Spogo was startup I worked on with David Shack and Andrew Vassallo from April 2013 to July 2014 when it was acquired by Buzztime.

I was the CTO and the only engineer on the team. Leveraging my sports stats gaming experience with Stattleship, I built a stats, gaming, prediction and reward redemption engines. It was my first iOS app and actually built it with RubyMotion, which was a new language at the time.

In the beginning, games were curated and written by the Spogo team. By 2014, the engine could create its own games by analyzing prior game, player and team stats and come up with reasonabkle multiple choice prop-bet quesrions.

Unlike fantasy sports or today’s online sports betting, Spogo rewarded players with points for correect guesses that could be reedeemes for food and drink at local bars and restaurants.

What is (was) Spogo?

Spogo is (was) a mobile app that enables sports fans to make predictions as they watch live games. Spogo prompts users with questions—anything from “Who scores next?” to “What color Gatorade will be dumped on the coach’s head at the end of the game?” Correct predictions are rewarded with points, which are used to redeem rewards like food, beer, tickets and gear from a range of partners.

Rewards Made Us Different

Spogo provides users with an extra incentive to play an already fun and interactive game. Rewarding users with compelling, instant rewards—anything from a free pitcher of beer to a free plate of wings—is a special experience. And it isn’t offered by anyone in the predictive gaming space, a noteworthy differentiator for Spogo. Our rewards platform also helps venues attract and retain loyal customers!

Your Very Own Bar Buddy

Spogo is infused with the personality of a fan’s very own “bar buddy.” Just asking for the outcome of the next play—every single play—gets stale quickly. Spogo users will be able to answer questions like “Will we see a car or fast food commercial during the next break?” or “How many times will Gronk spike the ball today?” This livens the experience and keeps the game feeling new and fun every single time the app is opened.

We Had Some Early Traction

Early traction metrics from the first five weeks (mid August-September 2013) of live Spogo:

• 1,525 user installs (~65% male, majority in Boston, followed by NYC and Providence)
• 75% of installs have completed profile with email, DOB, gender
• 35,000 individual wagers made
• 120 reward redemptions
• 5,000 shares of activity over Twitter, Facebook, email and text message

A map of one Sunday of Spogo wagers and redemptions.

Press Coverage, Marketing and Promotions

During the first few weeks we garnered great coverage from the Boston Globe, SportTechie and BostInno. With the iOS 7 update available, NFL in full swing, and MLB playoffs underway, we’re making a significant promotional push over the next several weeks with in-venue promotions, targeted mobile advertising and some non-traditional viral campaigns. User acquisition is the number one priority, every day.

There are a number of local market partnerships we have in discussions that will improve our visibility to prospective users.

Promo Video

A fun promo video for Spogo. I don’t know the actors, but they gave it their all.