20/20 with Ken Moody

This week, one of the founding fathers of DLF, Ken Moody, spent some time with us. Must read!

 

Where are you from?

Born and raised in San Diego, now living in Washington State, just across the river from Portland, OR.

What do you do for your regular job?

I am a VP of IT at a commercial real estate investment firm.  Been in IT ever since working with @dlf_jeff in the ’90s.

What is the worst job you have ever had?

I worked at a collection agency for a few years right after high school.  I was collecting unpaid medical bills. That was the worst.

What is the best job you have ever had?

I love working in IT and my day job is great, but nothing beats the awesome experience of my current role as Partner and CTO of DLF.  Nothing has been more rewarding and fun than building up DLF from the ground up to where it is now.  We have such an amazing team here – we continue to get along great and all work extremely well together.

What do you consider your dream job?

See above.

How long have you been in the industry?

Jeff Haverlack, Ken Kelly and I started DLF back in 2006. 

How did you get your break into fantasy football?

Sorry for the long answer to this one.  But it’s where I think I have the most worth sharing.

We were fortunate to break into the dynasty space early on.  At that time there were no other sites focusing on or even producing any content for dynasty fantasy football.  I know… hard to imagine that now, right? 

Jeff, Ken Kelly and I were sitting around watching football, talking about the dynasty league we were in together. We were shocked at how there was so little content out there about dynasty, other than an occasional article at Footballguys. We quickly realized the three of us had complementary skill sets, and we all shared a desire to build a dynasty community.  After a few scribbled notes on a pizza box, we landed on a domain name and some content ideas, and DLF was born.

The early site was mostly built around the DLF Forum.  That community took off and grew very rapidly, and eventually led us to our fourth partner, Eric Dickens. On the main website, we had a simple set of dynasty rankings with Ken & Jeff posting a few articles every month.

We didn’t make a penny off of the site for years.  It was a labor of love. But by 2010 we realized we had something special with DLF.  We knew that if we were going to take it to the next level, we would have to really commit to it.  So in 2011 we redesigned the site around WordPress, brought in our first team of writers, which included the super talented and eventual fifth DLF partner, Ryan McDowell. We planned on moving to a subscription model so we could actually pay our team of writers.  Flipping on that subscription switch in 2012 was one of the scariest things we ever did.  Would people actually pay for this stuff?  Or would this be the end of DLF?  We really had no idea how or if it would work out.

Fortunately, it did.

It was in some ways much easier to ‘break in’ to the industry then because there was so much less competition.  At the same time, there were no signposts or youtube videos on how to do this stuff.  It was all intuition, very hard work, and a little bit of luck.

The fantasy football and dynasty markets are now saturated with websites and podcasts and YouTube channels and Patreon services. It’s incredibly difficult for a new entry to break through the noise. I don’t envy anyone attempting to break into this space these days.

If you are just starting out though, I would suggest that you have to be extremely clear about your identity and your value proposition. What are you bringing to the table that is unique and/or significantly better than what is already out there. If you are merely offering more of the same, odds are someone out there is already doing it better than you. So find a niche, create a special product, work very hard, and be very patient, because even with the best product around it’s probably going to take time to get some traction.

Most people I see starting out in the fantasy football industry do not fully appreciate what an absolute grind it is to do this well. The worst mistake you can make is underestimating the amount of work and dedication it will take to build a successful new fantasy football site. The second biggest mistake is trying to monetize your site too quickly. You have to first build a committed audience, some raving fans who are very willing to pay for what you have to offer. Third, make sure you are working with partners and team members who you trust and who are on the same page. One of our greatest superpowers here at DLF is the amazing team we have, both at the partnership level as well as in all areas of our team. We are all good people who work well together. Finally, don’t be afraid to ask people to pay for the products of your hard work (but don’t make the ask too quickly). Sure, you can do this for free, but at some point, you will need to generate revenue to sustain yourself and your team members. Monetizing is not selling out. It’s ensuring sustainability and growth.

What tool do you use the most on DLF?

The various rankings as well as the Trade Analyzer.  Knowing how the algorithm works in the TA, I can honestly say is the best in the industry.

What tool do you use the most outside of DLF?

For in-season stuff, I rely quite a bit on the excellent rankings at 4for4.com to help with lineup decisions.  I’m also a big fan of the league tools at FantasyPros. 

Who was the best sleeper you pegged that broke out?

Fantasy football analysis is not my bailiwick.  I’m the tech guy.  I just don’t do sleeper picks.

Who was your biggest whiff?

The upside of not making sleeper picks?  No whiffs!

What is the worst trade you have made?

It’s not a trade, but the move that haunts me to this day was dropping a young rookie TE after four weeks into his rookie career.  It seemed clear to me that the Patriots were going to be leaning on Aaron Hernandez as their primary TE, and no way could a team support two fantasy TE’s… right?  So I just flat out dropped Gronk.  Worst.  Move.  Ever.

Who is your favorite underfollowed Twitter account?

The @DLFTools account.  Jeff Smith does a terrific job with this account, sharing awesome insights and tips for all of the many tools found at DLF.  (Bonus pro tip – @FFJeffSmith is a good follow as well.)

Who is your favorite NFL team?

I grew up a passionate San Diego Chargers fan.  After they moved to LA, I just couldn’t bring myself to root for them any longer.  It felt like the ultimate betrayal by the owner.  I am now a somewhat Seattle Seahawks fan but mostly just root for different teams in different years.

Who is your favorite college football team?

Oregon Ducks, mostly because Dan Fouts went there, they have a pretty good program and I can watch them locally.

Who was your favorite player growing up?

Easily Dan Fouts.  The Air Coryell days are what made me a football fan. That 1982 “Kellen Winslow” overtime playoff win is still to this day one of the greatest games I have ever seen.

Who is your favorite player of all time?

Has to be Jerry Rice.  I mean, seriously.  The original GOAT.

What other hobbies or passions do you have outside of fantasy football?

Mostly tech, website stuff, history, politics, space sciences.  Really getting into college basketball in recent years now that my son is attending Gonzaga ( #GoZags ).

What are some of your favorite movies?

Not really a huge movie buff, but I suppose movies like The Godfather series, Lord of the Rings trilogy, Gladiator, Fight Club, The Usual Suspects, Memento, Gattaca, most Quinten Tarantino movies. I could go on since I have no clear-cut favorite movies.

TV Series are a little easier.  Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and Mad Men are all in my top tier.

Who are some of your favorite bands?

Really hard to say.  Listen and enjoy a lot of styles.  You can find my personal playlist (Mad Mix) on Spotify at –

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0kJrQT1e1cDjfLJqxuPm1F?si=-3CBgkScT5abQJdneeZzZA