Wasabi Ventures Venture Partner Bobby Touran Interviews Founder/CEO of Fanarchy, Samuel Aloni

How did you meet Wasabi Ventures?

I was looking for angel investors on LinkedIn and Crunchbase and I came across Chris Yeh’s name. I reached out, we connected, and since his advises were so valuable after a while I asked him to come on as an advisor. He noticed we had some issues with our previous tech team and that Wasabi that can help with the development and that continues today.

What were you going before Fanarchy? What made you want to start Fanarchy?

My background is in sports (was a columnist for many years) and politics (local elected representative, campaign manager, and I am a lawyer). I learned how to manage democracies and how democracies are built. My knowledge of the sports industry– it showed me that parties are very similar to sports clubs– both are social organizations which rely on their supporters. Financial success is secondary to how many followers does the organization have. Similarly, in politics, the supporters finance the organization and also set the tone to keep them engaged. We want to capture a similar experience in sports.

A “Democracy” platform?

It’s a crowdsourcing platform. Social media engagement is measured by number of likes and comments. we want to go deeper, and give clubs useful insights from their fan base while giving fans a voice.

We want to engage with the right crowd at the right time and in the right form. so we allow users to follow only 1 team from each league– unlike other social networks, because the integrity of the votes is first priority; you wouldn’t want all Real Madrid’s fans voting for Barcelona. Also, we’re not asking for textual feedbacks because no one is going to read thousands of answers; instead, we use voting structure. Fans can vote and those statistics illustrate more digestible insight– we are giving fans a voice for the first time in a very structured way.

Seems like an ambitious target; what stage in the process are you at now?

It IS an ambitious target. We validated the concept before writing a single line of code. Teams in Europe loved the idea and wanted us to return to them with a working prototype to run a pilot. We are wrapping up product development and planning to launch in the next few weeks. We‘re not only focusing on European soccer teams as we were in the past and looking forward a successful launch in the US as well.

How big is your team?

6 founders and 4 advisory board members. CEO (myself), CMO in London, VP in Spain, 2 Dev in Israel and a CCO in Israel. It took me a lot of time to built our amazing team and all people came from our network of friends, colleagues and advisors.

What’s the market like for sports-related startups?

When I started, it was tough because there was seemingly no market. In the past few weeks alone, we have seen a real boom, mainly in the “second screen” opportunity. We also see that sports teams and league associations look for new ways to engage with their audiences, and expanding their reach on social media from traditionally FB and Twitter to pinterest, instagram, tumblr and more. so Fanarchy enters the market at the perfect timing. 

Growing up, what type of professional athlete did you want to be when you were older? Favorite team?

My father used to be a professional soccer player, so i got the soccer gene. but my father, who knew the industry well, insisted that I’ll pursue a different career path, one in which I’ll use my brain more than the legs. So i went to Law School since that was another passion of mine. And now i’m trying to have it all while combining all my biggest passions in on venture.

I used to cheer for Juventus in their golden era with great players like Del Piero and Zidane and Marcello Lippi leading the squad. Today, I find myself cheering for Barcelona, who is presenting the best soccer ever seen. 

To find out more about Fanarchy visit their website here.

About the Interviewer: Bobby Touran, East Coast Venture Partner

Bobby’s role at WV is to identify opportunities were WV can add value to a prospective start-up and then work with that founding team to utilize the resources of Wasabi Ventures to help achieve success.

Two recent case studies published by PBworks illustrate how the American Academy of Pediatrics and Curtis Brown, LTD use the online collabotion software.

The American Academeny of Pediatrics, attributues their increased “efficiency with completing tasks and providing updates for projects” to the implmentation of PBworks. Read the full case study here.

Curtis Brown, LTD says PBworks has “been a painless and simple entry to a way of collaborating and storing information that we really needed”. Read the full case study here.

• Provided start-up advice prior to funding
• Participated in seed round of funding
• providing sales and marketing resources on a daily basis

“The Wasabi brand brings the kind of image that we’re looking for in a partner. The image has helped us in pitches for further capital raises and marquee customer relationships.”

- Phil Newman, Founder and CEO of Vidstructor

Instructor to Vidstructor Vidstructor is an innovative fitness training solution thought of by people who started out as sports trainers themselves.  Phil Newman, co-founder of Vidstructor, was a sport performance trainer when he thought of the idea to take the entire training experience online.  He felt he was able to work with more people being remote than in-person, and as a result started teaching and training athletes solely through the web.  At this point in the company’s history, Phil and his co-founder recognized there was a strong market opportunity, and decided to build their online business from the ground up.

