Co-Founders of Fanduel met at the Edinburgh Entrepreneurship Club

Fanduel Co-Founders Met at the E-Club

Serendipity always rewards the prepared

-Katori Hall

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND 03 September 2014 – Fanduel, an Edinburgh-based company that raised a venture capital round of $70 million it was announced today, had its origins in the Edinburgh Entrepreneurship Club (E-Club) at the Business School at the University of Edinburgh. They met on Wednesday the 21st of February 2008, following the Silicon Valley Speaker’s series event over pints at an infamous pub in Edinburgh.

See recent news in Forbes on Fanduel here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/darrenheitner/2014/09/02/fanduel-adds-70-million-in-funding-following-draftkings-41-million-raise/

See the CNBC clip with Nigel Eccles, CEO, today: Nigel Eccles on CNBC

Co-Founders Nigel, Tom and Rob met at Doctor’s Pub, and were introduced by Michael Clouser, the E-Club’s Co-Founder. They had attended the evening’s interview of Jim Buckmaster, the CEO of Craigslist. At that time, it was tradition for Club members to meet at Doctor’s Pub near the old Royal Infirmary for a pint after the Club events. Jim was that evening’s Silicon Valley Speaker Series guest, funded by by the Edinburgh-Stanford Link, a triple helix organization based at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Informatics between 2003-2011. After interviewing Jim, Michael called for a the pub after-hours in Doctor’s as the Business School had conflicting functions that night and could not accommodate the usual wine and beer after-mixer. Over pints of Guiness and other native lagers and bitters, the future partners were introduced and proceeded with a hearty chat. The rest is history.

Innovation is serendipity, so you don’t know what people will make
-Tim Berners-Lee

Fanduel started as Hubdub, a news site that made predicting news outcomes fun. It later shifted gears and became Fanduel, which defined the one day fantasy sports market and created a new category. Nigel left Jonstone Press, where he was a business development director, and Tom, Rab and Chris, another Fanduel co-founder, let their startup, Groupit.com, die on the vine in order to team up with Nigel and pursue his vision for Hubdub.

Yet another classic E-Club story of serendipity. A sub-theme is strategic shift.

-Michael Clouser, Co-Founder, Edinburgh Entrepreneurship Club, and Business School Alumnus

HUBDUB PITCH 2008