Creating Powerful, Thriving Digital Communities: T J Ross Of Splash Sports On How To Cultivate Connection & Community In A Click-to-Connect World
Finding people who share your mission and values is everything.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure to interview T.J. Ross.
T.J. Ross is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Splash Sports, a peer-to-peer sports gaming platform that started by acquiring and merging RunYourPool and OfficeFootballPool. The platform is now home to over two million players and 80,000 commissioners. With a background spanning entrepreneurship, strategic partnerships, and technology investment banking, T.J. has spent his career building products that bring people together around shared passions.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you grew up?
Growing up in the Bay Area, sports were always central to my life — my grandfather played for the New York Rangers, and both watching and playing sports were just part of the fabric of my childhood. My parents owned a small business, so I grew up experiencing the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. When I was in my teens, I would read Wired and Fast Company. I remember my dad cutting out a Fast Company article about Mark Zuckerberg for me, and by the time I left for college I knew I wanted to be a startup founder.
For college I went to USC during the Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart era, which may have been the most entertaining college football team of all time, and studied entrepreneurship and finance — even started a small T-shirt business while I was there.
When the financial crisis hit in 2008, I decided to put off my entrepreneurial dreams and went into tech investment banking in San Francisco to pay off my student debt and save money to start my first company.
After a few years, I finally took the leap. I raised money from 500 Startups and joined their incubator program, which is where I met my co-founder Joel Milton. Out of the 35 companies in the program, he was one of the only other founders who loved sports — I knew we’d be friends the moment I saw him losing his mind over the Bills losing on Monday Night Football.
I did my first startup and stayed in touch with Joel, who eventually sold his business. The two of us talked about doing something together, ideally in sports. We saw sports betting become federally legal with PASPA being overturned, and watched DraftKings and FanDuel quickly take the lead. It was interesting to us that it was the fantasy companies — not the legacy casino and sports betting players like MGM and Caesars — that ended up winning. But how do you possibly compete with DraftKings or FanDuel when they were spending $1,000 per user on customer acquisition, not to mention the licensing costs?
We realized we had both gotten into sports the same way. When I was five years old, I would sit on my dad’s lap, look through the NFL lines in the newspaper, and help him make picks for the pool he did with his friends. It was a really fun bonding experience — watching the games together and circling picks on a sheet of paper, because back then you couldn’t do any of this online. Joel had the same experience with his dad, playing in survivor pools where they’d call into the local golf club.
We realized there are 60 million Americans who play these games and billions of dollars that exchange hands mostly offline, yet virtually no venture money had been put into the space. We thought it was the sleeping giant of the fantasy sports and gaming industry and decided to take the leap. I’ll save the story of how we actually got started for another day!
What inspired you to get involved in building digital communities?
It ties back to my dad’s contest with his friends. Playing fantasy sports or a survivor pool with people you care about is genuinely one of the best ways to stay connected — my college friends and I still do it to this day. There are very few things left that reliably bring people together, and sports is one of them.
After getting my first bonus at my first job, I got invited into a big March Madness Survivor Pool where I had to mail $500 to some guy in New Jersey — which seemed like a pretty risky proposition, but I did it. I got referred through a captain of sorts, and they had captains across the country organizing it. It was so much fun that I told my friends about it. They wanted in. Some wanted to do teams together. It became something we all looked forward to every year, and our group kept growing as more people heard about it.
That’s really what Splash Sports is all about — seeing the power sports has to bring people together and building that into every product decision we make. Our mission is to bring people together through sports and live events, and it’s something that genuinely means a lot to us.
Was there a moment when you realized the power of authentic online connection? Can you share that story?
A great example is someone we recently hired to lead our creator and influencer program: Sam Esfandiari. Sam is the co-host of the Light Years Podcast, which in my opinion is the best Golden State Warriors podcast out there. I joined their Discord six or seven years ago to follow Warriors rumors and be part of the group chat during games, the draft, free agency — all of it. Through that community, Sam and I formed a real friendship. When he went on to lead creator partnerships at Playback, a platform for fans to watch sports alongside their favorite creators, we stayed in touch — and eventually brought him on to help build that side of our business at Splash. It’s a good example of how authentic online relationships actually work: they’re real, they compound, and they lead somewhere.
