Kelly Perdew

A Wicked (Virtual) Googly The Wall Street Journal

What Fantasy Veterans Can Learn From a New Cricket Game Catching On in India

FEBRUARY 5, 2010, 3:22 P.M. ET
By NANDO DI FINO

It was only a matter of time before cricket and fantasy sports found each other.

You can now play with an avatar of Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
.Cricket is the second-most popular sport in both England and Australia, and tops in India. It’s wildly popular in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South Africa, and a host of other British Commonwealth nations. Only soccer can make an airtight case for being more popular around the world.

India alone has a population of about 1.1 billion people, and its cricket madness reaches heights that even the most fervent American football fan could never understand.

“India shuts down when there’s a cricket match,” says Swetha Iyengar, a 25 year-old television producer in Atlanta whose parents emigrated from India. “It’s big in a way that no sport here can compete with.”

It’s only natural, then, that a fantasy cricket game would emerge. How it happened should have Americans taking note. In its first eight months, fantasy cricket site Dream11.com has, according to chief operating officer Yashraj Vakil, signed up over 450,000 registered users, enjoyed up to 9 million page views per month, and users are spending an average of 16 to 20 minutes per visit on the Web site. According to Internet tracking Web site Quantcast.com, Dream11 has more monthly page views than pepboys.com, celebrity-babies.com, and thejaylenoshow.com (It still trails awkwardfamilyphotos.com by a healthy margin).

These numbers are even more impressive when one considers the myriad roadblocks to marketing fantasy cricket as a viable gaming option.
Cricket itself has no set season. It’s a year-round sport, with a focus on international play, so Dream11 had to build its game around the individual matches and ditch an “overall” type of scoring system (like in baseball or football), instead focusing on individual tours or matches. There are also several forms cricket takes, ranging from test matches that can go on for up to five days — sometimes without a result — to the more compact T20 matches, which can last around three hours. To make this game practical, fantasy gamers are limited to picking 12-player teams (their so-called dream 11 plus an alternate in case someone doesn’t play) from two squads or clubs competing against one another, across multiple formats during a particular tour.

Once the minor rules of tournament eligibility were ironed out, there was still one obstacle to overcome – few in India had any idea about fantasy sports. But the country’s computer-users do play plenty of online games. Using Adobe’s Flex software, Dream11’s engineers specifically designed their system to mimic online strategy games that Indians were more familiar with.

They are presenting fantasy cricket to the masses as a strategy game, complete with graphics and tutorials. But at day’s end it is the fantasy game we all know and love: the only way a player scores points is if his real-life counterpart scores them.

Not exactly intimately familiar with all the rules of cricket, I decided to give the game a try. I selected 12 players in the Australia-Pakistan T20 match for this weekend, staying enough rupees under the salary cap. When I selected a wicket keeper, that keeper was then represented on a screen by a digital rendering of a player in his country’s uniform. Eventually, the entire pitch fills with these avatars. The final product ends up looking more like an old Nintendo game on pause, but this offers a foundation that American designers should build on. It’s hard to believe that, in the land where fantasy was born, this hasn’t caught on.

The game’s 12th man wrinkle could also make a splash stateside. Each year, more and more fantasy football players shout expletives at their laptops after learning their running back was declared inactive just five minutes before kickoff. The 12th man solves this problem. If a wide receiver is declared out, no problem. There’s a sub already designated and ready to go.

Mr. Vakil hopes to someday expand the portfolio of Dream11’s fantasy offerings to include more sports than just cricket. His angle, he says, is to continue with the philosophy of selling fantasy as a strategy game, and hope that the consumers see it in that light. For the immediate future, though, cricket is key to the site’s success, and Mr. Vakil is banking on the growing number of Internet users in India to help the numbers climb. He points to the estimated 60 million Internet users in 2009, up from 2 million in 2000.

Mr. Vakil can only expect more potential customers. India will have the third-largest Internet user base by 2013, according to Forrester Research, with China and USA first and second, respectively. This growing international market provides an opportunity for American-based fantasy games to explore the overseas markets, as well.

