Deconstructor of Fun
No Bull with Joseph Kim, Founder of LILA Games & Game Makers
Mon Jul 17 2023Description
The episode covers various topics related to starting and building a startup, including the challenges of balancing life and work, the importance of sacrifice and trade-offs, building an effective team, dealing with criticisms, and the role of personal values in entrepreneurship. The hosts share their experiences and insights on these topics, providing valuable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Insights
Balancing Life and Work
One host asks the other about balancing life with work, especially with a team in Bangalore and family in San Francisco. The other host talks about working smarter and not being able to achieve success without hard work. He mentions that he doesn't balance his life and believes valuable things require sacrifice. He discusses spending time away from his family and making personal choices based on limited time left in life.
Building a Startup
The episode emphasizes the importance of sacrifice and trade-offs in building a startup. It discusses the challenges faced in startups due to limited resources and the need to set limits and use common sense to avoid sacrificing too much. The hosts also highlight the value of building an organizationally oriented company that values people and believes in the ability for people to improve and change organizations.
Challenges of Starting a Studio
The episode explores the challenges faced in starting a studio, including the initial perception of easiness followed by unexpected challenges. It discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on remote work and communication, as well as the difficulties in fundraising and balancing personal responsibilities. The hosts share both the highlights and low moments of their journey, highlighting the nonlinear progress and emotional roller coasters experienced as entrepreneurs.
Joining PlayStation and Building a Team
The episode highlights the experience of joining PlayStation and contributing to its future. It discusses the importance of building an operationally efficient team and hiring talented individuals. The hosts share their fulfillment in hiring people like Sophie Vo and emphasize the value of teams that have worked together for years. They also discuss the challenges faced in building a team from scratch, particularly for shooters.
Building an Effective Team
The episode emphasizes the importance of building an effective team for creating great products. It discusses the challenges faced in the industry, including sacrifices and impact on family. The hosts also address criticisms and attacks on companies due to differences in beliefs or working methods, highlighting the need for more diversity in approaches and acceptance of different choices. They stress the importance of avoiding confirmation bias and embracing open-mindedness.
Importance of Alignment and Communication
The episode explores the importance of alignment and communication within a startup. It discusses the challenges faced by founders in maintaining alignment with co-founders and investors. The hosts emphasize the value of open communication, directness, efficiency, effectiveness, and avoiding group thinking when it comes to personal values. They also highlight the significance of sharing weaknesses and experiences to foster more open conversations between investors and founders.
Interpersonal Challenges and Personal Values
The episode delves into interpersonal challenges faced by founders and the role of personal values in entrepreneurship. It discusses how founders often feel the need to present themselves positively to investors, hindering open discussions about personal weaknesses and difficulties. The hosts emphasize the importance of being vulnerable and sharing true stories to foster better understanding and support from investors. They also share their personal motivations and values, emphasizing the goal of unlocking human potential and achieving meaningful success.
Next Ventures and Helping Founders
The episode explores the speaker's considerations for their next venture and their interest in helping other founders. It discusses the challenges faced in starting a new studio and the speaker's experiences with game failures in soft launch. The hosts question whether helping others achieve success would make them happier than achieving success themselves. They agree with the idea of being on the other side of the table and sharing their mistakes to help other founders. The episode concludes with a discussion about the format of the podcast episode and future collaborations.
Chapters
- Introduction
- Balancing Life and Work
- Building a Startup
- Startup Challenges and Successes
- Challenges of Starting a Studio
- Joining PlayStation and Building a Team
- Challenges of Building a Team
- Building a Team and Dealing with Criticisms
- Building an Effective Team
- Importance of Alignment and Communication
- Interpersonal Challenges and Personal Values
- Next Ventures and Helping Founders
Introduction
00:12 - 07:45
- The podcast hosts discuss their recent experiences and travels.
- They talk about the challenges of working in a startup and the need to be frugal.
- They mention that they have been wanting to do a podcast together for a while.
- They reflect on how many people now have podcasts, but they consider themselves the original creators.
- The hosts discuss their different paths but express that they have stayed connected.
- They explain that the format of this podcast will involve asking each other three questions.
- One host asks the other about balancing life with work, especially with a team in Bangalore and family in San Francisco.
- The other host talks about working smarter and not being able to achieve success without hard work.
- He mentions that he doesn't balance his life and believes valuable things require sacrifice.
- He discusses spending time away from his family and making personal choices based on limited time left in life.
- He references an essay by Clayton Christensen called 'How Do You Measure Your Life?'
- He explains that he works hard because he wants to do something meaningful and be proud of it later in life.
Balancing Life and Work
00:12 - 07:45
- One host asks the other about balancing life with work, especially with a team in Bangalore and family in San Francisco.
- The other host talks about working smarter and not being able to achieve success without hard work.
- He mentions that he doesn't balance his life and believes valuable things require sacrifice.
- He discusses spending time away from his family and making personal choices based on limited time left in life.
Building a Startup
07:28 - 14:42
- Being proud of personal achievements and contributions to the world
- Focusing on building an organizationally oriented company that values people
- Belief in the ability for people to improve and change organizations
- Sacrifice is necessary for success, but evaluating the size of sacrifice is situational
- Setting limits and using common sense to avoid sacrificing too much
- Trade-offs are important in startups due to limited resources
- Understanding what is important and worth sacrificing for
- Difficult conversations and honest discussions contribute to strong relationships in a company
Startup Challenges and Successes
14:31 - 21:18
- Trade-offs and sacrifice are important in the startup process for success.
- Heroic Labs provides a comprehensive game stack to help developers get their games into the market faster.
- DataAI combines consumer and market data with artificial intelligence to unlock unique consumer and market insights.
