In Episode 7 of Venture Games, my guest Chris Fralic, Board Partner at First Round Capital, who was recently named to the 2021 Forbes Midas List of Best VC Investors talks about his early investment in Roblox, being an early employee at Half.com, some big wins and big misses throughout his 15+ year VC career, mentorship, and helping launch Ted Talks.

Venture Games Episode 7: Chris Fralic, First Round Capital

In Episode 10 of Venture Games, my guest Peter Rojas, partner at Betaworks Ventures, talks about co-founding Gizmodo and Weblogs Inc. (Engadget, Joystiq, acquired by AOL), his views on social gaming, which he sees as one of the most promising areas in gaming right now, and his candid thoughts on the diversity challenges in the venture capital industry, as one of the few Latinx VC investors.

Venture Games Episode 10: Peter Rojas, Betaworks Ventures

In Episode 11 of Venture Games, my guest Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner at Plexo Capital, discusses his firm’s strategy of investing in LPs and startups with a focus on underrepresented founders, leading the migration of Zynga Poker to mobile, how he thinks about investing in emerging markets such as Africa and Latin America, his thoughts on how diversity in VC has improved since he has been in the industry, and his hopes for further changes going forward.

Venture Games Episode 11: Lo Toney, Plexo Capital

In Episode 13 of Venture Games, my guest Maria Salamanca, Partner at Unshackled Ventures, discusses her transition from politics to venture capital, how Unshackled Ventures invests in immigrant founders and helps them navigate the immigration process, her role as a founding board member of LatinxVC, and her thoughts on the diversity challenges in the VC industry.

Venture Games Episode 13: Maria Salamanca, Unshackled Ventures

In Episode 17 of Venture Games, my guest Ian Proulx, CEO at 1047 Games, the studio behind Splitgate, discusses what inspired him to build Splitgate, how he remained optimistic despite a slow, challenging start for his company, advice for founders facing similar initial challenges, his plans to maintain Splitgate’s momentum, and the future of 1047 Games and the Splitgate universe.

Venture Games Episode 17: Ian Proulx, 1047 Games

In Episode 18 of Venture Games, my guest Dan Porter, CEO at Overtime, discusses how his work at Teach for America influenced his thinking on culture/diversity, his time building OMGPop/Draw Something and whether the game would have the same impact today, and how Overtime has succeeded despite the ongoing challenges many sports media brands are facing today.

Venture Games Episode 18: Dan Porter, Overtime

In Episode 19 of Venture Games, my guest Manuel Bronstein, Chief Product Officer at Roblox, discusses the evolution of social gaming to become truly immersive shared experiences; his past work experience in social gaming at Xbox Live and Zynga to now leading product at a global UGC platform; and thoughts on the Metaverse, NFTs, and blockchain.

Venture Games Episode 19: Manuel Bronstein, Roblox

In Episode 23 of Venture Games, my guest Nick Bhardwaj, Partner at The Tribe Group, discusses his past experience at NaturalMotion, which was later acquired by Zynga; parallels between the gaming industry’s shift to mobile/freemium and the emergence of web3 gaming; some considerations when building for crypto-native vs. traditional gamer audiences; and some ways to help bridge the gap between web 3 games and traditional gamers.

Venture Games Episode 23: Nick Bhardwaj, Tribe Group

In Episode 29 of Venture Games, my guests Troy Jones, CEO at StatusPro, and Andrew Hawkins (“Hawk”), President at StatusPro, discuss transitioning from playing football (D1 / NFL) to building the first officially licensed NFL Virtual Reality game, NFL PRO ERA; their thoughts on the potential and development of the VR market; and the future of sports games in VR.

Venture Games Episode 29: Troy Jones & Andrew Hawkins, StatusPro

In Episode 30 of Venture Games, my guest Jeremy Born, CEO at NFT Genius, discusses his company's recent fundraise; his optimism around the future of the Flow blockchain; building the Gaia NFT marketplace; the future of the Ballerz NFT collection; and why NFTs aren't dead.

Venture Games Episode 30: Jeremy Born, NFT Genius

In Episode 31 of Venture Games, my guest Denis Dyack, CEO at Apocalypse Studios, discusses his 30-year career in gaming, including founding Silicon Knights in the 90s; working with gaming industry legends including Hideo Kojima and Shigeru Miyamoto; and Apocalypse's upcoming narrative-driven Action RPG game, Deadhaus Sonata.

Venture Games Episode 31: Denis Dyack, Apocalypse Studios

In Episode 33 of Venture Games, my guest Shawn Foust, COO & Co-Founder at Fortis Games, discusses his career as a serial entrepreneur; his company's focus on design advancement; why he's still optimistic about innovation in the gaming industry; and his thoughts on major tech trends impacting the gaming landscape.

Venture Games Episode 33: Shawn Foust, Fortis Games

In Episode 35 of Venture Games, my guest Joe Schaeppi, CEO and Co-Founder at Solsten, discusses the battle for player attention, the power of player psychology in game development, and the future of personalization.

Venture Games Episode 35: Joe Schaeppi, Solsten

In Episode 36 of Venture Games, my guest Tim Morten, Production Director & CEO at Frost Giant Studios, discusses Stormgate, the company's upcoming RTS game; building a new IP universe; why the RTS genre is ripe for innovation; and some thoughts on the fundraising environment for startups building PC and console games today.

Venture Games Episode 36: Tim Morten, Frost Giant Studios

In Episode 37 of Venture Games, my guest Austin Woolridge, CEO at Players' Lounge, discusses raising capital from leading institutional investors and individual investors like Strauss Zelnick, Drake, & Marissa Mayer; why skill-based gaming is a massive opportunity today; and why Players' Lounge's new product, which allows players to bet against the house, is a game changer in skill-based gaming.

