

Today we’d like to introduce you to Greg Kajewski.
Hi Greg, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
James Seils and I met at our first job out of college, as accountants, and quickly became friends and roommates. We’re both huge sports fans and connected around our shared love of sports and eventually wanting to start our own business one day — we just didn’t have the right idea yet.
Fast forward several years, and lots of learning in the corporate world, we realized we still had that entrepreneurial bug. The idea for BettorEdge started to form when we noticed firsthand how much money we were losing to sportsbook fees and many of our friends and family were willing to take the other side. That didn’t seem right to us. We entered Sportradar’s local Innovation Challenge in Minneapolis with the idea of a social platform with a no-commission sports betting marketplace at the center of the experience. We actually won the competition, looked at each other, and said — let’s do this. That was in 2019 and we finally launched in January 2021.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Building a business is as fun as it is risky. The nature of our business and the infancy of the sports betting industry has made it more of a challenge than expected, but once people join our platform they really see the benefit and value of our product. That’s why education is a huge piece of what we do and how we engage consumers. Once people understand how much money they are losing by betting with the large sports betting operators, they quickly appreciate the fairness of our business model.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about BettorEdge?
We love sports gaming (fantasy football, office pools, betting, etc). All of it is a way for us to connect with our friends, our communities, and our favorite teams. It’s a social medium at its core — but it’s become so muddled with fees and is controlled by these big operators.
Most people don’t know that as a bettor, you have to win 52.4% of the time to actually win any money, because of the fees you owe. We noticed that the bettor didn’t have a lot of control, and we sought to change that by creating BettorEdge. Our main goal was to democratize sports betting.
BettorEdge doesn’t charge a vig, commission or take any fees that dip into your winnings. We ensure that it’s all in your hands — select an event, and place a buy or sell order for a price that you chose. We simply match you with other players’ orders.
The best part of betting for us is smack talking and the camaraderie with our friends, so we built in a social media app within BettorEdge that allows users to follow friends’ activity, share information, and like, comment or compete directly against each other.
Since we are a social marketplace, not an operator, we’re legal in most states. So for people who live in states where you can’t legally use a sportsbook, like Minnesota or Wisconsin, we’re a great legal alternative.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Be patient and stay true to your values. We started this business because we believed in building something centered around our values — trust, transparency and community. When we have a decision to make, falling back on those values and thinking about what’s best for the consumer usually makes the right decision pretty clear.
Contact Info:
- Email: greg.kajewski@bettoredge.com
- Website: https://www.bettoredge.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bettoredge/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BettorEdge/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/bettoredge