Jan 2, 2019 · 25m · a16z
a16z Podcast | When Fantasy Football and Crowdfunding Collide
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
On this episode of the a16z Podcast, host Michael Copeland speaks with Tilt CEO James Beshara and ESPN SVP Ryan Spoon about their high-impact partnership bringing payment pooling to fantasy football leagues. The discussion explores startup-corporate collaboration, digital fan engagement, and ESPN's broader strategies around personalization and mobile distribution.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. How this is scored →
The host as informed peer 2.0 Guest teaching 3.8 Guest disagreement 0.5 The host pushing back 1.2
speaking balance: gold is the host, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 17:25 Curt rejection of dunk contest proposal
James Beshara recounts pitching a live crowdfunding campaign for LeBron James in the dunk contest, which Ryan Spoon briskly rejected as unviable for ESPN.
Hardest push from the host ▶ 16:28 Prompting guest on sensitive unapproved pitchMichael Copeland intentionally presses Beshara to reveal a rejected product idea despite ESPN lawyers advising him to tiptoe around the subject.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:41 Educating host on ESPN fantasy metricsRyan Spoon details the overwhelming scope of ESPN fantasy sports, noting 15 million players and over 1.5 billion fantasy minutes logged.
The host holds their own ▶ 18:10 Contextualizing user data monetizationMichael Copeland demonstrates domain awareness by connecting guest data strategies to earlier panel debates on data extraction versus mutual value.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | The host as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | The host pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aligning Crowdfunding Software with Fantasy Football Leagues | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | The host acts as a facilitator asking basic clarifying questions about how the partnership began. Ryan Spoon educates the host on the massive scale of ESPN fantasy sports, pointing out 15 million players and 1.5 billion engagement minutes. The tone is entirely friendly and collaborative. | |
| The Technical Co-Branded Product Experience | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | Copeland prompts the guests to discuss the technical risks and trust needed for a major corporate entity to partner with a two-year-old startup. Guests explain technical details around PCI compliance, tight sports launch calendars, and launch day traffic spikes. The dynamic remains lighthearted with banter about personal fantasy team auto-drafts. | |
| Engaging Sports Fan Communities and Native Social Sharing | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | The host opens with a broad question about sports community dynamics. Ryan Spoon takes the lead, breaking down ESPN's identity strategy, native social sharing via Twitter cards, and triggering sharing during key fantasy moments. The exchange is purely informational with zero conflict. | |
| Offline Realizations and Creative Pitch Concepts | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | Copeland prompts Beshara to reveal an unapproved product concept regarding a dunk contest crowdfunding drive. Beshara humorously details how Spoon swiftly rejected the proposal, providing a brief moment of mild narrative disagreement between the guests. | |
| Data Personalization, User Identity, and Content Monetization | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | Copeland frames the discussion using insights from earlier conference panels regarding data collection ethics. Spoon explains ESPN's user personalization efforts, login migration successes, and real-time clip delivery during college football Saturdays. | |
| Evolving Content Distribution and the Mobile 'Front Door' | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | The host compares ESPN's distribution strategy to BuzzFeed's distributed media model discussed earlier. Spoon elaborates on ESPN's strong front door homepage alongside a shift where 55 percent of users are mobile-only, while Beshara details Tilt's viral user acquisition loops. |
Statements from this episode (15)
ESPN signed multiple startup deals from one a16z executive briefing day
“And in six hours probably met 15 companies. This was one of them. And we walked out of there actually with a couple deals, a couple interesting partnerships.”
ESPN expects to reach 15 million fantasy sports players this year
“We'll have, I think across all of our fantasy games this year, fifteen million players.”
ESPN digital hit 10 billion monthly minutes, 1.5 billion from fantasy
“This past month was, across ESPN, our historically great month. Year over year, across multiple, you know measurements, 30, 40% growth. We had ten billion minutes across all ESPN digital. Across all digital. And over one and a half billion of that was fantasy.”
Sunday is ESPN digital's busiest day despite lacking Sunday NFL broadcasts
“Our most active day of the year is Sunday. And coincidentally, we do not have NFL Sunday on our air. Fantasy makes a big chunk of that.”
Tilt's largest user demographic is 18 to 24 year olds
“Our biggest demographic is 18 to 24 year olds”
Requiring Facebook logins elevates online comment and engagement quality for ESPN
“And simple things like using Facebook as a qualifier for conversation. It lifts the quality of engagement.”
Native Twitter video playback is ESPN's fastest-growing video segment
“Fastest growing part of our video business is, you know, again, frictionless, one click video play within the Twitter feed.”
A fantasy football league raised $6,000 on Tilt for a draft party
“There was a draft party, I think we saw one that was like 6000 dollars to rent out an entire bar because it had the biggest, like 120 foot big screen that they wanted to use for their draft.”
ESPN rejected Tilt's pitch for a Magic Johnson-led LeBron dunk campaign
“We mocked something up overnight, and sent it to Ryan. I was like, we need to do this to where Magic Johnson is hosting a crowdfunding campaign, branded ESPN for LeBron, to the, to do the dunk contest. I thought it was, ah, slam dunk. Actually, that was no pun…”
ESPN SportsCenter app logged-in user rate grew from 0% to 70%
“Over the last year, you know, we put a gate up in front of our largest Mobile apps, SportsCenter and in a year went from zero percent of people logged in because they were customizing to the device as opposed to the user name, and it's now, you know, around 70…”
ESPN.com is being fully redesigned around personalized user content
“We're in the process and it's in beta now with a about a 100,000 randomly sampled users, but we're gonna totally redesign ESPN.com, and a very significant chunk of the real estate across all pages is specifically for you versus me.”
ESPN sends personalized video clip alerts within 15 seconds of live plays
“On Saturday, we will cut a thousand live clips from football Across college football, and we'll buzz your phone within 15 seconds of those plays happening on the field.”
Over 55% of ESPN users exclusively access content on mobile devices
“Last month, 55% of our users exclusively accessed us on a mobile device.”
Two out of 12 Tilt fantasy football users start separate campaigns
“Our platform grows pretty virally, you use it for a fantasy football league, and out of those 12 people two will split off, start their own campaign, and they'll do it for a draft party, a tailgate, a late night party, a group trip, or something like that.”