Andrew Paradise, Skillz's twitchy, 35-year-old CEO,
never struggles to hit his quota.
("An emotional high point for me in my time here," says Skillz chief product officer Bill Mooney,"was
the first time I won a 16-person solitaire bracket.").
But, he continues, if Skillz can position itself to compete one day, like
Riot Games, for meaningful ad revenue from sponsors of online competitions,"you have three new businesses.
Like Riot Games, Skillz wants in on the future of sports,
but it's making a different bet, one that doesn't rely on souped-up desktop computers, but rather on a device we carry wherever we go-the ubiquitous mobile phone.