Sports betting is on the rise.
While companies such as FanDuel and DraftKings command most of the market share, there are several up-and-coming players to watch out for.
Kutt is one of them.
Labeled as The Social Betting Platform, Kutt is positioning itself as the go-to platform for betting your friends or strangers on anything.
So unlike traditional sportsbooks, they allow you to:
- Bet directly against another person rather than a corporation.
- Bet markets on everything (i.e., politics, pop culture, finance, etc…), not just sports.
- Engage with other users through chats and leaderboards.
- Create your own odds and payouts which means you’re in full control of the bet.
Not to mention there are no fees.
Betting is a social activity yet most of the major companies lack the features and capabilities to create this environment for users.
Users want to connect with other users and Kutt’s curated experience is something to keep your eye on.
In this interview with founder Sim Harmon, we discuss how he came up with the idea, where the company is now, and predictions he has for the sports betting industry over the next few years.
Hello, who are you and what is the name of your company?
I’m Sim Harmon, founder of Kutt – The Social Betting Platform.
Kutt is a P2P (peer-to-peer) social betting platform that allows friends and strangers to bet directly against each other on the outcome of sports, politics, pop culture, and other events…we’re the ultimate “put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is” platform that also acts as a social network.
I’ve been in and around betting for nearly 20 years; I’ve tried almost all the sportsbooks and prediction markets on the market.
Kutt was started from a personal need – my friends and I have been betting against each other since high school, usually via group chats and Venmo.
Yet, a lot of times, lost bets went unpaid.
Kutt was created to capture, track, and monetize the “handshake bets” between friends.
You can find us on the App Store (for iPhone) or via play.kutt.com (for Android + Desktop), as well as www.kutt.com.
What was the process of getting the company off the ground?
While the original idea for Kutt was born around 2007 at my high school lunch table, I didn’t seriously consider it until PASPA (The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act) was repealed in 2018.
I remember getting a “Breaking News” alert from the Wall Street Journal and immediately called some friends.
That same day, I emailed several software development agencies and asked them how much it would cost to create wireframes for an app idea I had.
After a few months of weekly phone calls with an agency I chose, I received a few wireframes and a “blueprint” for the app that became Kutt.
As many people can attest, the novelty and excitement of a new idea wore off after a few weeks to months when I realized how much time, effort, and money went into launching a company. Life got in the way. Covid got in the way.
So I sat on those wireframes and plans for a couple of years and didn’t pursue Kutt with the vigor needed to launch a successful company.
To make matters worse, when I did decide to finally take it more seriously, I hired a new software development company to build the app and they turned out to be complete frauds.
They took $24K from me and delivered zero code.
It took a while to recover from that, but I finally found another agency to build the app and spent the better part of 2021 and 2022 working two jobs. My day job during the day and Kutt on nights and weekends.
It wasn’t until August of 2022 that I finally saved up enough money to quit my job to focus on Kutt full-time, and we launched the app in November 2022.
How is the company doing today and what does the future look like?
Like other consumer businesses, Kutt experienced the “cold start” problem.
It takes a long time to go from 0-1, and it’s even more difficult when you don’t have a big budget to work with.
Additionally, in this industry, there are a lot of hoops you have to jump through.
Whether those are legal or compliance related or service-provider related like finding banking and payment providers willing to work with a company with no transaction history.
So the “foundation work” (as we call it) took a long time and now we are ready to scale.
Kutt is finally in a place where we are comfortable talking about our vision as well as our metrics.
We have a five-figure strong userbase (30%+ are active), are generating meaningful revenue each month, and have signed some partnerships with some pretty cool brands and influencers in the gaming space.
We also recently raised some institutional funding and our goal for the rest of the year is to double our user base, increase our partnerships, grow our team, and continue churning out new features on our roadmap.
Through starting the business have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
A lot of people say this, but it’s true – experience is the best teacher.
Anyone can give advice and always consider the source of that advice, but you won’t fully understand or appreciate something until you try it yourself.
Patience is another thing that I’ve learned. Patience comes in many forms.
It comes in the form of understanding that it will take 3x as long as you initially thought to implement a specific feature your users want.
It also comes in the form of learning to bite your tongue when someone says something negative about your company. Patience truly is a virtue and something I work on every single day.
As an only child, I’ve always wanted to do things myself.
“If you want something done right, do it yourself” is an adage I’ve sworn by for years.
However, trying to build a company from scratch is tough. It’s even tougher when it’s just you. It took me a long time to admit that I needed help, and I am glad I found our co-founder, James when I did.
Colleagues help share the physical and mental burden of starting a business.
If you can’t hire/find a colleague or a co-founder, that’s okay…strike up a friendship with another entrepreneur who is in a similar position to you and swap war stories.
Trust me, it’s worth it.
What advice do you have for founders looking to raise capital?
If anyone has the secret to fundraising quickly and successfully, then please share it with us! 🙂
One reminder I’d give is that a warm introduction is worth 1,000 cold emails.
It’s the unfortunate reality we live in, and makes fundraising difficult for many of us, myself and our team included, who don’t come from money or have a large network.
Oftentimes, I hear people advise you to “Not take outside money” and to “Bootstrap” your business into perpetuity.
Coming from someone who bootstrapped Kutt for several years, and maxed out several personal credit cards along the way, I think this is some of the dumbest advice out there.
I’ve been through the wringer financially over the past several years, and it’s not an enviable position. It’s never fun to open one credit card to pay off another and watch your credit score drop to the low 400s. Trust me, I’ve been there.
If you can raise outside funding, at good terms, so that you don’t have to struggle or overload yourself with debt, then do it.
It’ll save you a ton of stress and anguish, both financially and emotionally.
What are some predictions you have for the industry over the next year?
We’re incredibly bullish on the social betting space (where we play!), which is a subcategory within Peer-to-Peer (P2P).
We predict that P2P, and by extension social betting, will have its day in the sun as bettors continue to have declining experiences with traditional sportsbooks and look for alternative ways to participate in this industry.
The traditional model isn’t fair. Why in the world should users have to pay ~10% just for the privilege to place a bet?
It isn’t fun. It’s strictly transactional, and the reality is that most of the traditional operators look at their users with disdain (unless they are consistent losers).
Innovation in this space is hard to come by, because of the vast lobbying and gatekeeping efforts of the big boys, but we are hopeful and excited for the next couple of years because users and bettors are demanding more.
Are there any particular tools, software, or resources you use to be more productive?
We are religious Slack users.
What advice do you have for founders trying to build a team and hire talent?
For early hires, you need to find a culture fit.
This cannot be overstated.
Are there any books & podcasts you recommend?
I skim headlines on WSJ every morning.
I’m not a podcast guy, and my “to-read” book list is a mile long.
If I do read, then it’s something completely unrelated to business, so that I can get my mind off of work for just a brief minute.
Are you currently hiring and if so, where can people apply and find out more?
We’re always looking for talented, smart, and motivated individuals who would fit well within our team.
While we are primarily looking for software developers, we are always open to talking to the right person for a variety of other roles (marketing, product, etc.).
Feel free to send your resume and a short blurb about yourself to support@kutt.com.
