1. Confessions: February 10-12 2009Casual Connect Europe 2009 Starting your own game business Jussi Laakkonen Everyplay

2. February 10-12 2009Casual Connect Europe 2009 Full presentation with notes & audio track: http://jussilaakkonen.wordpress.com

3. Hi, I’m Jussi!

4. CEO, founder since Aug 2008

5. Main organizer Entrepreneur for 15 years Demo & LAN party with >6000 visitors a year

6. Business development director Multimillion € deals Produced games Filled the dishwasher Console racing games >3M units sold previously

7. Confessions

8. confessions

10. Why start a (game) business?

11. Passion – I got to do it!Do your own thingNobody else gets it!Change the worldThe last great adventureGet rich quick  epic fail

12. must have killer idea, right?

13. your first idea will suck.

14. get over it. get going.

21. so, my first idea? confessions

22. ”Hype or real deal?” panel virtual worlds, microtransactions heureka! the future of games! confessions

23. Guild Wars + confessions ”Diablo 2 Casual MMO” &

24. a ”me too” idea killed it early P.S. check out Guild of Heroes on Facebook ;-) confessions

25. Just a speed bump. I knew the future! confessions

26. Look for the opportunity

27. big risks high growth new audiences mass distribution change in behavior disruptive technology unclear business models something that currently sucks

29. Customer base Viral distribution Rule changing

30. Persistent online Virtual goods Flash

31. Distribution Paying customers Finally mobile doesn’t suck

32. Persistent online Virtual goods Unity, Flash XBLA / PSN?

33. Games in non-game apps New domain & customers Unproven

34. social gaming co-creation with users persistent world virtual goods open web APIs Flash client confessions Does it make a tasty soup? We’ll see...

35. an idea & promising market =

36. ideas are a dime a dozen

37. execution is king

38. PEOPLE, PEOPLE, PEOPLE!!!

39. So good that they can walk on air!

40. 2-4 founders tech, biz, art, design

41. because you have to get more done with less

42. Smart people who get things done Marissa Mayer, Google

43. FIERY PASSION

44. Get somebody who hates selling less than starving don’t hire a suit

45. No assholes A single person can destroy your new company.

46. Bizdev Sales, marketing Partners Studio mgmt Server lead Game server CEO Product owner Production PR, finance CTO Game client Design Detailed design Game mechanics All art AD confessions

47. GET STUFF DONE FAST

48. Agile & Lean for EVERYTHING Not just code, but also business and management

49. All your plans are just guesses

50. Release early & often Measure Learn Implement

51. 9/10 startups die because they couldn’t find customers

52. Develop your customers

54. Don’t worry, be crappy. Guy Kawasaki

55. We game developers in general SUCK at real user driven iterative development. confessions Radically new stuff for me.

56. Scrum for production Customer development for biz. confessions Still learning it.

57. It always takes longer than what you expect. confessions 5 months of iterating, learning. Reduced scope for earlier launch.

58. So, where do I get the money so that I can start?

59. nobody said it was easy.

60. your own savings 1.

61. Friends & Family 2.

62. Work for hire games and other industries 3.

63. R&D tax credits Available in most EU countries Tax credits, grants or loans 15-70% of R&D costs Paid months after costs were incurred 4.

64. Preproduction grants National, regional & EU wide programs 10 – 100 k€, max 50% 5.

65. Angel investors Not many ”game millionaires” vs. a lot of ”IT millionaires” Hard – not impossible 6.

66. publisher advances a.k.a. paying customers Only after you’ve already spent lots of money on the prototype 7.

67. Seed funds Semi-governmental e.g. VeraVenture in Finland 50-500 k€ SeedCamp, Y-Combinator... 10-50 k€ 8.

68. Venture Capital Fuel to grow faster. Not for new companies or hit-driven game studios Only for scaleable businesses like MMOs Great if you will be sold for >50M€ in less than 5 years. 9.

69. 2007-2008: VCs invested $1,7 billion in online games Still available for best game businesses.

70. 1.Own savings 2.Multiplied by public grants and R&D support confessions Started with

71. Our success recipe for public grants & loans: confessions

72. Strong team Bold vision Game + platform Own money invested Experience with the paperwork Win one, and a snowball effect starts confessions

73. So, what does it feel like?

74. confessions Loving every minute!

75. start smart