Pitch Please

00:03.86
mike_flywheel
Welcome back everybody this is Mike from the pitch please podcast today. We're talking to Shannon Ferguson from fan saves welcome to the podcast Shannon I'd love to start by learning a little bit more about you. Your role at fan saves and even the journey of how you got here. So maybe over to you.

00:26.97
Shannon Ferguson
Hi Mike thanks so much for having me on today. Um, yeah so I'm the co-founder and Ceo at fans saves and um, we're what we're really doing um you know is digitalizing sponsorship which we'll get into a little bit more later, but. Um, my journey I always say it was definitely not linear growing up I thought it would be I did all I took all the right steps you know, graduated high school on time graduated university on time did a post grad got into the corporate world and then. Um, in about ah twenty fourteen my life kind of just flipped turned upside down. Um and a whole bunch of circumstances. Ah you know, flew off the rail I ended up back in my hometown in Cornwall Ontario and um I started my first business which was a marketing business. Um, and actually that is what led me to meeting my co-founder Chris who's also my life partner and that's how we ended up creating fan saves together in the summer of ah 2017.

01:27.47
mike_flywheel
Wow And so have you always been in the marketing space.

01:33.16
Shannon Ferguson
Yeah, so my degree is in communication study is um I did a postggrad and broadcast journalism really wanted to you know, be ah a Tv host in sports and entertainment but graduated um during the recession. So ah, no one was hiring. Um, and I ended up in marketing and specifically sports marketing. So I worked for an online sports book. Um, and that was really awesome I learned so much in the corporate world and then I ended up in working in Montreal Calgary Toronto working in different. Um, marketing and advertising agencies. So when I was forced to come home in 2015 after my mom passed away and I couldn't really find a job that you know piqued my interest the way that I like the way I had Britain working before so I just that's when I decided let's. Start my own marketing and events business and kind of do it for myself.

02:31.30
mike_flywheel
That's super cool. So the business that you had before fan saves was a marketing and events business and so are you still doing that business. How long did you do that for top. Maybe let's talk a little bit about that before we kind of do the rest of the show on fan saves.

02:43.96
Shannon Ferguson
Yeah I definitely do not do that anymore. Um I just don't have time in 2018 I actually kind of sunset it and you know really decided to put my full focus into fan saves. Um, which you know started growing really quickly so venturing out into you know into my own business with with my first first business. Um, it was almost like a no brainer. My mom was an entrepreneur. Um and it was kind of a way to also like. You know, listen to my gut and say okay, you grew up around this. You can do this Um, and I just really set out decided to to work for myself and then from there 1 of my clients was the new pro hockey team that had come to Cornwall in 162 and and. They were 1 of my clients Chris was a player he played minor pro hockey for 7 years He broke his finger in a fight behind the net one night I didn't even know him but to keep him as part of the team. They kept him they brought him to the front office to do sales and marketing so we met. And you know we just meshed right away and we ended up taking over all of the marketing sales sponsorship everything like that and it was a pain point that we ran into that summer selling sponsorship that you know again led us to fan saves but definitely loved. Ah.

04:10.66
Shannon Ferguson
My marketing business but fan saves is awesome because I still get to do a lot of that just on a bigger scale.

04:14.54
mike_flywheel
Yeah, it seems to to bring the 2 together and so just to clarify you said Chris and that's your your cofounder.

04:23.22
Shannon Ferguson
Yeah, so Chris is my co-founder also my life partner and yeah, where we just do it all together. Basically and now we have a team of 8 at fans save so it's it's really awesome to have grown from you know, just ah, actually just a couple. Starting a business to a full-fledged company.

04:42.40
mike_flywheel
That's amazing and you bring both experiences from marketing and a love for sports and ah and a deep knowledge of playing in this sports Space. So what? Ah what you see you love most about what you're doing now. Obviously I've had ah an interesting journey to getting. Where you are now with fan saves your passions already jumping through and we've barely even scratched the surface on talking about fan saves. But what do you love most about what you're doing now.

