Ep. 187: Finding a forever home as a prediction market w/ Jake Benzaquen from ProphetX

Ep. 187 features Jake Benzaquen, Co-Founder and CEO of ProphetX, for a deep dive into the company’s latest evolution from regulated exchange to sweepstakes model, to now filing with the CFTC to operate as a fully regulated marketplace for sports event contracts.Hear him discuss: The journey from launching in New Jersey as an OSB to building a national presence under the sweepstakes model Why ProphetX is now pivoting to the CFTC model and what it means for the future Lessons from scaling a sports betting exchange across multiple states How product validation and customer feedback shaped ProphetX’s direction Building an RFQ (Request for Quote) system for parlays, and why it’s a game-changer Why ProphetX will focus on sports-first markets, and why it's not launching with political or pop culture markets The two primary reasons why they decided to launch without an affiliated trading arm Competing with industry giants like Kalshi, Polymarket, and DraftKings through product innovation The growing cultural influence of prediction markets How distribution partnerships and B2B integrations will drive user acquisition Jake’s reflections on seven years of startup grit, team growth, and finding motivation for the next phase   Catch the video version of this episode here.   Learn more 👇   ➡️ ProphetX website ➡️ Jake Benzaquen on Linkedin   📩 Get the top headlines from the industry's most promising growth-stage companies every week—totally free! Subscribe to the Betting Startups newsletter here: https://news.bettingstartups.com/   --- This podcast is presented by Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry. Since 2012, Optimove has served iGaming Operators from startups to industry leaders. Today, 4 out of the Top 5 US Operators Personalize Player Experiences with Optimove. iGaming operators know their growth journey begins and continues with Optimove, the #1 CRM Marketing solution for the iGaming industry.