A friendship that blossomed through bonding over sports memorabilia has turned into what one founder hopes is the next great sports tech startup in Tampa.
And he's getting by with a little help from his friends.
Trevor Paladino, a University of Tampa graduate, is soft launching sportstech startup FanField with co-founder Michael Vick, a former NFL star who racked up years at the Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles before retiring in 2017.
The pair initially struck up a friendship roughly six years ago, first meeting through Paladino's sports memorabilia company, The Player's Locker. When Paladino thought to launch an NFT-driven sports tech startup, FanField, he knew who he wanted as co-founder.
"I brought it to [Vick] because I wanted somebody that, first off, believed in it and someone I had a good relationship with," 27-year-old Paladino told Tampa Bay Inno. "I didn’t want to be working with someone that didn’t believe in it, and that wasn’t going to bring some type of value to this."
The company has soft launched with a more hard launch coming this September. It will let users buy NFTs that give them access to experiences with athletes. It's a tiered system, with the higher-valued NFTs garnering things like private meet-and-greets and the lower tiers getting access to things like autographed merchandise and digital trading cards.
"In my professional experience, there hasn’t been something like this," Paladino said. "There are autograph signings, or you can bid on certain experiences, but the events we want to do — they would be much more intimate."
There's the added bonus of having athletes — many who are friends with Vick — exclusively join the platform.
"The athletes we’re bringing on board — we’re not just trying to sign any and everybody; we have icons," Palladino said, adding those will be announced in the coming weeks.
Beyond the NFTs, Paladino is working on a presence in the metaverse and will focus on the gaming side of things, like a passing academy headed up by Vick, for example.
"Sports technology is an ever-changing world in which FanField will be the leader and pioneer," Vick said in a statement. "I am thrilled to have the opportunity to combine my world of sports with the metaverse. Connecting with my fans and followers is a lifetime dream and a source of happiness."
The company has 18 part-time employees. Paladino declined to comment when asked if the company is bootstrapped but did say it will raise funding for a Series A "down the line" with nothing immediately planned.
And Vick and Paladino believe this will be the next iteration of collecting trading cards.
"If you think about it, when you go to Walmart or Target, you get a pack of trading cards and you're left with it, but we're trying to incorporate the experience and be the future fandom," Paladino said. "Really, our goal with the whole process is to create the closer connection with the athlete, from the fan, and create a community around that."
