frogs, hippos and weddings: learnings from building wooga

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Frogs,  hippos  and  weddings:  Learnings  from  building  wooga  

Jens  Begemann  (Founder  &  CEO)  

§  2001-­‐2008:  valuable  entrepreneurial  learnings  made  @Jamba  (startup  in  Berlin)  

§  Best  preparaBon  for  starBng  wooga  

Remember  Jamba‘s  Crazy  Frog  

wooga  –  world  of  gaming  

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Key  stats  6  games  on  Facebook  40  million  acBve  users  

70%  of  users  are  female  (age  20-­‐60)  

About  wooga  Founded  January  2009  Funding  of  $32m  InternaBonal  team  of  110  from  over  20  countries  in  Berlin  

Jens  Begemann  -­‐Founder  &  CEO-­‐  

Agenda  

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I.   Founding  team  

II.  How  to  get  started  

III.  Product  development  

IV. Culture  

V.  RecruiBng  

VI.  Investors  

Trust,  clear  responsibiliBes  &  strenghts  

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Philipp  Moeser  

Co-­‐founder  &  CTO  

Jens  Begemann  

Founder  &  CEO  

FOCUS  

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Sales   Technology  

vs.   vs.  

Product  

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PRODUCT  

§  NO  Biz  Dev  

§  NO  Sales  

FOCUS  

Agenda  

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I.  Founding  team  

II.   How  to  get  started  

III.  Product  development  

IV. Culture  

V.  RecruiBng  

VI.  Investors  

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Business  Plan  

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Brain  Sport  

Brain  training  

Social  Networks  

Casual  Games  

Slide  from  Nov  2008  Product  Plan:   Financial  Plan:  

Vision:  Become  a  major  consumer  brand  &  desBnaBon  for  social  casual  games  on  the  web  &  mobile  phones  

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Business  Plan  

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„Games  for  everyone“  

Have  a  vision!  

Important:  Product  -­‐  prototype  

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How  do  you  grow  customers?  -­‐  Brain  Buddies  

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4  month  ader  launch  we  ran  out  of  wall  

Maybe:  How  do  you  moneBze?  

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Agenda  

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I.  Founding  team  

II.  How  to  get  started  

III.  Product  development  

IV. Culture  

V.  RecruiBng  

VI.  Investors  

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DON‘T  follow  the  HIPPO*  

Source  (Hippo):  hep://www.am.dodea.edu/bragg/murray/Images/hippo.png  

*Highest  paid  person’s  opinion  

A/B  tesBng  

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111%  

100%  

104%  

User  tesBng  

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Throw  stuff  away  

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Success  comes  by  what  you  don‘t  do!  

Agenda  

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I.  Founding  team  

II.  How  to  get  started  

III.  Product  development  

IV. Culture  

V.  RecruiBng  

VI.  Investors  

           One  office,  one  team,  one  language  

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1  

           OPENNESS  

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✔  

Geang  things  

done!  

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10  year  vision  

6  month  plan  

Weekly  itera`ons  

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Your  behavior    =    

your  company  culture  

vs.  

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Agenda  

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I.  Founding  team  

II.  How  to  get  started  

III.  Product  development  

IV. Culture  

V.   Recrui`ng  

VI.  Investors  

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2h/day  for  everyone  in  senior  team  

RecruiBng  

Rather  leave  a  job  posiBon  open  than  employ  someone  who  doesn’t  fully  fit  

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NO  compromise  

Onboarding  

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Equally  important  

Leaving  employees  Happy people talk to 10 people

Unhappy people talk to 100 people !  

Agenda  

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I.  Founding  team  

II.  How  to  get  started  

III.  Product  development  

IV. Culture  

V.  RecruiBng  

VI.  Investors  

Raise  

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2x  what  you  need   &   Before  you  need  it  

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Valua`on  not  most  important  

Be  long-­‐term    greedy  

!  Difficulty  to  raise  next  round  

Don‘t  forget  other  contract  terms  

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Investors    =      

Investor  =  geong  married  

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§  Don‘t understand your business §  Cost you time instead of helping §  Throw you out

Bad  partners  

Good  partners  

§  Have been in your shoes before §  Support you as an entrepreneur §  Are fun to work with

Make reference calls with CEOs of their investments

Select  your  partner  

¨ No  slides  ¨ Have  a  Bme  keeper  ¨ 3  hour  meeBng:    

¨ 2  hours  on  theme  of  the  board  meeBng  ¨ 1  hour  on  „other“/open  discussion  

¨ Latest  financials  incl.  re-­‐forecast  ¨ „Update  on  the  business“  memo    

(highly  structured  email)  ¨ Clear  agenda  ¨ Theme  of  the  board  meeBng    

Board  meeBng  checklist  

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Send  before  the  mee`ng:  

Mee`ng  every  2  months:  

II.  How  to  get  started  I.  Founders   III.  Product  development  

VI.  Investors  V.  Recrui`ng  IV.  Culture  

Trust,  responsibiliBes  &  strengths  

2h/day  

Product  Prototype  

Your  behavior    =    

your  company  culture  

One  more  thing...  

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Get  experience  @wooga:  

wooga.com/jobs  

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Thank  you!    

Jens  Begemann  Founder  &  CEO  wooga  

 Twiker:  @begemann  

 wooga.com/jobs