- DataAI's Game IQ Tool is a marketing and competitive intelligence tool for mobile gaming that allows publishers to analyze games on a scale.
- Starting a company was not as simple as expected, but it quickly gained momentum after finding an interesting idea.
- Building a team at Fumplus was smooth sailing due to shared memories and easy collaboration.
- The journey of starting a studio was initially perceived as easy, but challenges arose along the way.
Challenges of Starting a Studio
20:51 - 27:40
- Initial work at the studio was easy and focused, but changes in the founding team brought challenges.
- The COVID-19 pandemic added stress and communication issues to remote work.
- Travel restrictions made face-to-face meetings difficult, affecting communication further.
- Fundraising was initially challenging due to the focus on web three and NFTs.
- Having a newborn while doing a funding round added stress and sleep deprivation.
- Highlights included signing new team members, raising funds, and positive play tests.
- Low moments included losing team members, interpersonal challenges in remote work, and getting rejected by VCs.
- Nonlinear progress and emotional roller coasters were common experiences as an entrepreneur.
- Joining PlayStation as part of Independent Savage was a major highlight.
Joining PlayStation and Building a Team
27:15 - 34:25
- Joining PlayStation and contributing to its future was a highlight
- The company became more stable and focused on building the organization and games
- Hiring talented people like Sophie Vo was fulfilling
- The founder's main why was to learn and help other founders, with financial gain as a secondary goal
- Building an operationally efficient team has been the hardest part of the startup journey
- Teams that have worked together for years are more effective and successful
- Building a team from scratch, especially for shooters, is challenging
Challenges of Building a Team
34:06 - 41:23
- Building an effective and efficient team is crucial for creating great products.
- Sacrifices and impact on family are challenges faced in the industry.
- The notion of liberalism is dying off, leading to resistance and pushback from some people.
- Criticisms and attacks on the company due to differences in beliefs or working methods have been surprising.
- Personal attacks and hate speech hinder constructive discussions.
- More diversity in approaches and acceptance of different choices would be beneficial.
- Confirmation bias can lead to a lack of open-mindedness.
- Allergies towards conforming thinking due to past experiences with communism.
Building a Team and Dealing with Criticisms
46:25 - 54:20
- Building a stellar team is crucial for value creation and attracting high-profile hires.
- Scaling smartly and being measured with hiring is important to avoid costly mistakes.
- Going for generalists in a small team can help with outsourcing and using AI.
- Networking is essential for building connections, getting advice, and finding strategic partners.
- Having an exit strategy that adapts to market conditions is important for longevity.
- Focusing on alignment of the leadership team is crucial for success.
- Slowing down the pace of communication and explaining thinking out loud can reduce stress.
- Understanding different levels of communication within the team is important.
Building an Effective Team
53:56 - 1:01:42
- Understanding who you are talking to is important in order to avoid misrepresentations.
- Creating a structure in the process helps set rules and maintain consistency as new people join the company.
- Investing time in branding, including website and company name, is crucial for accurate representation from the beginning.
- Networking and creating a tribe of like-minded individuals can provide valuable insights and perspectives.
- Misalignment and problems between co-founders are a common reason for startup failures, so diligence on co-founder relationships is necessary.
- Investors often focus on product rather than alignment issues, so it's important for founders to openly discuss challenges with alignment.
- Sharing weaknesses and experiences can foster more open conversations between investors and founders.
Importance of Alignment and Communication
1:01:17 - 1:09:10
- Investors often focus on market and product-related challenges, but overlook interpersonal challenges faced by founders.
- Founders feel the need to present themselves in a positive light to investors, which hinders open discussions about personal weaknesses and difficulties.
- Being vulnerable and sharing true stories can lead to better understanding and support from investors.
- The podcast host emphasizes the importance of understanding one's 'why' and personal values.
- Unlocking human potential and achieving meaningful success are key motivations for the host.
- The host believes in open communication, directness, efficiency, effectiveness, and avoiding group thinking when it comes to personal values.
- The company has documented common values such as character, discipline, and doing what it takes to win.
- Cruelty is not an accurate term for the company's approach; being blunt or hyperbolic may be more appropriate.
Interpersonal Challenges and Personal Values
1:08:40 - 1:16:42
- Winning with cruelty means operating without caring about what others think and being direct and blunt.
- The words we choose and how we frame situations can greatly impact our attitude.
- The speaker is considering various options for their next venture, including starting another game studio or exploring VC opportunities.
- They plan to take their time and not rush into a rebound job.
- They will focus on helping the studios and companies they have invested in, providing visibility, advice, and support.
- They are interested in researching the gaming industry at a macro level and exploring subscription services in apps.
- Helping others at scale makes the speaker happy, even without monetary gain.
- Their goal is to continue helping founders better, whether inside a company or in a fund context.
- They appreciate having time to think and formulate their next steps.
- The speaker mentions the possibility of joining a venture fund in the future but emphasizes that helping founders is their priority.
- The deconstructor fund is important to them as it provides valuable learning experiences through conversations with others.
Next Ventures and Helping Founders
1:16:16 - 1:21:06
- The new reality of the world we live in is that social media brands are becoming new venture investors.
- Social media platforms provide a free marketing platform for businesses.
- The speaker has started a new studio and is always thinking about unfinished business.
- While the speaker has worked on massive franchises, they have never built one themselves.
- The speaker has had many game failures in soft launch.
- The speaker questions whether helping others achieve success would make them happier than achieving success themselves.
- The speaker agrees with the idea of being on the other side of the table and sharing their mistakes to help other founders.
- It was a three by three format podcast episode, which was an interesting idea.
- Listeners are encouraged not to send hate mail to JK and to respect his opinions as he is a hardworking family man trying to make a fun game.
- JK left the podcast without giving a reason, but there may be future collaborations with him.