SBC News Youbetme - Jason Neubauer - Creating the Social Handshake

Youbetme – Jason Neubauer – Creating the Social Handshake

youbetmeYoubetme is a social betting app which allows you to ‘bet on anything’. This is social betting and so whilst Youbetme facilitates and tracks the bets, it does not handle money. Players can play for whatever they choose amongst themselves, whether this is money, dinner, a drink or something a little more embarrassing.

Player profiles keep a tally of wins, losses and who pays up ensuring reputation or ‘street cred’ are important; as Youbetme states ‘the handshake of the future has arrived.’ Youbetme has enjoyed significant success since its iOS launch in January, and it recently received a sizeable cash investment.

Team SBC caught up with CEO Jason Neubauer to find out a little more about this exciting start-up, and what they have in store for the future.

SBC: Hi Jason, thanks for talking to us. Where did the idea for Youbetme first come from?

Jason.jpg

Jason: Growing up I was always a huge sports fan and found myself betting on everything. I learned really quickly that I’m actually a terrible gambler, yet my business partner and I often found ourselves making all sorts of social bets with each other. Moreover, these weren’t always sports related. We saw that technology was at the point wherein mobile, social, and SMS were evolved enough that what we used to do offline could now be captured online. Furthermore that online it could be made easy, and most importantly, a lot of fun.

SBC: For such a new idea how did you go about creating a buzz around the service and getting people interested?

Jason: We intentionally launched our iOS version publicly the day before the Super Bowl meaning we had a great amount of organic traffic, and were lucky enough to hit the hundred thousand user mark very quickly with limited marketing. Importantly, it also gave us enough data to put us under water in terms of what our product roadmap was for the next six to nine months. It’s been really interesting to witness the general public starting to understand that betting doesn’t necessarily always have to be tied to gambling.  I’ve heard people say multiple times that ‘I don’t bet, but I would use youbetme.’  I think that as social betting evolves so will the assumption that betting and gambling are not joined at the hip.

SBC: You recently secured a significant cash injection to the tune of $2.7m (£1.7m). Congratulations on this! What are your plans for how this investment will be utilised?

Jason: We raised $1.2m (£766,000) in a seed and a further $1.5m (£960,000) via Series A funding. Our plans with the capital is to expand our platform by releasing our Android/Youbetme 2.0 due for release early next year. We’ve also hired 4 additional engineers, we are testing monetization, and plan to take our platform from the value hypothesis whilst focusing on continued expansion and sustained engagement.

SBC: It’s not just bets that you organise on the platform though, you also run Hackathons?

Jason: We’ve only hosted one Hackathon so far to prove the power of the platform and the API that we’ve created. It has been in our core DNA since day one that we were never just application but a platform. Our API is very versatile in terms of different uses, and our first Hackathon was a great testament to that. Additionally there were so many great ideas which resulted from our first Hackathon that we intend to implement. We now plan to host a hackathon once or twice a year.

SBC: Have there been any notable surprises regarding the most popular types of bets, and the demographic using the service?

Jason: Most notably, our data has shown that around 88% of our bets aren’t actually for money. Social betting is happening around us all the time, and technology has come to a point where we can harness it and create a fun experience in doing so.  It’s really amazing seeing the backend knowing people are playing for all sorts of things, dinner, drinks, you name it. Though that isn’t what’s most interesting about it. It’s the fact that people are just using the bet as an excuse to reconnect or create another social experience. Playing for real money overtime creates friction between friends, and our platform is just a way to add a little spice into your everyday life

SBC: The iOS app is proving successful and the Android version is currently being tested, what’s the current outlook and next step for Youbetme?

Jason: We are set to launch the Youbetme Android app and our 2.0 in late January. Around the same time we will also be launching our 2nd product; “Challenged”, in collaboration with the hugely popular social media stars, Nash Grier & Cameron Dallas. I think you’ll be hearing a lot about us early next year. We are very excited to keeping push great products to the world

________________________

Jason Neubauer – CEO & Founder Youbetme

linkedinbutton

Check Also

SBC News Will Whitehead: How to truly stand out in the dynamic igaming landscape

Will Whitehead: How to truly stand out in the dynamic igaming landscape

Ahead of ICE London next month, Will Whitehead, Commercial Director at mkodo, underlines the importance …

Tristram Bates, mkodo: The Future of OS

Tristram Bates, mkodo: The Future of OS

With the release of Android 12 and iOS 15 imminent, the usual raft of improvements, …

privacy

Google takes stricter stance on privacy for gambling apps

In the latest updates of the Google Play Terms of Services, the technology giant announced …