In March 2009, RotoHog.com raised $2 million in Series B funding and successfully created fantasy soccer games for media companies in Brazil (in Portuguese and English) and for Fox Sports International (in Spanish and English). Their platform is even designed to deliver in multi-lingual capability, including Mandarin.

“I absolutely believe that international is a huge growth opportunity for fantasy sports,” says RotoHog CEO Kelly Perdew .

Several other companies are exploring the same possibilities. A company like Dream11 may not successfully move out of the fantasy cricket niche, but it may not have to. If just 5% of Indians decide to try fantasy cricket, the number will double North American fantasy sports participation.

Conversely, it may take a while for Dream11 to catch on in America. But if it works in India, there are plenty more potential customers in England, Pakistan, Australia and other cricket-crazy countries. Either way, it’s a game the big boys in this country should be studying.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704533204575047453983677716.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

Catching Up With Kelly Perdew, The Apprentice Season II Winner and CEO of Rotohog.com

Peter Robert Casey

First media credentialed microblogger in college hoops history

Posted: February 2, 2010 03:16 PM

As the fantasy gaming space evolves more and more into the mainstream, no one is more positioned to be a leader and innovator in the space than RotoHog.com Chief Executive Officer, Kelly Perdew . Kelly’s entrepreneurial experience and vision, as well as his track record of success, puts him in a very unique position in a space that most media experts see as emerging as a viable, long term financial investment in the sports and entertainment world.

Rotohog.com, an industry leader in the creation of fantasy sports platforms for leagues, portals and major media companies like the NBA (official fantasy basketball game provider), Pro Football Weekly (commissioner and exchange football games) and Brazil’s ClicRBS (the largest online fantasy soccer game in the country) has quickly carved its spot in a crowded field under Perdew’s guidance.

The former Army Ranger is one of the veterans in the relatively new fantasy activation space, and his track record of delivering successful results with solid start-up planning is almost unparalleled in the business. Prior to taking the reins at RotoHog.com, Perdew turned two start-ups, one in the grassroots sports area and one in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, into the leaders of their genre. First, as president of the largest amateur sport portal on the web — eteamz.com - he oversaw the strategic build of a company which addressed the needs of recreational athletes and teams to connect, and is now serving more than three million amateur sports teams as part of Active Networks. Then as president of ProElite.com; he created an online social network that was among the most innovative in the highly popular sport of MMA. Under his leadership, ProElite, Inc. raised over $40M, including $5M from CBS, inked a three-year exclusive deal with Showtime for airing its fights and televised the first network primetime MMA fight on CBS.

Although known to the public mainly as the winner of the second season of the NBC hit TV show “The Apprentice,” and as the author of the critically-acclaimed book “Take Command, 10 Leadership Principles I Learned in the Military and Put to Work for Donald Trump,” Kelly’s real success has been behind the scenes, building and managing forward-thinking and innovative emerging brands. In addition to his three successful digital ventures, he has been a Manager at Deloitte Consulting in the Braxton Strategy Practice and served in the US Army as a Military Intelligence Officer and Airborne Ranger. He has also held numerous leadership positions in such companies as the Trump Organization, CoreObjects Software, K12 Productions, and eteamz.com.

Perdew has a BS from the US Military Academy, West Point, a JD from the UCLA School of Law, and an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA. He also hosted a show on the Military Channel called “GI Factory,” and is a celebrity spokesperson for Big Brothers/Sisters and The National Guard Youth Challenge Program. Kelly received a Presidential Appointment to the President’s Council on Civic Participation and Service in June 2006. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

Here’s a transcript of my conversation with Kelly:

PRC: West Point grad. Army Ranger. Winner of Donald Trump’s celebrated reality show, The Apprentice (Season II). JD/MBA from UCLA. Author. Successful entrepreneur. The list goes on and on. You’ve accomplished a lot in a little time. What inspires you?

Kelly Perdew : Fear of failure? (Smiles) Seriously, I love the hunt and the entrepreneurial spirit that these times present and games and sports really are still like the Wild West in the digital space. We have just started scratching the surface of what can be done, and fantasy gaming (not just for sports, but for entertainment, social and even regulated gaming) is really a very interesting place to be right now.

