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Ryan Alford
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Brian Ludden
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Ryan Alford
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Unknown Speaker
Is trading card business too big to ignore and you need to know more about it.
Brian Ludden
It's not the corner store anymore. It's grown up. Every collector is a sports fan. But. But not every sports fan's a collector.
Ryan Alford
This is Right about now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month, taking the BS out of business for over 6 years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.
Unknown Speaker
Hey, what's up guys? I'm excited. You know, I get to do my show. And look, you know, we, we make our own rules here anyway. But we talk business, we talk marketing, we talk current events and you know, things that you need to know as a small business owner, as an investor, people trying to get ahead. And you know, it's been interesting the last few months with my kids trying to teach them through business through the lens of trading cards. And that's why I am really excited because you know, it is the number one app opened on Ryan Offer's phone in the last three months. And I've got the founder, Brian Ludden from Ludx.
Brian Ludden
What's up Brian, Brian, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to launch off the Collectibles trading card podcast with you guys and thanks for downloading the app and using it.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, man, it's fun. It's been a blast getting back into it. Grew up doing trading cards and you know, it was always, I was always a little mini entrepreneurs. Definitely a little side hustle for me as a kid growing up. And you know, like most kids, you, you get into other things, I don't know, girls and cars or whatever, college and you got the old trading cards in the closet or whatever. So it's been on the shelf for a while. And my kids, you know, minor, minor, 14, 13, 12 and nine, you know, four boys and they've been late to the game. You know, I always thought they'd get into it. I was almost somewhat glad they didn't economically, but I was sort of just waiting in the wings and I hadn't. If they didn't get into it, I wasn't going to get back into it. And they picked it up and again, going down that rabbit hole, early Lux hit the radar for all right, how are we going to keep up? How much is our cards worth? You know, when you open a pack, having the best app for the scanner of the card, that's what Ludx does. You guys will go check it out and you probably, if you're listening in your trading card, you know Ludx. But if you don't, you got to know how much those cards are worth when you open them. And that's what LEDX does. I mean, talk a little bit. Brian, let's set the table for everyone about, you know, your kind of journey into the business and what got you going with Ludx.
Brian Ludden
Yeah, well, it's, it was like any journey, it's a winding inroad. I was a derivatives trader for 25 years down at the exchanges in Chicago. My company got acquired in 2017. I had a three year, I had to work with that company. I was not a great employee. I did not win employee of the month, that's for sure. But during that time, during COVID kind of like similar to your stuff, I had cards sitting here and like one and we have a place in the city and my son and I were here, my 14 year old son now, and I'm like, hey, let's check out these cards. They're getting more valuable and blah, blah, blah. And I was looking at it and I couldn't figure out what these cars were, what they were worth. Like, any comps, anything. And then I bought a new pack of cards and the new ones with all the variations and shiny and shimmer. So I'm like, this is ridiculous. This, this industry. There's got to be something out there. And I look for, like, you know, 30 days. I'm like, holy crap. This industry is massive and it has not had a tech revolution yet. And so I said, I'm going to go out and do it. And I raised $5.3 million in 45 days from all the traders on the floor. And we are on our way.
Unknown Speaker
I love it. I love it. But you're so right. Like, I remember growing up, get this, Brian. I. I don't know if we're the same age. Probably I might be a little older than.
Brian Ludden
You're a little. You're younger. Younger.
Unknown Speaker
Okay. A little younger. All right. You look good. So growing up, you'd have to go find the book, you know, the Beckett or whatever it is. Like, think about what we had to do, man. The same thing, like music, you know, at the MP3 player. But like, God, I think about what I had to do to find out what something was worth and trying to do trades and hope. Like, how did we trade as kids, not knowing what that stuff's worth.
Brian Ludden
You're right, dude. Like that. That's what I did. I. I had a Beckett magazine I bought. I was like, this is ridiculous.
Unknown Speaker
But yeah, yeah, scanning through page 800. Yeah, like, what? How accurate can it be? You know, like trading shows every day and, you know, no comps.
