Gaming VCs survey: esports

I compiled responses from several VC investors on where they see opportunities for esports startups right now:

Read it here on TechCrunch >>

7 VCs talk about today’s esports opportunities

TC Interview: Delane Parnell’s plan to conquer amateur esports

Los Angeles-based PlayVS  (pronounced “play versus”) wants to become the dominant platform for amateur esports, starting at the high school level. The company raised $46 million last year—its first year operating—with the vision that owning the infrastructure for competitions and expanding it to encompass other social elements of gaming can make it the largest gaming company in the world.

I recently sat down with Founder & CEO Delane Parnell  to talk about his company’s formation and growth strategy.  Read the transcript on TechCrunch >>

Delane Parnell’s plan to conquer amateur esports

Zwift & fitness-gaming’s superiority over interactive fitness videos

(This was originally a section of today’s Monetizing Media newsletter. Sign up here.)

Happy Sunday night, media friends. Great to see many of you over drinks in London and LA recently. Shout out to Hummingbird VC and Sinai VC for co-hosting those events. I’ll be at the Milken Conference this week so if you’re in town for it reach out.

Zwift: interactive fitness vs. fitness-gaming

I interviewed Zwift CEO/Founder Eric Min in TechCrunch, discussing the virtual cycling company’s product evolution, numerous potential revenue streams, and Olympic esports ambitions.

Interactive fitness startups are a hot trend right now, following Peloton’s mainstream breakthrough. As it’s preparing to IPO, other “Peloton for X” startups like Tonal, Mirror, and Hydrow are raising substantial sums. Scooter Braun and Rumble are teaming up for a boxing one called At Home 360.

These combine the upfront purchase of workout hardware with monthly subscriptions to access live-streamed or recorded workout videos. It’s a smart business because it taps into “content as a utility”…content that is framed as a providing concrete outcomes in areas where we are used to spending a lot of money (health, education). The hardware purchase creates a sunk cost bias that makes customers resistant to stop subscribing.

What Zwift is doing taps into what I consider a bigger, more defensible opportunity however: fitness-gaming. Cyclists can put their bike on a trainer at home (which makes it stay in place) and ride with other players inside a virtual course where their characters’ looks, movements, and power corresponds to their own.

Because users are represented as players within a social game, there is the benefit of network effects, opportunity for in-game commerce and an audience viewing the competition.

In Zwift’s case, it’s developing a full-force virtual cycling league that involved real like pro cyclists and that he aims to get included in the Olympics as a cycling event. (Read the interview here)

Interview with Eric Min, CEO of Zwift

I interviewed Zwift CEO/Founder Eric Min in TechCrunch, discussing the virtual cycling company’s product evolution, numerous potential revenue streams, and Olympic esports ambitions.

Interactive fitness startups are a hot trend right now, following Peloton’s mainstream breakthrough. As it’s preparing to IPO, other “Peloton for X” startups like Tonal, Mirror, and Hydrow are raising substantial sums. Scooter Braun and Rumble are teaming up for a boxing one called At Home 360.

These combine the upfront purchase of workout hardware with monthly subscriptions to access live-streamed or recorded workout videos. It’s a smart business because it taps into “content as a utility”…content that is framed as a providing concrete outcomes in areas where we are used to spending a lot of money (health, education). The hardware purchase creates a sunk cost bias that makes customers resistant to stop subscribing.

What Zwift is doing taps into what I consider a bigger, more defensible opportunity however: fitness-gaming. Cyclists can put their bike on a trainer at home (which makes it stay in place) and ride with other players inside a virtual course where their characters’ looks, movements, and power corresponds to their own.

Because users are represented as players within a social game, there is the benefit of network effects, opportunity for in-game commerce and an audience viewing the competition.

In Zwift’s case, it’s developing a full-force virtual cycling league that involved real like pro cyclists and that he aims to get included in the Olympics as a cycling event. (Read the interview here)