05:08.12
Shannon Ferguson
Yeah I think there's so many different aspects of what I love doing um of what I do that I Love Um, you know going back to even when I was younger I grew up playing competitive Hockey. So I'm a super competitive person I played a whole bunch of sports but hockey was my main thing and. Often Compare you know startup world to to sports and to you know, having to have that tenacity that resilience you know, overcoming adversity and I think being a startup founder and what I love most about fan saves and what I get to do is like constantly solving problems. And at the time I I I wouldn't tell you that I love it but going through it. But when you get to the other side and you've overcome that problem and it it works out and it's really fulfilling and it's like okay I you know figured that out I overcame that problem and I feel like. You know, a lot of startup Founders. Don't talk about it enough but you're constantly putting out fires like you are constantly problem solving figuring it out. Some new things are coming across your desk and you're like okay I'm just going to have to make a decision I can't be indecisive on this. So. That's one thing I Really love and the other part is just getting to be Creative. You Know. We talk a lot about how we just envisioned Fansives. We create took it took something that did not exist had an idea and made it a reality and I love that we get to constantly you know, just improve on what we have grow What we what we've.

06:35.33
Shannon Ferguson
Originally thought of and and you know just to see that come to life has been has been really awesome.

06:41.87
mike_flywheel
That's super cool and so I think you've touched on it a little bit but what what motivates you to work hard.

06:47.63
Shannon Ferguson
Um, well, um, definitely so one of my big motivations is just having a life that I can be really proud of you know I talked about my mom earlier and her passing away. Really changed my outlook on life. It really showed me that like life is short and if you're not doing something ah something that you love to do like are you really living the best life that you can so for me I'm always motivated to work hard because I love working for myself. I love the freedom it affords me I love that you know. The people I get to meet the things I get to do um that part of entrepreneurship is really motivating to me. Um, you know sometimes I think oh my goodness I I don't know if I'd ever be able to work for someone else again. I mean I I could if I had to but it's just so fun. Um, having to. You know, just to answer to yourself and I think being a startup founder you have to be really motivated and like self motivattivated because no one else is there to motivate you Chris and I say we're really lucky because we have each other um but at the end of the day you have to make that decision to wake up every day and work really hard. So self-motation is like a key to to success.

07:59.89
mike_flywheel
And so you've been a 2 wo-time entrepreneur so far it sounds like and when you got started in your first venture was there either as you're younger. Or getting into that first venture even now someone who inspired you to become an entrepreneur or inspired you to think about entrepreneurship.

08:23.27
Shannon Ferguson
Yeah I mean I've mentioned her a few times but definitely my mom like I grew up. You know in her office ah writing on a typewriter. She's to have like a computer with Ms. dos I know I'm dating myself but I grew up like you know. Filing. Ah you know, alphabetizing her filing cabinets and filing different things and just really learned the basics of what goes into business because a lot of people see business and they see the success and they see oh this is like the highlight real and they don't see that oftentimes ah the the foundation of a good business is. You know, being organized and having things like I love color coding things I love organizing things. Um, and my mom is just such an essential part of of that growing up and I really learned that you know what hard work can can get you and the the great people that she. Met and that she knew and um for me I actually ah I was actually quoted in an article that like Rbc did on her when I was like 13 and I was like I will never be an entrepreneur and it's really funny because back then I equated entrepreneurship with. My mom own a business and international freight forwarding and freight forwarding and customs and I was like that's not what I want to do and that's what I kind of equated it equated it with but I think it's really funny looking back at that article and being like.

09:49.36
Shannon Ferguson
Ok, no, it's kind of like destined it would be kind of weird if I didn't end up in this space.

09:55.20
mike_flywheel
It's so cool you were learning the skills along the way and you never fully realized at that time that it would lead you here and that those skills would help you through not 1 but 2 and maybe many more ventures in in the entire kind of space. Um, of entrepreneurship businesses startups or maybe even bigger is there a company that you look up to and if so why.

