Company: FantasyPros
Launch date: July 1, 2010

With so many folks strutting around the Internet claiming to be fantasy experts these days, it’s only natural for some to start testing their merit. An increasing number of outlets have started to do just that, but David Kim says FantasyPros.com goes beyond that. This week, he took some time to tell FSB.com some specifics.

1. What was the impetus for creating FantasyPros.com?

A couple years ago, we thought it would be cool to track and score the advice of a few popular experts (just to be able to dominate our own fantasy leagues). After pulling together a monster spreadsheet for just a couple experts over a couple weeks, we had two major takeaways. First that the data was very cool, and second that no one in their right mind would do all this work just to figure out which expert to trust! Anytime you find something very valuable but tough to do, it’s a sign of a potential opportunity. The idea really took off (in our heads) when we later realized that accuracy was just one use for the data. We figured out that we could aggregate and organize the information in a way that made it faster and easier for players to get the specific recommendations they needed. As recent dads with less time for fantasy but no less desire to win, we knew there would be a huge market for tools that could save you time and make you more competitive.

2. Aggregating, tracking and grading a bunch of self-proclaimed fantasy nerds seems even nerdier. What kind of background and skills did you bring to this effort?

Hey, are you calling us nerds? I guess our backgrounds are a bit nerdy, so I won’t argue. We’ve run a successful consulting practice for the past five years that helps clients find and exploit opportunities to generate website traffic and optimize conversion rates. Prior to starting the consulting firm, we both launched successful internet businesses that focused on aggregating and organizing information. I was the VP of Online Marketing at Hotwire.com, a subsidiary of Expedia Inc. My partner was also on the launch team at Hotwire.com, and later co-founded Gifts.com, an IAC company. The travel and gift industries are obvious examples of how services that simplify the research and buying process can be very successful, as long as they provide value to both customers and suppliers. We hope to take a similar approach - we want to help both fantasy players and fantasy professionals, by making their “jobs” easier and more rewarding.

3. How have you chosen which analysts to include, and how is their material collected?

We identified the most popular experts based on reputation and traffic to their sites. We also included a few favorite “bloggers” that may not be as well known but offer a good amount of weekly fantasy advice to their readers. Now that more experts know about us, we’ve been receiving a lot of requests for inclusion and we’re excited about expanding our reach next year. In terms of how we collect the rankings, we have some partners that provide a feed to us, some that use our proprietary ranking tool, and others that we pull in through our own automated tools. I should note that we ask for explicit written permission from sites that require a paid subscription to access their rankings. We’ve been very pleased with the response we’ve had from the expert community.

4. What do you offer to consumers beyond ranking the “experts” for accuracy? Is there anything in it for “experts,” particularly those not lacking for online exposure?

Accuracy scores are really just one component of what we offer to fantasy players. Our most popular product is a start/sit tool that instantly shows which player each expert would start, along with other helpful information in a side-by-side comparison. We’re on pace to do almost one million “Who Should I Start?” requests in our first season! Another popular tool is our Cheat Sheet Wizard which lets users create custom consensus rankings from a combination of experts that they choose to include. We also recently launched a fantasy advice portal that aggregates and organizes news, articles and tweets from over a hundred sources.

For fantasy professionals, we offer a level playing field, exposure and referral traffic. We also offer a few tools to make their jobs easier, such as a drag/drop player ranker to quickly create and publish weekly rankings. For experts that don’t need any of the above benefits, we offer an unbiased way of earning some “street cred” from naturally skeptical fantasy players and industry peers. Also, we believe that fantasy professionals have an inherent desire to compete, no matter how popular they are. Tiger Woods doesn’t need the money or the fame, but he plays in golf tournaments to compete against the best golfers in the world. I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that the best fantasy minds want to compete against their peers as well. Oh yeah, we’ll be offering shiny trophies this year too.

