29 April 2016

1212Gaming was formed on 1 Jan 2016.  We had an idea and vision but only a vague plan and needed to start fleshing the thing out.  Slick and I met once a week, which we still do.  We did it via google hangouts and started dropping some early planning docs on Google docs.  We started talking about the details; and wow, were there a lot of details.  Even after four months of work there’re very many more things we don’t know than we do know.  Learning to know what you don’t know is eye opening.  But one thing is certain, we know a ton more than we did at the start.  The first step is supposedly the hardest, but I’m here to tell you, the rest of the early steps aren’t easy either!

The initial discussions were about the strategic plan.  We decided to concentrate on that a bit in the beginning for several reason, some of which are unique to our past careers and current life situation.

Actually, it was Slicks idea, he at least had an initial direction.  One thing he had learned from working in Portland and dealing with IT start-ups, there is a lot of buffoonery that hopefully we could avoid.  Not claiming we’re the immaculate company conception here, but forewarned is forearmed.

Normally when an entrepreneur decides to make a go of it they have a very specific product in mind and are neck deep in developing it.  Too often they don’t consider the long game and when the product is ready, they aren’t.  It’s a ready, shoot, aim situation as Slick put it in one of our initial meetings.  There isn’t anything too terribly wrong with that as long as you get to the strategic relatively soon.  The good news of course is that your product is done and ready, even if you aren’t.  When you’re just starting life, that may in fact be the best way to go, you are looking to make a mark and get the company going.  For us however, we’re relatively secure and older, which gives us the luxury of waxing poetic about strategy.  The danger here of course is taking it too easy and not getting serious about it.  I think we both fight that every day.  I work a full time job and have two young children and Slick does much the same (minus the young children, a subject he gives me grief about because his are in college), and in fact he had to change jobs recently.  It’s a challenge, but overall we’re having a blast.

Of course, the reality is nobody is interested in what two, albeit experienced, fighter pilots think about entrepreneurial strategy if they can’t actually produce a successful product.  So, while we were neck deep in strategic goal setting and creating a company ethos, we had our heads above water searching for that first product.

Gaming of course came to the forefront, because that’s the “fun” passion and the early goal.  We pitched quite a few ideas to each other and let the stream of consciousness discussions take us wherever they went.  Lots of great ideas and branching subjects moved from games, to education, and to training using what is essentially gaming tech. 

Along the way we reconnected a long term friendship, probably the biggest positive the whole operation has generated thus far.

Our USAF fighter pilot sides were drawn toward leveraging gaming tech and the emergent VR capabilities to increase real world training and especially debriefing capabilities.  One of the great advantages the USAF has over other world air forces is a heavily developed and stringent mission debriefing culture.  There are few air forces in the world that attempt to glean as much learning from debriefing every day training opportunities.  We wondered how we could enhance that already well developed system.  The two of us had dozens of ideas, each more grandiose than the last.  We started a collaboration product called the wall of spitballs.  Just throw something up and let’s see what sticks.  As a mental exercise it was a ton of fun. 

Now, that’s a lot of territory and we are still wandering that wilderness today.  But we did have one thing come into focus.

Going back to the gaming theme, we both had a somewhat similar idea for a game.  Slick’s idea was much grander and had a real world, hardcore education purpose and endgame.  Every time I think about it, I get fired up.   If we ever realize that product it could be revolutionary.  My idea was smaller, and focused purely on gaming, and specifically on the expanding phone gaming industry.  I wanted to make something strategic, but in a relatively casual way, something that was customizable, and casual enough that you could fill those little moments in your life where that incredible pocket computer you carry around could stimulate your brain in the dead times.  Times like waiting in line, or travelling and such. 

As a guy who grew up before computers were as ubiquitous as they are today I find the usefulness of the devices constantly and extraordinarily intriguing.  I doubt my kids look at them the same way, I think perhaps there’s a unique perspective there can be harnessed.  One day soon first world humanity will not remember those days.

 Anyway, back to the story.

What we came to realize is that the broad brush ideas were in fact complimentary.  Soon we had a nascent tactical level product direction.  Our first project would be to tackle the smaller game idea, which would form the core of the larger educational product.  The key then is to prove we can deliver something that’s successful, develop it, produce it, market it and ideally make some money to turn the gears needed to bring more products to fruition.

After several months we had a direction, and we’ve moved out smartly from there.