Venture Games Episode 37: Austin Woolridge, Players Lounge

In Episode 38 of Venture Games, my guest Dean Takahashi, Lead Writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat, discusses his 25+ year career as a gaming journalist; his infamous Cuphead video; and some of the many trends he has covered throughout his career.

Venture Games Episode 38: Dean Takahashi, Venturebeat

In Episode 42 of Venture Games, my guest Trip Hawkins discusses founding Electronic Arts, 3DO, and Digital Chocolate; collaborating with legendary sports figures such as Dr. J, Larry Bird, and John Madden; stories and lessons learned throughout his decades-long career in tech and gaming; and advice for entrepreneurs building companies today.

Venture Games Episode 42: Trip Hawkins, Serial Entrepreneur & EA Founder

In Episode 43 of Venture Games, my guest Tim Train, GM of Marvel Snap at Second Dinner discusses his decades-long career in gaming; founding multiple companies, including Big Huge Games; leveraging popular IPs as a user acquisition strategy in today's competitive mobile gaming environment; and how Marvel Snap has innovated to achieve breakthrough success in the Collectible Card Game genre.

Venture Games Episode 43: Tim Train, Second Dinner

In Episode 44 of Venture Games, my guest Kristian Segerstrale, CEO at Super Evil Megacorp discusses his decades-long career in gaming; co-founding Glu Mobile and Playfish; leading the seed investment round in Supercell; and the learnings from Vainglory.

Venture Games Episode 44: Kristian Segerstrale, Super Evil Megacorp

In Episode 45 of Venture Games, my guest Anton Bernstein, co-founder and CEO at Pocket Worlds discusses his company's avatar-focused virtual world, Highrise; the evolution of metaverses and virtual worlds over the past decade; the roles that User-generated content, commerce, and AI play in the metaverse and on Highrise today; and some thoughts on the future of the metaverse.

Venture Games Episode 45: Anton Bernstein, Pocket Worlds

In Episode 46 of Venture Games, my guest Matt Ball, CEO at Epyllion, discusses the current state of the gaming industry, with “black hole games” capturing a large share of players’ time and spend; how advancements in AI could potentially help disrupt the status quo in the industry; and his current views on the metaverse, ahead of the highly-anticipated July 23rd release of the updated edition to his best-selling book on the metaverse.

Find Matt's book here! https://www.ballmetaversebook.com/

Venture Games Episode 46: Matt Ball, Epyllion

In Episode 47 of Venture Games, my guest Phil Sanderson, Co-Founder and Senior Partner at Griffin Gaming Partners discusses his updated views on the gaming industry and the venture landscape; the continued convergence of large IPs and gaming; and AI's potential impact on the gaming industry.

Venture Games Episode 47: Phil Sanderson, Griffin Gaming Partners

In Episode 48 of Venture Games, my guest Tim Bender, CEO at Hooded Horse discusses the indie game publisher model; publishing the medieval-themed breakout hit Manor Lords; factors to consider when selecting a publishing partner; and how to appropriately gauge success for early access titles.

Venture Games Episode 48: Tim Bender, Hooded Horse

In Episode 49 of Venture Games, my guest Sean Ryan, CEO at Zoot, discusses his 25+ year career in gaming, tech, and entrepreneurship; founding the early metaverse company Meez, and the evolution of the metaverse; his 10+ years working in gaming and platform partnerships at Facebook; and his latest venture Zoot, a next generation social gaming platform with sweepstakes prizing options.

Venture Games Episode 49: Sean Ryan, Zoot

In Episode 50 of Venture Games, my guest Dennis Fong, Founder & CEO at GGWP discusses becoming the world's first professional gamer; his 25+ year career in gaming, tech, and entrepreneurship; and how his latest company GGWP is using AI to address gaming's moderation challenges.

Venture Games Episode 50: Dennis Fong, GGWP

In Episode 51 of Venture Games, my guest Sarah Fuchs, Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Muus Collective discusses her 20+ year career in gaming; her studio's recently soft launched fashion game Bellemint; Muus' unique partnership with the next-gen fashion retailer REVOLVE; and her approach to building a healthy, supportive culture at Muus.

Venture Games Episode 51: Sarah Fuchs, Muus Collective

In Episode 52 of Venture Games, my guest Eden Chen, Founder & CEO at Pragma discusses the growing trend of game studios outsourcing their backend tech; why choosing the right approach to backend tech is crucial to a game studio's success; his thoughts on AA studios given recent challenges in the space; and fundraising advice for founders building infrastructure companies in the gaming space.

Venture Games Episode 52: Eden Chen, Pragma

In Episode 53 of Venture Games, my guest Ilia Eremeev, Founder at The Games Fund discusses his fund's focus on emerging markets including Eastern Europe and MENA; some of the opportunities and challenges to consider when investing in emerging regions; his optimistic view on the growth of the games industry; and advice for founders navigating the current macroeconomic environment.

Venture Games Episode 53: Ilia Eremeev, The Games Fund

In Episode 54 of Venture Games, my guest Gordon Bellamy discusses his 30+ year career in gaming; his experience as a game designer at Electronic Arts in the 90s, including on the Madden franchise; and the evolution of the gaming industry and innovation over the past several decades.

Venture Games Episode 54: Gordon Bellamy, Gaming Industry Veteran

In Episode 55 of Venture Games, my guest Adam Arrigo, CEO and Co-Founder at Wave, discusses his 15+ year career at the intersection of gaming and music; his experience working with major artists like Justin Bieber and emerging artists; and the future of virtual concerts and VR.

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