Brian Ludden
And, you know, also, Ryan, I'm new to this industry. It's mind blowing how difficult this industry is to learn, to transact, to trade, to buy like it is. It's really hard. There's friction on every single level. And it's still a $30 billion industry and growing, you know, cager of eight, you know, so it's. I mean, it's massive. So think about when technology comes into this worldwide, global, globally, how big this can get.
Unknown Speaker
No kidding. Oh, my God. Hey. And right about now is going to help spread the word, baby. You know, we're going to get it out there. Oh. Talking with Brian Ludden. He is the CEO and founder of Ludx. And look, it's one of the challenges we're just talking about. Okay, Grady. Yeah. Not grading, but getting the value of your card. So, you know, when you're trading, you're making deals, like, either with friends or to sell them on ebay or something like that. Linux. You open the app, you Scan it. How hard has it been with all the variations? Because you talked about it and oh, my God, that's been the biggest awakening for me is how many of these SSPs and inserts and shiny and shimmer and like, talk about the technology of the scan to value, you know, Is that as hard as it seems?
Brian Ludden
It was harder. It was, it was much harder. It took us like 12, it took us a year to get base cards and Pokemon and magic at above 90% accuracy. We're like, we got this thing. We're crushing it. And it took us two and a half years and probably $8 million to be able to get parallels in the upper 80s, low 90s because of all the variations and how people take pictures and you have to train out, like blurs and light. And so it was insanely difficult. But there's a time when I was like, good, I'm glad this hurts. I'm glad this is difficult because there's our moat. Right. And we, we grinded. We grinded and grinded and just stayed afloat for long enough to, you know, to de risk it and, and really get to where we needed to, to, to make this a scalable business.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it's not perfect, but it's the best. And it's good. I mean, it's, it great. It's so much faster and more efficient than looking it up.
Brian Ludden
Yeah.
Unknown Speaker
And so, like, and I love the brand. You know, I love the look of the brand. It feels, it's got the. It feels like what a modern trading card company should be.
Brian Ludden
That's awesome.
Unknown Speaker
That's the best compliment I could give you as a brand.
Brian Ludden
That's a high compliment. Thank you. But you know what? You asked another part of that question. The most difficult thing that we've had is pricing. There's a change in these big corporations. You could go and get their data. You could scrape around the world and get whatever you wanted.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah.
Brian Ludden
But after these, like the ChatGPT world, which become the greatest scrapers of all time of information, these companies are now starting to be like, hey, we're going to put this data behind a wall. If you want it, you either have to pay us or tell us why you want your value prop. So the comps are really hard because if you think about it, there's a comp happening at the, at the card show. There's one happening with your boys at school, there's one happening on ebay. There's no central clearinghouse that says this card is worth $1.50. So that pricing has been really difficult, but we are working on our own pricing algorithm. Coming from the options world, where I priced all the options, it's going to be cool. But it's probably about six to nine months from now, but it's going to be at least consistent is what we're looking for.
Unknown Speaker
There's still a lot of variation. That was one thing. I was the biggest surprise of coming back. I was like, okay, surely tech's gotten better off. Tax gotten better. We got Ludox in the house. But then the variation of pricing from one of the. And it's like, are we just summarizing ebay? It's what it seems like because it's the biggest marketplace. Right. For online or what I. What do you call trackable sales.
Brian Ludden
Yeah, Yeah.
Unknown Speaker
I don't have any problem with ebay. I just don't like them taking 13 of every sale. I mean, I know they got to make money. I get it.
Brian Ludden
No, it hurts, man. You sell a hundred dollar card and you're like. You walk away like, $78. You're like, what the. You know?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, I know.
Brian Ludden
And ebay's a great partner to work with, but, I mean, they do control it. I mean, I'm ballparking that there are three. $3 billion GMV on trading cards and no one's even close second. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker
Sold.
Brian Ludden
What's that?
Unknown Speaker
Is it the number one product on the entire platform? Gotta be right.
Brian Ludden
It's right behind auto parts.
Unknown Speaker
That makes sense. It's crazy. The volume. We put stuff up there, you get eyeballs. I mean, any marketplace is, you know, you gotta. You need attention to drive up the value.
