Joel Packer

Player props, uptime, and customizable trading strategies are top priorities for today’s sports betting operators. 🎯🏈 In this short clip, Francesco Borgosano, CEO at Huddle, breaks down the biggest themes he sees across operators - from the rising demand for player props to the importance of uptime as in-play wagering surpasses pre-match handle for many sportsbooks. ▶️ Watch the full interview: https://lnkd.in/eYaPQh5M #DataArt #DataArtMedia #Huddle #sportsbetting #sportsbiz #iGaming #sportstech 

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Most CRO agencies would fail at Hyperice. Here's why: Hyperice is Fortune Magazine's "Most Innovative Companies" 2021. They're the Official Recovery Partner of the NBA, MLB, UFC, and PGA TOUR. You can't run generic best practices on a brand at that level. No countdown timers. No aggressive pop-ups. No cheap conversion tactics. Everything needs to respect the brand. That's the constraint. That's where most agencies fail. We ran 50+ A/B tests. Created 29 landing pages. Made countless UX improvements. Every single one brand-appropriate. One example: Mobile users couldn't tell the difference between Hypervolt models. We added a compare feature. Clean. Simple. On-brand. Result: 6.2% conversion rate lift. The program results: $934,000 additional monthly revenue. 78x ROI. Significant AOV and CVR increases. But the real result: Optimization that respected a Fortune-recognized brand partnered with world-class sports leagues. Premium brands need different optimization. Research-backed. Brand-respectful. Strategic. Document breakdown below 👇 Get a free CRO assessment: splitbase.com/assessment

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Three Things I Learned In SaaS, Sports, Tech & Live Events 1. The FTC is finally cracking down on brokers. Key Investment Group is the first to draw the agencies’ ire, but they won’t be the last. The FTC effectively called its next shots by listing companies similar to Key and putting them on notice. Key’s defense is similar to that of many brokers: “Other people are doing it, and Ticketmaster is the bad guy, so we should be allowed to break the law to illicitly profit from an industry we bring no value to.” Putting aside how hollow an existence it must be to spend one’s life in a business built solely on ripping people off, there is an interesting trend bubbling up that we’ve mentioned here before: They’re starting to get caught. And they have no leg to stand on. “The guy next to me was speeding too” doesn’t get anyone out of a speeding ticket. Too many are ripping off content providers on a massive scale. It would be a terrific use of taxpayer dollars—and an easy PR win—to hold these brokers accountable. I hope they do. And I hope the penalties are real this time to deter others from mirroring what Key and others before them, like Wise Guys, did. These actions will have significant downstream effects. The secondary marketplaces will feel it first, starting with Vivid. FTR: I actually like the honest brokers. It’s dishonesty I loathe. 2. That Brand Name Isn’t What It Once Was We recruit a lot. As such, we often receive résumés from companies we recognize. Some of the common names we’re told are positives: GrubHub, StubHub, Eventbrite, Vivid Seats, etc. There’s a common theme in these businesses: their stocks have cratered. For years, we watched companies grow without discipline—or real profit. I feel for those caught in the fallout now. When I’m looking for a top executive, I need someone who knows how to build a business that can turn a profit. Not someone whose only experience scaling is throwing money around. That’s the easy part. And we can’t pay for that experience. It isn’t a positive—it’s a big negative. 3. “Impossible Is Just Something to Do.” – Phillip Brooks (aka CM Punk) We started a small business for my high school son this month. He’s learning about arbitrage, profit, taxes, state licenses, and legal compliance by running a collectibles business we’ve incorporated in California. I gave him seed money to fund his company and told him he’d need to make a return on it before college. That’s our goal together. He asked: “What was the return on your investment in TicketManager?” It’s hard to calculate with other investors coming in later, but here’s the simple math: Joe, Aric, and I invested a total of $67,000 between the three of us in August of 2007. The last valuation: $110M+ (not including salaries and bonuses along the way). CM Punk, in tears reflecting on how he had just achieved his childhood dream of main-eventing WrestleMania, offered a new mantra in our home: “Impossible is just something to do.”

