Mission and Vision Statement (also IP notes)

*Mission Statement – What your company should be doing.

*Vision Statement – Your vision for your company’s future.
(Mantra – repeated magic words)
Microsoft vision – “Computer on every desk in every home.” (1990s) (software company though)
*3 companies I admire:
-Valve corporation
-Lab Zero
-Yacht Club Games
-Nintendo

 Mission statement, Mantra, Vision statement, Business objectives
Example missions:
Bethesda – making and connecting virtual worlds

Tesla – Bring sustainable advancement to transportation.
Google – Organize world’s info and make it useful.

 

Wavesoft’s mission statement: “We make games that remember and innovate.”
To remember is to make games that provide experiences we forgot and to take an experienced look at game design to determine what worked and what didn’t. To innovate reflects the new experiences that are essential to crafting new games.

 

Bonus: with regards to patents and keeping Wavesoft different from its competitors.
*Game companies tend to be naturally different as long as you try a little bit.
*Copyright game, trademark logo, and patent game mechanics if we come up with cool stuff.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
U.S. Copyright Office

Logo, Company Name, and Product

My company name is Wavesoft Games.

It is an independent video game developer.
It makes games for the PC and ports them to consoles if it can.
I’d like to go for action platformers.
But I am open to other geners.
I value quality and elegance.

The logo is a computer disk with waves in it. I drew it up on the board as it seemed simple and simple logos have a certain charm. I also hoped it would be easy to remember. I have posted a mock-up I made in MS Paint.

 

The product I presented during the Elevator Pitch was the game concept: Goliath.

The premise is that you (David) are a regular human facing up against powerful robots (Goliath).
The robots clearly outmatch you, but if you fight smart and skillfully, you overcome them.
Game genre itself would be an action platformer and probably resemble Megaman.
I summarized it as “a game where you play as anti-robot Batman.”

Game would be sold for $10-$20 on Steam.

Dot.com to Dot.bomb

*Tulip bubble

*Stock market crash bubble -> great depression

*Stages

-innocent beginning 92-95
-boom 95-97
-insanity 97-00
-bust 2001
-the crawl back to sanity
-bonus: uh-oh

 **1984 – home computer, bulletin board system

*1992 – Prodigy, Compuserv, Genie, AOL, Delphi
-tried to run the online world, but the world wide web came
Prodigy – 1.1 m Sears and IBM
CompuServ – 1m H&R Block
Genie – 200,00 General Electric
AOL – 200,000
Delphi – 150,000
-text browsers
-mosaic browsers, graphical browser
*Free Range Media, Incorporated
-DealerNet
-SPRY, Inc – Internet in a Box
-Second International World Wide Web Conference, 1994
--“anti-net” – industry specific internet
-Mosaic or Linux
-Laura Fillmore and Johnny Pneumonic

 **Boom 95-97

*1995 – Netscape – Jim Clark and Marc Andreessen
-Wired and hotwired
-MCI and Gramercy Press (virtual world) (but slow modums)
-How to publish on the internet (Fry’s book)
-Pathfinder launched (magazine)
-advertising age magazine
-Old vs. young battle in Prodigy
*1996
-Compuserv bought Spry
-Freezone to Thomson Target Media (2m)
-Super Bowl xxx (starwave)
-Yahoo! Search -> Community
-Amazon
-USweb

**Insanity 97-00

-IPO.com
-Public offerings
-venture capitalists
-AOL takes charge
--buys compuserv
-(Peter principle – promoted to your incompetence)
--Compuserv too devoted to Microsoft, Microsoft Media bugged.
-Infospace goes public (yellow pages)
-Burn Rate written
-Net guide – magazine that is a spreadsheet of new websites
-LoudEye Technologies IPO
-Marchfrist goes bust
-Pets.com goes bust
-Infospace worth more than Boeing.
-fuckedcompany.com (share layoff rumors)

 **Bust 2001

-Exodus communications declares bankruptcy. (got greedy, hosted companies collapse)
-Freezone close
*A lot of companies bust, but…
-Amazon posted a profit
-Ebay
-Yahoo
-AOL bought Time Warner
-Priceline.com rehires William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy
(-tech people salaries very high, had to layoff people)
-Microsoft did get hit

