Kareem Kouddous

DraftSmarts - Drafting the winning fantasy team has never been so easy.

Add a comment

Replies

Best
Tori Bunte
Yes! This year the Shiva will be mine!
Lucas Levin
@stttories We hope so :)
Ryan Hoover
@stttories I love The League.
Tori Bunte
@rrhoover I was disappointed no one else had made a League reference yet. In a thread full of men. Pfft.
Ben Drucker
@stttories Tomorrow on Product Hunt: Shiva Blast for iOS
Lucas Levin
Hey guys, I'm Lucas, one of the co-founders of DraftSmarts. To briefly sum up our product, DraftSmarts is a tool for fantasy sports players old and new to use to pick amazing teams that are very likely to do well over the course of the season. Happy to answer any and all questions you might have about what we built. Would also love feedback as we’re trying to make the app as awesome as possible for when draft season kicks into high gear. Just a heads up, some of our future plans include making the app compatible with all sites that host fantasy leagues and adding more features such as a PPR setting.
Eric Metelka
@lucaslevin1 I was just about to say, needs a PPR toggle and customizable point values and you'd be solving the problem 100%. Glad that's on your roadmap. Not sure how you do it (maybe by showing results after a season using your app), but if you can prove your algorithm is better than looking at 6 websites/cheatsheets simultaneously during a draft, then if I hope you make a lot of money. Fantasy sports is such a great and still growing segment. Could also end up doing this for other fantasy sports in the future.
Lucas Levin
@eric3000 Thanks for the feedback, we really appreciate it! So at the end of drafts on our cheat sheet we actually show the user their projected points vs. their opponents, and if you check the Standings tab after a mock draft on Yahoo! you can see how well you're projected to finish (our algo has been consistently finishing in first so far this season.) That said, we're working on making improvements all around the site and demonstrating immediate value is towards the top of our list of priorities. And yes, the algo works for all fantasy sports and we plan on creating versions for each.
Casey Clinkenbeard
@lucaslevin1 This is fantastic, have always wanted something smarter than the Yahoo! rankings - and the UI is great. Was going to mention PPR toggle, and points in general - for rushing vs throwing yardage, etc. I think with that addition it's better than any of the pundits rankings. Does the algorithm take into account the player's opponents? e.g., if Manning and Brees had equal projections, but Manning played statistically better passing defenses, he would project lower? Last thought, only because I've though about this way too much... would be awesome if your sheet incorporated the schedule. As players got drafted, you would know the strongest teams, and could draft players that had better match-ups those weeks - leaving bye players on weeks you player weaker teams.... Will be using this on draft day!
Lucas Levin
@hscasey Thanks Casey, we really appreciate it! It looks at projections over the course of the season, so everything should be taken into account beforehand (i.e. difficulty of schedule, opponents over the course of the season, depth charts, potential injuries, etc.) Great idea about the schedule. This is definitely something we'll look into and put in our backlog. Be sure to let us know how your draft goes!
Spencer Noon
Fantastic idea. You're going to have a big penetration issue, because I know for one thing I'm not sharing this with anyone :)
Lucas Levin
@spencernoon We know, it's the quintessential anti-viral product. We have a few tricks up our sleeves though ;)
Spencer Wise
@spencernoon haha I was thinking the exact same thing.
Taylor Crane
Super easy to use, and in mock drafts seems to perform extremely well. Can't wait to use it this upcoming draft! Go team @lucaslevin1 and @kylesnell!
Ryan Gilbert
@zackshapiro Yes! Love NumberFire. Been using it for years.
A
This is sweet! Yahoo Fantasy has a great API. https://developer.yahoo.com/fant.... It'd be awesome if you could hook into this and keep owners apprised off moves throughout the season, in addition to draft day
Erik Torenberg
@lucaslevin1 @kylesnell how does this work exactly? could pro sports teams GMs use any of the principles underlying this?
Lucas Levin
@eriktorenberg We built an algorithm that uses projected statistics and a little game theory to value players based on your league's settings and have you draft them in the best order possible. The game-theory piece takes into account the player's value specifically for your league, where the player is projected to be picked in your draft and adjusts based on which players have already been picked. Pro sports teams and GMs might be able to use the underlying principles eventually, but at the end of the day this is going to be most effective for fantasy sports.
Ben Parr
Most of the battle is really in the trades and snagging up the diamonds in the rough before others can. Still, cool app.
Ryan Gilbert
@benparr I agree for the most part but the later rounds of a draft are equally crucial. Can make or break a team.
Eithiriel DeMerè
Awesome! I've always wanted to play a fantasy league but knew I didn't have all the information to do it. lol
Kareem Kouddous
I used an alpha version of this last year to draft my team and won my league (the other person who drafted using this method came in second). I'll leave @lucaslevin1 to dive into the details of the approach.
Chad Lovell
This is awesome, but I am in an auction league :( Any plans in the future to support auction drafts?
Lucas Levin
@Chad_Lovell Auction drafts are definitely in our plans for the future, but not sure we'll be able to get it in this season unfortunately. We want to give auctions a lot of thought and be 100% sure it is as efficient as our normal cheat sheet.
Chad Lovell
@lucaslevin1 Awesome - let me know how I can help. My auction in 3 weeks from tomorrow.
Everette Taylor
I'm kicking everyone's ass this year. I'm the only one on my fantasy league on PH =)
Eric Metelka
@everette Time for a PH fantasy football league? Does @rrhoover play fantasy football?
Ryan Hoover
@eric3000 I'm terrible at fantasy sports. Last time I played fantasy football, I ended last in my bracket. :(
Eric Metelka
@rrhoover :( OK, next problem to solve - making aproduct that ensures that everyone in your fantasy league pays their dues
Spencer Wise
@rrhoover but now you have the interwebs on your side
Spencer Wise
@eric3000 amen! Although I'm usually the one not paying my dues... :/