黑洞社区

Wichita State graduate Ramsey Jamoul had no idea when he started a collegiate Starcraft team that five years later it would turn into an event services startup, but he鈥檚 now making a name for himself in the world of eSports.

In 2011, Jamoul and a handful of other students formed a team to compete in the Collegiate Star League, which hosts a variety of video game tournaments throughout the year. In 2013, the team became a recognized student organization (RSO) at 黑洞社区, changing its name to Wichita eSports.

鈥淭he collegiate league at the time was pretty hard to get into 鈥� there were a lot of forfeits and it wasn鈥檛 structured really at all,鈥� says Jamoul. 鈥淲e wanted to house the Wichita State eSports teams, but it got to the point where we focused on events more than anything else.鈥�

In 2015, Wichita eSports hosted its first big event, a convention that brought more than 100 people to the RSC ballroom for a tournament. They continued hosting events and one year later hosted their third convention, which featured a $10,000 League of Legends tournament prize and had more than 350 participants, including teams from Dallas, Denver and Chicago.

鈥淥ur whole goal is to reach the entire Midwest,鈥� says Jamoul. 鈥淲e want to have three major tournaments in Wichita every year and then replicate those tournaments in other cities.鈥�

In the past year, Jamoul decided the best way to succeed in his goals was to split the event services and tournament hosting from the student group. After graduating, Jamoul became the advisor for Wichita eSports, which changed its name to Shocker eSports and shifted its purpose back to developing competitive teams.

Shocker eSports will focus solely on representing Wichita State as a collegiate eSports team, whereas Wichita eSports is now an event service business, says Jamoul. They're trying to run tournaments and host their own events, along with event services with other groups. 

Jamoul has big plans for his company and is reaching out to investors to promote their services. He鈥檚 participated in One Million Cups and Accelerate the Heartland, both of which focus on small business interaction and collaboration.

Next year they plan to have 12,000 attendees at their events and want to reach 250,000 people digitally. 

He attributes much of the growth and success of his startup to the advice he鈥檚 received from Wichita-area businesses and sponsors. Jamoul has sought out advisors from SNT Media, Angels of the Plains, Fireshark Studios, and many others.

鈥淲e want to start buying up other groups like ours and merging so that we can build the same community like we have in Wichita eSports,鈥� he says. 鈥淚n four to five years, we hope to be set up to either be bought out by a big professional league or go on as a national eSports agency.鈥�

The world of eSports has seen significant growth in the past few years, with even ESPN hosting eSports tournaments and professional athletes Rick Fox and Shaquille O鈥橬eil purchasing eSports teams.

With so much growth, Jamoul is proud to see his own company grow to what it is.

鈥淚t takes time and effort,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to put in a lot of good effort to make something sustainable, but it takes a lot of consistent effort. Luckily, we put in both so it is good and consistent, and I think that鈥檚 our biggest success.鈥