PRC: How did your military academy background and Ranger training prepare you to succeed under pressure on such a large stage (national television)? What is the single-most valuable piece of advice that Trump instilled in you?

Kelly Perdew : I wrote a book titled, Take Command: 10 Leadership Principles I Learned in the Military and Put to Work for Donald Trump, that specifically outlines why I think my military leadership background has helped me in business and helped me succeed on the show. I was very fortunate to be able to attend West Point, where they actually train leadership as a course of study. It is an amazing institution and they do a great job at training leaders, not just for the military, but for a lifetime of service to the country.

Donald taught me to think big. Too frequently people look at a problem and then frame the solution in a very small and specific way. Donald does a great job of solving problems in a very big way. He is also a master at using the media to his advantage - a very important tool in business.

PRC: Working for Donald Trump and the Trump Organization is a fantasy for many MBAs. You’ve moved on, but the fantasy concept didn’t go away. Talk to us about RotoHog.com, your fantasy gaming platform, where you serve as CEO. How did you position the company and your entrepreneurial experience to become a leader in the fantasy sports activation space?

Kelly Perdew : Upon my arrival at RotoHog 18 months ago, we looked at the assets we had and determined where the best position would be for the future. RotoHog has developed two amazing assets - a highly configurable gaming platform that is scalable and flexible and a team of game designers that can create very compelling games for our clients and their end users.

We have invested a lot of time and money in the platform and the team can solve any objectives for our clients (growing and engaging their user base, monetizing, exploiting social media and mobile environments, and we can do this in any language). We have created partnerships with major brands who need help accomplishing their objectives. It has worked very well for clients like Turner Digital, Fox Sports International, NBA, AVP, The Sporting News and now NASCAR and others. They can concentrate on what they do best and leave the below the line to us.

PRC: Fantasy gaming has evolved from its modest beginnings. RotoHog has worked with some very successful brands as you just mentioned. What unique value does your product offer to clients?

Kelly Perdew : The flexibility of our gaming platform allows us to configure very compelling games for our clients and we do it very quickly. The rotohog team can build and integrate a game for our client within 2-3 weeks. This gives our clients the ability to respond very fast to their sponsors for promotions, campaigns and we also provide very deep activation hooks in the games for the brands. These games are fully integrated into the clients’ sites, have open APIs for bi-directional sharing of information with social media sites, and can have features that monetize the user base.

The bottom line is we provide best in class game applications that are fun, scalable and adaptable to the audience. We can build games for any sport, reality show, movie release, social media site, mobile device…really anything with structure data. They run well, they look great and the technology is constantly evolving. For instance, you can see the broad range of capabilities we offer by comparing the NASCAR.com stock exchange game we just launched with “The Bachelor” game we launched for ABC.

PRC: Where is this trend going? What drives the growth of fantasy sports participation?

Kelly Perdew : It is all about fan engagement. For sports, it used to be with board games and baseball cards, now you get to really see what it’s like to build your own teams and really be the coach or the GM. It is going more global very rapidly. Yes football and baseball are still king, but anywhere there is statistical data to be mined and there is a passionate fan base, fantasy will be in play. Also, the styles of games we can provide allow for broader audience appeal - simple games that exist across all media platforms are allowing brands to grow their audience.

PRC: How does RotoHog.com leverage social media for your brand and for your partners/clients?

Kelly Perdew : The great thing about games is the way information spreads virally and some of our partners are the pioneers in the social media marketing space. They literally have millions of people online and engaged around the world every day. So by powering a part of that network with our games we are able to communicate in real time to a worldwide audience any new offerings or innovations that are a part of the gaming platform we continue to grow. All of the games we build can live in a social media environment in part or completely, depending on what our clients’ goals are. RotoHog is a B2B company and our brand to end users is not as important as our clients’ brands.

PRC: What is your vision for RotoHog.com? What does ultimate success look like for the brand?

Kelly Perdew : Success is simple: We succeed when our clients accomplish their objectives. As we focus on delivering compelling games that grow, engage and monetize for our clients, success fill follow.

PRC: How about for Kelly Perdew ? What will your legacy look like?

