We connected with Paul Liberman, DraftKings Co-founder and President, Global Technology and Product, for a special Q&A in honor of Memorial Day.
Can you share the details on what DraftKings does?
DraftKings is a digital sports entertainment and gaming company created to fuel the competitive spirits of sports fans with products that range across daily fantasy, regulated gaming and digital media. Headquartered in Boston, and launched in 2012 by Jason Robins, Matt Kalish and me, DraftKings is the only U.S.-based vertically integrated sports betting operator. We are a multi-channel provider of sports betting and gaming technologies, powering sports and gaming entertainment for 50+ operators across more than 15 regulated U.S. and global markets, including Arkansas and Oregon in the U.S. DraftKings’ Sportsbook offers mobile and retail betting for major U.S. and international sports and operates in the United States pursuant to regulations in Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. DraftKings’ daily fantasy sports product is available in 8 countries internationally with 15 distinct sports categories.
What are your company’s core values or how would you best describe the culture and working environment at DraftKings?
We seek to innovate and to constantly improve our games and product offerings. Our focus is on creating unique and exciting experiences for our users. We are also highly focused on our responsibility as stewards of this new era in real-money gaming. Our ethics guide every decision we make, both in our respect for the tradition of sports and in our investment in regulatory compliance and consumer protection that have guided our company.
These values anchor our business. Our desire to innovate, improve and do the right thing drives our people and defines DraftKings, as we pursue our vision to transform the way people experience sports entertainment and gaming.
As a technology company at our core, DraftKings believes that the best innovation comes from diverse perspectives, thoughts, beliefs, ideas, and experiences. We consistently push boundaries and challenge the conventional to ensure our culture and products reflect the expectations of our employees, and the customers we serve.
We work to foster a culture of inclusion and belonging that makes our employees feel safe, empowered, engaged, championed, and inspired to be the very best.
Tell us about your Tech for Heroes program, and why it’s important for DraftKings.
DraftKings’ Tech for Heroes program provides free training in high demand tech skills for current and returning veterans and their spouses to help them expand their abilities and find meaningful employment. Since launching the Tech for Heroes program in the summer of 2018, DraftKings has invested over $1 million in providing free training to over 200 veterans through classes hosted in cities across the country, including Austin, Boston, Las Vegas and San Francisco.
As an extension of the program, DraftKings is introducing a new partnership with American Corporate Partners (ACP), to offer mentorship opportunities by connecting veterans across the country to DraftKings employees. As a company, we always look for ways to deepen our connection to the communities we are a part of. The Tech for Heroes program allows us to make a meaningful difference for veterans while connecting them to the industry we love - tech. Students not only complete individual coding projects - gaining confidence in their understanding of tech - but just as important for many, especially those transitioning from active duty to civilian life, they all have an opportunity to re-engage with their fellow service members.
Given the current environment created by COVID-19, we transitioned the program to a new online training format and opened it up to veterans and military spouses nationwide. There are two classes running this May - one on an Eastern Time zone and one time for students on the West Coast.
Tell us more about your virtual mentoring program and what it means for employees.
Through an exciting partnership with American Corporate Partners (ACP), a national nonprofit that prepares veterans for private sector careers by pairing them with a mentor at organizations, DraftKings recently announced that it is offering employees the ability to join thousands of others across the country in changing the lives of veterans and their families. This is an employee engagement tool that works hand-in-hand with the Tech for Heroes skills training program.
For DraftKings employees, the simple act of volunteering to share knowledge, expertise and network with a veteran is an opportunity to make an enormous impact. For veterans, it can make the difference between landing a job and building a long-term career, as mentors help identify career goals and tactics to achieve those goals. DraftKings employees are paired with their mentee and will meet virtually at least once a month. We’re very excited that we could launch a meaningful program remotely, while many are working from home, and feel that while we have to stay physically apart, we can still engage employees, build community, and make a difference.
What other initiatives does DraftKings have on the horizon?
This is our third year in the Tech for Heroes initiative and our first year in the employee mentoring component and we are looking forward to opportunities to expand our impact in the years ahead. Throughout the year, we host special charity daily fantasy sports contests, giving our passionate customers the ability to get involved, with all entry fees going directly to Tech for Heroes and veterans’ initiatives. We’ve seen great support from our player community for this effort and we can’t thank them for their ongoing support of the program.
What jobs are you currently hiring for?
We’re always looking for the best talent across the company. We’re constantly hiring for technology positions to provide a best-in-class experience for our users in our hyper-competitive industry. We now have over 2,300 employees worldwide, providing more opportunities to attract top talent to DraftKings across numerous departments. If you’re good at what you do, we want you to do it at DraftKings. For a full list of the positions we’re hiring for, visit careers.draftkings.com.
Anything else you would like to share?
In these unprecedented times, DraftKings is incredibly grateful for the people who are serving their communities around the clock, including the first responders, frontline workers and healthcare professionals. We’ve been fortunate to grow our company in coordination with many committed local leaders, who are now dedicating their time to pandemic and recovery efforts. While sports may be on hiatus, leadership and teamwork is not.
Want to learn more about DraftKings? Check out their Company Page