10:23.12
Shannon Ferguson
Yeah, so well fan saves in particular, you know what we're doing and and just just to to touch on that um being a digital coupon book. That's basically what we're doing. We've reinvented everyone remembers paper coupon books they get stuff under your seat. Ah, in in the car and you never use them or ticket stubs the back of that ticket stubs used to have coupon or discounts on it. No ticket stubs exist anymore with everything going digital. Really what we've done is digitalized sponsorship to help engage fans with team sponsors. Not just sports teams that's where we're hyper focused but we also work with different verticals any organization or event that really relies on sponsorship. So um, some a company that I really look up to actually doesn't really exist in the same way anymore. But it's called snap saves it was um, found it by Michelle Romano who you might recognize from Dragons Den she's now the founder of clearbank. Um, and for me seeing what snapsaves did and how they grew so fast and they ended up getting acquired by Groupon and it's just really inspiring to me and Michelle Romano is such a rock star. So for me, that's someone I look up to I think that um you know fansies has that kind of trajectory in its in its path. So we're really hopeful that that we're going to get to that level as well and that's definitely a company that that we often refer to a lot in in our pitches and.

11:53.83
Shannon Ferguson
And just daily when we talk about things.

11:56.40
mike_flywheel
That's cool. It snap saves and Michelle Romanov so I definite definitely see why? Um and I know you started going into it but I want to make sure that we stay true to the format of the show. So I'm going to almost make you repeat it. But it's going to have to be your best version.

12:09.81
Shannon Ferguson
Um, for sure. Um, so yeah, back in 2017 when Chris and I we were managing the the marketing and sales and sponsorship of 2 minor professional hockey teams.

12:11.18
mike_flywheel
Um, it's it's time to give us your best pitch please Shannon.

12:26.96
Shannon Ferguson
Um, when we were going out to sell sponsorship businesses kept telling us that they wanted more than ah, a rinkboard or a scoreboard ad they really wanted something that was digital. They wanted something that would track return on investment track customer analytics. And especially they wanted something that would actually drive fans into their store and we didn't have anything like that. We knew what the traditional inventory we had wasn't really created to do that. Um, so we had the late bul moment to create fan saves which is a digital platform. That offers fans discounts and deals from the sponsors and partners of their favorite teams organizations and events and um, yeah, every time a deal is Redeemed. It's tracked in a backend dashboard that both the sponsor and the organization have access to so they can actually See. Um, who's walking through their doors. They can see really important information and analytics on that traditional sponsorship and advertising doesn't often provide and.

13:28.15
mike_flywheel
That's cool and so who generally is your consumer or who uses this and it sounds like it's a ah double sided marketplace type solution. But maybe expand upon who you think is or who who you see as your primary customer and your secondary and a little bit about where and how they get value out of that.

13:47.25
Shannon Ferguson
For sure. So we're we're B Two B sass but we are also considered B to B to C and almost like B to B to B to C if that's not too confusing but for us Um, but yeah for us our customer.

13:58.22
mike_flywheel
It's a lot of letters.

14:03.99
Shannon Ferguson
Is actually the organization so they pay us ah an annual licensing fee and then they add fan saves into their sponsorship packages so they're selling fan saves alongside those traditional sponsorship options so that is the customer. The sponsor is the Customer. Of our customer so they're offering a deal as part of their sponsorship so they offer a deal on that team or organization's page. And then the consumer is the fan is the User. So The consumer can go on. They can Follow. You know the team that they love the most they can follow as many as they want and and then they can get discounts and deals just for being a fan.

14:49.52
mike_flywheel
That's Cool. So just to sort of make sure that I'm understanding this right? You actually have the teams as an organization as your customers. They actually embed as a value added service. What fans saves does to the people that sponsor or paid sponsorships into those teams and so that your B Two B Saas exactly and then for the customer side.

15:09.71
Shannon Ferguson
Um, they resell it.

15:17.89
mike_flywheel
Do you have to do a lot of work going out and finding those customers or does that naturally come because your customer the teams themselves naturally have fans like how does that How does that dynamic work.

15:29.94
Shannon Ferguson
Yeah, that's actually 1 of our value props. That's one of um, the reasons why we are growing so fast is because once we work with a team and I'll use I'll just use the word team to simplify knowing that there's different organizations. We do work with but hyper focused on sports. So.

15:38.95
mike_flywheel
Sure or.