Wasabi Venture Resources

Since becoming a Wasabi Venture portfolio company, Vidstructor has worked closely with the WV sales and marketing team to help their web-based platform reach a stronger position for the future.  Wasabi Ventures has helped Vidstructor further streamline their business practices and build an infrastructure for lead generation and conversion. “We’ve been fortunate enough to have Wasabi as an investor and contributor. The advice and action taken by the Wasabi team is terrific and is only going to help propel us forward”, said Phil.

As a start-up company, Vidstructor is always looking for more opportunities to expand their products.  Within a year or so, the company plans on continuing in sports and fitness while targeting some very focused and exciting markets like healthcare and education.  In addition to the company organizing campaigns, Phil believes that its association with Wasabi has furthered the company’s position.

An Exciting Future Ahead

In addition to having high hopes for expansion in the future, Vidstructor is also looking forward to furthering its relationship with Wasabi Ventures.

“It’s amazing how available Wasabi Ventures has been to us. The advice is priceless and actions taken so far have been concise and very much needed. I’m very excited to see where Wasabi can help us continue to expand in our new territories”, said Phil.

The Wasabi Ventures team is dedicated to working closely with each of its portfolio companies.  In addition to providing start-up funds, Wasabi provides expert guidance and advice to help its portfolio companies grow and succeed.  Vidstructor is one of many WV start-up companies that Wasabi Ventures is excited to continue working with in the future.

Nick Daley, a Venture Partner at WV sat down with Paul and Jason from PointClickSwitch to discuss their startup.

By providing choice, PointClickSwitch.com, one of Wasabi Ventures’ earlier stage Baltimore startups is able to lower your monthly electric bill by as much as 15% per month. They can do this efficiently, painlessly, and with almost no work on the consumer end.  All you need is a copy of your bill and you can log onto www.pointclickswitch.com to start saving.

Nick: Hello, Jason and Paul.  Why don’t we begin with the story of how you all got started on PointClickSwitch.com?

Jason: Sure. We began work on the company in April of 2010.  I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur and in March of that year, my father and I were heading down to Florida to celebrate my birthday.  This annual trip has become a bit of a tradition for us.  So we hopped on the plane and we grabbed a copy of the Baltimore Sun for the flight.  I had been looking for a scalable opportunity that required limited inventory and allowed you to work from anywhere.  On the front page of the paper was an article about deregulation and energy choice.  In the article, they mentioned that only 5% of the market had taken advantage of this opportunity to date.  This opportunity really seemed to fit all of those criteria for my startup. So, I read the article and spoke with my dad about it over the Florida vacation.  When I got home, I did some additional research on the opportunity and I really thought we could pull it off.  Eventually, I went to my friends Phil and Paul because we were always bouncing ideas off of each other.  I was always the crazy one.  I had the more “out there” ideas in the group while they were more grounded.  I never really knew that they were interested in getting involved with something like this.  When I pitched the PointClickSwitch idea, they thought it was a good idea and expressed interest in pursuing it with me.  We worked up a business plan shortly thereafter and we knew that we wanted to be the “Expedia of energy choice.” We got a license, were bonded and insured; we were ready to start selling energy.

Nick: What would you say was your biggest challenge as you got the company up and running?

Jason: I just mentioned that we were ready to start selling energy, but we didn’t have anyone to whom we could sell.  We really underestimated the suppliers’ willingness to work with us.  We thought if we had covered all of our bases and were willing to spend some money, that we would have the opportunity to sell someone else’s product.  This really didn’t work out that easily and became one of our biggest challenges to date.  We now have those suppliers in line but it took a lot of hard work to get us there.  We now have a number of customers on both the residential and commercial sides of the market.

Nick: Talk about customer acquisition.  Who are you targeting with PointClickSwitch?

Jason: Well, PointClickSwitch is designed to be the one-stop shop for residential customers.  We aggregate the 7-10 most competitive offers in the marketplace and present them in a clean and easy to understand manner on our site.  Customers interested in comparing then can Point, Click, and Switch their way towards savings.  We like the comparison opportunity and the one-stop shop opportunity.  We also focus on the commercial side of the business.  The commercial accounts are a bit more complex because of their size.  We provide custom quotes for our commercial clients and are very focused on growing this side of our business as well.

Paul: The numbers tend to lead to the residential side.  Only 23% of the residential market has been penetrated in comparison to 95% of the commercial side.  There is a huge opportunity for us on the residential side.

Nick: Was there ever an interest in energy before reading that article in the paper or was it truly just a read and react to opportunity with no prior experience?