What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned along the way that influences how you operate now?
A few things come to mind. In entrepreneurship, you’ll encounter plenty of people who aren’t invested in your outcome — and you just have to keep pushing and give others a reason to believe. Persistence, consistency, and ability to tolerate pain matters more than you think.
Equally important is listening to your customers. This is the whole ethos of Y-Combinator, build something people want, but it’s so easy to get wrong. If you really listen, you find shared passion, and that’s how you build a great product — with your customers, not just for them.
It also helps enormously when you’re a customer of your own product. That’s true of Joel and I, and honestly pretty much everyone at Splash. We’re all passionate about sports and community-building, and that energy is infectious. Finding people who share your mission and values is everything.
In your opinion, what defines a thriving digital community?
What strikes me about the communities on our platform is that they span an enormous range — from 20 friends in a family contest to a podcaster running a contest with tens of thousands of fans — but they all have something in common: a person at the center who brings energy and makes it interesting. We have commissioners who have been running contests that started with 20 people and, 10 or 15 years later, have 20,000 entries. The growth compounds because of what they put into it.
My favorite example is the commissioner who starts every football season with an email about how “the birds are chirping, the azaleas are blooming, and you can hear Jim Nantz’s voice creeping through the airwaves.” That kind of personality and voice makes a community contagious — it gets people contributing back. That’s something you simply can’t get playing against the house in DFS or sports betting. It starts with the host’s energy and grows from there. I think it’s genuinely different from anything else happening in sports right now.
What are some common mistakes people make when trying to build digital communities?
The first is expecting things to work right away. Whether you’re building a contest on Splash, starting a company, or launching an online community, you should actually expect things not to go right at first — and that’s okay. The recipe for success is sustained effort over time, combined with a willingness to listen to your users and keep iterating. There’s no magic moment where it all clicks at once; it compounds slowly and then all at once.
The second is spending too much time watching what others are doing and trying to copy it. I’m not saying you shouldn’t study what’s working out there — there’s a reason they say “good artists borrow, great artists steal.” Take inspiration from what’s working. But to build a community that lasts, you have to be authentic and genuinely different. The goal is to find a voice that is uniquely yours, because that’s what people actually connect with.
The third is focusing too much on the transactional. Yes, being able to earn is part of what makes building a community worthwhile for creators — but if that’s your primary focus, people will feel it. Focus first on creating something people genuinely want and care about. Give more than you take, and the monetization will follow.
What are your five strategies to cultivate a powerful, thriving digital community?
1. Consistency is King
The best communities aren’t built on magical charisma — they’re built on passion applied consistently over time. ePigskin is one of our biggest commissioners. He started with 10 or 20 friends in a survivor contest, brought the same effort every year, and a decade later runs a seven-figure contest with tens of thousands of entrants.
2. Authenticity matters — be uniquely you
People on Splash can play in any contest. You have to give them a reason to choose yours. ForTheFans does this brilliantly — every week during football season, he sends updates packed with GIFs, memes, NFL storylines, and friendly trash talk. People aren’t just playing for the prize; they’re showing up to see what he says next.
3. The Riches are in the Niches
Some of our most successful commissioners focus exclusively on one sport. RickRunGood (golf) and Ryan Hammer (college basketball) are both creators who are true authorities on their subject matter. Both built communities elsewhere and brought them to Splash, where we’ve helped them grow, deepen engagement with their audiences, and ultimately host some of the biggest golf and college basketball contests on the planet.
4. Bring the energy
Cody Dunlap — known for Sports Betting Education — entered our $1,000-per-entry million-dollar March Madness contest 33 times and traveled by van to watch his teams throughout the tournament. He documented every win and heartbreak, including UConn coming back from down 19 to beat Duke. He brought his following along for the entire ride and generated millions of views. That’s what energy does.
5. Have fun
It sounds obvious, but the best way to attract people is to have more fun than anyone else. KellyInVegas embodies this perfectly — whatever contest she’s in, she builds excitement from the opening whistle to the final buzzer, and people can’t help but want to be part of it.