15:46.18
Shannon Ferguson
Once we work with the team. We actually then have access to their embedded fan base. They have fan bases and part of um, our partnership is that the team actually markets fan saves for us so they're putting fansaf scoreboard ads up Sometimes we get rink boards wall sign they're embedding it into their website. Um, to drive fans to their their own assets which they can do so for us, it's It's a really unique value prop for fan saves because these teams already have engaged fans and the the users just come along with that 2 fan save so. We Also do our own marketing. Of course we help the teams we we you know teams know that we're an extension of their team basically and but for us that's the really cool thing about fans saves is that we're able to tap in to that network that the team already has.

16:40.18
mike_flywheel
That makes so much sense and it helps streamline sort of the sales process for you and customer acquisition process because so many times juggling the double-sided marketplace is such a challenge but in your scenario. Singular people that you sell to oftentimes help with the amplification alongside the work you're doing now you mentioned teams and I keep saying teams but you did reference 2 seconds ago that there's other types of companies. That would use fan saves can you talk to us a little bit about the spectrum and maybe even the mix of people that are using it today.

17:20.28
Shannon Ferguson
For sure. Yeah, so we have definitely tested um and had some success and had a lot of success in different verticals so one of the verticals is chambers of commerce which at first we never really had our eye on but what we deal with chambers is we digitalize their member to member discount programs. Um, so that's actually 1 of our big verticals the other verticals um include universities and colleges so University Athletics but also alumni um organizations. We also work with different events sometimes fundraisers and um, we even have some influencers media. Um, if you think of one of the the you know one of our big goals is really getting into bigger media and and Tv shows. We've been in talks with a few and when you watch a show like big brother for example and you see it. Um, you know you see all their advertisers within the show. But. It's not really pushing you to go out and you know get Bio Wendy's frosty. But even though you're seeing it. You know subliminally ah when you're watching the show. So fan saves is a really great match for media companies like that too. Um, yeah, so basically we just say anyone. Everyone is a fan of something and anyone can save money just for being a fan.

18:38.97
mike_flywheel
That's cool. So there's obviously the savings component. There's the ease of access component. There's a couple things that you guys are are doing to to really light this up but what would you say is the core of the problem that you're solving the initial problem that you sort of mentioned earlier that. Motivated you and Chris to say we need to go create some change here. What what was that problem that you're solving and a little bit about the specific sauce around how you're solving it which I know we've talked about parts of that but just to get really specific.

19:11.59
Shannon Ferguson
Yeah, the problem we're solving is um, for sports teams. We're helping them generate more sponsorship revenue at the end of the day that is the problem that we're solving. We're making it. We're giving these teams an asset that is easier to sell that has an unlimited and unlimited amount of inventory. That they can offer um to local businesses. So that's the big problem. The other problem we're solving is again going back to that data a paper coupon does not give a business or a team any type of data that that is that is king these days and if they're missing out on that. Then they're not really truly understanding. Not only their customer but they're not understanding what their sponsorship is getting them so that ah roi as well. That's the second second issue that we're solving the third is 90% of sports fans. Can't name more than 5 of their favorite team sponsors. When you go to a sporting event or watch one on Tv when it's over you remember who won who lost how much beer you drank how much fun you had you don't remember who was plastered along the boards who was on the scoreboard. You just typically do not remember that. So for us fan saves is a really great way. For fans to not only know who these sponsors are after the game in the off season on a regular Monday afternoon. Not only just know who they are but also support them through incentivizing them with a deal.

20:38.94
mike_flywheel
It makes a lot of sense. So instead of you're really creating and a value added addition for their sponsorship packages that allows the people that are sponsoring them to have time beyond the game time that they interact with that organization's fans. Or followers and so at the core of all that though is there's a time and visibility. But you're also bringing the data component to it which is so critical to actually get insights of our people interacting with the sponsors in the way that they had hoped. And then then they can use those insights to hopefully sell more sponsorships. So super super super cool in this space. Um, actually maybe even before doing that actual technical components of this. How how does it work and maybe talk through it. First in terms of me as let's start at the team or or company maybe and just pick a real team as an example, we'll talk through it. How does it start for them. What does their onboarding process look like and then we can flip to the other persona being a fan of that team.

21:53.58
Shannon Ferguson
Yeah, so um, our onboarding process. We've made it extremely easy and simple for teams because again like we've been in their shoes. We know that they they are pulled in 17 different ways all the time and they need it as easy as possible. So. They typically they just sell sponsorship how they would normally they just include fan saves into those sponsorship packages and then simply send a link to the sponsor once they you know have signed have signed them up and they want to be on fans save so really um that what. Ah, normal person experiences when they you know use fan saves is um, again and in keeping with simplicity. Um, you can really think of it like Instagram meets group on so you sign up for your free account. It's always free. Um, you sign up for your account and then you follow your favorite team so you're not ah forced to just follow 1 you can follow as many organizations as you like 1 of the really great things about fan saves that we're doing is creating this network so you know if I'm a fan of 1 team in the city I live in but I'm traveling to. A game to watch them play against a team 3 hours away I'm not going to know what restaurant I should go to what hotel I should stay out what things there are to do in that city I can then follow that team. My favorite team's competitor and get those deals. Um along the way as well. So.

23:24.25
Shannon Ferguson
Really, you're signing up, you're following the teams that you like just how you follow pages on Instagram but instead of just seeing pictures. You're seeing discounts and deals again from that team specifically their sponsors and then to redeem a deal you literally click on it. So we have 2 types of deals in store and online.

23:35.91
mike_flywheel
And so.

23:43.19
Shannon Ferguson
If you're in the store you press redeem you turn your phone. You show the cashier or the server they apply your discount at the point of purchase and then if it's an online deal. Um you press redeem from wherever you are you get a code you put that in your cart and at checkout and you're good to go.

23:59.50
mike_flywheel
And so I guess the other advantage here is in almost all scenarios or many scenarios. It actually gets the sponsors to come to the table with more than the sponsorship funds. Both a compelling offer to help drive people back to them and so that's one piece. Then the other thing that that became so clear as you were talking through. It is I don't know about others but personally I hate single use apps. So I hate examples of you know every maybe it's ah a small restaurant building an app for their one location because then you have like. 5000 apps on your phone. It gets like super cluttering and so one of the benefits of fan saves is actually if you are a fan or a follower of so many different things you can consolidate that into 1 place and the reality is most people have more than one sports team. They follow more than 1 thing. They're a fan of. And so you can aggregate it and you really are the fan platform that access is a left to right.

24:59.68
Shannon Ferguson
I love that you brought that up because you know when me first started at fans a is um, a lot of you know early people would say well you need to white label this but our whole point of fan saves is that we we do embed we embed into team websites and team. Team maps Bobby specifically specifically don't white label because of that network effect I always say I am a diehard toronto me leaveafs fan and I don't live in Toronto so if I was going to be going to like Montreal for example I don't necessarily want to download. Their team's app and have that on my phone but if I can go on fan saves and follow that team then it it makes it a lot easier and we say that as well. A lot of times these teams especially at the professional level are trying to digitalize their sponsorship but they're forcing their fans. To download all types of different apps and to get those deals instead of just like just bringing them to 1 place and having all those deals in 1 in 1 spot. So for us. Um, that's the the allura fans save is ah everything is there at your fingertips. Where really you know our goal is to eliminate paper coupons in in professional sports and you know again, a lot of these teams are like okay, there's a hat trick that happened now go get your free burger from this place download the app sign in. Do this do that. It's like okay we do that.

26:32.30
Shannon Ferguson
All in 1 place. So I love that you brought that up.

26:33.42
mike_flywheel
Yeah, the streamlining and just it's even to that point especially in in Toronto there's a lot of sports teams which which is great but there's many people that are living in Burlington Hamilton maybe a Hamilton Tiger cats fan but love the blue jays you know the maple leafs and the raptors. And so that's like even if those were the only 4 things you were fans of in life. You don't want to really download 4 applications to interact with all of their related sponsors and so totally makes sense in this space though. Um. There has to be competitors. Can you talk to me about like the competitive landscape that you you look at or maybe alternatives that you think about in this space when you guys go to market.