-Yahoo bought a lot of stuff, came back

-Time Warner rebought AOL

Guest Speaker: John Dimmer

*(Oregon Duck) University of Oregon
*Cloverpark Hichschool
*Golf

*BS in finance *Puget Sound bank
(?) *Surety bond (Insurance/Bond)
*Free Range Media 94 with Fry
-Sold in 1999
--Employment agreement – Sacked, severance package
--Retired for 3 weeks at age 39.
*(Dot com boom – companies that don’t exist until put on market)
*Dot com bust April 2000
*Angel investing, technology. (typically go for 1%-3%)
*Hiring the right people in the right places.
-(Right folks can become wrong folks if business rapidly changes)
-Keeping a warm body in a spot even if suboptimal
*Partnership with friends
-Built a Honda dealership
--Good manager hired. Golden handcuffs needed.
---Honda store is franchisee of franchiser Honda. Couldn’t give him equity cause Honda is reluctant.
---Manager wants an RV(Airstream) dealership. After financial crisis 2008. Did well.
----Largest Airstream dealer, every 1 in 4 global airstreams.
----Airstream recession resilient
----Ted oversees Honda & Airstream. Golden handcuffs.
-----But then they moved him out of Honda.
-----New manager. Good guy, once again need golden handcuffs.

**Funding your business

*Business lifecycle phases
-Concept – Idea
-Start-up – organization structure. Nominal or no profit.
-Expansion – business established in market
-Mezzanine – prepare a company for initial public offering (IPO)
-Exit – Prepare a company for sale transaction.
?Market share? – Owning a percentage of the market.
?What does mezzanine mean? – “Intermediate” Between not-IPO and IPO.
-IPO means you get government regulation.
 

*Fund types
-Debt - borrow cash.

-Equity – sell ownership interest.
-Hybrid – Debt/preferred securities convertible into equity.
-Other – Business plan prize money. –Government grants. –Veteran program –Crowd sourcing
(?)-Preferred securities – common stock vs preferred stock. Common is flexible for when company liquidates. Preferred is specialized.
--Converted debt into stock that works like debt. Some people think it looks better.
-In crowd sourcing, don’t over commit, make sure you can deliver.

*Legal structure – some business structures restrict certain funding.

-Sub-Chapter S Company – “Pass-through entity.” Cannot have Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) be shareholders.
-“C” Corporation – well defined laws. Self-contained. Drawback: double taxation of dividends.
-Limited Liability companies.

?Corporations are people – “C” corporation. Sued like a person.

*Stages of investment

-Concept or idea – Founder’s money. Enough to have “skin in the game.” (but not “all in”)
-Proof-of-Concept – Friends and family money. (Accredited investor laws…)
Product Design – Angel money
Expansion – Venture Capital

-“Skin in the game” means stick around. Not “all in” means less pressure.

-Not-accredited investor can stop a buyout, so you gotta buy them out. Have a predetermined buyout plan so they don’t hold you ransom.
-Keep number of family investors low, phone calls.
-Angel group presentation cost: $250-$500
--Look for groups predisposed to your business or demographic.

-As an angel, John Dimmer looks for people. Investing makes a relation. Prefers people over idea. He’s trusting people to follow through.

--Likes investing in spaces he knows.

(questions)

*Accredit investor questionnaire.

-Non-accredited is a problem in stock for stock sales. Doesn’t apply to cash buyout.

?Could you still retire? –Yes. –Don’t see that happening.

-Home office. Wakes whenever.
-Dad is the same.

*Tech. business – does not miss the 24/7 pressure. (literally dreaming solutions)

*Strengths and weaknesses

-Cannot write HTML or code
+Operations. HR. Finance.

Guest Speaker: Amy Salin

*UW Seattle campus

*UW Business Plan Competition
*Health Innovation challenge (prototype challenge)
-Health app
-Health data
-Diagnostic tests
*Environmental Innovation challenge (8^th year)

*Challenges tend to lead to Business Plan Competition

-Business Plan -> New Venture Competition (rename pending) (“Business Plan” is intimidating)
*Business Plan Competition Timeline
-Screening Round – Online, judging points
?Pushiness?
-Investment Round – It’s a trade show, booths. Be confident, but not pushy. Judges have 1000 fictional dollars.
--Handouts
--Saurkraut company
-Coaching round – Mandatory, uncompetitive.
?Gender ratio?
-Prizes for top 4.
-Investment Round has separate prizes, like “best idea.”
--Special idea – benefits low income seniors. (AARP foundation)
--Internet of things prize.

