Sitting in the REDI Incubator in downtown Columbia, Mo., Matt Fischer talks about the disposition that drives his entrepreneurial spirit.
“I think I was born an entrepreneur,” Fischer told Silicon Prairie News. “I’m one of those people—I don’t think it can be taught. I think you have a different perspective than the average person.”
Fischer is the founder, owner and operator of SportsFormulator, a service that showcases game outcome predictions for a plethora of matchups. For him, sports are not a mere passion, but also a business pursuit.
On October 30 Fischer celebrated the first anniversary of his website’s launch—a milestone for any burgeoning startup.
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Drawing from the results proprietary algorithms developed by Fischer himself, the site showcases game predictions for an array of different leagues and sports—such as college football, the NBA, NFL and NHL. Examples of the data offered include “likelihood of winning” percentages and score projections.
When it comes to the algorithms employed in calculating game outcomes, Fischer strays away from the temptation to be reactionary and usually makes modifications only if drastic changes that may alter a team’s performance have occurred.
Most of the site’s content is freely accessible, excluding that content available via weekly and seasonal premium subscriptions. A weekly subscription costs $9 while a seasonal pass goes for $79. 
“My first sale was for a season pass, so that was pretty exciting to see that people believed in me enough to trust me for an entire season,” Fischer (right) said.
Participating in Columbia Startup Weekend 2012 helped to give Fischer the spark for planning the site and figuring out what needed to be done to bring the pieces together. Although his idea was not chosen by a team nor developed during Startup Weekend, Fischer received the motivational boost he needed to get started.
Soon after the event Fischer came up with a name and purchased the domain. Although a day job and an MBA-in-progress consumed most of his time, he had the site ready to go after taking advantage of a couple of weeks off in October and November.
Despite a rocky start, Fischer was confident that he had the audience and the ability to market his product effectively.
“That following Monday I just walked into my boss’s office and told her I was done,” he said. “I was going to start my own business.”
The site had paying customers early on. Months later, SportsFormulator is starting to thrive.
At the moment, SportsFormulator has around 50 paying customers and 300 registered users. In terms of paid content access, the weekly pass has been the most popular package on the site. More than 62,000 unique pageviews have been logged since the site’s launch, logging about 50,000 views each month. Some of the busiest times for the site include the NHL season and March Madness.
Fisher said that so far his marketing efforts have not been tailored to any specific age or demographic group. Instead, he appeals to the broader market of sports fans who are simply looking for reliable projections.
Looking to the future, Fischer’s goals remain focused on expanding and improving the site, hopefully with the help of a dedicated programmer. But most important to Fischer is making sure his customers are satisfied.
“I like to survey them and just get their responses,” he said. “It’s good to see that people will support you and want to be part of what you are starting because I’m a one-man show.”
Credits: Matt Fischer photo from LinkedIn.