5. What is PAY?

PAY^TM stands for “Prediction Accuracy Yield.” It shows how much benefit the expert’s predictions provided on meaningful start/sit decisions. Our system turns each expert’s weekly rankings into thousands of individual “who should I start” recommendations. We then score whether the expert’s picks were correct and how beneficial the advice was, based on the net fantasy points obtained by picking the right player. A 100% PAY^TM means the expert selected the right player for every meaningful start/sit prediction. A “meaningful” prediction is one that is not unanimous among our experts. We do this so that we’re scoring advice that you realistically might seek out (not obvious advice like starting Chris Johnson over Donald Brown). This is why PAY^TM percentages tend to be lower than what some people would expect.

6. What is FAST?

FAST^TM stands for Fantasy Advice Search Tool. We’re working on integrating several of our current products and adding in some new features to create one cohesive search tool. This is a product that’s currently in development.

7. How have you gone about positioning your site in front of consumers and those around the fantasy industry?

It’s a cliché, but based on feedback from our members and our high repeat usage rates, we really believe that our product markets itself. From an awareness perspective, we’ve been very fortunate to be featured in articles and e-mails from Yahoo!, FootballGuys, NY Times and a number of popular fantasy blogs. From a positioning standpoint, we let consumers and industry professionals know that we’re an unbiased third party. We want to objectively promote the best fantasy experts in the industry, which is why we’re excited about presenting our accuracy awards at the next FSTA conference in January (primarily because the FSTA provides a large audience of fantasy professionals, but also because the conference is in Las Vegas!).

8. FantasyPros.com says in more than one place that services are “currently” offered for free. Is there a plan for that to change? What kind of paid subscriber base do you think you could realistically expect? What other methods are in place or in the plans for generating revenue?

There’s no plan for charging for what we currently provide for free on the site. However, we do have several new products and features that we’re developing that could require a subscription next year. This inaugural season was all about proving our concept and generating significant organic growth. We exceeded our own aggressive expectations for these two objectives, but we know we have a ton of work to do in the off season to be able to keep the momentum going. We think there’s a large opportunity in the space to create significant value for both consumers and fantasy professionals. As long as we can demonstrate this value, we’re confident that there will be multiple revenue streams available.

9. What differentiates FantasyPros.com from other “expert”-tracking sites that have arrived over the past year or two?

We don’t know of any other sites that offer the type of aggregated and organized advice that our core products provide, but we do know of a small number of sites that track expert accuracy. Regarding accuracy tracking, our main differentiators are:
– We are completely open about our methodology, while other sites consider it to be a “secret sauce” of sorts. We believe that if we’re going to grade the experts, it’s only fair that we tell the experts how we’re coming up with the grades.
– We do not claim to offer better advice. Instead, we seek to organize the best advice from the best experts in a way that provides value to both advice seekers and advice providers. Sites that claim that they offer xx% better advice are always welcome to participate in our accuracy study to prove it.
– Whenever possible, we try to track the individual expert that’s creating the rankings and projections, instead of just the site. For example, “Andy Behrens” instead of “Yahoo!.” Getting down to the expert level helps provide year-to-year continuity.
– Our service is FREE. From what we can tell, all the other sites we know of all charge for their accuracy information.

10. What is the ultimate goal for FantasyPros.com?

We want to become the hub for fantasy advice. A site that helps advice seekers and advice providers share fantasy insights and recommendations in a much more efficient and effective way. Our current tools reflect a small but significant step towards this vision.

Fantasy football writers can start mailing it in a little earlier this year.

The Fantasy Sports Writers Association has opened the nominating process for its end-of-year awards earlier than in the past and also moved up the deadline. All submissions must be in by 9 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, Dec. 21 — 10 days earlier than in prior seasons.

That’s particularly important to keep in mind during what can be an extremely busy time of year for anyone who deals in fantasy football.

