It was 3 AM in a taxi on a dusty road coming from the Bangalore airport. I was traveling with my co-founder Paul Leydon, and it was the first time we’d been to this city which will soon become our company’s headquarters. Suddenly, he asked me the following question: Do you want to go skiing? Strange question to open with at the time, I thought. But the conversation … [Read more...] about Philosophy #12: On Employee Motivation
Opinion
What Makes A Great Tech Leader or CTO!
We live in a complicated world with new innovations, technologies, processes, and best practices emerging every day. As technology has become a core driver for sustainable competitive advantage, the CTO and tech leadership at companies have become increasingly critical for success. The technology leadership role, in particular, requires additional challenges relative to … [Read more...] about What Makes A Great Tech Leader or CTO!
On Opposing Perspectives, Secrets, and The Future of Blockchain Gaming
In today’s newsletter, I’m happy to present to you a really great discussion on the future promise and opportunity of blockchain gaming… Hold up! “Didn’t you just present the bear case for blockchain gaming to us just last week?”, you may ask? On Opposing Perspectives Actually, yes. A really great discussion with one of the smartest guys I know Lars Doucet: Key … [Read more...] about On Opposing Perspectives, Secrets, and The Future of Blockchain Gaming
Key Challenges to Blockchain Gaming
Hey Blockchain gaming, meet the bear! Actually, in this case, the bear I’m talking about is one of the most insightful and smartest people in gaming I know: Lars Doucet. Even further, unlike your typical douche bag executive fast talker, Lars is conversely a deep thinking technologist with a really solid understanding of the technology and theory behind blockchain and … [Read more...] about Key Challenges to Blockchain Gaming
Investing in Game Startups | Venture Capital Panel
We’re here today to talk about the current investment environment for gaming studios. We’ll be more focused on mobile but certainly can try to speak a bit more to PC/console opportunities as well. Specifically we’ll speak to: What are investors investing in right now? What’s missing (from an opportunities perspective)? What are the biggest problems that need to be … [Read more...] about Investing in Game Startups | Venture Capital Panel
Zynga vs. Supercell. The quest to be the world’s most valuable mobile gaming company!
Supercell in Decline Earlier this month, Ilkka Paananen, Supercell’s CEO talked about key learnings from his company on their 10 year anniversary: 10 Learnings from 10 Years. The lessons are not typical: “hire slowly”, “play the infinite game”, “replace control with trust”, etc. Many games industry people’s response to Supercell’s approach and accompanying lessons … [Read more...] about Zynga vs. Supercell. The quest to be the world’s most valuable mobile gaming company!
Why Fortnite will fall, but Battle Royale will rise on mobile
The views expressed in this post are my own and do not represent the views of my employer. Even further, this post is just a fun thought experiment expressing a contrarian view to current popular opinion. Fortnite: The Cultural Phenomenon! Fortnite is a cultural phenomenon with over 40M downloads on PC and console and bursting out of the gates on mobile. The game has garnered … [Read more...] about Why Fortnite will fall, but Battle Royale will rise on mobile
Building a Successful Team through Determined Optimism: Winners vs. Whiners
Some of the philosophies and lessons I've learned from my life experience don't have scientific backing but I have come to absolutely believe in through real world experience. More specifically, building a successful team through determined optimism is one such lesson. The Power of Optimism The belief in the power of optimism is not something new. Here in Silicon Valley, … [Read more...] about Building a Successful Team through Determined Optimism: Winners vs. Whiners
An Open-source Mobile Gaming Taxonomy
Context: Every mobile gaming company has their own system for describing different types of mobile games. In other words, a mobile gaming taxonomy or classification system. Unfortunately, no industry standard exists. Further, I've been very unhappy with the current taxonomies developed by the various research firms out there. As a good friend of mine stated recently to … [Read more...] about An Open-source Mobile Gaming Taxonomy
Implications of “Alpha” and “Beta” in Mobile Gaming
Bear with me on this post. There will be some financial jargon and a bit of math but the conclusions drawn I believe will be worth your read (at least I hope so!). Let's first start with some financial theory which will form the basis of the arguments I make. In finance, the "efficient markets hypothesis" supposes the following relationship between risk and reward for a … [Read more...] about Implications of “Alpha” and “Beta” in Mobile Gaming
Psychology & Perception: How Games are Like Wine
In January of 2008, a Cal Tech and Stanford Business School research study showed that the perception of a wine can influence the actual physical enjoyment of the wine. In this study, people who drank the same wine that was priced at $90 vs. $10 did not only believe that the $90 wine was better but in fact actually experienced greater pleasure drinking the wine as measured by … [Read more...] about Psychology & Perception: How Games are Like Wine
Silicon Valley Mobile Game Companies Can’t Compete
It's too difficult to build an A-class mobile game development company here in Silicon Valley: Extremely good mobile game talent is too spread out Salaries are way too high Anecdotally, I have more than a few friends here in Silicon Valley whose companies have had open reqs for mobile game developers especially server side developers for over 6 months. On top of that, … [Read more...] about Silicon Valley Mobile Game Companies Can’t Compete