Will Harbin, founder of Kixeye: $120 million sale to Stillfront

Startup Exits

English - July 22, 2020 17:38 - 51 minutes - 94.6 MB - ★★★★★ - 12 ratings
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Previous Episode: Brett Lovelady, founder of Astro Gaming: $85 million sale to Logitech

Next Episode: Yan Pritzker, founder of Reverb.com: $275 million sale to Etsy

Will is a tech entrepreneur with multiple exits. In late 2000s he founded Kixeye, a game studio that pioneered the free-to-play genre and dominated Facebook gaming with hit titles like War Commander, VEGA Conflict, Backyard Monsters and Battle Pirates. Will led the company to millions of users, hundreds of employees and a $120 million acquisition by Stillfront Group in 2019.

On this episode of the Startup Exits Podcast, we chat with Will about:

• Launching a gaming company

• Casual vs hardcore gaming

• Dangers of relying on a single platform (Facebook)

• Monetization strategies for games

• Are gaming companies startups?

• Strategy: one hit game or multiple smaller ones?

• Future of the gaming industry

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