Jason: No, I knew very little about energy before working on MD Energy Advisors and PointClickSwitch.  It seemed like the right opportunity at the right time and it really fit well for us.  Our barriers to entry weren’t astronomical and our capital requirements weren’t high either but it looked like with some sweat equity and know-how we would be able to really bring this together and capitalize on the potential.  We got a lot of bumps and bruises along the way but we have learned a heck of a lot in the process as well.  I think we are positioned really well now to really leverage this market. It’s taken a little while to get this going, probably longer than we ever thought it would, but I think we are positioned well.

Nick: How long has it been start to finish?

Jason: We got licensed in late 2010 without anything to sell.  I’d say we had put in a concerted effort for around 6 months before that.  In the last 6 or 7 months we’ve really been making a big push getting the website up and functional and to build the relationships with the suppliers.  The infrastructure is now there and we are churning very well.

Nick: What are some of the things we will be seeing from PointClickSwitch to really scale the customer base?

Jason: Great question.  Along with developing the infrastructure, we have been fortunate to land some really large clients.  We have been reinvesting the profit to focus on that scaling effort. This summer and fall our residual should start to look very attractive and this will allow us to market our product a whole lot more.  We think you’ll start to see some very interesting things coming from us by the end of the summer.  We are planning some family events where the entrance fee to the event could be as simple as bring your BGE bill to the ballpark or Maryland State Fair or a children’s concert or whatever else it might be.  We want our consumers to see the value proposition and at the same we can save them 14% on their energy bill.  We think it’s very important to note that our customers do not need to change their consumer behavior.  Whether they want to keep the A.C. on 65 degrees during the summer or if they want the heat set to 80 degrees during the winter, we are lowering the price they pay per kilowatt and we can save the average person 14% on their bill.  You still call Baltimore Gas & Electric when the power goes out and you still pay a Baltimore Gas & Electric bill.  Our tagline is “Same Bill, Lower Rate.”  Literally everything else remains the same except the rate you pay per kilowatt.

Nick: When are you planning to pivot into the cell phone bill vertical? I really don’t enjoy seeing that bill in the mail!

Jason: Long term we really want to be the go-to site for all of your monthly expenses.  That’s the big dream or picture for the company.  This is very long term, but whether it’s cable or cell phones or water, we want to be the guys you use to find the most effective source.  We love the idea of being consumer friendly and providing the comparative shopping experience.

About the interviewer: Nick Daley works on consulting and business development in the San Francisco Bay area for Wasabi Ventures. His role is to identify prospective portfolio companies, opportunities, and entrepreneurs to bring into the WV incubation process.Once identified, Nick then manages, coaches, and supports the team.

So let me give you three quick things to think about if you are doing a pitch:

• Get to the point fast! — Many times pitches ramble on and on.  Even 15 minutes in I have no idea what the entrepreneur is trying to accomplish.
• Tell me the “go to market” story. – The biggest thing that start-ups struggle with is marketing and market adoption. Tell me somewhere in the first 10 sentences how you will get people to use what you are building.
• What makes you different? — Very few ideas are original. So tell me succinctly how you are different than the other 100 pitches I have already heard this week.

If founders would follow these quick rules, I would be lucky enough to hear a lot more great pitches.

Wanting to know more about the issue — and what I could do about it — I emailed a former professor of mine (and Catholic priest) to set up a meeting over lunch. When he had heard the story, he advised me that the best thing I could do was to become an autodidact because the church is famously close-mouthed on the subject.

Since then, I haven’t delved deeply into the pages of the Necronomicon or checked out every book on devil worship that I could find at my local library. I’m not sure that’s a road that I want to walk down. I have, however, given some serious thought to what constitutes an autodidact.

The word technically means “self-learner,” but my own concept of an autodidact is someone who has learned a lot about something through his own experience and self-directed education. In other words: a self-made expert.

If you’re reading this blog post right now, you already are an autodidact. Reading blogs, articles, and books about stuff that interests you (like business, for example) is an important part of becoming a self-made expert. So is talking to other experts (Steve Jobs was famous for it). And lots of other things that may seem unrelated but actually aren’t (like journaling and self-examination).

Self-directed learning is a different animal than traditional education. In school, you are handed a report card at the end of every semester and a diploma at the end of four years. This, however, does not certify you as an expert.

I graduated college with a business economics degree and almost immediately went to work for a venture capital company. Very quickly, I discovered how much I didn’t know. And so I sought out the experts, learning all I could from their blogs, their published works, and my conversations with them. It was a long (but enjoyable) process that took almost three years — and still continues today.