Brian Ludden
Yeah, I mean, you hit it. Like, if a marketplace is gonna work, you need three pillars. You need trust, you need volume, you need velocity. Right. And so if you have those things, you have a chance to succeed. Yeah, but most people don't think about that. The other thing that's super important is a funnel. Like, how are you getting people into your marketplace? Are you gonna have to steal them from ebay, which is a high cac and expensive and difficult. Or like a Ludx, we have the tool that gets people in. And when you're in the ecosystem, do you want to go grade A card? Do you want to go look at a live stream? Do you want to sell your card on ebay? That's what we want to be. We want to be the Nucleus, the Hub and Scope model and just get brokered, get a dime per listing, you know, get referrals from PSA and just really Help our users experience the industry, a broader sense.
Unknown Speaker
Well, it starts with that slick interface and scanning the cards quickly. As accurate as any platform, or more, I'd say, than the only one we use consistently. And literally getting that value. That's where it starts, is like, okay, what do I have here? You know, and that's what Linux kind of is the gateway to that, the starting point. So it makes a ton of sense that you then lead them, you know, to these other channels or aggregate them yourself. I know a smart businessman when I see them. But again, it starts with that, because this is what happens. I pulled a gold downtown Josh allen out of a 15 donrus pack two months ago, and I knew it was good. I mean, we'd been back in it just long enough. One to ten. It was in Asheville, North Carolina, shopping with friends and they thought I was nuts buying trading card. I did not have my kids with me. That's how deep it's gone, Brian. But anyway, I knew I had something and I knew even Ludox necessarily wasn't going to be the Source for a 1 to 10. And it was a new series. However, what the biggest thing is when you open those cards is what do I have? What? That's the question. Because, you know, you got something good. You know, my kids know, but they're like, they don't know how good. And Ludox is kind of the, the gateway to knowing what you have.
Brian Ludden
Yeah, it's, it's knowing what you have and knowing it's worth. Those are the two pillars that, you know, we kind of go off of. And, you know, it's technology, so it's never done, it's never completed. But yeah, I mean, really, that's what we want to be. We don't want to be an authority in anything. What we want to be is we want to be an information tool to help people enjoy this industry and this hobby. And you, you're a great story about this because you have four boys, they're active, I'm sure they're in sports, but you guys can bond over this and there's a business to be made and you guys can buy and sell and you can go to shows. You come to Nashville in Chicago at the end of July. You could be our guest there with a boys. We run the VIP lounge.
Unknown Speaker
Oh, that's awesome.
Brian Ludden
It's awesome. But anyways, this industry is about that and that's what Ludo wants to be. Information tool, help people out and, you know, enjoy the industry.
Unknown Speaker
Ecom and ebay certainly enabled this 10:15, it's been, it's, it's been around with these tools like Ludx and digital and all this stuff. I mean we've moved from just the corner store. Like everybody's can have a store. And kind of like the whole revolution of this industry is like playing out in digital form and social media and all of this, you know, trading cards is the perfect realization of all of this proliferation of technology.
Brian Ludden
Yeah.
Unknown Speaker
Is what it's come to me.
Brian Ludden
Yeah, you're right. I mean the industry, like I said, even ebay, how big ebay got? I don't know if you, you list cards on ebay, I'm sure we. But how painful that process is. And they still do.3 billion in GMV. Imagine like when Ludox puts a card on ebay, we could put it on in 30 seconds. It takes me three minutes to put it on ebay's way. So what that does is that's going to increase people's enjoyment. Right. Like you have information, you can make money on it, go do it. And, and there's a lot of different people coming in this industry. I mean, the way I look at this industry is it was on pause since the mid-90s. Everyone was good in their spot. Then people started to get into it. Cards started going up. And then you start seeing celebrities get into it. Then you start seeing big companies, multinational companies, like a fanatics, buying and acquiring. And then you have massive, massive shows on massive levels. And now you're seeing venture capitalists get in, you're seeing sports teams. We had a sports team that invested in us recently. And you'll get a press release coming out in like 30 days. But like those like, everyone's interested in this because sports fans love to collect. Every collector is a sports fan, but not every sports fan's a collector. So if you get them where they're at, you have all these sports fans.
Unknown Speaker
My collection hopes he turns into the greatest player of all time. No one has more Caleb Williams and is a private collector than probably the Alford family.
Brian Ludden
I mean, yeah. And you look at that and you're investing in someone you like, right?
