In the fiercely competitive landscape of modern living, the adage ‘survival of the fittest’ resonates as a vital mantra. Amid this rigorous terrain, there exists a profession that ignites the spirit of brave hearts and athletic kindred spirits––sports. For athletes, it’s not just a profession; it’s a way of life that brims with adventurous enthusiasm. They approach life’s challenges with the same spirit and determination they bring to the playing field, navigating each hurdle in the sportiest manner.
While physical sports have always held a special place in the hearts of enthusiasts, the digital age has ushered in a revolution that has expanded the horizons of gaming. With the advent of computers, the internet, IT, and the digital realm, a new era has dawned for athletes, sports enthusiasts, and players of all kinds. These technological advancements have given birth to a diverse range of games, spanning physical, digital, phygital (physical-digital hybrid), and now, virtual experiences.
Yet, amidst this exhilarating array of gaming opportunities, one qualm remained–the absence of a universal platform that allowed passionate sports lovers to translate their love for the game into real-life earnings beyond in-game playing, advertisements, and sponsorships. It was against this backdrop, and amid a global pandemic, that LootMogul took shape. Conceived by two ardent athletes, Raj Rajkotia and Kuntal Sampat, this visionary company gave birth to a worldwide sports influencer Metaverse––LootMogul, a groundbreaking platform poised to redefine the sports gaming industry in India and the world.
The Kingly Leadership
Raj is a Gaming, Sports Tech, Web3, AI, Blockchain, and Technology executive with 18 years of disciplined leadership, guiding technology investments, and hands-on technology experience leading growth-focused start-ups and efficiency or transformation-focused Fortune 500 companies.
Kuntal with 30+ yrs. specialties into technology (Web3, Blockchain), product development & lifecycle management, partnership, operation and leadership. With 20 yrs. of hardcore global gaming domain driving startup business into large scale billion $ profitable organization.
Raj and Kuntal’s leadership style is often recognized as a driving force behind LootMogul’s achievements. Shedding light on their approach to leadership and team building within the organization, Raj says it is presumed that the leadership style engaged in an organization affects its long-term achievement. The right leadership style influences employees’ productivity, willingness, and happiness. “Our leadership style encourages employee growth and progress by setting challenging goals. We encourage the team leaders and the employees to strive for continuous improvement. We focus on the talent, growth, and values of employees. To sustain the existence of an organization for a long period in a competitive business place, we boost the enforcement of employees by adjusting the applicable leadership style. Being a startup, we allow young leaders to partner in the firm (stock/equity options).”
Kuntal explains it further. Apart from four ground rules towards approach to leadership and team building, which are aligning around goals; – building effective working relationships; – reducing team members’ role ambiguity; – finding solutions to team problems,
they at LootMogul,
- Build a relationship of trust and loyalty instead of fear or power of positions.
- Consider each input and idea valuable from the team.
- Act or represent as a harmonizing influencer.
- Encourage Trust and cooperation.
- Delegation, Ownership, accountability–problem solving.
That is why their professional values and qualities, like
Raj’s amazing business development skills, innovation & solution-oriented mindset, calmness under stress, compassion, and adaptability;
and Kuntal’s positive attitude and calmness, helpfulness, integrity, generosity, gratitude, and willingness to learn;
are greatly admired by their clients.
LootMogul business model is led by sports influencers aka Brand Ambassadors. With more than 320+ brand ambassadors, LootMogul focuses on driving fan engagement through personalized gaming experiences and exclusive physical and digital collectibles. Here is one of LootMogul’s brand ambassadors, sharing her view on the platform:
In her YouTube message, American Former Basketball Player, a three-time WNBA MVP and a four-time Olympic gold medal winner, Lisa Leslie, says, “I’m pleased to announce that I have joined LootMogul as a partner and brand ambassador. LootMogul is a new Metaverse sports gaming platform for all athletes and fans to connect, play games, buy or win virtual lands NFTS, exclusive merchandise and VIP premier access to live real-world events. I am so thrilled to be a part of the LootMogul family and build the Sports Metaverse together with all of you. Come join me and be a part of this raving community at lootmogul.com.” https://youtu.be/mP_A16oo9Ms.
The story of LootMogul’s inception is as fabulous as the digital arena of virtual reality Metaverse itself. Like many unicorn companies founded during the recession, LootMogul ideation came around the beginning of COVID-era. Raj and Kuntal met in Mumbai through a common friend and discussed the evolution of gaming and sports technologies.