Kelly Perdew : My wife and i just had twins, so the definition of legacy changes a bit with something like that! (Smiles). On the business front, I love leading and building companies. The RotoHog team is the best at technology delivery, especially in sports and entertainment, and to some day see that we were part of the wave that created fun products for consumers to use as an escape from everyday life, and to further engage with their favorite brands, is pretty cool to me.

PRC: I would have to agree with that. Congratulations on all of your success, and double congratulations on your newborn twins. I really appreciate your time, considering how limited and valuable it is. Thank you!

Kelly Perdew : Thank you for the opportunity!

You can keep with Kelly via Twitter, http://www.twitter.com/kperdew, or by frequenting his blog: http://www.twitter.com/kperdew.

Follow Peter Robert Casey on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Peter_R_Casey

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-robert-casey/catching-up-with-kelly-pe_b_446367.html

From Socaltech.com Newsletter….
—-
A new endowed fellowship fund, which will be awarded to a graduate MBA
student at the Paul Merage School of Business at University of California,
Irvine, has been established to honor the Tech Coast Angels’ Luis
Villalobos. According to the Tech Coast Angels, the new fellowship–the
Luis Villalobos Endowed Fellowship in Entrepreneurship–will be awarded to
a student with an interest in entrepreneurship and/or starting or being
part of a new business. Villalobos, founder of the Tech Coast Angels,
passed away on October first. The Tech Coast Angels is now the largest
angel investor group in Southern California, and is among the largest in
the U.S., with over 250 members. According to the TCA, applications for
the fellowship will be reviewed by a committee of donors, and will only be
awarded in years a suitable candidate is identified. The group said the
fellowship will be available for application in 2010.

I was very fortunate to know Luis Villalobos for over 10 years, as a fellow Board member, business partner, mentor and friend and I will miss him greatly. We grew much closer over the most recent 5 years as he asked me to partner with him in launching the next iteration of his vision to help entrepreneurs succeed: Angel Venture Partners.

He was always been there for me in any business deal, contract negotiation, or fund-raising event with logical, well-thought out, and always accurate advice. Luis came to my last two birthday parties (he knows and gives great wine as presents!), my wife’s and my engagement party, and he came to our wedding in Vegas this last January and took better photos of the event than our photographer! Luis embodied the 10 leadership principles I outline in my book - especially integrity. Luis always maintained clarity in every deal and acted with the utmost integrity. Southern California and the US entrepreneurial community has lost a great man, a great contributor. He will be missed by all.

Here is Luis’ formal bio (it is about 6 months old so there are probably a few more deals he’s in) but it doesn’t come close to describing his true impact on the world:

Luis Villalobos has a proven track record as a direct investor in 63 early-stage ventures – 14 successful exits (4 IPOs and 10 mergers), and 31 ventures remaining active. He has a strong technology background and holds several patents as lead inventor; he formed, headed and sold two ventures; and has mentored about a dozen CEOs. He earned degrees at Harvard Business School (MBA) and MIT (SB Math) where he was a National Merit Scholar.

He was the founder of the Tech Coast Angels, whose 111 portfolio companies have received $782 million in capital. He is a founding Board member of the Angel Capital Association – an organization with 100+ member angel groups. He helped start two other angel groups, East Coast Angels in Sydney Australia, and Camino Real Angels in Texas. He has developed and led over 100 workshops for angel group leaders, angels, bar associations (for MCLE credit), and entrepreneurs – on valuations, due diligence, term sheets, deal structures, venture capital, angel investing, early-stage funding, business plans, patents and intellectual property, and entrepreneurship. Villalobos is frequently quoted in the press regarding angel investing, and is a featured speaker and panelist at entrepreneurial events and conferences.

Villalobos has experience and expertise in IT (telecom, computer architectures, networks, micros, minis, codecs, security, graphics, imaging, compression); artificial intelligence (genetic algorithms, neural networks, fuzzy logic); software (assemblers, compilers, Visual Basic, application programming, cognitive and recognition algorithms); biotech (degenerative brain disease therapeutics); applications (computer-based education).