And then, last weekend, I had an interesting experience. I found myself meeting with some very extraordinary people (a concert violinist and two very talented writers). Both meetings were over meals, and both times I found myself answering questions about what has become my area of expertise. I wondered: Had I somehow become a self-made expert at online marketing?

The most interesting part of this experience was just how unceremonious the transition was from “know-nothing college graduate” to “low-level expert.” There was no awards ceremony. There was no one telling me that I had “finally made it.” Just people asking me questions that they expected me to be able to answer.

Is that what makes an expert? I don’t know. What I do know is this: I did a lot to lay the groundwork for those conversations beforehand. I developed relationships with these people via email. I did my homework learning about their businesses and what they needed. And, of course, I had spent a few years developing my own skills. All of this preparation meant that when we sat down together, they were willing to listen to me.

At that point, all I had to do was be myself.

About the author: John J. Walters is a social media marketer with Wasabi Ventures, director of marketing with TestSoup, and a research associate with The Maryland Public Policy Institute.

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I was a construction inspector working with line crews that build overhead electric power transmission lines. Following written construction designs, the crews use massive crane trucks to insert enormous seventy- to eighty-foot wood poles in the ground. Then they go back to string heavy-gauge conductor (wire) between them. It’s tough, dirty, and sometimes dangerous work.

The men on these crews are weather-beaten, hard-living, all-American linemen. Good men, straight out of the union hall, they have the surly countenance of loggers and roughnecks and are not apt to suffer fools gladly. These men do not practice yoga and burn incense.

I was working with such a crew in the hot, windswept backcountry of Eastern Oregon when I found fault with the work they had just completed. In sighting down a half-mile-long line stretch of six poles, one pole was clearly out of spec, two to three feet out of alignment with the others.

I pointed out the problem to the crusty foreman. To correct the error, he would have to order his men to go back with the heavy equipment, remove the poorly placed pole from the ground, fill in the old hole, drill a new hole, and then reset the pole in the proper alignment. My foreman was not pleased. Nobody likes to do the same job twice, especially when there is a degree of humiliation attached.

I will never forget his grizzled scowl and clear disdain for college boy inspectors like me as he spit on the ground, glared at me and growled, “We’re building a (expletive) power line, not a (expletive) clock!”

Well, the pole was out of alignment, and his crew did go back to reset it properly, but his power line/clock analogy has stuck with me through the years. That cut-to-the-bone comment, however off-target in that particular circumstance, is an enduring reminder that the quality of work must not exceed the required result.

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About the author: Sam Carpenter is the author of Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less. He has founded the Work the System Academy to help others get a grip on their lives and run their businesses more effectively.

As an example, this last week I observed  the attitudes of two young men, roughly the same age, mid-twenties, similar ethnic, family, and educational background, and both with a name that begin with the letter “A”, so I’ll refer to them as Adam and Arthur.

Adam is an assistant harbor master in Portland, Oregon. In case you are unfamiliar with Portland, let me tell you that the weather this time of year is lousy; windy, cold, rainy, and sometimes snowy.  In the midst of it, we find Adam, always working outside on some project that needs attending too and always cordial.  This time of year his work includes a daily ritual of cleaning the docks because the local Canadian geese and duck population use such docks as their sleeping porch and their own version of a public restroom; messy to say the least.  Adam’s comment regarding this less-than-attractive duty (with a smile on his face) “hey it’s not the best part of the job, but I have a job!” I’ve never noticed Adam at a loss for something to do; he is proactive and self-motivated.

Contrast this with the attitude of Arthur, also a Portlander.  A data entry specialist able to work from his own home office, he works a set 40 hours per week, but can work those 40 hours on whatever schedule he chooses. Arthur expresses annoyance at having to attend a monthly online staff meeting at a pre-set time each month, is “bored” with his work and wants the  employer to elevate the job description to include more responsibility (even though he has not yet mastered the fundamentals of the current position).  Proactivity doesn’t seem to be wired into his temperament; someone needs to spoon feed each next step.  He has verbally expressed disbelief that  others his age would even consider working more than 40 hours  a week.

Oh, if an employer could wave a magic wand and pre-determine a potential employees attitude!  Of course that’s not an option but, there are things would-be employers can do.  Why not profile a potential employee’s communication and personality temperament prior to hire? During the interview process, role-play a few scenarios to see how a potential employee would handle certain situations that may occur at your place of business.  Get your potential employees talking about themselves in the context of what goals they have for this year or the next. If they struggle with that question, it may cause you to question their approach to life and work in general. You might ask them to share a story with you about someone they admire, and why — this type of dialog can be very telling.

