Omri Lachman on LEAP's gamified sports play-to-earn platform

0:01i'm ashamed addison from block west capital for investmentpitch media in the Crypto Coin Show and today on blockchain interviews we have omri lachman co-founder and ceo of leap omri welcome to the show and thanks for taking the time hey ashton thanks for having me you're very welcome let's dive into the world of nfts expanding into so many new industries and i'm looking forward to

0:22hearing what your team at leap is working on so let's dive straight into it let's start the conversation with just an overview of the solutions that your team is driving into the space and then we'll dive into all the details sounds good well so leap is actually a web free talent endorsement engagement and discovery platform which we decided to actually hide

0:46inside a full-blown game the purpose of gamifying the platform is obviously driven from deep research conducted for a very long period of time really understanding the needs and also potential problems in well several audiences and realms that haven't really gotten together so far and that goes to sports web 2-0 and then web freo so

1:15what we're trying to achieve through our stab here is to actually evolve the whole ecosystem by bringing these audiences together and introducing a big set of new wins for our target audience which is primarily youth and adolescents very cool and i like that it's packed into a game i haven't really seen that yet although everything is being gamified now and just makes it more

1:42exciting and i'm feeling like there's more and more athletes celebrities and artists that are getting on top of this train because they realize the potential of connecting directly with their fans and you know having those middlemen cut out so i'd love to hear a little bit more on you know that sounds like a big project especially building it into a game

2:02you know how long you've been working on this and where exactly your team is at right now so before making i guess the big choice of going full-blown web-free blockchain and tokenize an economy this company actually spent over two three years in research user engagement throwing a bunch of proof of concepts out there to actually test the water

2:30proof product market fit etc so we've been at it for quite some time before actually pulling the trigger and going out as leap the way we are right now that's good to hear and yeah definitely do a little bit of research and also ensure that the timing is right i feel like in the last three years now more than ever it seems like the right time when and you know not just because nfts

2:57did well last year and now there's sort of a bit of a bit of a slowdown as the market slowed down a little bit but that's where the real building is done and then it's the initial phase of people understand that this technology is there and then the act the ones with actual value start coming into the market so i feel like the timing is right for this i

3:19couldn't agree more i think you know putting aside the nft hype of the last 12 plus months which which is great in terms of discovery and initial adoption i think that you know through time our utilization of nfts come mostly from the technology enablement rather than you know of course the hype and taking yet another stab at digital

3:47collectibles right i mean we saw a great opportunity here to serve the goal for which we started this venture which is first and foremost how do we can actually create democratization of sports how can we introduce this industry and its raw material or fuel being talents with a set of new wins new opportunities rather than the traditional ones not

4:17to replace the traditionals but actually sort of like enhance the envelope definitely and what do you think is going to be some of the keys to success as you do launch out and continue to grow you know there's a lot of factors in determining the right sports determining the right talents and big names to come on the platform and also making it usable for people

4:39that aren't in crypto to easily onboard into the platform absolutely i think that you know first and foremost we are sports agnostic in the sense of you know choosing a specific field in sports we're making leap widely available for anyone engaged in sports activities period and you know as a personal passion i've been engaged

5:07in sports since i can remember myself but even through that you know i get exposed to new sports fields that i never knew existed even now so that's why it was so important to keep it so wide open and again mostly look at the traditional way the funnel works in sports and you know that was probably the biggest motivation to start leap today we're witnessing

5:34and this is not an exaggeration we're witnessing over to 99 drop in between that point a kid starts engagement in sports activities to the point they actually become professional we lose a lot of raw material along the way whether it's because they get discouraged or distracted and everything i just meant or encountered relates to those who are actually

6:00showing on the radar but what happens with those kids or youth or teenagers who live in those areas of our world where you don't have little leagues or you don't have after-school activities they're not even showing on the radar so for us making that clash and you were absolutely right to point on that we are actually looking at a critical mass of non-crypto or non-native crypto

6:28users on our platform and we're actually on boarding them into web free without even knowing they're being onboarded and web free that's why it took us so long to really craft and shape the game setting the game loop rather than turning into yet another play to earn or yet another nft game which which is fine but we're actually looking to serve sort of like a

6:54greater purpose here which is far longer in range hence has to be sustainable yeah great point and that's crazy to see that the drop-off in you know kids should be playing more sports and any ways we can keep them more engaged is going to be helpful and you know you mentioned there being sports agnostic i think that's great and it opens the target market to

7:18most of the world you know people of all ages love sports there's so many sports all around the world and that's a huge market and but having a go to market strategy when you first start i feel is important because it's hard to make a product and say it's for everybody and just hope that everybody joins on day one and i'm curious if you have a specific strategy on you know the

7:41initial launch if you're focused on specific sports or specific athletes and how you're going to approach day one so for you know the challenge you described has been the challenge of almost anyone in the tech space who decided to go b2c and target this fast broad audience and it's almost like asking the question okay so tomorrow we're about to

8:09launch instagram or tick tock but it's only for those who cycle or those who have blonde hair right it has to be robust otherwise it won't serve the purpose and for that i've been a serial entrepreneur in tech space for the last 16 years and we have a tremendous team here over at leap my philosophy to answer this challenge has always been

8:36that one killer feature in the product that generates a valuable almost to the verge of profound win for the user and in order to make that accessible in the bootstrapping stage where we're still small and can't afford hundreds of millions of dollars on user acquisition that goes down to the value of your product and your go to market partners and with that you know

