Ep. 184: Fantasy football puzzles for the masses w/ Brian Birt from Griddy

Ep. 184 features Brian Birt, founder of Griddy, the fantasy football puzzle game bringing year-round engagement to sports fans. Hear him discuss: - His journey from childhood sports fanatic to building products at Sleeper and launching Griddy - How Griddy turns fantasy football into a strategic, bite-sized mobile game playable 365 days a year - Solving the seasonality problem in fantasy sports with an innovative “chemistry” team-building mechanic - Why he intentionally built Griddy as a free-to-play game without real money components - How a community-driven approach led to 30,000 users and 3M+ games played with zero ad spend - The role of Reddit and storytelling in driving organic, founder-led growth - Lessons from Sleeper: building trust and community before monetization - Finding product–market fit through retention and user obsession, not growth hacks - Getting early believers on the cap table, including Joel Simkins from XST Capital, and why he seeks to preserve optionality for future capital needs - How psychological resilience and consistency fuel startup success - What’s next for Griddy, from new game modes and rewards to expansion into other sports and fandoms Catch the video version of this episode here. Learn more 👇 ➡️ Griddy website ➡️ Brian Birt on Linkedin 📩 Get the top headlines from the industry's most promising growth-stage companies every week—totally free! Subscribe to the Betting Startups newsletter here: https://news.bettingstartups.com/ -- This podcast is presented by Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry. Since 2012, Optimove has served iGaming Operators from startups to industry leaders. Today, 4 out of the Top 5 US Operators Personalize Player Experiences with Optimove. iGaming operators know their growth journey begins and continues with Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry.