what's he referring to? i clicked thru that and still don't get it.
He created an app
eksperience.io
Ekeler revamps Eksperience engagement platform, targets pro and college teams
Nicky Wolcott, Contributor2.11.2024
LAS VEGAS -- Austin Ekeler saw some positive signs after
soft launching Eksperience, an engagement platform that gives users access to athletes, influencers and content creators, in December 2022, but also ran into some issues.
The Chargers RB made about $20,000 from around 500 engagements on the platform over approximately six months, he said. That gave him some proof of the concept, but he thought they had to make a change in order to scale the company, improve marketing and bring on more athletes.
Before the start of the 2023 NFL season,
Eksperience pivoted. The platform is now a white label product that will look to partner with professional and college teams to connect communities of fans with their athletes. Eksperience will alpha test the revamped platform with its first university in late February, Ekeler said.
“[Athletes] can just show up and they can do their fan engagement and then they can move on their way,” Ekeler said. “They don't have to focus on what they're putting on [the platform]. They don't have to focus on the price. They don't have to focus on any of the marketing efforts. We go out and we go to the community, we bring them in and then we help the athletes execute.”
Eksperience plans to expand on the variety of engagement options it previously offered, such as personal video chats, fan meet-and-greets and social media interactions, by creating unique and themed opportunities throughout the year that aim to bring fans closer with the team over the course of a season.
“Doing these engagements, they were really stale … How many fans are gonna come back and keep buying [a fan-meet-and-greet]? Probably not many,” he said.
“Now we want to position ourselves where we're actually letting the community help the team through the season, whether it's cheering them on through the week, picking them up after a loss, getting to know them during the offseason. All of these different strategies that we're putting in to keep the shelves, the inventory and the interest alive with meeting the athletes.”
Eksperience previously relied on a 20% cut from athlete engagements, meaning the platform wasn't profiting while an athlete took a break or stopped engaging with fans.
Now that Eksperience is looking to partner with teams and universities, they’ll charge an undisclosed service fee on top of the same 20% cut from engagements, Ekeler said.
“Now we're incentivized to not only help them with our white glove service, so that they continue to want to work with us, but also we can push to make as many engagements as they can,” he said.
Ekeler believes he can leverage his experience as an athlete and his recent work with Eksperience to differentiate it from other platforms in the industry and create less friction for athletes looking to engage with fans and monetize their image, whether at the college level via NIL or at the professional level.
“There's a lot of smart people that have a good business plan and want to make this concept, but they don't always understand the athlete side,” Ekeler said. “I can go get on [a streaming platform like] Twitch but I'm gonna have to also set up all my logos, I'm gonna have to do my own content, I'm gonna have to market my own thing.”
“They're like, ‘Oh, that's how they can make money and their fans will just show up.’ Well it's like, that’s not how fans work.”
As Eksperience evolves, Ekeler hopes to continue to provide resources and tools for athletes to utilize their brands and connect with audiences.
“I know I would love a tool like this, where I can just have things pop up on my phone and I can just continue to execute and I don't have to do all the setup and all that,” Ekeler said.
eksperience.io