You knew the Red Sox were going all the way this past year. You knew the Yankees had nothing on your favorite unshaven players. You would have killed to get seats to Game Seven of the ALCS or to the fourth game of the World Series.
Alas, exorbitant ticket prices kept you from the game — even though you believed, even though you saw it coming, even though you knew.
Enter yOOnew, a company with an innovative solution to the problem of high ticket prices at major sporting events. The name says it all: you knew your team was going all the way. YOOnew asks, "Why shouldn't you be able to go to that game?"
Founded by Gerry Wilson '00 and Hagos Mehreteab '99, yOOnew gives consumers the opportunity to lock in affordable prices on consumer items — most notably, tickets to sporting events.
If you think your team is going to the Final Four, the Super Bowl or any other major sporting event, you can go to yOOnew.com and buy a futures contract on tickets to that event. If your team makes it, you get the tickets, shelling out potentially as little as the 10 or 15 dollars you paid for the contract.
The downside, of course, is that if your team doesn't match your high expectations, you lose the money you paid for the contract.
Wilson came up with the idea in September 2003 when he and a few friends from the MIT Sloan School of Management tried to get tickets to a Red Sox game. The game was sold out, though, and as an outlet for their frustration over their inability to purchase affordable tickets for high-level games, the idea for yOOnew was developed.
"I have always enjoyed attending sporting events and think access to games should not only be available to the wealthy or well-connected," Wilson said.
The idea was originally conceived as part of a business-planning class. When it reached the semifinals in the MIT 50K competition, Wilson began to think about it a little more seriously.
"I loved the idea, and being a former athlete and finishing business school, I realized I had the tools to put it together," Wilson said.
After teaming up with Mehreteab in the spring of 2004, the duo launched yOOnew, offering contracts on last year's NCAA Final Four as their first product. Those who bought contracts and whose team made it to the Final Four happily found themselves at all three games — both semifinal games and the championship — for a low price, and all thanks to two Princeton entrepreneurs.
Entreprenurial skills
For Wilson, who majored in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton, an Orange and Black education gave him many of the critical skills he needed to be an entrepreneur.
"Studying engineering allows you to conceptualize problems and solve problems in a formulaic way," Wilson said, explaining that he knew an engineering degree would prepare him well for almost any field. "I always knew I wanted to start a business."
Moreover, a sports-related startup was a natural fit for Wilson, who was a cornerback for the varsity football team during his Tiger years.
"My greatest experiences, as well as the most difficult and trying ones, were on the football team," Wilson said.
After his experiences at Princeton, Wilson is certainly no stranger to the difficulties that an entrepreneur faces, such as complete responsibility for the business and long hours — he works "pretty much every day, all day, including weekends," he said.
"At the end of the day [I'm] accountable for what happens. I like that responsibility," Wilson said.
Fruit of the vine
Judging by the success of yOOnew to date, Wilson has handled his responsibilities well. In addition to the Final Four last year, yOOnew sent fans to the NFC and AFC Championships this year. They have just completed a proof of concept for the NFL for next season as well.
It's been quite an exciting ride for Wilson, and he thinks this is only the beginning. While yOOnew currently focuses solely on contracts for sports events, they eventually plan to move into other consumer products, such as wine. A consumer could lock in a particular price for a wine from a particular vineyard, essentially betting on the crop.
Wilson follows in the tradition of Princeton entrepreneurs like eBay founder Meg Whitman '77. These alums all share a passion for what they do and seem to enjoy it enormously.
"Actually bringing [yOOnew] to market and selling online has really been exciting for us," Wilson said.
And as long are there are fans who know, Wilson should have an exciting future ahead of him.
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