Cleat Street About

Dan Rubin and Aaron Chou, co-founders of Cleat Street, first began their work in analytics together while co-authoring an econometric paper on college basketball athletes successfully making it into the NBA in 2010. Later, the US Supreme Court would overturn PASPA (Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act) in May of 2018, paving the way for legalized sports betting. Cleat Street then officially launched in 2019 out of a startup lab at Columbia University with the mission to become the most innovative sports analytics company.

During the pandemic, Dan and Aaron noticed a troubling trend: many investing and sports betting apps were beginning to become gamified, prioritizing user engagement over genuine profitability. As a result, users were losing significant money to large corporations and sophisticated investors rather than building financial stability. This inspired the founding of Cleat Street, driven by a vision to flip the script on predatory sportsbooks—empowered by the right resources, education, and support.

What began as a small, close-knit community of bettors has grown into a thriving network of over 500 friends and family. With offices in San Francisco and Denver, we’re dedicated to expanding our team to support our growing community of license holders across the U.S.