 *Academic exercise, looks good on a resume.
*Google how to find patents, talk to mentors.

*Screening round fail: Not doing enough research, not answering the questions. Meaningless financials, make them defendable.
-Do admit there is competition. –Do not overestimate market
*Can recruit non-students
(?) * Website has past winners and entrants. Success stories.
*Careful with whether your team is friends or not.
-Have hard talks early. Have stuff in writing.
*Only people with nametags can talk to judges. Got 4 nametags.
?Not going. What do I draw from this?
*Project manager – technical, finish thing.
*Program manager – Ongoing campaign, sales and marketing.

Guest Speaker: Brian Forth

*1 company 18 years, SiteCrafting
*Lived through hard times
*Mobile apps
*Started as elementary school teacher, came to Tacoma (former film and philosophy major0

*Taught 5^th graders to code, build websites.

*Teacher Universe
*Dot com bubble burst, declined moving to San Francisco
*Company survived downturn by being diversified.

*Charges extra for exclusivity.

*Kill clause: if they cancel the contract, they still owe money.
*Keep energy even.
*Had sales person overpromising. Commission sales person. Bad clients.
-Business cards on walnuts. Dammit.
*Relies on word of mouth. Word of mouth comes from satisfied customers.
?What product are you most proud of?
*Build an application for movie studios, let them compare cuts and select their favorites. Owning company is Deluxe.
*”The only thing permanent is change” “No man steps in the same river twice” feels like a different company each week.

?Company hierarch?
?What kind of businessman are you?

*Likes fishing.
*Fry and Brian bad at firing people.
*Not good at coding now, job is to sell it.
*Good with understanding clients.

 *Selling product to client, selling client to staff.

*Mobile applications.
-Iphone the defining invention of his career.
-Apps became a vanity thing.
?Does your business have an app? –No. Just need a site.
-Sites as the app is better for multiple devices. Only need 1 set of code.

 *Gearlab – Testing company within SiteCrafting.

-Testing user interaction
-eye sensors
?Gearlab tested any games?

-Provide highlights and data.

-Convinced a cable company to bundle.
-Companies are not often used to user testing and data.

*First client: electrical distributor website.

*Most exciting product: -impossible stuff
-APs – digiplayer reserving on flights
--Other company gave up, got it launched in 11 days.
*SiteCrafting and GearLab separate
-Can sell easier
-Can prevent conflict of interest
*Good training ground for Amazon and Google.
-But good retention due to company culture: see things through, made things they are proud of.
*Exciting company as they work with a different client each week.
*Cares for problem solving. Integrity, perseverance, learning.
-Not too concerned for starting code skill.
*Realized he wanted this when he made more money after school.
*Biometric playtesting
-Can play fruit ninja with his eyes.
--Talk to Chuck.
*”The Obstacle Is The Way” – Recommended book
-No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.
--Same with business plans.

Guest Speaker: Erik Hanberg

*Started 26 – Non-profit movie theater director
?Non-profit movie theater? – plays indie movies, old movie, exist for the love of film.

-“For surplus,” money goes back into organization.
-Volunteers are unpaid.
*Strived to make it autonomous
*Wife graphic designer entrepreneur
*Just kind of fell into entrepreneuring
-Starting and finishing something no one else told you to do.

Self motivation

-Ran for office, also self-motivation

*Advice: Start and finish things.
*”Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas Edison

*”New laziness is not about physical labor, it is fear. Fear of expending emotional labor.” – Seth Godin
*Publishing
-Literal time investment
-Selling a book not written yet.
--Said it was out of print, did not accept money. Ask for email if interested.
-Publish system. Author gets 10% of book sale. So publisher sells it for 3$, reseller sells it for 20$. Author just made 30 cents.
--E-books disrupt system, author can get 70% of retail.
*Unintended revenue.
-Being consulted based on experience
*Sidexside (design, main thing) *The Horation *Exit133.com *Suite133
*Books worth reading
-The 100$ startup
-4 hour work week
-E-myth revisted
-Turning Pro
*Advice for fiction writer: write first book
*Worked on books around the edges.

*Understand the business of your art.

-Get best readership.

?What are your genres?

?How hard is your science?
?Degrees? – B.A. in English, helped in writing, not entrepreneurially though.

*Time investment applies to graphic design I.P.
*Fry’s wife is the rock, Fry is