FanCave
Powering the free agency of college sports
FanCave powers the free agency of college sports. We enable fans to pledge money to get top recruits to come to their school, or their money back. Just two years ago, it became legal for athletes to earn an income beyond their scholarships. Since then, rapid regulation change (and the NCAA's inability to enforce its own policy) has put college sports in disarray. FanCave is the first, public, legal marketplace for the massive industry of college recruiting. We help athletes safely monetize their talent, and let any fan pitch in to recruit top players.
Active Founders
Luke Bogus
Before FanCave, Luke was Head of Product for Vial, a Series B life science tech startup, helping zero-to-one new clinical trial infrastructure that now generates millions in ARR. Prior, Luke was a Product Manager at Microsoft, and studied computer science and marketing at Nebraska's Raikes School.
Nick Siscoe
Nick has designed and built consumer web and mobile apps from scratch for years, most notably scaling a "live chat for sports" app from 0 to 1k WAU. Nick was previously a software engineer at a fintech startup processing millions of transactions for city and state governments.
Company Launches
Hey! We’re Nick and Luke, and we’re excited to share FanCave.
TL;DR: FanCave is the recruiting marketplace for college sports.
FanCave is the first platform where fans can offer recruits money contingent on enrollment at a specific school. This only became possible on March 1st — rapid regulation changes paved the way for (1) athletes to get paid and (2) a collegiate “free agency” to be compliant.
We’re live today! Target, offer, and win over top recruits @ https://www.fancave.me
🏟️ Problem
Just two years ago, the NCAA—the governing body of college sports—allowed athletes to earn an income beyond their scholarships through the NIL (name, image, and likeness) Policy.
What started as college athletes making money through brand endorsements and custom merch, quickly divulged into universities inducing top recruits to come to their school through massive contracts.
How? A bylaw loophole that created ‘Collectives:’ big-pocket donors pooling their money, using this pool to entice top recruits to play at their school. Top schools rapidly adopted this, yet the same regulatory gray area that made collectives ‘legal’ reflects the gray area in which they operate:
- Not Inclusive: Collectives restrict membership to specific athletes in select sports (top 1%)
- Not Athlete-Friendly: Predatory terms include short-term contracts, payback clauses, and forced exclusive NIL rights ownership
- Not Fan-Friendly: Collectives control allocations and only let donors donate to ‘the general fund’—with no transparency
Recent (March 2024) regulation changes pave the way for a new free agency of college sports, but today’s status quo—collectives—aren’t built for scale, lack athlete trust, and leave fans behind.
That’s where FanCave comes in.
🏆 Solution
FanCave is the first platform where you can directly offer recruits money on the condition that they play for your favorite college sports team.
We’re building the recruitment marketplace of college sports. Fans directly decide the future of their teams, and athletes fully monetize their recruitment safely and transparently.
- Target: Strategize with your fanbase to target your top recruiting prospects
- Offer: Pool offers to win top targets—tracked per-fanbase and per-recruit
- Win: Recruits pick the winning offer. If it’s not yours, you get credited back.
Be a top recruiter, rise up the leaderboard, and win team-specific prizes—all while building the future of your favorite college teams!
FanCave is live, today, across 43 states @ www.fancave.me
🤝 Team
We (Luke and Nick) are lifelong sports fans who met at the University of Nebraska.
- Luke previously led product at a Series B healthtech company, and prior was a Product Manager at Microsoft.
- Nick has been building consumer web and mobile apps from scratch for years, most recently scaling a live sports chat app to 1k WAU.
While our post-grad jobs took us cross-country, college sports always brought us together. Combining regulation changes with sheer sports passion, we couldn’t sit on the sidelines any longer: we’re finally building what we wish we had as passionate college sports fans.
🙏 Asks
Try it today @ https://www.fancave.me
- 🏆 College Sports Fans! We made FanCave for you. Target and offer your top recruit today
- 🏟️ Rally your fanbase! On FanCave, may the best fans win. Invite fellow fans to team up and bring the nation’s top recruits to your school
- 👋 Let us hear you! Love sports and have feedback? Shoot us a note: hello@fancave.me
YC Sign Photo
Company Photo
Hear from the founders
How did your company get started? (i.e., How did the founders meet? How did you come up with the idea? How did you decide to be a founder?)
The two of us met in college 7 years ago, and have been friends since. While jobs originally pulled us apart… (Luke: PM @ Microsoft, then Head of Product @ Vial - Series B life sciences tech startup. Nick: Engineer @ PayIt and many side projects) …college sports always kept us together. Seeing the rapid change in the landscape—and a severe gap in technology serving college athletes to safely and compliantly navigate the new world of Name, Image, Likeness (NIL)—we couldn’t sit on the sidelines any longer.
What is the core problem you are solving? Why is this a big problem? What made you decide to work on it?
Merely two years ago, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)—governing body of college sports—officially allowed athletes to earn an income beyond their scholarships, per their NIL (name, image, and likeness) Policy. What was originally meant as a way to allow college athletes to make money through brand endorsements and custom merch, quickly divulged into universities inducing top recruits to come to their school through massive contracts. How? A bylaw loophole that created ‘Collectives:’ big-pocket donors pooling their money, using this pool as financial leverage to pledge money to top recruits to entice them to come to their school. And the same regulatory gray area that made Collectives ‘legal’ reflects the gray area in which they operate: Not Inclusive (collectives restrict membership to specific athletes in select sports — top 1%), Not Athlete-Friendly (predatory terms include short-term contracts, payback clauses, and forced exclusive NIL rights ownership), Not Fan-Friendly (collectives control allocations and only let donors donate to ‘the general fund’—with no transparency). While the opportunity for a new free agency of college sports is enticing—today’s status quo runs it through these ‘Collectives’ (shady middlemen via under-the-table, predatory contracts) and leaves fans behind. That’s where FanCave comes in.