Ep. 187: Finding a forever home as a prediction market w/ Jake Benzaquen from ProphetX
Description
Ep. 187 features Jake Benzaquen, Co-Founder and CEO of ProphetX, for a deep dive into the company’s latest evolution from regulated exchange to sweepstakes model, to now filing with the CFTC to operate as a fully regulated marketplace for sports event contracts.
Hear him discuss:
- The journey from launching in New Jersey as an OSB to building a national presence under the sweepstakes model
- Why ProphetX is now pivoting to the CFTC model and what it means for the future
- Lessons from scaling a sports betting exchange across multiple states
- How product validation and customer feedback shaped ProphetX’s direction
- Building an RFQ (Request for Quote) system for parlays, and why it’s a game-changer
- Why ProphetX will focus on sports-first markets, and why it's not launching with political or pop culture markets
- The two primary reasons why they decided to launch without an affiliated trading arm
- Competing with industry giants like Kalshi, Polymarket, and DraftKings through product innovation
- The growing cultural influence of prediction markets
- How distribution partnerships and B2B integrations will drive user acquisition
- Jake’s reflections on seven years of startup grit, team growth, and finding motivation for the next phase
Catch the video version of this episode here.
Learn more 👇
➡️ ProphetX website
➡️ Jake Benzaquen on Linkedin
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