Versatile Go Baller Adopts New Model

As an entrepreneur, Chris Dell advises others to not get married…to an idea.

“You have to be open to any feedback or criticism,” said Dell. “If you’re married to an idea, you may be headed down the wrong path.”

Dell, CEO of Go Baller, has seen his company transform from a stand-alone sports app to a software company with a redefined business plan focused on licensing as opposed to advertising.

Go Baller filters only the most engaging, viral and popular content from every social network in real time into one feed, combining various social networks including Facebook, Twitter , Instagram, Vine and YouTube. Originally aimed for sports fans, Go Baller provided a constant feed pulling from over 2,500 sources and social influencers for NBA and sports fans. Users could adjust filters and receive information relating only to specific teams or players. Dell’s service proved to be much more versatile and now curates social feeds for businesses as well.

One reason for expansion was the difficulty of generating revenue through advertisements without a large user population. Dell transformed his model to B2B, charging a license fee on his service. Each fee is determined by content quantity featured on a Go Baller social feed curated for the partnering business.

“We have a client who started at $300 a month for a wire drawing from 150 sources. They wanted more content so they went up to $500 a month and then to $1,000 a month. We curate the best posts from the best social influencers, and it’s automated. Businesses pay a social intern the same amount if not more to produce only a few posts a month.”

Go Baller provides different benefits to each business that uses it. For sports fans, users enjoy participating in real time conversations revolving around sporting events without jumping from application to application or website to website, as well as staying up to date with the most viral highlights from each game. Small business owners have seen users spending more time on their company’s website, increasing overall engagement.

“One client has his own business selling Disney merchandise. He has thousands of customers and an eBay website, but doesn’t have time to create content on social media to engage with fans,” Dell notes.  “He approached us and asked if we could put together a social feed with the best social influencers catered to Disney rather than sports. Disney might have more accounts than any other brand in the world. There are so many fan, movie, television, and merchandise accounts. We took the top 500 accounts of the best social influencers and broke it down into three wires: Disney (general), Star Wars, and Disney Pins. He sells pins, and there is a huge market for these Disney pins. He’s seeing increased fan engagement, more time spent on the website, more purchases, and more exposure.”

In addition to small businesses and sports fans, Go Baller provides a valuable service to sports franchises as well. Dell envisions his company tailoring a social feed specific to the players and fans of any sports teams. Dell has engaged in preliminary talks with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cleveland connection originated at Bizdom, a Cleveland sports, entertainment and media accelerator founded by Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert. Bizdom invested $25,000 for an eight percent equity stake in Go Baller and provided Dell with necessary marketing and networking resources to grow his product.

Kenyatta Blake (CMO), Matias Gallego, Cristian Rosa, and Nacho Grima make up the rest of the Go Baller team. They are advised by Jeff Jarvis, John Kosner, Paul Berry and Dick Vitale.