Josh Fabian Builds Metafy To Provide Platform For ESport Coaches And Players

July 22, 2022 World Emerging Markets

There are over 500 million eSport participants worldwide with the market expected to reach just over $1.38 billion in 2022, rising to $1.87 billion by 2025, according to eMarketer. As a result a whole new market for eSports coaching has emerged as an increasingly lucrative industry has spawned both professional and collegiate leagues, prompting many to seriously consider esports as a profession.

Metafy is a company helping to enable and grow that emerging market. The company provides an online coaching platform that enables video gamers to monetize their talent through coaching and courses. The Pittsburgh-based company, founded in 2020 by former nationally-ranked competitive gamer Josh Fabian, created the first video game coaching platform built for gamers, by gamers, which allows the best players in the world to make a living doing what they love. His company’s origins were born out of an idea that stemmed from his own game-loving kids.

“My kids love games, they got it from me. And they were into a Pokemon trading card game. And I was so excited when they got into it for us, because the first thing I thought was, here’s my chance to ball with my kids, right? What I didn’t anticipate was them thinking I’m just my kids’ dumb dad. So I reached out to one of the best players in the world at the time. And I said, ‘I know this sounds crazy. But would you be willing to teach my kids?’ And he said, ‘Absolutely. I’ll do it for $20 an hour’. That’s less than we paid our babysitter. For me was it was so shocking. And at a certain point I asked him, ‘Are you making a living doing this? He said, ‘No, I wish. I’m making minimum wage working in a warehouse. And I think every entrepreneur has a moment where they see an opportunity that sticks in their head or just claws at their gut. And it’s all you can think about and eventually you delude yourself into that dangerous idea that you’re the best person in the world to solve this problem. And that’s never true, but you have to believe it to jump in. And for me that’s what it was. That led to me jumping in with both feet,” says Fabian.