There could be more to Linius’ first North American deal with HTP than meets the eye; not the deal itself, rather its founder – Marc Ruskin.Marc spoke glowingly of Linius’ technology in the webinar and highlighted how it would help his company to engage family and friends and, in addition, retain their subscribers over the off season.Off season fan engagement is currently an untapped business opportunity. For examples, the AFL and NRL send their fans to sleep for months.Marc is a tech entrepreneur with a long history in ice-hockey and technology:“Marc Ruskin has worked with nearly every hockey organization in North America. As a former hockey player, coach and on-ice official, Ruskin has deep experience within the sport and media, as well as the technology realm of the industry.” FloSports Amplifies Hockey Expertise Adding Industry Veteran Marc Ruskin To Team - FloSports®Marc served as an advisor to FloSports where he focused on growth in their ice hockey product. In 2021, he joined PrestoSports as Vice-President.PrestoSports is a software-as-a-service company providing technology to colleges, high schools, and conference offices. Serving more than 1,500 athletic programs and 100 conferences.
PrestoSports is a powerhouse in the athletics space.PrestoSports Hires Ruskin as Vice President | NewswireMarc looks to be the perfect partner to on-sell Linius in the North American ice-hockey market.He’s ambitious, too. Outside of what he stated re Linius, it’s his goal for HTP to own the North American amateur ice hockey market in 2 to 3 seasons.He’s already onboarded NTDP to Linius, too.You couldn’t get much smaller than the NTDP in terms of number of teams; exactly 2, however it’s an NHL draft powerhouse.How USA's NTDP Became an NHL Draft Powerhouse - The Hockey NewsIn fact, USA Hockey's National Team Development Program produced 14 NHL draft picks in 2022, highlighted by the Arizona Coyotes' third overall pick Logan Cooley.2022 NHL Draft (usahockeyntdp.com)It’s very possible this modest new client will bring professional eyeballs on Linius, the same route that took WSC Sports from a start up in basketball to the big leagues of the NBA.The most interesting thing about Marc is he was an investor in Reely, which was taken over by VideoVerse in April this year.Reely is most known for its set of AI-powered tools that allowed for much faster content creation, video production and editing.Sound familiar?Actually, it turned out Marc transitioned from an investor in Reely to executive roles, including CRO & Chairman.
He’s welcome to invest in Linius anytime and who knows, maybe he could add value on the executive team here?
The real key for Linius is finding a well connected American entrepreneur who sees the potential to monetize Linius’ fan-engagement solution – currently marketed as MatchVision – to American high schools and colleges.
This is Linius’ main comparative advantage and where Linius can shine; economically creating millions of personalized streams (& variable ad revenues) without moving or creating a single new file.
MatchVision has been a massive flop so far, but if anyone can bring MatchVision to life it’s someone like a Marc Ruskin with his experience and industry contacts in American ice-hockey.
And it won’t hurt him to have IMG Replay’s gold seal contractual blessing of Linius’ technology in promoting Linius throughout America.
Yes, Linius’ cash position is the pits, the share price sucks, and its history is littered with disappointments.
The downside is real.
So is the upside.
Linius is at the gates of dawn in the land of opportunity.
Imho
(20min delay)