Will any of this provide empirical proof that you are about to make a great hire?  No, but it can give you a bit more breadth of knowledge in regards to a potential employee’s overall attitude about life and work.

About the author: Tracy Parks is CEO of Simplicated, LLC, Productivity Consultant, trainer and speaker.

Since launching Wasabi Media Group in 2008, I have spent a decent amount of time building, designing, redesigning, brainstorming, etc.  However, I cannot take credit for every great idea that has made its way to a live site.  In fact, I can’t even claim to have had the inspiration for the majority of new elements at WMG.

So, where do these brilliant ideas come from?  Members of the WMG team, friends, and family have contributed numerous suggestions on how to improve the company.  Regardless to whether it is an idea from a columnist or a life-long friend, it is something that I consider.  From these suggestions we have added many great features.

The key to receiving these ideas is to have an open door or, in my case, an open email policy.  I let my team members know that I am interested in any suggestions that they have.  When the suggested feature is implemented, I make sure that credit is given to that team member.

Thanks to the creativity of my team, we have added an assortment of features.  Among the items that we have added are ratings guides, advice columns, and opinion polls.  We also have found specialists and new team members based on the recommendations of current team members.

Rather than making the growth of my company a solitary project, I have enlisted many others to help.  Because of that, we are always innovating and growing.  Perhaps it is time you looked inside your team for some extra creativity.

About the author: Michele Pesula Kuegler is founder and CEO of Wasabi Media Group.

Having spent a few months now going to pitch events, meeting entrepreneurs and performing due diligence, I see that the role involves non-stop energy and an almost shameless degree of friendliness. It’s also been an incredibly eye-opening experience because by seeing the gaps in other startups, it made me realize the shortcomings of my own efforts as an entrepreneur.

I’ve realized a few key things I would like to share. First, it is ALMOST NEVER the case, that what turns me or another VC off about a startup is the fact that they aren’t different or groundbreaking enough. Certain industries (the ones worth investing in) are typically large enough that more than 1 startup can exist and do well; the competition is healthy, and the entrepreneurs stay focused. It is the startups which claim they are “totally different” that are usually neither different, nor completely thought out in terms of their business strategy.

9.999 out of every 10 times, the biggest issue with a company is that it cannot address a fundamental question which I will ask them. The most common deal breakers are, “Who is your customer?” “Why do you have so many people on your team” “Who are the competitors in this space?” (Funny enough, almost all entrepreneurs see that last question as a trap and will answer with the default “No one is doing what we are doing”– HINT: WRONG ANSWER! This almost always makes me think either they don’t know the landscape, or the idea just isn’t worth doing.)

The other key piece relates to fundraising. Money is important and most startups are built to solve a problem and generate the revenue necessary to keep addressing that problem. Again, fundamental issues. “Why are you trying to raise $1 Million Dollars?” [A: "We THINK that is the right amount."] “Has anyone invested yet?” [A: "No, but I feel strongly about a few promising leads and I am confident we can close out a round quickly."] Neither of those answers work for me, yet I hear them (and have no doubt said them myself) routinely.

The 2 big problems with fundraising, which anyone who has tried will know, is that it is A) incredibly distracting (indeed, with the boom and buzz around startups– especially in target cities– a CEO can spend all of his time jumping from one event to the next, trying to raise money, and never really get anywhere), and B) it is the CEOs job. Unfortunately, the CEO also has another pretty important job, and that is running the company…

The crucial point I want to make here is that I have made all these missteps and mistakes myself. Many times. And probably will continue with some of these as I develop. So have all other entrepreneurs I have spoken to, including the wildly successful ones. In fact, the wildly successful ones have probably committed these errors more than once. These are the growing pains of being an entrepreneur. These are the times when you need to stay “hungry and foolish”– to quote one entrepreneur who changed the game and no doubt had a heaping dose of setbacks along the way.

When working on (and especially when leading) a startup, it is almost a guarantee that you will get so caught up in what you are doing that you forget to look back on what you have done so far. And there are always 1 million things to do every day. Where did you succeed? Where did you fail? Did getting into TechCrunch really launch my company? (NO!)

It is no secret that one can learn more from a failure than from a success. In an early stage startup with a good team of first or even second-time entrepreneurs, nothing is more important than the mentorship which a team receives. The mentorship is what provides that 50,000 foot view; a fresh perspective. And that is where my role (and the Wasabi Ventures model) comes in.

About the author: Bobby Touran is an entrepreneur and founder of several startups. Bobby’s specialties are business development, team building, and management. Prior to working with Wasabi Ventures, Bobby has been involved in both advisory and operational roles for start-ups in the Consumer Internet vertical, especially mobile and retail.