Founders Unfiltered: Ed Abelson on Building Abelson Sports and Why Standing Still Is Never an Option

From sports record books and newspaper results pages to supplying data to Betfair and Ladbrokes, Ed Abelson’s career has followed the changing ways audiences and businesses use sports information. Having founded Abelson Sports after leaving Mirror Group and the Racing Post in 2002, he turned his experience into a business focused on bookmakers’ need for timely, reliable data.

In this edition of Founders Unfiltered, Abelson reflects on launching a company after 50, the pressures of being a one-man band and the missed opportunity he still thinks about. He also shares why character matters when hiring, how he has built a team that stays, and why trusting your instincts is essential to keeping a business moving.

1. What was the original idea behind your company, and what convinced you to take the leap and build it?

My original business was a sports database covering historical results across all sports. Initially, the data was published in book form as the Playfair Book of Winners, which ran for a couple of years. Horse racing and boxing data were published separately in two other books: The Breedon Book of Horse Race Records, which remains the definitive record of winners of all the major races since they were first run, and Guinness Boxing Who’s Who.

The problem with books is that they can be out of date before they’re even published. As all the records were already held on a computer database, it made sense to provide regularly updated data instead. My first client was Sky Sports, followed by most of the UK newspapers.

The business was eventually sold to Mirror Group, and I went to work for them, first with the Sporting Life and then the Racing Post. The idea was to integrate my databases with the Sporting Life’s extensive racing database. When Mirror Group bought the Racing Post, my department became part of the publication. Our football data became the backbone of Soccerbase, which was developed in-house and still exists today.

At the time, I was also writing a betting column for the Daily Express under the pseudonym Pierce Egan, named after one of the original founders of The Sporting Life in the 19th century. I also wrote sports articles for The Independent and the Financial Times. My department was responsible for the football results pages across all Mirror titles.

When I left Mirror Group and the Racing Post in February 2002, I knew there was still a market for up-to-date sports data. However, I could already see that the traditional newspaper market was in decline, so I decided to pivot towards bookmakers.

Newspapers had managed their decline by being early adopters of new technology, but bookmakers were well behind at the time. My first client was Betfair, for whom I provided worldwide football fixtures, with a particular emphasis on kick-off times. These are crucial for bookmakers, both then and now, but reliable information was not particularly easy to source at the time.

My second client was Ladbrokes, for whom we developed a system to settle first goalscorer bets. Previously, this process could take until 10pm on a normal Saturday. Our system allowed them to settle those bets within 15 minutes of the final whistle across all the Saturday afternoon matches, which was a significant improvement.

2. What has been the hardest part of building the business that nobody warned you about?

Being a one-man band. The first question I was always asked when visiting prospective clients was, “What happens if you’re ill?”

My reply was, “I can’t afford to be ill, so I won’t be.”

Fortunately, I wasn’t. Now I can afford to be ill!

3. What has been your biggest mistake as a founder, and what did it teach you?

Not being confident enough to pursue new ideas in emerging areas. We were producing video previews just before YouTube really took off, so in some ways, we were creating podcasts before they became mainstream, although we hadn’t yet found a way to monetise them.

We should have stuck with it and expanded into a much wider range of sports. Looking back, it was an opportunity we could have done more with.

4. Was there ever a point when you seriously questioned whether the business would succeed?

No, not really. There was no alternative for me, so it had to work. The bigger question was how successful it could become. Would it simply tick along and provide me with a living, or would it grow into something bigger?

Once you’re in business, you quickly realise that standing still isn’t really an option. You have to keep growing.

5. What is the biggest lesson you have learned about building the right team?

I’ve been extremely lucky to build a loyal, hard-working team, many of whom have become friends along the way.

We’ve generally recruited based on character rather than qualifications, tried to make the work interesting, and looked after our employees through salaries, benefits and bonuses. It seems to have worked: at least three employees have been with us for more than 20 years, and many more have worked for the company for over a decade.

We were also fortunate to inherit a great team when we took over Super Soccer.

6. What has been your biggest challenge when it comes to growing and scaling the business?

Coming up with new ideas and products, then convincing existing and prospective clients of their value.

Whenever you develop a successful product, competitors will inevitably follow. You have to stay one step ahead and keep innovating. Like sharks, you have to keep swimming. Stop swimming and you’re dead.

7. What do you think the industry gets wrong about entrepreneurship and innovation?

I actually think this industry is full of entrepreneurship and innovation. There seems to be a new business or product launching every week. When you attend events such as ICE in Barcelona or SBC in Lisbon, you’re struck by the number of new companies bringing new products to market every year.

It’s an extremely vibrant industry and one of the few that continues to grow year on year, despite governments often viewing it as a cash cow.

8. What has founding a company cost you personally - beyond money?

I’ve always said I founded the company for two reasons: firstly, nobody would, quite rightly, give me a job; and secondly, I don’t like being told what to do.

I’ve worked for large companies and often wondered how they managed to get anything out of the door. Sometimes, things get done despite the management rather than because of it.

When you start your own company, you’re only working for one idiot: yourself.

Founding a company at a relatively advanced age (I was over 50) has also been hugely beneficial in keeping my brain active and keeping me functioning. So, for me, there’s no downside.

9. If you could go back to day one, what would you tell yourself and what would you do differently?

Trust your instincts more and keep the video side of the business going.