Building an expert layer for prediction market traders, with the PredictQ co-founders

PredictQ wants to be the "expert layer" for prediction markets, built for the retail traders who lose money on them. In this Betting Startups interview, co-founders Justin Herzig and Cameron MacMillan, both with deep roots in daily fantasy sports, explain the product, the funding round and what sportsbooks will have to change.

In this episode

• Justin says 70% of retail traders lose money on Kalshi and Polymarket; PredictQ is built for them, while the other companies in the space chase professional traders (7:51, 30:26).

• The toolkit covers four stages: discovery, research and analysis, price and platform, and portfolio management. Phase one earns through affiliate deep links, with on-site trading planned later (10:20, 12:01).

• Cameron says they set out to raise half a million dollars and were over 20% oversubscribed; Justin says this gives them 18 months of runway (17:08, 18:17).

• Justin argues sportsbooks can still compete, but not with promotions and bonus offers alone; they will need a more open philosophy. He points to the CFTC's August proposal on who may make markets on their own exchange (20:05, 21:06).

• The founders want public trading histories to replace scam touts' claims, and are building cross-platform leaderboards to find the best traders (25:09, 25:44).

• Their number one KPI is users coming to the site twice a week (29:20).

Episode from the Betting Startups Podcast, published on YouTube.