Unknown Speaker
Yes.
Brian Ludden
Like, yeah, even if you collecting, you still like the guy. But then there's opportunities to make money on that also. So my, my son every like sport, he'll be like, okay, I'm buying these signed rookie cards for, you know, these five players undervalued. Maybe if they pop out, they go. And when they go, Ryan, you've seen prices. I mean, Jaden Daniels card was trading for $100. Like a prism, whatever base or whatever.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, yeah, basically, whatever.
Brian Ludden
It's like 10, 10x that right now.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Crazy. It's funny how, because it's the power of media and obviously playing well, one of the greatest rookies I've seen play ever. And then making the run in the playoffs, it like, it compounded like his run and then the card values went with it. With Brian from Ludx, for our audience that are going, okay, I'm talking. I've been talking about trading cards on the show for a few weeks now, building up to this. They know it's big. How big is this industry and how much headroom is there?
Brian Ludden
Well, we could give you. I guess we could back into it. Like, there's no number out there really, but if you can back into it a little bit. So Ludox has been basically 18 months to 24 months we've been out there and we have 2.5 million downloads, which by itself is a big number. But when you're talking about the penetration of how many people know about Ludox in the, in the industry, it's small. It's like nothing. So I think there's 100 million Americans that collect. I think half of them men. When I say collect, I mean, like, have. Understand that there's an industry and you can buy and sell. You did it at some point in your life. When you go global and you start talking about Pokemon. Pokemon by itself is going to produce 15 billion cards this year. Billion.
Unknown Speaker
Oh, my God.
Brian Ludden
And. And they're up 100 in the last 12 months.
Unknown Speaker
Oh, God. And go to his Walmart and look, try to find a Pokemon pack.
Brian Ludden
Yeah, no, there's fights like a grown man will tackle your sons to get to a Pokemon.
Unknown Speaker
I'd like to see it. But yeah, I'll take that one, Brian. But no. Yeah, you're right, though.
Brian Ludden
You're right. But no, it's huge. I mean, I would speculate that it. That it easily is in the 200 million range global, you know, globally, easy.
Unknown Speaker
I know that's not directly in your line, but obviously I haven't quite got my head around how all that works. The distribution of hobby to retail to all that, you know, for like local stores versus online, versus, you know, local collector.
Brian Ludden
I could explain it to you, but I don't. I think you'll be just as confused. I mean, there's so many levels of this thing. It's like if the Mafia was working with like, enough with like the kgb, with the FBI, it's like, yeah, a card is produced. Right. We know they get printed. They get printed. They go directly into a box. That box goes to a distributor, to a wholesaler. The wholesaler sells it to the local card shops or breakers. And then. No, that no one else knows. No one knows where those cards go after that, but we get to follow it. So when there's a new release, we'll see the scans and we know who has what cards and where they live and how many were bought. Did you buy and sell any? But the, the layers to get product is insane. It's, it's, it's inefficient.
Unknown Speaker
How does one go about getting into that? Like, I mean, because it's, it's like just how many volume buy Enough.
Brian Ludden
Yeah. I mean it's what you know or.
Unknown Speaker
How much money you have. I mean who you know or how much money you have. Both.
Brian Ludden
Yeah. I mean, you know, Fanatics controls the, the baseball, the tops. And then you have Panini for another year or so with basketball and football.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. What's going to happen with that licensing change? I mean tops is somehow still sold football cards with not having it.
Brian Ludden
But yeah, I mean and those cards just, people just don't love non licensed stuff, you know, like, oh, it's like.
Unknown Speaker
It goes to show you the power of branding and logos. It's like something just feels missing.
Brian Ludden
Yeah. I mean you get a Caleb Williams unlicensed and you're like he looks like he's in street clothes and he signed it and it's like whatever, it's worth like a fifth of what Panini would be.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah.
Brian Ludden
But I think this industry, I think Panini and fanatics, I think they, they should have done the deal. And the stories I heard, it just, they couldn't figure it out. And I think that's hurt the industry. I think if they would have partnered earlier, this industry would be even bigger. The two behemoths are in the ring fighting and honestly, if I was Panini, if you really want to screw fanatics, you run these printers 247 and just put as many cards in the history of the world out there and be like here you go, Fanatics. And then fanatics needs to have like a war chest to just buy that stuff off the shelf and burn it.
