Sorare MLB Market Watch – 02.22.23
We’ve got marketing, we’ve got gamification, we’ve got product-led growth, and we have the tools to bring it all together. All this week on your 5 Quick Hits!
5 Quick Hits
1. NBA Beginner Progression
The road to lasting customer acquisition is long.
But this seems like a great step!
Reading through the related article I see a continued focus on making the game approachable and intuitive for new users.
As always, the more intuitive (and addicting) that progression is, the more likely any given user is to stick around.
If we trust the laws of supply and demand, more users wanting to stick around naturally means more demand for cards and a more stable card market.
This is the way.
2. Speaking of New Users
This tweet stuck out to me.
Not for the resource usage RNDM points out (though that is interesting and perhaps a discussion for another day).
No, this is simply another bet I see Sorare placing on inserting themselves into the Fantasy Sports discussion.
For better or worse, more “mainstream” marketing tactics will likely need to be utilized to capture more mainstream usage.
And we all want more mainstream usage, don’t we?
3. 4 Years, Just Getting Started
Aight first and foremost - happy 4th Sorare birthday to one of the OGs, Mr. YNWA 🎂
Second, I love the zoom out here by Nicolas Julia.
Sorare has the “stuff” to make some real noise in the Fantasy Space.
Funding helps ensure runway.
Partners help ensure outside eyes.
Community helps battle test each step.
All short-term issues and bear market struggles aside, this is going to be a fun ride.
4. The Tools for the Job
Gotta admit, I’d looked into Sorare Tools before watching this video.
I’m now a happy user.
Ready access to stats and history
Help with my tax reporting for the year
And helpful support right here on Twitter.
Let’s ride!
5. Product Brain - Engaged
This tweet made me wish I lived in Paris.
We’ve talked about growth mechanics - marketing, user journeys, and the like
But this is earlier. This is a sign of Product-led-growth.
And these signs make my PM brain happy.
Watching how someone uses your product is invaluable.
Count me in for any future USA-based cohorts Aalok!
Buyin’ & Sellin’
The MLB card market remains slow. Auctions have yet to increase in volume as the season approaches and Spring Training kicks off. Therefore, my advice this week is to be careful.
Card prices feel artificially high, and auction volumes should take off soon. That will be the time to begin buying in earnest. Until then, consider holding your high-conviction cards and selling your low-conviction ones.
That being said, this week’s buyin’ and sellin’ is all guys I see on the new card auction market as of this writing.
Sellin’
Ltd average: .0301 | Rare average: .0970
I like Gunnar. I like him a lot. Unfortunately, as arguably the top 3B prospect coming into the ‘23 season… so does everyone else.
Throw in the slow card market and BOOM, you have someone that has to light the world on fire right out of the gate for you to feel good about this acquisition cost.
As of this writing, I am seeing a rare auction sitting at .1283 with another day to go. I’ll pass for now.
And if I already had a copy of his card, I would be considering flipping him now if someone is willing to pay premium money for him.
Buyin’
Ltd average: .0130 | Rare average: .0594
I have a serious soft spot for premium stuff when it comes to pitching.
In Sorare that plays to my advantage somewhat because while I would like my pitchers to remain healthy all year and deliver elite results, the game is played game-week-to-game-week so pitchers that can deliver stud performances when they are healthy are still quite useful.
One that currently has cards on auction is Tyler Glasnow - but other guys like Yu Darvish, Stephen Strasburg, Lance McCullers, and the ever-delicate Chris Sale, all come to mind as well for the risk-on manager.
All that being said, the acquisition cost for Glasnow still isn’t great. I will be watching for limiteds to fall under .01 and rares under .03 as auctions ramp up.