Substance Over Style

The best companies tend to get all the little things right.

Paul Leyland from Regulus Partners recently said the Flutter advantage is that it gets all the little things right and makes fewer mistakes than its competitors, “Possibly the most under-rated but most successful growth strategy humans have yet produced,” according to Leyland.

I wholeheartedly agree.

In the gambling universe, people will point to a company’s brand and exceptional product as reasons for success. But when you look closely, you’ll see that in almost every instance, the brand and product are the byproducts of getting the little things right. It’s hard to lose a customer who has nothing to complain about, which is why the brand is so strong. And attention to detail speaks to the overall culture and the commitment to the product.

SPONSOR’S MESSAGE – Sporttrade was borne out of the belief that the golden age of sports betting has yet to come. Combining proprietary technology, thoughtful design, and capital markets expertise, our platform endeavors to modernize sports betting for a more equitable, responsible, and accessible future.

Sporttrade is now live in their fifth state; Virginia

Regular readers have heard this before, as I’m often hyper-focused on the little things and avoiding (avoidable) mistakes.

I like to think this newsletter gets many of the little things right, and I use the same mindset at the martial arts school I run with my wife. The little things are the foundation for everything you do.

As the opening sentence of this newsletter says, there are no black belt techniques, just techniques done at a black belt level. Meaning that the techniques you learn during your first months of training, be it Boxing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, or Judo, will be the techniques you rely on, and they are the techniques that open the door to other techniques. As kickboxer Majid Raees says, “Basic, when done correctly, looks professional and can look elegant and advanced.”

But to get to that point, you must do all the little things correctly. As I recently wrote:

“Another factor few people discuss is balance. Most people have terrible balance, regardless of size and strength. Punches require balance. Not getting taken down requires balance. Keeping someone in front of you requires balance. Getting up off the ground requires balance.

“One way to think about this in relation to gambling (this is a gambling industry newsletter after all) is that obvious answers like product and brand don’t tell the entire story about success and failure; they are the size and skill of the conversation. Sometimes we have to dig a little bit deeper.”

This means that you should make sure the foundation is solid, and make no mistake about it: the little things are your foundation. Without them, everything crumbles.

The same holds true in the world of gambling. Whether you’re aspiring to be a professional poker player or sports bettor, or you’re on the other side of the counter and trying to operate a sportsbook, cardroom, or online casino, the little things will set you apart.

In some cases, the shortcomings are on full display, and the project never really gets off the ground — the person or company is so focused on the big things that the little issues go unaddressed.

In other cases, the person or company is aware of the issues and addresses the most obvious, but plenty more are hidden under the surface and take time to bubble to the surface. An accumulation of these seemingly minor issues can eventually lead to significant setbacks.