Unknown Speaker
That's interesting. Flood the market with just too much product, which it almost seems like there is sometimes with the variations like God, how many? Silver, neon green, pink, purple, red. Like I get it. When's the saturation point on that?
Brian Ludden
It's insane. I Mean, our parallel database is our most valuable piece of data that we have. And it's in the hundreds of thousands of different variations and every set they come out with four or five more or different insert. And you know, we just have to keep training and training. But yeah, I mean there might be 30 Caleb Williams, you know, variations on prism, maybe 40. I don't even know.
Unknown Speaker
It's crazy hard to keep up with. I mean that's why you gotta have Ludex. You know, it all. All roads lead back to Ludx.
Brian Ludden
That's. That's what I'm hoping, my man.
Unknown Speaker
I mean, how big is Ecom amongst all this? I know, let's take out. I'm gonna separate because I know it's part of it. But like ebay, you got ebay and it's behemoth but like direct to consumer in this business. I mean, is it significant?
Brian Ludden
No. I mean Tops tries to do it, but yeah, I'm not envious of their position fanatics. They have to, they're trying to do so much and it's so big and they want to do it so fast to get an IPO and like. But it's not working right. It's. It's much larger than that. I think Ruben's understanding that as he gets into it, this industry is much larger than one player. Yeah. But I think the important thing about that is that when you get to a point with these cards and Tops and going to direct to consumer, they don't have enough product because they got to stop the supply chain at some point. So once they fulfill like their distributor wholesaler, local card shops, they don't have that much inventory to sell on their own site. So they would have to reel that all back in, which I think they will, and then go direct to consumer and then that's where it gets. I think that's what they need to do. We could sell that on Ludx and get it out to our people, but they just don't have a lot of product at the end of the day.
Unknown Speaker
After they fulfill stuff, first thing I was thinking is like, and yet to build the trust factor and all that. But I mean I have an ebay account that is from 2001 with 100% perfect feedback. Like that's awesome. So we were primed and ready. That thing's been on the shelf. I hadn't done this much, but we've got the branding, all that stuff. I have the best packaging of any non actual shop in America. We got. We own breaking rad Dot com.
Brian Ludden
Oh, that's cool.
Unknown Speaker
All my company, Radical, the Rad cast, all my stuff is under the Radical holding company. So Breaking Rad fit right in.
Brian Ludden
Yeah, that's awesome.
Unknown Speaker
And got that. And. But I'm like, can we open, shopify and sell cards? I mean, I know people are the trust factor, but I think. I think there's something there. Can people. People buy graded cards or raw cards off of Ecom?
Brian Ludden
Yeah, I mean, there's like, there's options. The biggest market that people don't know about are these Facebook groups. And. And, yeah, like Those groups that have 50, 000 baseball guys will have their own community that they trade amongst themselves. A lot of people don't want to pay the fees at ebay, you know, so they. They create these little cohorts all over the place.
Unknown Speaker
You know, when you start doing breaks, we're doing like, singles and stuff to start, but, like, you gotta have product to. To get the, you know, the. The real breaks going. That's. That's the hardest thing, isn't it?
Brian Ludden
I think singles are the way it's going to go because the cards that they call it wax, the boxes of cards are getting so expensive, and the. The return on investment is like, it's. It's not great. So what you're seeing now is a lot of these live streamers are just getting, you know, they're just saying, hey, we're, you know, we're doing singles. 20 seconds, boom. 20 seconds, boom. And you just turn over inventory. Usually graded cards, but, you know, the. The singles are. Will never die. I mean, there's legacy, there's, I think, 1.5 billion cards that have been printed in the, you know, in the. Whatever. Baseball started in 1880.
Unknown Speaker
Oh, wow.
Brian Ludden
Like, I'm sorry. Trillion. Did I say billion? Trillion.
Unknown Speaker
Oh, God. Trillion. Holy moly. Yeah, it's a lot of paper, so.
Brian Ludden
There'S a lot of singles out there.
Unknown Speaker
Oh, geez Louise. I thought. I think I had a billion myself, like, as a kid, like, in boxes somewhere.