The 15 categories include (required submissions are the number of articles that must be provided to make the entrant eligible):

Best Fantasy Football Writer of the Year (5 submissions required)
Best Fantasy Football Article of the Year, Web
Best Fantasy Football Article of the Year, Print
Best Fantasy Football On-Going Series (3 submissions required)
Best Fantasy Baseball Writer of the Year (5 submissions required)
Best Fantasy Baseball Article of the Year, Web
Best Fantasy Baseball Article of the Year, Print
Best Fantasy Baseball On-Going Series (3 submissions required)
Best Fantasy Basketball Writer of the Year (5 submissions required)
Best Fantasy Hockey Writer of the Year (5 submissions required)
Best Fantasy Golf Writer of the Year (5 submissions required)
Best Fantasy Racing Writer of the Year (5 submissions required)
Best Fantasy College Sports Writer of the Year (5 submissions required)
Best Fantasy Humor Article of the Year, Print or Web
Fantasy Newcomer of the Year (5 submissions required)

The “Newcomer of the Year” award is new in 2010 and is open to non-FSWA members. Eligible candidates must have published their first article since the start of this year. All other awards are open only to FSWA members. (Non-members can join here by Dec. 31 to become eligible.)

The FSWA has also extended the deadline for companies to submit magazines in the top print publication category. Two samples must be received by Monday, Dec. 13, and should be sent to:

FSWA
Attn: Mike Beacom
PO Box 296
Amherst, WI 54406

All awards will be presented at the Fantasy Sports Trade Association’s winter conference.

2009 winners: here and here
2008 winners: here, there and this place
Previous winners: elsewhere

The Fantasy Sports Trade Association has yet to announce the specific location (in Las Vegas) at which its next winter business conference will take place, but the group has released a preliminary agenda.

The event will begin on the evening of Jan. 24 (a Monday) with the customary reception and fantasy baseball draft. (As someone who sat through 2010’s 3.5-hour affair that still required an e-mail finish, I would suggest that you only sign up if you really want to compete, are trying to avoid craps tables or are taking 5-Hour Energy for a test drive.)

The first full day of the conference includes the following, as of Sunday night:

– A 9:15 panel to update the NFL’s labor situation, with FSTA president Paul Charchian moderating. This is obviously a topic of utmost importance to fantasy folks, as football sits at the center of most businesses throughout the industry.

– A 10:15 panel called “Is This Fantasy or Not?,” addressing the various different areas that have either developed under or try to position themselves under the “fantasy sports” umbrella. Scott Higgins of Dish Network will moderate.

– 11:15: The Elevator Pitch session that has become a conference staple. It gives attendees the chance to present their company’s message in front of the crowd. It’ll be sponsored by Rack Space.

– A 1:45 panel discussion with FSTA legal experts Glenn Colton and Travis McCoy (otherwise known as the only two guys in the room who are actually making use of their law degrees).

– 3:15: Dr. Kim Beason presents his latest consumer behavior research.

– 4 p.m.: A “One on One” session moderated by Charlie Wiegert. His session at the summer conference matched Wiegert up with The Sports Network CEO Mickey Charles. It seems a safe bet that the next person up will be a bit more restrained than Mr. Charles … and probably far less entertaining.

– A 4:45 panel led by FFToolbox.com’s Jeff Christiansen will look at social networking and its applications and potential benefits for fantasy companies. (No word yet on who will play Christiansen in the movie.)

– A 5:15 panel led by Jim Corelis of STATS will look the 2010 trends in fantasy football, likely presenting something similar to the summer discussion that included MyFantasyLeague.com and CBSSports.com and was led by RotoWire’s Peter Schoenke. The entry suggests, however, that the panel will also discuss what technology trends are working well with the FF crowd.

– A 5:45 panel will circle back to the opening theme of the NFL labor strife. This one, led by Charlie Wiegert, will address contingency planning for fantasy companies in the case that football season is interrupted.

– A 6:15 discussion led by World Fantasy Games CEO Jeff Thomas and Fantasy Sports Publications leader Emil Kadlec will take a look at the international side of the fantasy business.

The agenda also calls for the FSTA awards — normally handed out a few at a time throughout the conference — will be delivered during a 7 p.m. gathering. Of course, anyone who has attended a conference knows that if a ceremony at that time doesn’t include dinner, one or more attendees will likely have appendages gnawed off.

Sessions for the second day have yet to be announced, but FSB.com will pass along more conference info as it becomes available. Registration, however, is open, according to the FSTA website.

This week’s FSTA summer conference presented a stronger set of elevator pitches than we saw at the winter conference in Vegas, but the winner wasn’t a surprise.

