The fundamental tenet of the fan experience is to enhance what the fan feels when interacting with a team in order to build sustaining loyalty. Integrating technology into the experience draws more fans in, keeps them engaged, and also transforms the experience. Jump is a new startup that just emerged from stealth, founded by Marc Lore, Alex Rodriguez, and Jordy Leiser, that seeks to build an end-to-end fan experience by offering elevated experiences at live events. The vision is to personalize all aspects of the in-person experience whether it’s concessions, parking, merchandise, or even allowing fans to upgrade their seats on-site. For teams/venue operators, they can leverage Jump as an operating system to collect, harness, and process data that’s been siloed across operations to build new revenue streams, build lifetime value with fans, and maximize available ticket inventory.
LA TechWatch caught up with Leiser, who holds the titles of CEO and Cofounder, to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding, which brings the company’s total funding raised to $30M, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Our most recent round of funding was a $20M seed round led by Forerunner Ventures. Other investors included my two cofounders, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, as well as strategic investors Will Ventures, Courtside Ventures, Mastery Ventures, Forte Ventures, Drive by DraftKings, and others.
Tell us about your product or service.
Sports fans are some of the most passionate and loyal people on earth. And yet today, nothing about the fan experience is personalized or unique. It’s a very transactional experience to go to a live event.
To me, that’s dumbfounding – especially given how important personalization and relationship building has become in nearly every other consumer-focused industry.
Our mission at Jump is to change that by creating an end-to-end fan experience platform that addresses these major gaps in the fan journey, empowering sports teams and venues to break the mold for what fans can expect at live events. And while we plan to launch our platform in sports, Jump has the ability to elevate fan experiences at any type of live event or venue.
What inspired the start of Jump?
As my two cofounders, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, were exploring ownership of a sports franchise, they began talking to industry execs and looking under the hood at how different organizations operated. One day the three of us were chatting, and we kept coming back to the same pain points that exist for both teams and fans.
A platform that seamlessly connects and personalizes the fan experience could both improve the economics for a team while also providing far more value and convenience for fans. Essentially, we viewed the opportunity as a kind of Shopify for a sports franchise, allowing them to build their own direct to fan model.
We quickly realized nothing like that existed, and so we set out to build it ourselves, knowing there were countless opportunities to rethink the fan journey.
How is it different?
Today’s fan journey is very transactional and built on archaic systems. Ones that are designed for analog experiences as well as paper money and paper tickets – they don’t seem to have digital solutions that put fans first.
Far too often, and especially recently, fans are seen as the primary stakeholder in the sports and entertainment industry.
What sets Jump apart is our maniacal focus on helping teams deliver a seamless, world-class fan experience, and working backwards from there. As fans get more value, flexibility and personalization, they will engage deeper with the teams they love, and that will bring significantly better economics for teams.
What market are you targeting and how big is it?
We will be able to share more about our go-to-market strategy in the months ahead. In the meantime, you can learn more about our platform at Jump.com
What’s your business model?
Jump unlocks the ability for a sports team to generate new and incremental revenue streams through better and more flexible fan experiences. From innovative new ticketing concepts to real-time personalization around offers for anything game-day related, Jump is built to drive more revenue for teams. Jump’s economics come from a share in that revenue growth.
This business model finally aligns teams, venues and fans.
How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
We keep a close eye on the economic market conditions, and we will continue to do so, especially as we gear up for our go-to-market strategy in the coming months.
What was the funding process like?
Marc, Alex and I are no strangers to raising capital and working with investors. Fundraising is never easy, but we have a terrific network, a big vision and what I believe to be the best recipe anyone has ever put together to attack this opportunity. As we looked across our networks, it was clear that we had to speak with Forerunner. In addition to being a top tier VC firm run by exceptionally smart, passionate and good people, they understand the direct-to-consumer playbook and opportunities better than anyone. They were a key partner in leading the round. In addition to Forerunner, it was also clear that we should explore working with the best sports and entertainment-focused VCs given their knowledge, experience and networks in the space. We’re grateful for the support of our vision.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Jump is addressing a big problem in the live events industry. But, big problems typically require big swings, and big swings typically require a significant amount of capital. For many investors, taking on such a big challenge and tackling the big vision can be daunting.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
I think most of us can relate to the friction and pain points of the live event experience. What led our investors to really get behind Jump was our mission, vision, and team. We laid out a clear vision of what it should be like as a fan to go to a live event that’s powered by the Jump technology. And we also laid out a clear vision of what that elevated fan experience will mean for the operational efficiency and economic impact for a team or venue. With that set, we assembled an experienced, world-class team with a track record of executing, and that gives investors the confidence to back us and partner with us on our mission.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Over the course of the next six months, we will be growing our team and continuing to build the technology that will power the Jump platform. We are currently a team of about 30 people and are hiring across product management, product design, and engineering teams.
What advice can you offer companies in Los Angeles that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
The only universal advice I could share with entrepreneurs looking to raise capital is to make sure you nail your mission, vision, and values and be able to articulate them in a crystal clear way. Without that foundation, it’s hard to execute on any strategy including raising capital.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
In the near term, we plan to launch our platform with sports teams and prove out the elevated fan experience powered by Jump’s technology.
What’s your favorite coffee shop or location to hold a meeting?
Ground Hideout in Long Beach.
