Occupying a space within such a clogged environment goes hand-in-hand with a plethora of critical challenges. Doing so as a fresh entrant heightens these somewhat, while targeting a highly sought after jurisdiction raises them to stratospheric levels.
This was the mountain that faced Strive Gaming upon the company’s founding in 2021, with a continued ascent seeing sustained progress being made across the North American iGaming landscape.
In his latest conversation with SBC Americas, CEO, Max Meltzer, looks back at the initial hopes from years gone by, assesses the array of challenges that accompanies setting up from scratch, and offers advice to others who may stride down a similar path.
A new enterprise emerges
Following a monumental ruling in 2018, the floodgates opened as the industry descended on the U.S. Some three years later, a new kid on the block surfaced with lofty expectations and ambitions.
This has witnessed sustained efforts to significantly enhance its influence and, ultimately, success, despite being faced with an intense and fiercely competitive environment. A strategy that has ultimately led the group north across the border.
Reflecting on the experience of setting up a company, Meltzer succinctly describes these early days as “a roller coaster, every day”. However, a significant degree of satisfaction is clear when evaluating those initial ambitions, and the growth that has been achieved as a result.
“We are a beautifully sized business with just over 50 people globally including Canada, U.S., Malta, UK and Brazil,” he says.
“A team that punches way above our weight and competes against billion dollar valued businesses and consistently wins. Maybe we are talking David v Goliath but David is a very agile, well trained, innovative guy!”
How do you survive long-term?
Making loud and confident statements is one thing, backing them up is another entirely. Demonstrating this ability and therefore breathing confidence into current and potential clients is key, alongside manoeuvring beyond any headwinds that you could be faced with.
It is inevitable that a number of challenges will be met during a company’s lifetime, with Strive Gaming certainly not averse to this.
Meltzer points towards changing market dynamics as some of the major obstacles that have been met, with M&A specified as having had a huge impact on the group.
“We’ve had deals with Golden Nugget then they were acquired by DraftKings (we still serve them in Arizona), we’ve had deals with Fanatics and many others I can’t share, and this stops launches from going ahead because of tech acquired,” he continues.
“We’ve just had to adapt. The reality of any founder or start-up business is the original vision and plan has to adapt to market dynamics, you need to be agile and investors need to back your ability to adapt.”
On a more grand scale, industry-wide changes are commonplace, arguably now more than ever. While these can often be incredibly divisive in nature, one recent theme has proven to be rather uniting.
A legislative clampdown is being evidenced across numerous jurisdictions, with this trend singled out as being particularly significant for the sector.
“Over regulation, including over taxation, is particularly damaging for operators and B2B providers like us and drives bad operators and activities, we are seeing a lot of this at the moment,” Meltzer notes.
Tricks of the trade
Establishing your own organisation and subsequently swelling its size and influence comes with a steep learning curve. Many stumbling blocks will be encountered, and the lessons gleaned are plentiful.
With this in mind, attention swiftly switches to what advice would be offered to those that could perhaps be pondering setting up their own company in the present day.
Don’t wait to take the risk, he says, as setting up a business is a highly rewarding experience.
“Try your best to get the product into some sort of shape to bring it to investors,” Meltzer explains. “A deck that isn’t just a PowerPoint but a product experience sells your product to possible investors.
“Make sure you position why you know the target market fits better than anyone else. You may not even need investors that early in and you should be highly protective over your equity and not creating complex cap tables and shareholder agreements.
“There are alternatives to investing too, such as user acquisition financing the likes of Discerning Capital and Sharp Alpha are providing. Figure out your route to market that suits you, have a clear vision, know who you want to approach and stick to your guns.”
Despite all of the above, the undoubted elephant in the room concerns what is ultimately the key critical component of success for any business. Money.
While this is a natural complement for continuing to soar, investment rounds can also be necessary in building a solid platform for the future.
Meltzer concludes by touching on the experience of the US-focused player account management platform in raising funds, as well as the associated difficulties.
“Raising money is as much about the Founders story as anything else. Investors need to believe in you as founders,” he says.
“Will you see it through the ups and downs, will you be able to adapt. That’s what we learnt raising over eight digit millions for Strive.”