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If you don't know your LTV by payment plan, you're flying blind. Most high-ticket coaches think they're collecting 80%+ on payment plans. Reality? It's closer to 50-60%. That gap is costing you $50K-$200K+ annually. Here's the LTV tracking system I use for info/coaching businesses: MONTHLY (1st of each month): → Export Stripe data (last 30 days) → Update total collected per client → Calculate collection % by plan → Flag clients >30 days late → Update dashboard QUARTERLY (Every 90 days): → Review collection rates by plan → Identify drop-off patterns → Calculate average LTV per plan → Make pricing recommendations RED FLAGS TO WATCH: - Collection rate <50% on any plan - 3+ failed payments from same client - Pattern of drop-offs at specific month (e.g., all 6-pay clients quit Month 4) WHAT THIS DATA TELLS YOU: ✅ Which payment plans are actually profitable ✅ Which plans to push harder in sales ✅ Whether to adjust pricing ✅ When to offer PIF discounts REAL EXAMPLE: I ran this analysis for a $60K/mo coach and found: - 1-Pay: 100% collection (low volume) - 3-Pay: 80% collection ($9.6K avg LTV) ← sweet spot - 6-Pay: 60% collection ($7.2K avg LTV) ← bleeding $288K/year THE FIX: 1. Phase out 6-pay (or increase price to offset risk) 2. Push 3-pay harder (proven model) 3. Offer 10% PIF discount (more cash upfront) 4. Stricter failed payment follow-up for long plans IMPACT: - Shifting 20 clients from 6-pay to 3-pay = +$48K in collections - 10% PIF uptake = +$43K immediate cash - Total: $91K recovered without a single new sale Most coaches optimize for closes. Top 1% optimize for collections. Track your LTV. Know your numbers. Make data-driven decisions. P.S. If you're running a high-ticket coaching/info business and want to audit your LTV by payment plan, DM me. I'll show you exactly where money's leaking (free, 15 mins, no pitch).

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2025 will remind all of us of one thing: live entertainment isn’t slowing down. Fans are showing up. Tours are scaling. Venues are packed. Behind every sold-out night is a ticketing ecosystem that has to work at speed, at scale, and under pressure. If we’re being honest, the ticketing conversation is still too often defined by frustration: fees, access, confusing rules, and a lack of transparency across the journey from primary on-sale to resale to the door scan. For 2026, I’m hopeful. Not because the problems are “solved,” but because the industry is finally being forced to ask better questions: Can we be more transparent about pricing and fees before checkout? Can we reduce fan confusion with clearer policies and fewer moving parts? Can marketplaces, venues, and tech providers collaborate instead of pointing fingers? Can we protect consumers while still allowing a healthy, functional resale market that fills seats and creates flexibility for real life? Resale isn’t going anywhere and it shouldn’t. When it’s done right, it provides liquidity, options, and access. It helps fans who missed the on-sale. It helps venues fill seats. Yes, it helps businesses operate but it also helps families make memories they’ll carry forever. My wish for 2026 is simple: Less noise. More honesty. Less blame. More accountability. Less “gotcha.” More solutions. Let’s build ticketing that fans can understand, trust, and afford while keeping the industry sustainable for everyone who makes live events possible. Here’s to a better, clearer, more balanced year ahead. 🥂 #LiveEntertainment #Ticketing #TicketResale #SecondaryMarket #FanExperience #Transparency #SaaS #Concerts #SportsBusiness #Venues #Promoters #Marketplaces #Innovation #2026

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A 2-year-old AI adtech startup just acquired the U.S. operations of a 19-year-old company. Rembrand (an Aperiam portfolio company) has acquired Mirriad’s U.S. business, expanding its AI-powered product placement into premium Hollywood content. I think this kind of acquisition is a signal of what’s to come, which is a generational handoff in media and advertising. In this case, traditional VFX - manual, slow, and expensive - is being reimagined by generative AI. What once took months and a team of artists can now be done dynamically, programmatically, and with context-aware intelligence. With this move, Rembrand: - Absorbs deep media relationships and licensing rights (think Modern Family) - Can enter the world of high-end TV and film integrations - Unlocks new, personalized programmatic ad inventory Love Omar Tawakol’s example in the article: You’re watching a scene and see DoorDash. Someone across the globe sees Deliveroo. Same content, different context... rendered by Rembrand’s AI with physics-aware realism. Congrats to Rembrand (Omar, David Wiener, John Sedlak, Cory Treffiletti & co.). The future is AI-native and it’s unfolding quickly! Link in comments.

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Great insights from Gray Wagner, CEO at The Fortune Engine, in the latest Movers and Shakers feature, powered by GameOn. Burst Games are quickly becoming one of the most interesting formats to watch in 2026, especially as operators look for smarter ways to capture attention, engage mobile-first audiences, and rethink retention. Well worth the read. #iGaming #BurstGames #GamingIndustry #PlayerRetention #Acquisition #MobileGaming #Innovation #HIPTHER

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Why is it so important to work with a specialty agency when marketing via gaming? 1. 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐭 Different games, different demographics. Your agency partner should work backwards from your brand marketing goals and your target demographic and identify the specific game(s) and platform(s) based on your marketing goals. 2. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 A one and done approach doesn't work -- you want sustained engagement that builds awareness and ultimately loyalty & fandom for your brand alongside the appropriate gaming community. 3. 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 >> 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐬 Just like sports, each gaming community has it's own storylines, personalities, rivalries, terminology, and culture. You are connecting around pasion. Production and polish are less important than a voice that is authentic and relevant. Resurgens Gaming Ghost Gaming Skillshot Media Nabil Ismail Jon Bukosky Julian Caggiano Brian Grayson Hannah-Grace M. Jack Danis Blaine Gomez Roberto Gomez Jr. Elaine Benfield Paul Greenberg Michael Lewis

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