In February 2023, I made the bold decision to leave my six-figure job with JP Morgan's corporate/investment banking division. I was driven to leave by my passion for starting companies and building great products for people. With no specific plan in mind, I simply resigned and went on a skiing trip with my sister.
Upon returning, I took up a job as a bartender to cover the high rent in Downtown Toronto. During this time, I was in the process of buying a company, but unfortunately, the deal fell through, leaving me in a state of panic. It was during this period that an idea struck me - sports betting was all the rage, so why not craft a product that transforms a winning bet slip into a tangible trophy?
After asking friends and family, I believed that this idea had potential. We worked diligently for months with a manufacturer that could print every sports betting trophy on demand, allowing customers to personalize their winning bet details.
With the goal of launching before the start of the NFL season in September 2023, our team worked tirelessly to build a website that allowed customers to input every detail from their winning bet. We were thrilled as we approached the launch, at this time, we were operating under the name Parlay Plaque Co. However, we have since rebranded as TrophyTitan due to expanding our product offering.
Two months after the launch, sales had been disappointingly sluggish, with only two of our sports betting trophies finding homes, thanks largely to word-of-mouth referrals from friends. While we firmly believe in the appeal of our product, its marketability has hit a snag. Each social media platform flagged us, unjustly lumping us with heavyweight bookmakers like BetMGM, DraftKings, and FanDuel. Despite Meta's (the owner of Facebook and Instagram) policy permitting the sale of gambling-related items such as poker chips, we found ourselves excluded from this category. Consequently, our advertising efforts were blocked, making it a Herculean task to reach our target audience of sports betting enthusiasts.
Undeterred, we pivoted our strategy to forging partnerships with major betting sites. While I can't divulge specific names due to ongoing negotiations, we remain hopeful of securing a deal to showcase our product on their platforms. However, despite numerous meetings with high ranking senior executives, these discussions stalled over the holiday season.
In January 2024, we shifted our focus to our second product, the Fantasy Football Trophy. This is the first fully custom fantasy trophy designed to display player-by-player details from both your and your opponent's chosen lineups, along with the league name, your team's name, record, and, of course, the total score from the fantasy championship matchup. We launched the product on January 1st, right after the conclusion of Fantasy Football Championships.
As of February 1st, 2024, we have sold 50 units of our personalized Fantasy Football Trophy. Two international customers, one from Ipswich in the UK and another from New South Wales in Australia, have also purchased our product. Initially, customers had to manually provide details, which took around 10 to 15 minutes and introduced the possibility of errors. However, we recently introduced a Quick Fill Feature that streamlines the process by allowing customers to upload screenshots from their fantasy league championship, saving time for our customers.
We are thrilled with the response so far and remain excited about the potential of our game-changing Fantasy Football Trophy. We are grateful to our customers, especially our first international customer from Australia, who kindly allowed us to share his experience on social media.
