Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Seattle 2.0, and imported to GeekWire as part of our acquisition of Seattle 2.0 and its archival content. For more background, see this post.
By John Calian
Here at Movaya (Seattle-based tech start-up), we are as optimistic as the next entrepreneur in regards to the bright future of the marketplace we have entered. That does not mean, however, that the marketplace is playing nice. Our choice of venue for our company is the Off-Deck mobile content space, in particular the mobile gaming sector. Today, there is a billion dollars in annual revenue going to wireless carriers and game publishers, with the vast majority of this revenue flowing through the carrier stores both on-handset and via the web. Our goal has been to tackle the technical and business challenges that game publishers and online merchants face in order to sell games directly to consumers via web and WAP ecommerce storefronts (ie, outside the carrier reach).
The value proposition for the game publishers is simple: here is a new distribution channel to use for game sales. For the online merchants who would add mobile games to their store shelves, the value prop is likewise simple: add mobile games to your existing store. I like to think we have met the technical and business challenges head on and succeeded.
What we haven’t seen is the uptake in mobile game sales off-deck that we originally predicted. The market is simply too young. This situation is typical for many start ups, and thus the need for start up cash from angel investors and VCs. And therefore the name of the game is survival until your market matures, leaving start ups with the decision to take money (if you are so lucky to be offered it), or find other ways to make money outside of your core competency until your marketplace catches up.
We have chosen a combination of these two funding methods. Raising money is a full time job in and of itself, and for us it has come in waves and it is hard. It is very hard to ask your friends and relatives to invest in you. And it is frustrating to meet with dozens of VCs to convince them you will make an astronomically high return on their money. In the meantime, we have taken on projects outside of our initial plans in order to have cash coming in the door to keep the business moving forward while the off-deck mobile game market takes shape (and it will!). Note: We are first time entrepreneurs; raising money is quite hard when you have no track record. Not impossible, but not easy.
The lessons for us are this: keep operations lean, leaner than you could ever imagine. Find people willing to work for free; hire temps for small jobs (like bookkeeping, lead generating) that keep you from getting the real work done (like fund raising, client acquisition and integration); find complimentary projects that bring in revenue and do not sidetrack your core product development. Overall, keep the faith and constantly remind yourselves that business plans evolve and doing whatever it takes’ to keep cash coming in the door is essential.
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John Calian is the founder and COO of Movaya.
