Episode 184
Ep. 184: Fantasy football puzzles for the masses w/ Brian Birt from Griddy
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Owen
Monagan
Show Notes
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/
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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.
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.