As gamers, LootMogul Founders were discussing how they were switching from games every other year, resulting in a waste of all the time and effort spent in collecting all the in-game assets and community connections. They wished there was a way to transport assets and in-game virtual assets & currency from one platform to another. They visualized, what if they minted all these assets on a blockchain and gamers could trade/transfer from one game platform to another? That was the inception of the LootMogul business idea!
Virtually Transforming Game’s Reality through Real World Assets (Athletes / Stadiums / Merchandize etc.).
However, as we know, ideas need to be refined and tested with a focus group to create a product market fit. Raj started sharing this idea with a few of his friends who were sports athletes and were engaged in games like NBA2K, NFL Madden, etc. These NBA and NFL stars immediately refined the idea with a concept where athletes could leverage their millions of followers on social communities like Instagram, Twitter, etc., to engage with their fans. Fans collect tradable assets minted on a blockchain, and athletes and fans earn real money for participation. That was LootMogul idea 1.0 inception.
The passion both Raj, now serving the company as CEO and Kuntal, the COO, always had over their 20+ years of career in the gaming and technology sector is to solve problems and serve a community with real value offering.
LootMogul not only addresses a critical gap in the gaming industry but what drove them the most is the ability to provide a platform to athletes (high-school/college/professional level) where they can earn, grow and engage with their fan base with new innovative technological tool set like Blockchain & Artificial Intelligence (AI). This became a driving force and social impact because of LootMogul.
LootMogul is not just a company; it’s a game-changer, a trailblazer in the digital sports arena, and the catalyst that empowers athletes and enthusiasts to transform their passion into a rewarding reality in…
The LootMogul Sports Metaverse https://lootmogul.me/metaversevideo
Sharing their guiding philosophy, Raj says, “It is the monetization first approach for our community, which is driving our growth and success. Our community monetizes by playing games, collecting real-world assets, digital collectables and trading these assets.”
“As we know, the sports community across all generations–professional, college and high school-are passionate about their favourite athletes and teams. We are serving this passionate global community through real-world experiences and offerings,” adds Kuntal.
Each value offering is tailored for their ambassadors (athletes) and teams in real venues like sports bars, stadiums, experience centers, etc., along with digital (PC, Mobile, AR/VR/MR devices, etc.) platforms.
In his YouTube message, another American Former Professional Basketball Player, Carlos Boozer, says, “What’s up guys. It’s your boy Carlos Boozer. Hope you all are doing good out there. I wanted to hit you guys up and let you guys know that I’ve signed on to be an ambassador and an advisor with LootMogul. Click the link https://lootmogul.com/ right there and come join the future.” https://youtu.be/OmZiLnDJqyM.
The Core Mandate of Monetization
Telling more about LootMogul’s impressive offerings, Raj and Kuntal say that based on their experience and industry knowledge, they know sports fans prefer both physical venues, collectables and exclusivity.
“When replicating our digital experience and creating offerings for fans, we make that one of our core mandates. Every digital game, merchandise, and earnings must result in physical value–product or experience–inside sports stadiums, sports bars, etc., within our platform,” says Raj.
“This significantly differentiates us from our initial competitors, who focused purely on the digital economy without any real-life value or connections. We started with NBA athletes, followed by WNBA, NFL, Collegiate, High-School athletes and now expanding into ICC (Cricket),” adds Kuntal, the tech expert and gaming veteran.
Augmenting Real-Life Value Propositions
In the gaming industry, technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing user experience and player engagement. When asked how they leverage technology to optimize LootMogul’s functioning and stay ahead in a digital age. Raj says they believe the sports gaming industry is at its prime for disruption using some of the next-generation WEB3 technologies like blockchain and artificial intelligence. “However, we believe these technologies should be used to augment current real-world value proposition rather than replacement technologies.”
Both blockchain and artificial intelligence can tremendously improve fan experience and player engagement. Implementing these technologies seamlessly without complicated onboarding processes will attract younger players and fans and drive long-term engagement.
As a leader in India’s gaming industry, LootMogul faced its share of challenges. Yet, Raj and Kuntal share that their team’s resilience and ingenuity helped them triumph over adversities. As per Kuntal, ‘Resilience’ is the ability to cope with the loss, change, and trauma that have been inevitable parts of life even before these extraordinary times. Building resilience can help you better adapt to life-changing events, cope with turbulent times, and bounce back from hardship and tragedy.
