Interview with Fan 360 CEO Katja Gersak

Hey everyone, today we would like to share with you an interview with Fan360 CEO Katja Gersak. Enjoy!

Thank you for taking the time today. How are you doing?

Very good and very busy. It’s been a thrilling past few months, filled with challenges, but also very enriching and a great learning experience overall. It’s a very interesting period to be in this line of business.

Tell us a bit about yourself ?

There are two things that define me professionally: ambition and dedication. Those have driven me through various sectors, countries and cultures to where I am now. It’s also fair to say that I’ve always strived towards creating stories, rather just being one of them. I’m a person that most definitely likes and actively seeks challenges on a purely professional level. I don’t think there’s a bigger one than finding, motivating and driving a group of different individuals to create something new.

Tell our readers about Fan360 and how it came to be.

It started with fans that were dissatisfied with the number of channels they needed to follow in order to find relevant information about the sports stars and clubs they are interested in.

I think we reached a point where we have so much information thrown at us all the time, that we perceive it as noise, rather then value added. And it is no different in sports. We have to pay attention to hundreds of different news outlets, numerous social media channels (and the list goes on) just so we stay informed. It’s becoming a major time investment and time is something we don’t get more of. From this grew the first pillar of Fan360, which is the news aggregator allowing fans to choose which football stars and clubs they will follow and giving them information from media outlets and social media channels.

Furthermore, we don’t get anything in return for this personal investment and that is simply not fair. So we will upgrade Fan360 with a blockchain-based reward system where fans will get rewarded in tokens for any action on the site (sharing, liking and contributing content), which they can exchange for tickets, merchandise or a special experience such as meeting a sports star.

What is that makes it stand out amongst other projects today?

There are a number of things that make us different from other projects. First of all, we already have a working product and more then 126,000 fans.

We have built amazing partnerships, which only further attest to the credibility of the project and quality of the team. Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank has joined as an early investor and a co-owner of the project. In addition, we brought on board amazing sports star ambassadors, the legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and the world renowned football star Angel Di Maria. We also have a partnership with one of the most innovative football clubs in RCD Espanyol.

In addition, we have an excellent team with a great Advisory board consisting of some of the top crypto influencers. Last but not least, we have a very aggressive post-ICO growth plan: Fan360 will engage with 20 more football superstars with 200 million followers between them.

There is a massive global sports audience. How are you planning to tap into this market?

There are probably thousands of sports related apps and news outlets available globally. And recently, there are a few projects which either offer a reward system to fans or a special experience. Each of them, though, is addressing a particular, partial aspect. Fan360 is providing a holistic experience to fans, which includes all of the above mentioned aspects.

As our MVP already shows, we have a high level of traction and the community is growing. Having the biggest names in football — such as Gianluigi Buffon and Angel Di Maria supporting Fan360, gives us great confidence that we’re on the right track. In addition, in the weeks following the ICO, we will partner with twenty other world renowned football stars as well as get exclusive content, such as ‘behind the scenes’ glimpse into their trainings, which will only be available on Fan360. With this, we will get greater visibility and rapidly grow our community. We started with football and will of course be expanding into other sports in the coming year.

How does the Blockchain and Tokenization fit into the platform?

Blockchain enables a reward system based on smart contracts — fans get rewarded with tokens, which they can then trade for tickets, merchandise or a special experience.

Fan360 is designed as an ecosystem where fans, sports stars, clubs and brands interact. At its core it is designed for fans — giving them tokenized rewards as well as enabling the pro-active fans who already write blogs and run groups related to sports to monetize their activities as well and grow into community micro-influencers.

As mentioned, above fans will be able to spend the tokens on purchasing special experience, tickets etc.

In addition, the platform enables brands to engage with fans in order to run brand building campaigns. For instance, imagine Nike rewarding fans with tokens for the best video contributions of fans playing football with Nike sneakers. In such a manner the brand gets engagement, which can easily be measured. The brand can also engage with micro-influencers on Fan360 as well as make special offers of their products. And of course, the fans get rewarded for their actions and get the ability to redeem tokens for a limited edition sports product only available on Fan360.

What industry problem do you feel you are solving?

Primarily we want to cut through the noise — give fans a personalized experience and an ability to connect with other fans. A platform puts them center-stage and gets them closer to their sports stars. Fans have the opportunity to generate real, tangible value with their passion.

While on the other side, the clubs/brands get a direct and more meaningful way to build the brands and relationships with ever more demanding users. Again, we do not want to add to the deluge of classical advertising, to which I believe we are becoming immune, but enable meaningful and creative engagement directly between fans and brands.

What is your future outlook for the project?

We’re continuously developing the product towards a more mature and content rich experience with this. We’re driving up the user base, while also creating a better experience for the existing users. We are already building relationships with top sports stars and clubs and looking to enter other sports.

We will upgrade the product with AI technology with which Fan360 will personalize the news feeds to each user based on their preferences. And of course, upgrade the product with a blockchain technology reward system so that each fan will be rewarded for any action on the platform. We will also start offering special experiences — such as meeting a sports star or getting a VIP ticket to a sporting event. Fans will be able to redeem the fan token for special experiences. In addition, we are planning to expand to other sports in the coming year.

Our ultimate goal is to have a user base of 15 million a good year from now.

I see Fan360 as being the world’s biggest sports community. And that is our outlook, to grow our community of sports stars and fans, to continually evolve in order to offer the best to our users.

Your team has a strong level of experience and background, explain how this fits with the project you are building?

We have a highly experienced and motivated team with various areas of expertise and backgrounds, which is what you need when you are building a global business. And a very strong Advisory board, which includes some of the most prominent crypto influencers.

We are proud to collaborate with Kevin Harrington, who is the original Shark on the famous ABC TV show Shark Tank. Mark and Peter who come from the corporate world. Peter who was the Director of Commercial Partnerships for Redbull Media House. We also have a very experienced communications team, which includes one of the founders of Fan360, Matheus, who has been building the product and engaging with eager fans for more than 2 years. And I need to stress that we have an experienced team of blockchain developers.

Having been the VP of Business Angels in Slovenia, I have engaged hundreds of starts-ups and I know from experience that the precondition of success is a strong and a balanced team. And in a global sports business, there are so many moving parts that it’s hard to fathom, thus having variety in our team is a great advantage. One part is the different knowledge that they bring to the table, but also their networks and approach. Of course — having some of the world’s biggest football names advocating our idea helps the cause.

Is there any separation between you and competitors, if any?

Most definitely, yes. There are numerous sports apps and platforms, but they tend to offer a fragmented approach, just delivering parts of our whole. Furthermore, they don’t aggregate to such an extent as we do, while — most importantly — the whole experience is one way. Users don’t get rewarded for their growing time investment. Last, it’s probably fair to say that if the actual sportsmen don’t recognize the value, it’s meaningless in the long run. We’ve had this recognition from the get go through our amazing partnerships.

Do you think Bitcoin will ever cost $100k USD, and if so, when it will be?

In short, I don’t believe it will.

Do you have a favorite quote that you live or work by?

I like Rumi’s : “Stop acting so small, you are the universe in ecstatic motion”

How can someone find out more about Fan360?

They can check out our website and follow us on our social media channels:

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Thank you for taking the time!

Thank you for having me!

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