9:05we will be open in a public beta in the coming two and a half to three months and i'm happy to say that we've already lined up a pretty long list of very meaningful go to market partners who gives us already access to some millions of users in the diverse spaces that we're targeting having all that said you know we're we've created a nice

9:34little eclectic diversity of some mainstream sports such as soccer which you know is a religion in many parts of our world but made sure it's mixed with those sports fields that for some are not considered mainstream certain areas of athletics martial arts and specific fields because we feel like those those sports

10:02bases and those who practice it are the ones who are sort of like missing the spotlight and the grand stage in today's social media and mainstream media definitely great point omri and you're right about the other sports and i've seen many discussions around you know how athletes in sports that aren't at the top are really getting cut out of a lot of value you

10:26know mma fighters or martial artists it's really a lot harder for them than people that are in european soccer leagues to make it big and i'm curious if you have any extra insight on the benefits for the talent themselves joining into leap and how you know they can connect with fans or how else they benefit absolutely and i think you know that is our primary goal and that's drive

10:51value and on board all these emerging talents into this platform that not only encourages them and motivates them to evolve it also helps them to learn what is the true meaning of ownership over digital assets and how they can utilize that to further evolve so by that close a certain loop

11:18to be specific and by the way the reason why we wrapped leap as a game rather than another social network is because when when an athlete make makes its first steps and you know i think we've seen multiple attempts in the tech space to change and improve the way the current industry works and that's valuable to a certain extent but we have to remember that you know it

11:47cannot change in a dramatic way maybe only incrementally there will always be 22 players on a soccer field and 10 on a basketball court those numbers cannot change by a tenfold up until now whether we're down in the streets of a cabela in brazil or down in a certain village in africa or even here in southern israel if you ask any kid what is their big

12:13dream they will tell you is that to be the next leo messi or the next serena williams or the next lebron but we're here to merge their day-to-day living on social media along with their passion to sport and actually teach them that there is a far quicker win for them rather to wait for someone to spot them out and call them for a tryout in a certain european or american team

12:42hence the value here is actually set for those who are part of the 99 percent who won't make it to the pros so in random conversations i always say you know we wouldn't resist having the next lebron found and discovered on leap but we did not create leap for the next lebron we created lead for that kid in class who may even be slightly overweighted

13:09but want to be part of that social pattern and practice a certain field in sports whether that could turn into the next micro ambassador for a sports brand i don't know but i know that there's value in him trying or her and there's value for people who are sports fans to be there to encourage them to keep going i like that insight omri and

13:39you know i'm thinking of the games themselves there's it there's a lot of games coming out and it's tough for the game developers to build a game that has retention where the players want to play for years you know there's been some some namesake sports games where you know soccer fans love to play fifa and people are playing nfl games nba as their favorite players

14:03in terms of the game development what's your plan on ensuring that there's a high level of retention and that there's not the initial hype and then you know kids get bored after playing for a week absolutely so i think again there is a combination of you know the way we researched the space and how we actually rolled it out into a product first and foremost a

14:28leap is not a metaverse or yet another nft game where you portray a virtual character leap is a physical to digital game meaning that if you're engaged in sports activities that is your only way to play leap because you're actually playing your very own self and introducing the world with your capabilities through the creation of immersive and diverse video content

14:55In opposed to many other games the leap game loop does not have an end of game status the game is built in a way that continuously motivates you to keep striving to climb through levels earn more privileges and enhance and that's where we blended the whole concept of play to earn not to put tokens in the pockets of users rather

15:22than really closing the loop on motivating and keep going and i think you know that is the one way to create sustainability we blended everything at least in our view we blended everything that is good in gamification social media and then tied it up with sports which we have to remember you know first and foremost it's a game especially for those making their first

15:50steps so you know what's better than you know whether you're playing soccer or ultimate frisbee you know we live in a global planet right now what is the better way than for you to go on a one-on-one match with a kid on the other side of the planet just to show off right i love it that's i'm really looking forward to seeing and how the game works and maybe you can talk a little

16:17bit about you know you mentioned there the next steps on a beta do you have more timelines on what's coming next in the near future with leap sure so leap has been in a closed alpha environment with our early adapters for the last few months we're working with some of our flagship go-to-market partners in some corners of our planet for the specific events of

16:46deployment in their territories or within their realms specifically latin america africa and certain areas within europe so other than the release of the public beta in the coming quarter i think you know and just to tease it up you can expect some meaningful partnership events with meaningful entities that will just make it

17:14far more exciting for our users to be part of more so simultaneously to the release we will be making the public release of our token which is obviously the fuel for our economy and you know clearly the only way to utilize this token will be you know to support your evolution within leap very cool omri i'm looking forward to

17:42that and you know for the viewers and sports fanatics and players that are looking to get involved right when the public beta comes out what is the best way for them to follow along with leap so we'll be actually opening up the lobby for those who wants to register and you know gradually be onboarded into leap the best way to do that is to just go on to our current landing

18:09page which will append registrations very soon and that's www.playleap.io sounds great omri i will leave that link in the description box as well for the viewers i really appreciate you coming on taking the time to speak about leap i'm looking forward to seeing how the game play is and just getting more people involved and retained in sports because

18:33it's not just you know it's not just fun to play games but also very healthy and you know i feel like people need more sports and i could use more sports as well so thank you so much for taking the time all the best with the road map to the public launch and let's follow up in the near future absolutely thanks for having me ashton you