- Create a strong support system,
- Create an inspirational purpose,
- Practice adaptability,
- Build trust,
- Nurture optimism well,
- Communicate often and align tasks to purpose.
Raj explains it with an incident: “Within the Indian gaming industry, let’s take the global gaming fraternity. The average cost for customer acquisition (CAC) is north of 830 INR (~$10) and it takes months or years to recoup that initial investment. Whereas for LootMogul, it is low 92 INR (~$1.10) and would further reduce with the increased number of sports ambassadors and their community outreach, while revenue is 10x the initial CAC.”
Step Up to Tomorrow
In his YouTube message, Gary Clark says, “Good morning. Hello Metaverse family! My name is Gary Clark. NFL legend and two-time Super Bowl champion of the Washington Redskins (now the Washington Commanders). I’m happy to announce that I have joined the LootMogul team as a brand ambassador. LootMogul is a sports meta versus gaming platform designed by athletes for athletes and sports fans. LootMogul is a place for fans and connect with athletes and athletes can connect with fans. Fans enjoy digital assets, exclusive merchandise and VIP assets to athletes like myself—even Super Bowl MVP Doug Williams, NFL games, NFL stadiums and unforgettable NFL legend experiences. I’m proud to be a part of the LootMogul family and to participate in the building of the sports Metaverse. Play my games. Get access to my exclusive digital assets, merchandise and in-person meetings. Join me and be a part of this incredible Metaverse community at LootMogul. I hope to engage with you sooner rather than later. Go to loopmogo.com for details. LootMogul’s Sports Metaverse is designed by athletes for athletes. Step to the future with LootMogul Sports Metaverse.” https://youtu.be/8379dh1ze8E.
In their advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the gaming space, Raj and Kuntal says
- Pick a fresh and unique business idea with domestic and global market opportunities.
- Research the competition if it exists, if not great.
- Develop a great elevator pitch and raise as much startup funding as possible. Plan your funding strategy.
- Build a great team which combines experience and expertise and hunger for growth and not monetization (hire the right people, especially leaders).
- Keep building or strengthening your network.
- Build and enhance your product continuously.
- Follow and ask for advice from other entrepreneurs.
- Disrupt, don’t be disrupted and be patient.
Join the Future Sports Revolution Today!
In their aspirations to continue making a significant impact on India’s gaming landscape, both founders’ vision for LootMogul and LootMogul is to be the platform of choice for any athletes, teams and sports venues that want to leverage the company’s unique ‘Physi-Digi’ value strategy (physical and digital or phygital) and monetize their brand from LootMogul’s global reach.
Creating new revenue streams & growing global fans for athletes, team owners, leagues, brands etc. from physical world to digital world using digital twin strategy & gaming is one of the core value propositions of LootMogul. Sports fan adoption & retention is much higher when they can engage & relate to Real World Assets (Stadiums/Teams/Athletes/Brands etc.) inside digital gaming world.
Kuntal adds, “We classify ourselves as a “Made-In-India’’ product for the global markets. Our engineering and design team in India builds the product based on the valuable feedback and requirements from our amazing pool of ambassadors (athletes and sports teams) from the USA, Europe and Asia. This gives us a unique advantage to get the product market fit most cost-effectively.”
“As we continue to learn from our global business model, we will share our experience and expertise with the gaming companies in India and contribute to the growth of the global gaming market,” Raj concludes.
In her YouTube message, Lois Cook says, “Good morning! What’s up, everybody? I’m Lois Cook, women’s pro football player, and I’m so excited to announce that I have joined the LootMogul team as a brand ambassador. If you don’t know what LootMogul is, it’s a Sports Metaverse gaming platform designed by athletes for athletes and fans. It’s a place where athletes and fans can connect, play games. You can buy or earn digital assets. There’s exclusive merchandise and there’s even a VIP Premier access to NFL games at stadiums. Uh, Yes! Please and thank you! So, as you can see, I’m so proud to be a part of the LootMogul family and build this platform together. You can play my games or get access to my exclusive digital assets and merchandise only at loomogul.com. LootMogul’s Sports Metaverse is designed by athletes for athletes. Step to the future with LootMogul Sports Metaverse.” https://youtu.be/m2bu_X6FwY8.
Are you Ready to LootMogul?
For more information, please click https://metaverse.lootmogul.com/ or https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajkotia/; https://www.linkedin.com/in/kuntalsampat/ or connect with Raj Rajkotia via email.