Brian Ludden
And most are worth just the cardboard to print it on.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
Brian Ludden
My whole collection was that. I'm like, oh, man, look at all this stuff. It's worth, like three bucks.
Unknown Speaker
Oh, I grew up, like, in the wrong years, man. Like, I had 87 to, like, 93, you know, like terrible years, you know, the best thing you had was, like, upper deck when the Griffey came out. But even that's like a 50 card now, you know, like, whatever. I. There's some stuff. If it's grades, you Know it's worth more than that, but it's. It wasn't the best era. Yeah, that's when they figured out, I guess it started taking off and they started making, you know, too many of every card that what it was essentially supply and demand. That's the, you know, bringing it back to the business. That's the interesting part of this is that the fine line of how much supply versus demand to keep value up. Right?
Brian Ludden
Yeah. I mean if you look at it, that's a really tough thing to figure out if you're, especially if you're not direct to consumer. So you don't know who's buying them or where they go. Like. Yeah, it's really hard to like a fanatics raised at like a call 10 billion somewhere around there and get 3x to 4x the industry. But you, you can't 3.4x industry by producing three or four times more inventory and supply because you can also crush that. So they have to figure out way fanatics has to figure out a way and partner with a company like Ludox is where you can get more people onto it, make it more accessible, make more buyers, make more eyeballs. Like that's where they need to start at ground zero and say where do these collectors at? Let's find them and let's grow them and then we'll be able to start producing more product or monetize them other ways smart.
Unknown Speaker
That's what they need to do if we're going to embrace the digital and the exposure and the tech and all that. Let's go all in. Right. Talk to me about how does Ludo make money? What's on the roadmap that you can talk about? Let's dive into Ludo just a little bit more here as we, we finish things out.
Brian Ludden
Yeah. So right now Ludo, we're making most of our money on subscription revenue. Subscription revenue is a tough business. It's not going to be our main way that we add value to our investors. That's going to be this B2B platform we got coming out, which I can show you. You put 300 cards on eBay in an hour through Ludx web version that should be out in a month. We have some data, we have some interesting points. So fanatics was doing Colby Bryant night singles. Someone one of their live streamers on Fanax Live was Kobe Bryant. And I called him, I said, do you know I can get you every single person in LX that has over 100 Kobe Bryant cards and you can market to them about Your show tonight. And they're like, really? And it was like 28,610, something like that. And so we did an email campaign for fanatics to send out to our people and say, listen, we know you like Kobe and check this out. So there's a lot of ways to make money on that data play, user insights and then, you know, who knows if we're going to get into e commerce. Live breaks. Here's the thing I know about business. When companies try to do too much and they go horizontal, it's much harder to lift something horizontally than stick to your core. Go like this, make sure the root's good and then grow it out. And so we're right here at this stage of just about to start branching out this way. But it took, took us a while. We wanted to be patient with it. But I think it's putting us in a good position, strong position, you know, head into the future.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, well, I'm gonna do also for you because look, here's what Ludox does. I'm just gonna tell you how, how the workflow goes for the RAD Collective breaking grad dot com. We open the packs, we scan them with Ludx, it keeps up our entire collection because again, you scan the card, it's good to know your value, but you need to be totaling this thing and you need to categorize it. So literally you go in there by player, by team, by brand and it keeps up everything that you have and it categorizes it and it tells you what the value is based on and it's ever changing based on the market data. It's going to be proprietary here soon. It sounds like from Brian, but you keep up with your collection, you know the value and we're about to be able to listen 100 that, that's a praying point already. If we could solve that, the hundred in an hour or whatever, have 20 minutes, you know, to ebay, that's the hardest part.
Brian Ludden
It's insane. There's technology that we built that's like super impressive, but people don't know it's impressive because it looks easy like identification. We talked about pulling pricing is difficult, but this piece of technology is, it's going to be revolutionized the, the industry. And when I did my study on this to figure out what people needed in this industry, it was ways to monetize. I mean if you think about it, ebay, the average card on ebay is about twenty to twenty five dollars. Right. No one's putting a four dollar card on eBay because it takes four minutes, right? But if you could put thirty four dollars cards on or a hundred or two hundred an hour, you mail it, you can make yourself a dollar. So what Lux is going to be able to do is just massively dump volume on marketplaces and it's going to bring down what cards are valuable.