Please consider contributing to this fund that his colleagues and friends in the Tech Coast Angels have set up in his name: Luis Villalobos Memorial Scholarship, UCI Graduate School of Business: Send check to UCI Graduate School of Business c/o Luis Villalobos Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I hope this note finds you well and that you are enjoying the early fall, especially the fantasy football season that is well underway and keeping us at RotoHog so busy these days.

Our last few months have again brought some tremendous news and unprecedented growth for our company, and we wanted to give you a quick update on what we are up to and what’s coming next. Even in this challenged economy, it is becoming clearer every day that fantasy gaming is a great outlet for both the ardent and casual sports fan, and we are very excited to help those gamers, and the media partners that are presenting those games on very large platforms, quench that thirst for quality play and information.

Some highlights of our recent activity include:

• Fantasy Football: We have launched our multi-sport game solution for Sporting News (http://www.sportingnews.com/fantasy/football), one of the largest fantasy gaming platforms in the industry, as well as football games for Los Angeles Times (http://football.latimes.com/), ProFootballWeekly (http://www.profootballweekly.rotohog.com/), Rallycast (https://www.rallycast.com/rallycast/index.jsp), Operation Sports (http://fantasy.operationsports.com/), and Military.com (http://football.military.com/scm/).

• NBA.com: We are currently building and deploying games as part of our continuing partnership with Turner Sports and the NBA, and will launch the third season of the NBA Stock Exchange game on NBA.com this coming week with some spectacular new features. (http://www.nba.com/fantasy/)

• Military.com Partnership: One of the most passionate groups for fantasy gaming is the US Military, and we have launched a new platform for the highly-trafficked website Military.com, starting with football and carrying into other sports and events. It is a great opportunity to give something back to a core audience that is particularly meaningful to me and which is passionate about the product and can get some real rewards out of the prizes that will be built into the competition.

• Financing: Even in this challenging economy we continue to find new investment dollars, which is the clearest proof of our viable business platform in this highly competitive space. This month we closed an additional $2 Million from Mission Ventures, which gives us even more bandwidth to grow as a brand.

• Media coverage: We were recently featured in the September issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. In case you missed it the link is: http://entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2009/september/203140.html

• Venture Industry: I am honored to be a keynote speaker at VentureNet (http://www.venturenet.org/) this year. The conference is always exciting, has sold out the last 10 years, and I recommend it for anyone raising money or starting a technology business in Southern California. Here is the code for a significant discount if you are interested in attending:
-Website: www.venturenet.org
-Code: VNJK
-Discounted rate: $99 ($100 savings off the non-member rate)

These are only a few of the latest developments and we will be implementing and announcing many more deals in the near future. We expect more partners and properties to be joining us in the fourth quarter and into 2010, as we grow market share and visibility as the best in class for developing and marketing innovative games for some of the biggest and most passionate players in the industry.

As always thanks for your time and interest, and if there is anything we can do to assist you or answer and questions, comments or opportunities please let me know.

Regards,

Kelly

Dear friends and colleagues,

We continue gaining momentum and I want to update you on the past month. We are growing and adding new partners as we approach what will be a record fall season of creation and activation for the team here. Also, thank you very much for those of you that reached out with business ideas, they were very useful!

Recent exciting developments since we last communicated include:

• Sporting News. We launched the fantasy football Salary Cap and Draft & Trade games on SportingNews.com, which is the first of many launches with one of the premier titles in sports publishing. Find the games here: Salary Cap and League Manager. The league manager draft application will include features never before seen in the fantasy space. Check it out.

• Fox Sports En Espanol. We launched our second-half baseball season with Fox Sports En Espanol, which follows on the heels of a very successful implementation of a fantasy game and Sports Market Ticker™ for their baseball coverage. Click here for the game. Fox secured an excellent sponsor for the game – Clamato.

• The Sports Network. We closed a large-scale deal with The Sports Network wherein TSN will work with RotoHog to provide data and news across multiple sports. This will ensure that RotoHog and its partners have the most accurate, up-to-date information within their fantasy games.

