In the sports tech arena, there is one entrepreneur who has really taken the scene by storm: Jason Jaramillo. He is the founder of StatHero, a first-of-its-kind, next-level fantasy sports platform that combines the best of fantasy sports, the instant gratification of a sportsbook, and survivor pools. Since its founding in 2019, the company has exploded in growth! Competing in online contests across a variety of professional sports, players’ only competition is StatHero itself, not the other players in a contest. StatHero allows players to play daily fantasy the way it was meant to be played: one-on-one.
Home Business Magazine recently had the opportunity to catch up with Jaramillo to learn more about StatHero. The successful entrepreneur was happy to share what inspired him to launch StatHero, his greatest achievement so far with his thriving company, and the biggest challenge he overcame in his business journey. He goes on to share helpful tips for those who want to launch their own apps and more!
HBM: Tell us about StatHero. What separates it from other fantasy sports gaming platforms?
JJ: “StatHero was created to solve three major problems in the industry: Time, Competition, and Fun. In traditional fantasy sports, too much time is needed to be competitive. Spending hours on research with little chance to win runs stale quickly. StatHero solved this by showing you lineups you can face ahead of time. No tricks. You choose a lineup and just have to beat it. That’s it.
Another DFS problem StatHero solved is the competition you are facing. 85% of fantasy sports players lose. Why? Because you are playing experts and thousands of other players for 1 prize. You know who you face with StatHero. You will always know who and what lineup you are facing at all times. No other fantasy sports company does that. My goal was to take the mystery away and give the player the advantage.
Finally, let’s talk about the fun of daily fantasy. Playing anything is only fun when you have a realistic shot at winning. We want to make sure every time a player faces us, they are in complete control. It is completely on them. No tricks. No algorithms. Just you vs. lil old StatHero.
We feel that we’re Daily Fantasy Sports the way it was meant to be: one-on-one.
Everything we do is for the player and this hybrid of daily fantasy and sports betting has exploded onto the scene with the best player odds in all of sports gaming. Average players are winning upwards of 50% of the time and skilled players are up over 60%. There’s no other fantasy sports platform that has that player win rate, not even close.”
HBM: What inspired you to launch this app?
JJ: “The whole reason I created StatHero was to create a disruptive venture that brought fantasy sports in the conversation with sports betting. There is so much potential for this industry — being able to offer this hybrid has been wildly successful. I want to turn that success towards my passion, which is a deep love of animals. There are so many animals in the world who aren’t given a chance. There are so many cruel practices that happen worldwide. I plan to utilize the success of StatHero to start to make an impact in that world.”
HBM: What has been your greatest achievement in your business journey with StatHero?
JJ: “Wow, great question! There have been so many little achievements, but my personal favorite is the acceptance from our players. We may have thought our idea was the greatest, but the true fantasy sports players were the judges. Especially today, the fantasy sports/sports betting industry is getting saturated with many ‘me too’ products. To have our idea not only played by thousands of players, but the money they are spending is 3X more than traditional fantasy sports. I can’t be more appreciative to the players who share in our vision.”
HBM: What was the biggest challenge you overcame in launching your company?
JJ: “Well, the easy answer here is COVID-19 — we launched our beta in October of 2019 and then had all sports stop around March. For a fledgling sports gaming company, that was a big deal. But, I won’t take the easy answer here, and I’d say the biggest challenge was being ready when all the sports came back all at once around Aug of 2020. That was a huge undertaking for my team to endure and then dealing with the unexpected game cancellations or players being late scratches due to COVID-19 contact. It’s never been a more fluid sports environment and the team has never been more agile in addressing our new normal. We were baptized into that world and I think we’ve come out of it better than most.”
HBM: What tips do you have for others who want to launch their own apps?
JJ: “Focus on the user experience. That’s first and foremost. Second, make sure you have a robust and strong back end but keep that complexity invisible to the user experience. Easy, engaging, and rich experiences are the secret sauce to app creation.”
HBM: How do you balance everything as an entrepreneur?
JJ: “While sleep does come at a premium, it helps to surround yourself with a good team. Good people with open minds that are nimble and willing to do what others may not helps tremendously. That plus a maniacal focus on customer impacting items always taking priority. Having the focus on what is most important helps to anchor everything else, which makes it easier to balance things.”
HBM: Where do you hope to see StatHero in 3 years?
JJ: “In 3 years we want to be a household name. We’ll continue to innovate and create fantasy sports gaming experiences that mimic true sports betting but with the fun and skill of fantasy. We’ll continue to connect with the fans at a level the big behemoths can’t and bridge the two worlds of sports betting with fantasy. Oh, and having a ton of fun doing it. Really, there’s nothing better than getting those texts from our players thanking us for what we’ve brought to market… we won’t let them down.”