Unknown Speaker
Our dollar bins and $5 bins are bulging. Like, yeah, they're just sitting there. But we also have enough 20 to $100 cars that we're not even getting to to list right now. The boys are getting to it when they're not in school or we're doing stuff. But, like, is tedious and it takes a long time.
Brian Ludden
Again, it goes back to, I can't believe this industry is as big as it is with all the pain points. And you, you had a fresh look at it like I did after many years. And you run many successful businesses and you and industries. And you look at this, you're like, oh, my gosh. Like, this is insane that it's that big. And it's so hard, man.
Unknown Speaker
I know. Like, I'm so proud of how far it's come, but I'm like, damn it. Like, I'm going to kick this thing down the road a little bit, you know, that's why I'm like, all right, we're kicking off the series with someone who's clearly trying to and. And is pushing it down the road of technology, innovation and ultimately, hey. Our tagline is we want to make trading cards rad again. And that's what ludx is doing. Brian. I mean, I've really enjoyed this. I think I could talk to you for like two hours. Like, it's like this. Both the guilty pleasure of being in a trading cards and I love what everything you guys are doing.
Brian Ludden
Well, thank you, brother. I appreciate it. Yeah, we could talk forever, and this won't be our last conversation. So I definitely want Ludox involved in you and your boys. So stuff we give, we can give out some memberships, we can figure something out. But you stay in touch for sure.
Unknown Speaker
Talk to me about how everyone listening can learn more about Ludox. Get to the app. We'll have all that in the show notes.
Brian Ludden
But.
Unknown Speaker
But you know, you give any updates or calls to action that you want the audience to know, it's just on.
Brian Ludden
The App Store, Google Play Store, Just download it, register. We have a really robust free version. You can scan up to like 250 cards a month for free. So kick the tires on it and you know, enjoy it. But, you know, we're a high touch company and we want to be out there with people. So if anyone in the in your etho system comes to any shows, come by Lunox and say hi.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, please do. And let me tell you, it's the best 200 we spend on the membership because it's more than paid for itself with knowing what those values are. So don't cheap out. Go the go for the subscription. You'll thank me later, I promise. And hey, you don't know what's up their sleeve. There's lots. There's stuff on the road map that we can't even talk about. So look, keep up with Ludx. Go check out the app. And look, if you're just thinking you're listening to the show, you're going, all right, the stock market's doing this. Crypto's doing that. Well, trading cards are blowing up. Brian, it's been so wonderful to have you on the show. Look forward to staying in touch.
Brian Ludden
Absolutely. My man. Good luck with rad breaks.
Unknown Speaker
Yes.
Brian Ludden
Go knock it out.
Unknown Speaker
First one we are. We're gonna get Lux's official sponsor or something. We're gonna figure this out. I know it is. We got too much synergy here. Hey, guys, you're to find me Ryan is right.com youm'll find links to all of this. How to get to Ludo, how to get to Brian and everything that they're doing. Follow along on their social media. And of course, get the app, baby. I'm telling you, save yourself some trouble. Download that thing, scan those cards, and let's go. Hey, we're always taking the BS out of business every day right here. We'll see you next time on right about now.
Ryan Alford
This has been Right about now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast network production. Visit ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
Podcast Summary: Unlocking Value: Ludex Transforms Trading Card Valuation with Brian Ludden
Podcast Information:
Introduction to Ludx and Brian Ludden
In this episode of Right About Now with Ryan Alford, host Ryan Alford welcomes Brian Ludden, the CEO and founder of Ludx, to discuss the transformative impact Ludx is having on the trading card valuation industry. Brian shares his passion for trading cards and how it led him to develop a cutting-edge solution that addresses long-standing challenges within the market.
