led you to charge for access to Draft Sharks content when so many free sites exist?

Back in the late ’90s, almost every fantasy site was free. I guess I’ve always felt that our opinions and analysis were worth paying for. And I never wanted to have 100,000 people following us. I always envisioned our community being a bit more exclusive, and one way to do that is to charge. At bottom, if you’re giving advice to everyone for free, what good are you doing your readership? Anyone and everyone can come and read your stuff — and they’re competing against each other, so there isn’t a competitive advantage for your readership. I understand the free model, I’ve just never been a big fan of it.

3. Has it been difficult at any point to stay the pay route? Have you considered turning free?

Nope, never really considered it. It always seemed to me that counting on ad revenue to pay the bills was a bit too unnerving for my tastes. And again, I didn’t want a community of “anyone and everyone.”

4. What kind of costs (in time and money) went into launching the site? How did you go about introducing your site to the marketplace — to potential subscribers?

A lot and a lot. Our model was to have a small selective group of writers. The downside to that model is that it takes a lot of time to produce content. But I have to say that it is very gratifying. As for introducing the site to the marketplace, we dropped close to six figures in the first 2-3 years on advertising. Word of mouth also helped a lot.

5. Looking back, was there a particular event or time that indicated Draft Sharks had “arrived”?

Yeah, in the very first year, I wrote what has been become one of our marquee articles — our “First Round Bust Candidate.” We called out Steve Young, who was coming off a monster year in 1998, and warned our subscribers away from drafting him. That preseason, we started to get some emails from readers who loved the pick — and some flames from readers who thought we were nuts. I knew then that we were relevant and that folks were reading our stuff — and it was making them think outside the box. As I recall, Young got knocked out by the Cards on a Monday night game in Week 3 — and that concussion forced him into retirement. I actually cheered when it happened. I met Young 5 or 6 years later. And after talking to him for a few minutes, I didn’t feel bad for having cheered when he got hurt!

6. What other sources does the site derive revenue from beyond subscription fees? What kind of business partnerships have you had along the way, and what role have they played in revenue generation?

Our revenue beyond subscription fees is minimal. We’ve gotten a few advertisers here and there for 2010, but after trying to capture advertising revenue the past couple years, we’ve come to the conclusion that it simply wasn’t worth having the site look like a banner farm.

7. How important are the customized cheatsheets to your platform? How long did that system take to develop, and how quickly did it catch on with users?

It’s pretty popular, as we get quite a bit of positive customer feedback on it. The rankings are based on a Value Based Drafting system — which is to say, it measures relative player scarcity at each position based on the particular scoring rules of your league. Conceptually, it’s something that came from Rotisserie Baseball and was introduced to fantasy football by Joe Bryant. I think I’m right in saying that Draft Sharks was the first site to have a VBD tool, as it was part of our original site in 1999.

8. What was Draft Sharks’ relationship with the WCOFF when you co-founded the event and during your run as co-owner?

Ironically, there really was no relationship to speak of. The WCOFF advertised with Draft Sharks, but Emil (Kadlec) and I made a conscious decision not to co-brand our other businesses or to leverage those brands to help the WCOFF. One of the reasons is that I didn’t want to blur the line between Draft Sharks as a content site and what the WCOFF did. I’ve always been diligent in keeping Draft Sharks as a fantasy football content site only. Again, I want Draft Sharks to have the best fantasy football analysis and content available — but I’m not trying to be all things to all people. That might not be the smartest business model, but in the long run, I think it’s only fair to your customers to have a single focus.

9. How have things changed over the years in terms of what customers expect and what your site has to do to stay competitive? Have there ever been thoughts of expanding to include other sports?

People are far more tech and Web savvy then they were a decade ago. We took a long, hard look this offseason at where our site was in terms of design and functionality and found there was a lot to be desired. We did a complete redesign of the site this spring and just re-launched this week. So far, the response has been fantastically positive. As for doing other sports, we had a sister site for a few years that did fantasy baseball. In the end, we decided it was best to stick with just fantasy football — since that was our passion.

10. What do you envision for the future of DraftSharks.com?

Good question. I’ve seen a lot of changes in the industry since 1999, and my biggest concern is that the industry used to be defined by a bunch of regular guys who were passionate about fantasy football. What I see now is a corporate takeover of the industry. Look at how many sites have been bought out by billion-dollar, multi-media corporations. Look at how ESPN, NBC, CBS, and even the NFL itself, have entered into the marketplace. Maybe it’s me, but it just rubs me the wrong way at times. There seems to be a “sameness” that infects the landscape of fantasy football content. That said, maybe all the movement toward the corporatization of the hobby has helped more clearly define who we are at Draft Sharks. We don’t want to be everywhere on the Web. We don’t want to be all things to all people. We don’t want to become a mega-site that churns out words by the pound. In the end, we’re just a small, tightly knit group of writers who drink beer in the office, work crazy hours, and absolutely love what we do. I always tell our writers: “Think outside the box. Be bold. Make people think. Tell them something they don’t already know.” We’re a bit like the show LOST. If you get it, you’ll love it. If you don’t, you’ll walk away scratching your head. And, ya know what? I’m good with that.