You mentioned the company's games are crowdsourced. How did you come up with that as an idea for a business?
The idea came to me when I was out running. It was during a bit of a period of reflection for me after I'd been made redundant from my job at Chorus. I was reading a lot of books at the time and the ones that had the most impact on me were The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss, The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday and Bouncing Back by Bill Bartmann.
So the inspiration for the company ultimately came from on a fall I had in Beijing seven years ago when I fell down a hole and broke my back. It was when I was interning for Mahon China - a New Zealand company based in Beijing - between university semesters, and it was a pretty terrifying experience. Thinking about the ideas I'd been reading about in those books, I wanted to use that experience to instead create something fun and that I was passionate about, which is games. So I decided to create a game based on my accident.
But I can't code or draw, so I decided I would crowdsource the design and development. Then I took it one step further and got players to make my decisions for how the game would play out; I used social media to get end users to determine the best design and gameplay. The end result was Plummet Free Fall, which has now been downloaded 350,000 times and was number one on iTunes in four countries, including New Zealand.
After this, I wanted to repeat the success of Plummet on a much larger scale in a way where anyone could collaborate with creators and players of games on a free platform. This vision is the business I'm now working on called GameStarter. Plunge Free Dive is the first game coming out of this process.
What factors have helped you turn your idea into a company?
The first thing I did after the success of Plummet was to go to Creative HQ and tell them my vision. I joined their Global Growth Programme and they've helped me a lot in terms of delivering on my vision. They have lots of different tools they use - like the Business Model Canvas and methodology - for turning ideas into businesses, as well as an experienced group of mentors who give great and sometimes painfully honest advice.
But the main challenges are still cashflow and timing. The business is still learning how to walk.
I'd imagine the story of your accident in China and how it inspired your business idea has garnered you a bit of attention. What role do you think it's ultimately played so far in building your company?
A huge amount. All my pitches to potential investors start with the story. I can't even shave off my beard because it's now part of the brand, given that the 'game me' in Plummet has a ginger beard.
What have been the biggest lessons for you so far on your journey of creating a business around your original idea?
Build an awesome team, then focus on the basic essence of leadership, which is getting from point A to B. There's no need to try and be Steve Jobs or Richard Branson because that will only end badly.
Coming up in Your Business: Etsy is a massive global marketplace to buy and sell all things homemade. So what are some of the great Kiwi businesses making a living out of selling on this platform? If you've got a story to tell on growing a small business through Etsy, drop me a note: nzhsmallbusiness@gmail.com
