š± Eric Dier: Spotlas CEO
Eric Dier is a tech-CEO.
The Spurs defender has over 200 caps for Tottenham and has represented England 45 times.
However, when you search his LinkedIn page or his Instagram profile, you see Co-Founder of Spotlas before you see anything else.
At just 27years old, Eric Dier, along with co-ounders Patrick Dier (Ericās brother) and co-Founder Zoe Connick (long-time friend) have created social platform Spotlas and is positioning himself as an entrepreneur for his life after the game.
Spotlas is a recommendation-sharing social network where users can follow friends and influencers to see their favourite āspotsā.
The concept is simple:
Download the app & Create a profile
āSaveā some of your favourite restaurants or āspotsā
Spotlas will recommend restaurants and bars to you based on your preferences
The journey to this point was an interesting one. Eric Dier launched the app in August 2020 coinciding with the famed Eat-Out-to-Help-Out government scheme in the UK.
Since then, with Ā£0 spent on marketing, Spotlas organically boasts:
11,000 users
9,000 recommendations posted
6,500 āspotsā across 100 countries
Monetisation happens in three ways:
Affiliate Programmes ~ 25-40% Booking Commission
Native Bookings ~ 100% Booking Commission
End-to-end Booking Service ~ Ā£100+ Monthly Subscriptions
Soon, you will be able to book reservations to restaurants through the Spotlas app.
Similarly, restaurants will be able to partner with Spotlas to tap into the social aspect and boost their reach.
The potential for an app of this nature doesnāt stop there however. In time, Spotlas aims to become a complete management tool for restaurants.
By building an API for the app, the data and analytics being provided to restaurants and partners will be extremely valuable.
Furthermore, the app plans to move from in-store restaurants to take-away kitchens also - boosting the revenue potential further.
With the organic traction gained in the last year, Eric, Patrick and Zoe have sought funding.
Last week Eric launched a Crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs looking for Ā£500,000 in cash in exchange for 10.5% of the company.
The campaign was massively oversubscribed with Spotlas reaching their target in just over a week.
At the time of writing Spotlas has raised Ā£595,534 from Seedrs from over 390 investors.
Furthermore, Eric has called upon his high-profile contemporaries for angel investment.
Dele Alli, Jan Vertonghen, Ben Davies, Joe Gomez, Kyle Walker-Peters, Matt Doherty, Mousa DembƩlƩ and Christian Eriksen are all investors in Spotlas with a collective social media following of 15million people.
That reach, combined with newly sourced funding, promises to be an exciting development for the Spotlas team.
The campaign is not closed. If you want to contribute to the crowdfund, you still can.
Similarly, if youāre interested in checking out the app, you can download here.
In 2015, American broadcast network NBC bought the rights to show the Premier League for $1bn.
The deal spanned six seasons from 2016-2022 and as such, is up for renewal as we speak.
Last week, The Times reported that the Premier League were going to announce a new six-year deal worth $1.5bn - a near 50% increase on the existing package but did not reveal who had won the rights.
Since then, new developments have emerged with the auction for the rights seeing new bidders and entering a second round of negotiations.
ESPN recently acquired Bundesliga and La Liga TV rights and have confirmed they are in the negotiations for this round of auction. CBS are also in the running.
To show the the might of the Premier League, the alpha over the sums paid for Spainās rights are clearly represented below:
What does that mean for PL clubs you ask?
Well, the money received from all commercials TV deals are distributed evenly amongst Premier League clubs. The additional revenue here means an added Ā£9m for each Premier League club if this deal gets passed at the $1.5bn mark.
Wages will increase, transfer fees will increase and the race to reach the Premier League will become more-and-more important.
Serious business for Richard Masters, Premier League Chief Exec (pictured above) to oversee.
Iāll be back here with the news as soon as the ink is dry.
šŗ A note from Jordan:
Spotlas, and stories like Reece Wabaraās are the type exact type of venture which made me want to start this newsletter.
Interestingly, in an interview with Forbes last year, Dier said that when he launched the app, other players approached him in the England set-up to say they had similar side-projects.
Dier didnāt name anyone specific but went onto add:
āIn America, I feel like they're so far ahead in the sense that basketball players do all sorts of different things outside of the sport and it's completely accepted.ā
Ā āI feel like [soccer] is getting to a better place,ā.
He speaks to a perception from mainstream media that footballers should only play football and do nothing else.
I hate that perception.
Salute to Eric and his team. TLP aims to shine a light on these ventures.
As always, Iāll see you next week.