Interview with Darius Eghdami, Co-Founder of FansUnite

How did FansUnite come about?

I grew up playing sports, watching sports and in my later years, betting on sports. I’m proud of being a lifelong sports fan.

About a decade ago, my co-founder Duncan McIntyre and I started a sports handicapping website. In case you’re not aware — a handicapper is someone who sells their predictions for money. We realized you could make a lot of money selling predictions.

We quickly realized that you didn’t have to be a particularly good sports handicapper to make money either, as you were in control of what results you posted — this is how the idea for FansUnite was born. We knew we had to bring transparency and credibility to the handicapping business.

FansUnite was created to protect consumers by providing an independent service where members could track their results and find genuinely profitable bettors to follow with verifiable records. That version of FansUnite was driven by a desire for transparency and fairness for bettors, which still drives our company today, and is the primary driver behind our foray into real money sports betting through our Ethereum-based token, FAN.

Describe how FansUnite is changing the space.

From a big picture perspective, we’re bringing transparency into the industry by decentralizing sports betting. We’re also trying to make the industry more efficient by reducing duplication of developer efforts. Lastly, we are lowering fees paid to the house (therefore lowering barriers for fans to bet on their favourite teams) and reducing fees in order to put these savings back into the hands of sports bettors everywhere.

Can you describe what you do at FansUnite?

My role at FansUnite is to continue to support the team. We are a fairly small and nimble, skilled group. We wear multiple hats from product development to fundraising to telling the FansUnite story. Most of the key day-to-day activities include everything from conferences, media communication, and promotion as well as the FansUnite business framework, strategy, development and marketing.

What is your priority right now for the company?

It’s a priority for me to work closely with the team on the product, continue to build the community, work to build partnerships and continue to strategize our game plan to become the de facto infrastructure for the entire blockchain based sports betting industry. Obviously, we see many reasons why the entire sports betting industry will one day be blockchain-based as well.

What previous professional experiences helped you with your current position?

I’m a Chartered Accountant (CA) by trade. As an accountant, I used to work in a very disciplined, numbers-driven environment, with focus on being good stewards of capital. In the past few years, I have had the opportunity to start multiple companies, both in the digital and consumer internet space, and have learned from previous mistakes and successes. When I was younger, I played basketball and rugby and understand the key aspects that make a team thrive towards target milestones.

We have a strong team here at FansUnite and I look forward to growing this company on a larger scale.

In addition to my work at FansUnite, I support the identifying of great companies at Victory Square Technologies, structuring deals, and enabling those companies to grow to scale in their respective industries.

Reflecting and Future Thinking

What has been your favorite part about creating FansUnite thus far?

My favourite part of building FansUnite has been the team that we’ve been able to create.

Everything we do is working towards our common goal of disrupting and laying the groundwork for what we truly think is the next wave of sports betting and sports data applications.

What are you most looking forward to?

Growing and scaling this business to other operators that can build on top of our Protocol is our primary focus.

We’re excited to be in a position to provide bettors with a superior alternative to the traditional sports betting options that they are used to. We feel that a token based sportsbook can provide a cheaper, more secure and transparent platform for bettors.

Once our Sportsbook and Protocol are released, I believe that FansUnite will become a key player in changing the entire landscape of the sports betting industry.

Personal Interests

Do you have any personal goals within your role?

My key goal as a co-founder is to build and scale FansUnite. We’ve been working tirelessly on this project and I want to see it be successful. Another goal that we have is to continue to grow and develop our team. We have an incredible and unique group of talented individuals — we want this to build over time.

Lastly, I want FansUnite to continue to iterate, innovate and advance our Protocol Platform offering for bettors everywhere. It’s the only way to continue to improve ourselves in the market for the long-term.

What do you like to do in your free time?

Hang out with my wife and dog.

My family — spending time with them when I can.

Watch sports — football, basketball

Getting ready to welcome my first child

What are three adjectives that best describe you?

Honest

Hard-working

Passionate

Key Takeaway

What is the one thing you want future owners of FAN and sports bettors to know about FansUnite?

The team has built a spectacular platform. It’s a group of business operators, highly skilled technical engineers which are working tirelessly right now to build out the Protocol in the most efficient and scalable manner.

To learn more about FansUnite, check out our white paper here or join the Telegram community here.