VRTL founder Courtney Jeffries describes herself as a “recovering sports executive.”
“That was my entire career until I left it behind to pursue my startup dream,” Jeffries told TechCrunch.
After playing softball at the University of Washington, she spent nearly 20 years working in marketing and sales for teams such as the Oakland Raiders and New York Rangers. But when Jeffries was leading fan retention efforts at Madison Square Garden, he saw a clear opportunity.
“My entire job has been to focus on getting lifetime value out of our fans, but clearly there's been too much focus on the fans in the building,” she said. “The majority of fans are outside the arena. […] And there is no platform or way to extend the in-person experience that is known to inspire their loyalty. ”
By 2022, Jeffries launched VRTL, an enterprise platform for entertainment companies, from sports teams to record labels, to leverage virtual fan experiences.
“This is a highly versatile platform that combines live streams, video chat, and our unique suite of fan engagement experiences to drive loyalty,” she said.
VRTL, which took to the stage today as part of TechCrunch Disrupt 2024's Startup Battlefield, is different from other video chat and livestream services because it not only provides valuable data to its clients, but also has unique fan engagement tools. That's true.
One popular feature allows celebrities to virtually sign autographs on behalf of their fans. For example, soccer stars can sign .gifs of their iconic plays and personalize them for each fan. For organizers, hosting a virtual meet-up is much cheaper than an in-person meet-up that requires venue rental, security, and staffing, and is attended only by local fans.
“Why can't we do this over Zoom?” Jeffries said. “Of course you can, but Zoom is optimized for office work. It's not optimized for fans.”
She added that when organizations host pilot events with VRTL, the conversion rate to becoming a paying customer is 60%.
One such customer is the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, which uses VRTL to host networking events between season ticket holders and former Falcons players.
“They've created a monthly experience where if your birthday was that month, they'll have a special event hosted by a former player, get excited for about 25 minutes, share war stories, and then go sign autographs. These fans,” Jeffries said. “Sometimes they sing 'Happy Birthday,' and it's the simplest thing I've ever seen. But all these fans love it because it's for them. ”
VRTL sells annual contracts to clients, with tiered pricing depending on the type of event the client wants to host. Customers have unlimited use of the platform and are also allowed to bring in sponsors.
The Falcons aren't VRTL's only big-name customer. He also has contracts with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Twins, ESPN, and Atlanta United FC. For the Jaguars, VRTL has helped the football team grow its fan base in London, where the team has played four games in the past two years.
If the entertainment and sports industries have followed the same strategies for so long, new ideas like remote fan engagement can be difficult to break through. But Jeffries isn't worried. She's seen these giants change their ways before.
“When I worked for the Raiders, I was there the day Twitter launched, and everyone was like, 'What? No one can communicate in 140 characters,'” she said. “Starting a team or league without a social media manager is unheard of now…This actually happened in my career.”