Jordan Tuch and I had the idea for Betty in the spring of 2021, about a year after we sold our last business, QL Gaming Group. The very first thing we did was start talking to potential customers, beginning with players in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

How did we find these people to talk to in the first place? Jordan set up a Facebook campaign for a new casino called “Betty Casino,” with an ad asking if folks would be interested in participating in a focus group. People were more than happy to share their experiences with us.

We started interviewing players in April 2021, asking them where they play, how often they play, and what they do and don’t like about existing sites like DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM. We learned so much. In fact, these interviews gave birth to the thesis outlined in the investment memorandum for our $1.8M pre-seed round (closed in March 2022) and the white paper that served as the foundational material for our $5M seed round, which closed in January 2023.

I can’t stress this enough: you have to actually talk to your customers. 'Customer-centric' is a hollow buzzword unless you're engaging with them directly. You simply cannot build a successful business without an intimate understanding of the people you serve.