You’re likely wondering - who the hell is Alex Bregman and why should I care? Good question - you shouldn’t care! But this project won’t work without you knowing who he is.

Alex Bregman is a 3x all-star and World Series Champion. He had a great run with the Houston Astros and is now on the Chicago Cubs and he hits a career .281 ————-Awake still? Good. Alex Bregman also ruined my life. Well - I ruined my life, but he didn’t help!

See back when sports gambling became legal in Colorado I jumped at the opportunity. It was covid, not many sports going on. I was gambling on Russian ping pong at 2am. Some would say I should’ve known then that I had a problem (especially after it came out they were fixing matches).

But I never slowed down. Money wasn’t real to me - it was a ticker going up on my Fanduel App. Or my DraftKings App. Or was it BetMGM? Nah, it was Monarch Casino. Wait, I thought it was BetRivers - or maybe the Sports Illustrated Sportsbook? You get the idea. I was throwing down parlays left and right. Losing a lot, but hitting that big one could bring me back. The biggest one? Alex Bregman - for $20,000. He made me think I couldn’t lose. But ya know, House Always Wins

My nights were filled with no sleep and all anxiety. My credit cards (emphasis on multiple) were maxed out. I was hiding it from everyone I knew - You start to consider dangerous options. But Alex F*cking Bregman got me back to even with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the 9th - he was the dragon I’d been chasing. All my cards paid off. My problem could be hidden another day. But I never learned. I never realized what was wrong with me until I got here in 2022:

I’m only around today because of my wife. She picked me up. I couldn’t face my own embarrassment. I wanted to be done with all of it and not bother them. But I’m here. I’m debt-free and I’ve been sober for almost 3 years now.

You’re never alone. Odds are someone reading this right now has a problem. I don’t blame anyone for participating and even I still consume this content in my day-to-day. But millions of new, and even younger folks, are developing a problem and I feel a responsibility to make something that helps those facing the same fate.

So here's what we’re going to do about it: Save 1,000 people from this same fate. With an App. Built for sports gambling addicts, by a recovering addict. My goal is to never charge a dime for this. The one thing I couldn’t do when i was $100k in debt, was afford a $10 tool to get me out of it.

What I figured out in my own recovery is that government websites and 1-800 numbers weren't built for someone doom-scrolling FanDuel at 2am. What actually works is filling the gaps. The smart nudge before you open the app. The habit that replaces the ritual. Tech that's faster than your bad impulse. Everything is smarter and faster now - let's use it for good instead of bleeding people dry.

It's called Benchd. I already built a proof of concept, got 30 people on the waitlist, and then... life happened. Kid on the way, moved to a new state, the usual excuses. I've got a habit of getting personal projects 80% there and letting it sit.

But that's exactly why I'm bringing you along. Accountability is the whole point of this thing anyway, so I might as well practice what I preach.

Every week I'll tell you exactly what I built that week. No filter. The wins, the weeks I did nothing, all of it. And together we're going to get 1,000 people out of the hole I was in.