Sterling.VC , a venture capital fund of Sterling Equities, has invested in multiple esports-related companies in recent years including, FanAI and Guilded . Last year, the firm became one of the founding owners of the Overwatch League , purchasing the spot that would become the New York Excelsior (NYXL). With the first season of the OWL in the books, The Esports Observer spoke with Sterling.VC partner Rohit Gupta about developing the New York fanbase, operating an esports team, and the firm’s other esports investments.

Prior to the OWL, Sterling had been hesitant to invest in pre-existing esports organizations.”For example, there were existing orgs that had Overwatch teams,” Gupta said. “From a venture capital perspective, or from any investor perspective, when you’re investing in that team you want to look at longevity of that team, naturally. So, there was a hesitance from our part to invest in teams at that point, and we were very excited about when Overwatch League specifically came out with a league that put standardizations in. You actually know what you’re getting into at that point.”

In addition to his role as a partner managing Sterling.VC’s investment portfolio, Gupta has played an active role in NYXL’s operations since the team’s inception. He not only oversees the team’s content strategy, but was even involved in scouting the organization’s initial roster. “I went to Korea to interview a number of teams there,” says Gupta. “We ended up with a core group of the former team of LuxuryWatch Blue, and we added a couple of additional players from that.”

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With the team being comprised of Korean players, Gupta’s content strategy centered around making the team feel like part of the New York sports ecosystem. “We launched a [YouTube] series called Days Off to show the connection of our players to New York. It was a lens of not only gaming but through the lens of culture, fashion, food, and so forth.”

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Gupta explained that with Sterling coming in as non-endemic to esports, the content strategy has to evolve with the brand.[/perfectpullquote]

The challenge for Sterling was in presenting the new organization to an esports audience, he added. Other brands such as the Houston Outlaws could pull from the existing fanbase of OpTic Gaming , the esports organization behind their brand. Gupta explained that with Sterling coming in as non-endemic to esports, the content strategy has to evolve with the brand.

“Starting off, it’s ‘Here’s who we are, here’s what we stand for, here are our core values, these are who our players are,’ to further engaging. So, we took that approach of launching a couple different series. I think our Origin series was very successful in presenting the human side of who our players are.”

Those behind the NYXL brand focused on growing its local New York fanbase throughout the season. The team organized a charity Overwatch tournament in New York City in June and hosted two local fan events in the lead up to the OWL Grand Finals—NYXL Homecoming, a fan meet and greet event with NYXL players and staff, and a pop-up store to sell team merchandise. For Gupta, growing the local community is a key part of the brand’s success.

“Growing the community is what makes our team successful. You can play and be number one, but if no one cheers you on it’s not the same thing. We think New York was a severely underserved market from engaging the gaming community as a whole. We find it extremely important to activate that community locally for a number of reasons that also drive into our revenue model. These are fans that are going to come to our events, these are fans that are going to buy our merch and watch our content. Obviously year one, it was a test in the market. We found that it was immensely successful. I think we have some of the most passionate and dedicated fans in the league and we look forward to further engaging them and we have some plans to announce shortly about what’s coming up next.”

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”Growing the community is what makes our team successful. You can play and be number one, but if no one cheers you on it’s not the same thing.”[/perfectpullquote]

Looking to Sterling’s other esports investments, Gupta sees plenty of potential for companies to support the esports ecosystem, and many questions still left for investors and startups to answer. “When you think of livestreaming,” he said, “the whole ad tech industry has to rethink itself with how do you approach esports or livestreaming in general?”

He added that there is opportunity for companies to “attack the esports industry from various aspects, be it on the player side from coaching tools,” to other aspects such as fan engagement, betting, or content management. “What does the ESPN of esports look like? It’s all open market right now.”

On September 28, Rohit Gupta will be joined by many other esports luminaries to break down the esports market and what investors can learn to take full advantage of it. This will be just one of six panels at RSR Partners x HIVE New York. Get your tickets today!