27:18.41
Shannon Ferguson
Yeah, so I mean in the past five years um you know it was so crazy. We celebrate it 10 years in the summer and you were like how did that happen. Thank you? Um, we definitely come across competitors. Um.

27:23.78
mike_flywheel
Row can congrats.

27:32.73
Shannon Ferguson
And it's kind of funny. We've seen some competitors come and some competitors go go away which is nice but the cool thing about fan saves is there are definitely couponing platforms out there. There's a dime a dozen for couponing platforms and there they would be considered um a competitor of course but and then of course there are you know, traditional sponsorship options but the really unique thing about fan saves is we're the first ones kind of bringing them together. There are a couple of other um competitors in the sense again they might work with more like chambers of commerce. That are offering deals for that chamber and but again to to be doing what we are doing in the way that we're doing it so far and fingers crossed where we're the only ones that have that we have come across that are doing it in this way. But again, there's. Groupon let's say is what be our biggest competitor groupon is out there group on is huge group on is everywhere. Ah, but we have that advantage where Groupon is just spraying deals from local businesses and businesses everywhere. We are very we we were niche in the sense that you have to be. Um, a fan of of something to get these deals.

28:52.35
mike_flywheel
Yeah, and and it keeps the data in play and in the brand it. It puts a bit of power back into the teams that are getting these sponsorships and selling these sponsorships and inversely while they're bringing more value. To their sponsors. They're also bringing more value to their fans indirectly which is which is super cool. Your journey you said 5 5 years What's been sort of 1 of your most memorable stories over the last five years on your journey and congrats again on on 5 years that's that's an amazing milestone.

29:14.10
Shannon Ferguson
Um, exactly. Um.

29:28.28
mike_flywheel
As a successful startup.

29:30.95
Shannon Ferguson
Oh thank you so much? Um, oh my goodness so many memories. Um, something that we always say is like we we we always try to say yes, we always try to show up. We always do show up especially in the early years we were everywhere like you couldn't be at a. Startup event that we weren't at like we pitched on so many different stages. Um, and you know I think that pitching in general um is one of my like favorites. Ah favorite memories and favorite things that I've gotten to do. And I won this pitch competition in 2019. It was called get in the ring and it was the most unique pitch competition because you only had 30 seconds to answer and there was like 5 different questions and you would go head to head in like a boxing ring with another startup founder. So you'd only have 30 seconds to explain your answer to that question you had to be really precise so that was so exciting and we ended up winning and we won a trip to Berlin Germany where we pitched on like the global stage and got to meet so many cool global or yeah, global entrepreneurs. So ah, pitching in general has been really fun. Um I've learned so much and come such a long way. Um, but that that pitch in particular stands out of my mind.

30:53.50
mike_flywheel
It's almost like you were destined to be on this podcast with your passionate love for pitching.

30:56.88
Shannon Ferguson
I know and when I when we connected I was like okay I'm here for it.

31:01.87
mike_flywheel
I love it. I love it and so that pitching and all those you know experiences the travel the connecting with people was definitely one of your most memorable but in 5 years I can't imagine that it's all been an easy journey and so what would you say has been the hardest part. Ah, your journey to where you are today.

31:21.68
Shannon Ferguson
Yeah I always you know whenever I talk I do talks or I'm on podcasts I always like to remind people like it's more hard days than highlights you know it's really really, really, really hard on. A big thing that we had to overcome Chris and I are a non-technical co-founder so I can design a website I did that no problem but to actually code an app code a web app we didn't have any experience doing that. So as non technicalchnical co-founders. We had to put our trust in certain people in the beginning and. It turned out that it didn't it. It wasn't always. We didn't always make the right decisions because we didn't know what we were looking for and you know our first whole year in 2018. We had a product but it wasn't really sellable. It wasn't really up to the standards we needed it. Um. And then you know we had to go through 4 different developers to finally get the one we have now who's wonderful. Um, who's been with us for 3 years and that in itself has been such a challenge because we often said the business grew so fast we were running. But our product was always crawling and you know getting to a walk. So for us. We've had to learn how to be really patient. Um I now do all the project management for the developments I've learned so much I just I was just saying the other day. How like I'm still not the moncoding. It.