• Diskavontade. We closed a deal for RotoHog to power unique Brazilian Serie A and World Cup Pick ‘Em soccer games to Diskavontade, a company specializing in VOIP technology with emphasis on communications to and from Brazil. Diskavontade will use the game to attract and engage its network of agents, and to promote their products and features in an innovative fashion.

• FUHU. A partnership with FUHU, one of the world’s leading web application providers, to create and manage fantasy sports games and content for their uFooz portable ID cards. This will enable subscribers to share fantasy sports, photo sharing and other content across a host of social networking platforms. The games and applications will also be housed on uFooz.com and be available to millions of fantasy game fans worldwide. Create your own urFooz card here.

• AlwaysOn 250 Global Media Company Award. I am also very pleased to report that RotoHog was selected as a worldwide finalist by the industry group AlwaysON as one of their top 250 global media companies, and is one of the few sports entities to make the list. This is the latest in a series of acknowledgments that continues to show how quickly we are becoming a leader in the space, with a number of additional announcements and new partnerships coming in the fall. See list here.

• RotoHog Redesign. We upgraded the look and feel of RotoHog.com to highlight our platform capabilities. However, all of the games that you have enjoyed playing (and many more) will still be available on the site HERE.

The breadth of these relationships indicates the power and flexibility of the platform the team here has built. Despite the economic slowdown, the fantasy gaming space continues to grow, and we are very proud to be at the forefront of that growth with our applications, our unique games, the most scalable and flexible platform, and creative solutions for our business partners. Please let me know if you have any ideas for partners for all of our soccer offerings for next year!

As always, we want to thank you for your support and interest, and we hope to see you soon.

Regards,

Kelly

July 1, 2009

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Approximately two months ago I sent along a first quarter “progress report” letter to keep everyone up to date with all the new developments at RotoHog, as we expanded our partnerships and secured the necessary additional funding we would need to take the business to a new level. At the end of the letter I mentioned that more good news was coming, and today I wanted to pass along the latest advances we have made in the business as we continue to make the company into the most innovative fantasy sports gaming developer for major brands and professional sports entities.

Our leadership position in this very competitive marketplace is expanding almost daily. Just in the last few weeks we have been able to announce:

• A landmark partnership with The Sporting News, where RotoHog will build, activate and market all online fantasy games for one of the most established online properties and storied names in sports and entertainment publishing. http://tinyurl.com/necqpo

• A partnership with Chris Russo and the folks at Fantasy Sports Ventures, the fastest-growing independent site on the web, to build games for FSV’s extensive list of sites and ever-evolving business partners, brands and sponsors. http://tinyurl.com/n2kkju

• A strategic partnership with online news and content provider Operation Sports to produce, manage and market their 2009 Stock Exchange Football Game. Operation Sports is a leading news and content provider focused on the sports video game industry with over 100,000 members. http://tinyurl.com/cszvzh

These new deals, in addition to our existing partnerships with the NBA, Turner Sports, FOX en Espanol, Pro Football Weekly, the AVP and others, give us the widest range of strategic partnerships to develop and build games in the industry today, and the best part is we are just beginning to establish our brand.

In the next few months we expect to continue to grow partnerships with additional media entities around the globe, as we shape RotoHog into the ultimate destination for brands who want to provide “best in class” and innovative gaming applications to their loyal subscribers ubiquitously on their sites, mobile, and social media channels.

Once again, we want to thank you for your support and interest, and as always, if there is anything we can help you with, please let us know.

And please come play our famous Stock Exchange Football Game here http://tinyurl.com/nhfw96.

Regards,

Kelly Perdew
President & CEO, RotoHog

I love this article about how Twitter was born. I see time and time again that the right team will find product and/or service for their customers.

LEADERSHIP!

By ERIC FISHER
Staff writer
Published June 08, 2009 : Page 27

See full article here.

Fantasy outfit RotoHog has struck a multiyear deal with Sporting News to power the media outlet’s suite of fantasy games.
Beginning with fantasy football this fall, Los Angeles-based RotoHog will develop and operate a set of free and fee-based fantasy games under the Sporting News brand for football, baseball, golf, hockey and motorsports. Of particular note is how the pact aims to extend Sporting News’ fantasy reach into social media and mobile networks, using technologies that allow assets from the games to be easily distributed from SportingNews.com onto platforms such as Facebook and the iPhone.