FightMetric hit the stage with a well-planned, simple-to-follow presentation and a comfortable, confident presenter in Alon Cohen.

The company focuses on the collection and dispersal of statistics for mixed martial arts and related to the crowd that it had recently signed on as the official stat provider for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

There’s no denying the explosion in popularity over the past few years for MMA, so it’s no stretch to think of fantasy MMA as an area with enticing growth potential. That, no doubt, is the key reason that FightMetric pitched to fantasy folks on Wednesday afternoon, and the company seemed to draw the desired result.

The other participants, who still were able to get their word out to the crowd:

FantasyPro.com — This new site that doesn’t appear to be live yet on the Web will allow fantasy teams to compete against those outside its league. The creators are seeking deals with existing league-hosting sites to enable integration and will not host its own leagues. Users will be able to challenge others via the Fantasy Pro platform in free or pay games and take part in games put on by the site itself.

Fantasy Sports 4 Kids — As a slightly emotional Brian Riggs told the group, this is not a new site seeking to host kids fantasy games; it’s a much more worthy outlet. FS4Kids, which currently lives online only as a blog, will seek to connect fantasy leagues with charities, while also spotlighting the good works of children’s charities and NFL players who have helped children. Participants will enter their league fees like in your normal pay league, but the winners will be able to put their prizes toward charities that will be easier to locate via this community. Riggs told us that the idea was borne from his own daughter’s fight with cancer (it’s in remission) and that he already had 126 leagues interested. Here’s hoping the concept comes together well.

Pickemfirst — Alain de Raynal had presented to the FSTA crowd previously (and won the pitch session), but this time he came with his company’s newer concept: the blog aggregator. Whereas the initial application enabled fantasy players to quickly check on a player’s availability in multiple leagues while reading online content, the new aggregator pulls in articles via RSS feeds and presents them via popup window when you encounter particular player names in Web content. For example, de Raynal showed us an article in which he came across Diamondbacks pitcher Edwin Jackson. The Pickemfirst blog aggregator showed the three most recent article mentioning Jackson from three differen online outlets. Anyone interested in being included needs only to give Pickemfirst the OK to pull material.

RosterSlots.com — FSB.com previously presented a full writeup on RosterSlots, so here’s just a quick summary. It’s a fantasy baseball game (which also treated the Olympics in February) that plays like a slot machine, incorporating enough trades and player decisions (plus no cash involved) to steer clear of gambling.

WaiverWire.com — Another veteran of the elevator-pitch session, WaiverWire.com’s primary pursuit is a tool built on Wall Street analytics that serves as a virtual assistant coach throughout the season, crunching all the pertinent numbers to help you make lineup and player-movement decisions. New for this year was a revenue-sharing model for fantasy sites interested in a partnership.

Fantazzle — Ryan Parr’s site does its primary business in short-window fantasy games, but his pitch focused more on his white-label offerings. Fantazzle presents various options for games that can carry the hosts brand as well interesting in-game advertising potential, such as positioning logos on virtual race cars for a NASCAR game.

PASPN.net – Probably the most serious of fantasy platforms that we’ve yet come across, the NBA GM game at the center of Ngozika Nwaneri’s online community involves year-round attention to your basketball franchise. It allows consumers to play as either general manager or player agent, each side having to deal with the other in various personnel situations.

TodayInFantasy.com – The latest Footballguys online entry wants to be Google for fantasy football (and eventually other sports as well). For more information, reach the recent FSB.com story.

Advanced Sports Logic — Welcome to The Machine. Frankly, I’m not sure I could properly explain this, so here’s what the site says: “Our patent-pending Probulator^TM technology … uses the variance and accuracy of player projections to simulate your entire fantasy football season with powerful probability distributions.” It’s another tool for making stat-based recommendations throughout the year to help your fantasy football team.

Fantasy Judgment – Michael A. Stein is the latest lawyer to launch a site for fantasy dispute resolution. In addition to offering a single-use package and full-season option, Stein is in the market for partnerships with league-hosting sites to provides his services to users.