32:50.14
Shannon Ferguson
But I don't feel like a non-technical co-founder anymore because I've learned so so much and the only way to really learn is is to fail forward and to make those mistakes. Um, so yeah, that's been really hard but in the end it's it's taught us a lot.

33:07.20
mike_flywheel
That's that's a super important piece um to to make sure that people reflect on is there's There's the the good days and the bad days and I think oftentimes. There's a lot of examples or articles or podcasts to touch on it like super lightly.

33:07.51
Shannon Ferguson
Over.

33:23.22
mike_flywheel
Like oh yeah, fail fast fail forward but they'll also talk about all the success stories and the reality is there's a lot of startups that that don't make it that do have more bad days than good days and you do have to have grit as ah as a startup founder now you've obviously launched you just you've hit your 5 year Mark

33:43.92
mike_flywheel
I'm assuming people are using it the cofounder piece around not having a technical cofounder is your challenge but it sounds like you've you've pushed through there. How many people are using it who's using it what what sort of stage would you say you're at today and then maybe just start off to jump back in. In that it would be super cool to understand what the next six months has in store for fan saves.

34:06.70
Shannon Ferguson
Yeah, for sure. So we're really at that inflection point of starting to scale. We're working with 65 different organizations across North America we have 4 major league teams including the Ottawa senators and the Nhl um and we have. Close to 900 different businesses offering ah more than 1200 different deals again across North America so for us those numbers are really exciting. We're seeing our redemption ah redemptions increase daily. Ah um, we have amazing users that keep returning. And yeah for us, you know, getting last year our goal was to get 4 major league teams on and we hit it on December Twenty first or the last day December twenty third I think the last day before our office is closed for Christmas. At five O'clock we got the last contract back for our fourth major league team and we were like that is the definition of never giving up like you we literally ah slid into home base. You know right? at that last moment. So for us, um, you know having having so many great partners. We're also league partners of the American Hockey League the East Coast hockey league the ecl and the us hl the United States hockey league um so having league partnerships with them has been amazing and you know having so many different teams growing 2022 we really believe was our breakthrough year.

35:34.70
Shannon Ferguson
Um, and 2023 is this year where we just? um, we know that the hockey stick that inflection point is happening and that growth is taking off. So um, this year we have um, a big announcement coming up in February about and. Certain accelerator that we got accepted into which is really great so that'll that'll really help us with so many great introductions in the sports industry. We're also raising investment and we have raised some we have raised a bunch to date but we're raising even more so that's. And that's also a big um learning curve as well over the past three years and and yeah, we have like where we've grown our team. We're a team of eights on and it's just it's we've even with development we've just launched our brand new dashboard which was about eight months in the making. So. Lots and lots of great stuff happening at fan saves and 2023 like just keep an eye on us because I think I there's going to be a lot lot of great news coming out of this year

36:39.30
mike_flywheel
Sounds like it's going to be a killer year. Um, and and you're definitely gonna have to beat 4 major league sports teams as your last year's target. Even it means you know boiling it down right to the right to the finish line. Um.

36:46.51
Shannon Ferguson
Um, is it.

36:52.19
Shannon Ferguson
Um.

36:52.62
mike_flywheel
I Love the the hockey stick pun I don't know if it was intended or not but good luck on on the hockey stick here a quick question that like came to mind as you're talking about that. So it's available.

36:59.93
Shannon Ferguson
Um.

37:04.67
mike_flywheel
North America is there like a split of Canada versus us of where you're seeing more traction with fan saves today.

37:12.30
Shannon Ferguson
Yeah, so obviously being a canadian company. Ah you know we did our initial market research validation. Everything here in Canada but 1 of our the teams we worked for was actually in Watertown new york so right away we had a team in the Us um, and what we really found in 2022 is our growth ah was much bigger in in the Us um Canada is obviously wonderful. It's it's our home but we do find in the states. Um, the fans seem to get it in a different way. Um, when we look at our numbers. The teams are just more eager to get on they they're less. Let's say conservative and and they really just hop on they they have a great grasp on it. They have ah their fans have a handle on it. The sponsors understand it. So for us. There has been this shift that happened last year where the us is really our dominant market at this point Canada's obviously our home always will be um and you know we do still have some amazing canadian teams on that are doing a fantastic job. But when you look at the this. Split of our customers in general we are growing quicker in the Us.

