“I have learned people always don’t need the perfect solution but need it at the perfect time as well.” We may have the preconceived idea that entrepreneurship is all about finding the right solution but timing is also important as much. It was a great honor for me to get introduced with Mr. Sanzar Adnan Alam who is the founder of Bangladesh’s first-ever Fantasy Sports platform, Game Plan. He shared with us his experiences of being an entrepreneur, challenges that he faced, and his overall journey. His experiences are especially inspiring for the young aspiring entrepreneurs who just starting.
Hope you are doing well. Could you kindly give a brief introduction of yourself and your background?
I am Sanzar Adnan Alam, passionate gamers, and a vivid sports fan. Apart from playing and watching games, I was able to complete my bachelor’s in Computer Science from Ahsanullah University. Competitive nature of mine always pushed me to participate in all kinds of Programming Contests, Hackathons, Project Showcase, and all. After my graduation, I started working as a Mobile App Developer at Datasoft where I worked till I went to the USA to do my Masters in Cyber Security from Stevens Institute of Technology where I worked as a Teaching Assistant for Computer Networking course. After completing my Masters I came back to Bangladesh and started working as a Mobile App Development Consultant in ICT Ministry along with doing part-time lecturing in IUB where I teach Web and Mobile App development courses. Recently, I have left the consultancy to concentrate more on my startup – Game Plan.
What inspired you to be an entrepreneur? We would love to know about your journey as an entrepreneur.
I grew up in the old part of Dhaka seeing my Grandpa running his machinery factory from our garage to help Bangladesh have their rail crossing signal alarm developed to optimize multiple RMG companies by tweaking their existing machinery to maximize performance. These boosted my innate inclination towards problem finding and problem-solving activities. Seeing my mom’s compassionate nature and my dad’s dedication towards his work, built the seed of leadership nature on me.
From my high-school days, I actively participated in all kinds of sports which helped me in many ways including social interaction, discipline, work ethic, the value of sacrifice, and most importantly resilience. I have lost in many games but it taught me to get back up and keep going.
Like losing in a game, I did fail in a startup as well. Back in 2013, when I was a final year student we used to take part in all kinds of Underground Football Tournaments. I used to exchange my football boots with my friends and cousins. From that, I thought why not make a platform where other users could do the same? So, I started a C2C marketplace named Jomjomat in Bangladesh. It was a platform where users could post items they wanted to exchange. But it failed because of the TIMING! I have learned people always don’t need the perfect solution but need it at the perfect time as well.
Could you give a brief overview of the business? What was the inspiration behind Game Plan and how did you get the business started?
During my whole journey from childhood to school, school to university, or even during my professional career one thing which was common to me was sports, be that participating or organizing. I arranged esports competitions while I was Vice President of Ahsanullah University Computer Society and President of Society of Computer Science at Stevens. I started arranging football tournaments from my college days! Whenever I meet with my friends or cousins, esports and fantasy sports are a common topic for us! Fantasy sports platform’s grand success all over the world, more importantly in neighboring countries like India, has inspired me a lot to do something similar in Bangladesh as well. This is why I decided to combine my technical capability with my passion for sports and gaming in my startup – Game Plan!
What is Fantasy Sports?
Fantasy sports is a game of skill where you get together whether with a group of friends or just a bunch of other people that you meet online that likes sports. For an upcoming match, you pick a team of real-world players and you compete against each other. Individual player’s stats are translated into fantasy points which are the scoring mechanism to see who put together the better team.
When you started Game Plan what kind of challenges did you face?
Game Plan is a fantasy sports platform where one can showcase their skills and earn money in the meantime. You know, whenever there’s money involved, things get complicated. Gaining user’s trust was a big challenge. We are doing everything by the book to ensure the community is safeguarded and is compliant with all the regulations in markets we are operating.
What sort of impact does pandemic have to Game Plan?
Sports & Gaming is one of those sectors which were not impacted much during the pandemic. In fact, we saw the maximum growth last June. Our revenue increased by 150% that month. During the start of the pandemic, we covered cricket tournaments like Taipei T10, different Caribbean T10 along with a few European T10 series. For football, we covered tournaments like Belarus League, Taiwan League, Australian League, etc. This is an interesting behavior we saw amongst our users, that they are willing to participate in any low-key games we offer as long as they can see the match live somewhere or get the live scoring updates. It also supports our vision of building a full ecosystem for all sports fans and gaming enthusiasts.
Where do you see yourself as an entrepreneur in the future or where would you like to be at?
I want to build multiple successful ventures not only in Bangladesh but also globally. Many entrepreneurs have brilliant ideas but can’t reach out to proper people for investment or any sort of partnership. I want to be able enough so that I can help those entrepreneurs as well. Be that by mentoring or by connecting with the proper person. I want to help others build amazing startups as well.
Where do you see Game Plan in like 5 years? Are there any specific goals you would like to achieve?
We have the vision to be Bangladesh’s biggest digital entertainment platform. From, playing fantasy sports to playing games, from watching sports to streaming games, from buying sports merchandise to event tickets, from participating in esports tournaments to arranging one, we want to create a one-stop place for all the sports fans and gaming enthusiasts. What are the challenges that you are facing now and how do you deal with the challenges?
Every day is a new challenge for us. But we have to keep our heads high and fight to solve the challenges. It’s not about just the founder of the co-founders or the investors, it’s about the whole team. No matter at what level someone is connected to us, if someone is part of our company, s/he has to be part of the family and help us overcome the challenges. When an employee joins a startup, s/he doesn’t join just as an employee rather as a family member.
What do you think is the future of Bangladeshi entrepreneurs? What kind of opportunities do they have?
The startup ecosystem is still very new here in Bangladesh. But we are getting noticed day by day. Being located at the heart of Asia between India and China, Bangladesh is a hidden gem. Despite being a highly populated country, we have a technology adaptable young population which gives our local entrepreneurs to come up with all sorts of innovative ideas to solve problems to make everyone’s life easier and more meaningful.
What does success mean to you?
Success is a perspective. For some entrepreneurs it might mean how much investment your startup has raised, for some, it might mean how big of a problem it has solved, but to me, it means how much effort you have given.
Lastly, quite often than not it is seen that even though people have ideas they don’t know where and how to start. They are confused about many things. What would you suggest to them?
Before jumping on the bandwagon of building a startup, one should have a concrete plan of what she/he is willing to build. Take into consideration how you will build, what you will gain, and what sacrifices you will have to make, have a proper financial plan ready. Last but not the least, make sure your unit economy matches the idea or business.