The Genesis of Ludx: From Derivatives Trading to Trading Card Tech
Brian Ludden's journey into the trading card industry is both unconventional and inspiring. With a 25-year background as a derivatives trader in Chicago, Brian's transition to the trading card business was catalyzed by personal experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"[...] during COVID [...] I had cards sitting here [...] my 14-year-old son and I were here, [...] I couldn't figure out what these cards were, what they were worth." [04:08]
Frustrated by the cumbersome process of valuing trading cards using outdated methods like Beckett magazines, Brian recognized a significant gap in the industry. Determined to create a solution, he founded Ludx, raising an impressive $5.3 million in just 45 days from traders on the exchange floor.
Technological Innovations in Trading Card Valuation
A core focus of Ludx is developing technology that simplifies and enhances the trading card valuation process. Brian elaborates on the technical challenges they faced:
"It took us like 12, it took us a year to get base cards and Pokemon and magic at above 90% accuracy." [07:18]
Ludx's app utilizes advanced scanning technology to identify and value trading cards with high accuracy. Despite the complexities introduced by various card variations—such as shiny, shimmer, and different inserts—the Ludx team achieved over 90% accuracy for base cards and continues to refine their system to handle even more intricate variations.
Overcoming Industry Challenges: Pricing and Market Data
One of the most significant hurdles Ludx addresses is the inconsistent pricing of trading cards across different platforms. Brian explains the difficulty in establishing a universal pricing standard:
"There's a comp happening at the card show. There's one happening with your boys at school, there's one happening on eBay. There's no central clearinghouse that says this card is worth $1.50." [08:43]
Ludx is developing its own pricing algorithm to provide more consistent and reliable valuations, aiming to eliminate the friction collectors face when buying, selling, or trading cards.
The Expansive Trading Card Market: Size and Growth
The trading card industry is booming, with Ludx playing a pivotal role in its expansion. Brian provides impressive statistics on the market's scale:
"Pokémon by itself is going to produce 15 billion cards this year." [17:27]
He estimates the global market to be around $200 million, highlighting the vast potential for growth and technological integration within the sector.
Ludx's Business Model and Revenue Streams
Ludx operates primarily on a subscription-based revenue model, offering users a robust free version that allows scanning up to 250 cards per month. However, the company’s future lies in its B2B platform, which aims to revolutionize how businesses interact with trading card data.
"Subscription revenue is a tough business. It's not going to be our main way that we add value to our investors. That's going to be this B2B platform we got coming out." [26:44]
Additionally, Ludx leverages its extensive user data to create targeted marketing opportunities for partners like Fanatics, enhancing monetization through strategic collaborations.
Ludx in Action: Enhancing the Collector's Experience
Ryan shares his personal experience with Ludx, emphasizing the app's efficiency and user-friendly interface:
"Opening the packs, we scan them with Ludx, it keeps up our entire collection because [...] you keep up with your collection, you know the value and we're about to be able to listen 100 that, that's a praying point already." [28:13]
Ludx not only simplifies the process of valuing and cataloging cards but also serves as a gateway to broader market activities, such as selling on eBay or participating in live breaks.
Future Roadmap and Strategic Partnerships
Looking ahead, Ludx plans to expand its offerings beyond individual users to businesses through its B2B platform. Brian highlights upcoming features that will streamline bulk listings and enhance data-driven marketing strategies.
"We have some data, we have some interesting points. So Fanatics was doing Colby Bryant night singles [...] we did an email campaign for Fanatics to send out to our people." [26:44]
These initiatives are designed to solidify Ludx's position as a central hub in the trading card ecosystem, fostering greater interaction and transaction efficiency.
Conclusion: Empowering the Trading Card Community
The episode concludes with Ryan and Brian expressing mutual enthusiasm for Ludx's potential to revolutionize the trading card industry. Ryan underscores Ludx's role in making trading cards more accessible and valuable to collectors:
"Our tagline is we want to make trading cards rad again. And that's what Ludx is doing." [30:13]
Brian reaffirms Ludx’s commitment to being an indispensable tool for collectors and industry players alike, aiming to enhance the overall experience through continuous technological advancements.
Call to Action
Listeners interested in exploring Ludx are encouraged to download the app from the App Store or Google Play Store. Ludx offers a free version, with additional features available through subscription, positioning itself as an essential tool for both novice and seasoned trading card enthusiasts.
This detailed summary captures the essence of the episode, highlighting Ludx's innovative approach to transforming the trading card valuation industry through technology and strategic business practices.