38:25.45
mike_flywheel
I'm sure you love all of your teams. But if there was 1 or 2 teams that you could get on board with fan saves this year who's on the top of your list.

38:33.90
Shannon Ferguson
Um, oh so like any team in general like any team. Yeah.

38:35.42
mike_flywheel
And team that you have to have a hey it would be so amazing to bring this team on board with fan saves I'd love to know it. Maybe someone will listen. Maybe someone has a connection there. You never know right.

38:47.99
Shannon Ferguson
So we do actually have a connection. Um with this team but I am a diehard San Francisco forty nine ers fan so yeah playoffs so that's definitely I'm big on manifesting I'm big on envisioning. Ah, things and that for for me that's kind of my bucket list I do for fans saves and the really cool thing is Chris is a diehard Ottawa senators fan and we got them this year. Um, so you know I'm hoping that that you know the niners. Yeah, exactly.

39:17.84
mike_flywheel
2023 that's your that's your year.

39:23.84
Shannon Ferguson
Niners if you're listening we want to work with you. So that's my um, you know my dream client would be the niner is um, definitely a huge huge fan if if we can also win the super bowl this year that would be wonderful stop getting to the super bowl and losing. You know someone's listening.

39:42.73
mike_flywheel
Maybe you can get both of those things this year there's a shot at it. Um, you might you might get 2 wishes in the same year in 2023 which would would be super cool. 1 thing that's super fun that we kind of do to close out every show which I don't tell people in advance because it makes it way more funny.

39:46.13
Shannon Ferguson
I Think so um.

39:57.91
Shannon Ferguson
Um.

40:00.55
mike_flywheel
Um, you feel free to take a drink of water. Whatever you need, but we try to see how many times people can say pitch please podcast fast in a row and eventually I'll come back with a prize. But for now it's just really fun I'm not going to tell you what the highest numbers you're going to have to listen to the other podcast to find out if you're at the top at the bottom of the stack. But. Let me know when you're ready and then just dive in and I'll keep count.

40:21.11
Shannon Ferguson
Okay, perfect. Do I get one one I just have to go I don't get a practice. Ok no practice. Okay pitch please wait What? what? What? What do I saying pitch please podcast.

40:25.31
mike_flywheel
Just just just one just one. You know what? we've never done the practice but no, no, we're not to the practice die dive right in. It's a 1 time shot good pitch, please podcast pitch please podcast is is tough when you try to say really fast.

40:40.12
Shannon Ferguson
Ah, okay pitch please podcast pitch please podcast pitch please podcast pitch please podcast pitch please podcast pitch please play 7 Ah.

40:52.87
mike_flywheel
That's 6 you got you got 6 I don't I don't know 6 might be at the top or maybe be the bottom you're gonna have to find out soon. Um, Shannon thank you so much for joining us today I thank you everyone who tuned in I learned a ton today about fan save super cool.

41:00.12
Shannon Ferguson
Ah.

41:10.21
mike_flywheel
Um, if you can we'll make sure that we put all of the different areas people can go to join or find out more themselves in the show notes. But where would you love to direct people to if they have more questions and what's what sort of next steps.

41:25.86
Shannon Ferguson
For sure. Yeah, people can check out fansav.com um, that's our our website all the deals and everything are on there if you also are into apps you can download it on the Google play store or the app store on everywhere you you find ah apps and and websites you can find us. Um, you can also follow us on Instagram Facebook check us out on Linkedin if you want to follow me personally on Linkedin would love that as well. Um, and yeah, we're we're on all the social media platforms. So check us out connect with us if you're a startup founder and you'd like to to chat. Um, I'm always open to that as well. I know that it's a ah tough world we're in and if I can ever help or be of service I'm always here.

42:08.70
mike_flywheel
That's amazing. Even a mentorship offer I love it. Shannon! Thanks again for joining today. Everybody else catch you on the next episode of the pitch please podcast sign a note.