Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! We have much to be thankful for and it’s an exciting time to be alive. I’m thankful for my family, friends, and the people I’ve met.

Have a great weekend!

My American Dream: Sport Interactiva Acquired by Citizen Sports

I’m proud to announce today that my company, Sport Interactiva, has been acquired by Citizen Sports — the top social media sports company out there. The full press release is here. Here’s a quick excerpt:

Among it’s other sports products, Sport Interactiva, founded by Boris Silver and David Fitzgibbon, developed Premier League Soccer, the largest fantasy soccer application on Facebook. “Sport Interactiva’s fantasy soccer products on Facebook and Bebo give us a nice foundation that we will evolve into a world class experience for the 2009 Premiership season. With the 2010 World Cup just around the corner, this space will only become more and more important,” said Kerns.

“We’re very excited to bring our fantasy sports properties under the umbrella of Citizen
Sports. Their team is excellent and truly understands the sports market. Sports are
inherently social by nature and fantasy sports naturally belong on social networks,” said
Sport Interactiva co-founder Boris Silver.

(For more press coverage, see: Venture Beat, All Facebook, Sports Business Journal, The Washington Post)

There’s obviously way too many people to thank, but I’m going to give it a shot.

My family: I love all of you. You are there to always keep me strong, focused, and grounded.

My grandfather: You know very little about technology, yet more than I could ever imagine to know about people, business, and life. Your wisdom propelled me grow as a leader, businessman, and man in general.

David Fitzgibbon: My partner and co-founder. Great compliment to my skill set and an incredible driving force behind the company.

Wharton VIP: Fantastic program with a wonderfully supportive staff. Great environment where you can find like minded people to bounce ideas off of and dream big with.

Penn/Wharton alumni: So many of you out there, in every industry/vertical. Always helpful and very open to talking to young entrepreneurs.

My friends: Who you surround yourself with is vital to your success. I’m fortunate enough that my friends are incredible people.

Citizen Sports: We’re glad that you will be the new owners. Your team is hooked into sports and social media. It was important that our “baby” moved into an appropriate home. Plus it’s a bonus to say that we got bought out by the Bringing Down the House (book), 21 (movie) MIT blackjack ace Jeff Ma.

In the past 15 months, I learned more than I could put a price tag on. Taking a leave of absence from Wharton was also an incredible time and one of the best decisions of my life. David and I accomplished so many things that I’m proud of, here are a few:

• Grew user base to over 1 million users
• Launched and ran 12 different sports applications
• Ran advertising campaigns with top brands like Time Warner, Adidas, VO5, and EA Sports Madden 2009
• Remained profitable throughout
• 15 months from start to exit

This is why I love America. So despite what you may read in the negative press, I assure you that the American Dream is very much still alive. And very much beautiful.

I’m not sure what I’ll do next, but I know I have a long list of ideas that I was simply always too busy to do while working on Sport Interactiva. I’d like to take some time off, relax, and be a regular 20 year old college kid for a bit. After that, I’m sure I’ll find something to throw myself at again.

The Power of Social Media: Obama on Flickr

This came across my Google Reader today and it really caught my attention: Barack Obama’s longtime campaign photographer David Katz snapped 82 photos of the President-elect with his family/friends on election night. The cool part is he uploaded all of the photos onto Flickr. I don’t care who you voted for; to me, this screams about the power of social media.

Whereas twenty (or even four) years ago, these photos may have made their way to the public through traditional distribution channels like newspapers or glossy magazines, today we are given full access to some of the most intimate moments in people’s lives. Social media rips down the gatekeepers and traditional walls. The photos are very powerful and speak to anyone; it also makes Obama that much more accessible and relevant. This is why I believe in companies like Twitter where you can read minute-by-minute updates from some of the top investors, musicians, writers, etc. in the world. We are now able to get an unprecedented level of access into all levels of humanity. That’s cool.