How important is meeting offline, in real life? What is the best way to make that happen?
We started during COVID, which was a fascinating time to build a company — there was such a hunger for connection, and sports became a meaningful way to fill that void. The return of football that first fall was a huge spike for us.
Being remote from the start — Joel in Denver, me in San Francisco — we had to be intentional about in-person time from day one. We bring teams together around key moments: we gathered the sales, BD, and marketing teams during Super Bowl week in San Francisco. And we do a full company offsite at least once a year — so far we’ve gone to Las Vegas, Lisbon, Nashville, and this year we are headed to Barcelona. The goal is always less conference rooms and presentations, more shared experiences: hackathon-style projects, small group dinners, whatever creates real moments.
Remote work done right actually gives people more time with their families and more focus during the day. But the trust that makes it all work? That gets built in person. It’s something we invest in heavily.
How do you handle negativity, trolling, or disengagement in a digital space?
You need thick skin and the ability to ignore most of it. But there’s also real signal in it. When someone is genuinely angry, I try to get them on the phone. I tell the team: love and hate aren’t opposites — they’re two sides of the same coin. The opposite of love is indifference. If someone is furious at us, it usually means they’re passionate. The worst outcome would be releasing a product and having no one care. When you take the time to really talk to an upset user, more often than not you can understand their frustration, act on it, and turn them into one of your biggest advocates.
What are some practical strategies for encouraging real interaction, beyond likes and emojis?
A lot of what we do is about stoking people’s competitive instincts and making everyday moments feel like a game. The more we can invite participation — guess the score, pick a winner, name the mascot — the more people feel like they’re part of something. People come to Splash because they want a reason to care about the game on Sunday, something to talk trash about with friends, some skin in the game. We’re early in really honing the social and gamification layers, but we have big ambitions there — in-app interaction, social engagement, making it feel more live and connected. We’re excited about where it’s headed.
What platforms or tools have you found most effective for cultivating meaningful digital engagement?
Social is obviously part of it. But one thing that’s unique about Splash is that many of our users have a direct one-to-one relationship with their commissioner — and we don’t want to get in the way of that. So we focus on giving commissioners better tools to communicate with their players: in-app messaging, email capabilities, leaderboards that keep engagement alive throughout the contest. On top of that, we try to build our own relationship with the broader user base through social, email newsletters, and push notifications. The balance between commissioner-to-player and platform-to-user is something we think about a lot.
Are there certain types of content or activities that tend to spark stronger connections in online spaces?
What we see from the most vibrant communities on our platform is variety in how they show up. The commissioners and creators who build the deepest connections are reaching their audience through multiple channels — a weekly email, posts on the platform, socials, Discord, a newsletter. Just like any relationship, the more touchpoints you have and the more ways you create content for your following, the deeper the connection gets. RickRunGood and KellyInVegas are both great examples of that approach in action.
Success is often a matter of perspective. How do you define success for yourself now?
It shifts over time. Right now, I’m building a business in sports — games I’ve played my whole life — alongside one of my best friends, with a team I love and partners who genuinely share the mission. That means a lot to me, and I try to stay grounded in it day to day.
I’ve seen enough founders reach an exit to know it doesn’t just fix everything or feel like the finish line. The journey is the most important part. You still need goals, a North Star, and accountability to quarterly and annual results — all of that matters. But my honest definition of success right now? We’re living it. If we keep enjoying the work and stay true to our values, the rest will take care of itself.
Is there a person in the world with whom you’d like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why?
Steph Curry. I have a lot of respect for his process and who he is as a person — but honestly, he also checks every box for me personally. He was part of the most electric March Madness run in college basketball history, is the most exciting player the NBA has ever seen, and is obsessed with golf. He’d be my dream ambassador for Splash Sports — and it doesn’t hurt that he’s already known as a Splash Brother.
What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?
Find me at @TJRoss on X. And download Splash Sports — sign up, play a contest, and you’ll see what we’re building firsthand.
Thank you for sharing these insights!
Creating Powerful, Thriving Digital Communities: T J Ross Of Splash Sports On How To Cultivate… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.