# Ep. 208: Digitizing the Super Bowl squares concept w/ Nathan & Brett from GridGorilla

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-betting-startups-podcast-7038302/ep-208-digitizing-the-super-bowl-squares-concept-w-nathan-brett-from-gridgorilla
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-betting-startups-podcast-7038302/ep-208-digitizing-the-super-bowl-squares-concept-w-nathan-brett-from-gridgorilla.md
Podcast: [The Betting Startups Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-betting-startups-podcast-7038302)
Published: 2026-04-28T21:05:29+00:00
Episode link: https://bettingstartups.podbean.com/e/ep-208-digitizing-the-super-bowl-squares-concept-w-nathan-brett-from-gridgorilla/
Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/669h33ycq2u743a8/Ep_208_-_Brett_Nathan_Grid_Gorillaam2t6.mp3
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Duration seconds: 1928

## Resource

Ep. 208 features Nathan Thomas and Brett DeBari, the founding team behind GridGorilla, a digital platform that evolves the classic Super Bowl squares format into a year-round, player-stat-based prediction experience. Hear them discuss: Brett’s journey through tech sales at Dell and AWS to previous gaming startups, and Nathan’s 20-year engineering career ranging from biomedical startups to database architecture How the team identified the "mass market" appeal of Super Bowl squares and adapted it into a year-round digital product Moving beyond final scores to create player-performance grids involving stats like points and rebounds across an x and y axis Why they opted for a free-to-play, ad-supported model to lower barriers to entry and onboard non-bettors. Leveraging AI-simulated matchups (e.g., LeBron James vs. the '86 Pistons) to keep users in the app for multiple sessions per day Nathan’s experience navigating the complex, one-year process of securing a software patent for their predictive grid system Why the three-person team chose to remain self-funded and the "leap of faith" required to build the company without meeting in person How Nathan operates as a one-person dev team by leveraging tools like Cursor AI, Flutter, and Golang to write nearly 97% of the app's code Seeing success with Meta ads under a $2 CAC and partnering with influencers and brand ambassadors to scale to 10,000 users Future plans for pay-to-play mechanics and a B2B licensing play to offer embeddable grid widgets for other brands and apps The dedicated Startup Zone at SBC Summit Americas gives real-money gaming startups a platform to showcase to 10,000+ attendees — including investors, operators, suppliers, media, and key industry players. Spaces are limited, secure yours now through https://www…

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