“In order to take our games to the next level, we wanted to align with somebody intensely focused on the space, was committed to a strong [business-to-business] solution, and wasn’t satisfied with developing the same old off-the-shelf products,” said Jeff Gerttula, vice president and general manager for online at Sporting News.

For RotoHog, the deal extends a run of activity this year that includes a somewhat similar deal with Fox Sports en Español, an alignment with ticketing outfit RazorGator, and the closing of a $2 million round of Series B venture capital funding. “This is a very strong testament to what we’re doing and the platform we’ve developed,” said Kelly Perdew, RotoHog chief executive. “We’re very excited to be partnering with an iconic brand like this and are pleased to be able to have good things like this happening in this economy.”

April 14, 2009

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I hope you are doing well as baseball gets into full swing, the fantasy volleyball season begins and the NFL Draft starts getting hyped up. One thing we can say is that sports, although not recession-proof, continue to provide great entertainment and value for consumers, and that the fantasy and digital activation space today is what baseball cards and board games were for earlier generations.

For those of you who know me, you know how much I enjoy all the challenges of a start-up. I think that RotoHog and our recent work exemplify both the challenges and the successes of what can be accomplished in this sector. Below is a brief update of some of the success our team has accomplished in recent months, as we transitioned from being just an online fantasy game company to a brand that provides the best B2B platform for fantasy games and tools for providers in the space.

In the last few months RotoHog has:

1. Created an exciting NFL Playoff game for GoDaddy.com to launch their Super Bowl advertising platform, using Facebook as the driver.
2. Created the first-ever Spanish language baseball Stock Exchange game for Fox Sports En Espanol.
3. Implemented two very successful fantasy games for NBA.com, including our flagship product, the NBA Stock Exchange game. As part of this delivery we integrated with Turner Digital’s back end systems and provided a seamless single sign-on for fans.
4. Launched a first-of-its-kind fantasy game for AVP Pro Beach Volleyball on AVP.com.
5. Secured a partnership with Gatehouse Media to work with them on fantasy programming across all of their publications, including Pro Football Weekly.
6. Created a World Cup Soccer 2010 Qualifier Game on Facebook.
7. Opened a branded ticket shop with RazorGator, providing our partners with yet another opportunity to monetize within our customized fantasy games.
8. Launched our Sports Market Ticker™, an application that supplies fans with the derivative data from our stock exchange games just like a real stock ticker – player pricing movements, transaction volumes, etc… — for all the players in that sport league.
9. Successfully implemented a major integrated sponsorship with LG Electronics on our fantasy football stock exchange game.
10. Recruited the best technology and product team in the space made up of experts from the Gaming and Platform industries. Our platform offers multiple types of fantasy games that are easily adapted to different sports and brands with modular components to facilitate integration with partner web sites and international audiences. The technology is further designed for high reliability and scalability in a cost effective manner by using state-of-the art hardware and software development, deployment and operations technologies.
11. Secured an additional $2 Million in funding that will keep our business growing and thriving as we add new partners.
12. Re-branded and launched our B2B corporate site where you can track all of our progress at www.rotohog.com/corporate.

We are also honored to have been selected last week as one of the top 100 emerging companies in digital entertainment and the winner of the “Enabling Tools” category by the AlwaysOn Network. RotoHog beat out over 500 other companies to win the category in its first year of entry.

What I am hoping is that the success we have had with RotoHog is really a sign of both the economy turning around and the acknowledgement by the business community of what many have been saying for the past few years…that the ability to create efficient, monetizable platforms in the digital space, and then marry those platforms to major distribution partners is where the sports and entertainment world is going in order to connect with its fervent fan base.

All this is great news for our company, but we are just getting started and will continue to take an even bigger leadership position in the industry in the coming months, with new partnerships and more innovative deals. We want to thank you for your support and interest, and as always, if there is anything we can help you with, please let us know.

Regards,

Kelly

Kelly Perdew
CEO, RotoHog