Hey, Good Game explores the stories behind your favorite brainy games. Each week, we interview game creators and dig into what it takes to build a successful indie game, how to monetize, and how to get traction.
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Conversations on creativity, writing, startups, and design. Brought to you by Nate Kadlac and Reza Saeedi
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The next generation of successful entrepreneurs will be both founders & creators, leveraging their own audience to launch, build, and scale multiple companies into millions based on their own personal hobbies & passions. This is the 'Personal Holding Company' philosophy. It's a lifestyle business on steroids: no venture capital investors, work whenever & wherever you want, turning your hobbies into businesses. First Class Founders explores this PHC philosophy with tactical tips & strategies ...
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Gary Scheiman, a renowned composer for film, television, and video games. Gary shares insights from his prolific career, discusses the intricacies of game scoring, and offers valuable advice on creativity and composing. He also delves into his experiences teaching at USC, the impact of AI on the music industry, and the joy of working on games like …
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Behind the Scenes with Hey, Good Game (and a Simple Request)
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Nate Kadlac and Aaron Kardell reflect on the past 18 months of building the business and podcast. They share insights into their journey, including their bootstrapping philosophy, ad partner experiments, and the expansion of their content. The duo discusses their favorite games, the importance of maintaining control by avoiding venture capital, and…
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The Art of Voice Acting in Video Games and the AI Challenge with Keythe Farley
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Keythe talks about the resurgence of pinball games, his favorite video games over the years, and the evolving role of artificial intelligence in the industry. The conversation delves into the ethical implications of AI, voice cloning, and the importance of fair compensation for voice actors. In this episode, you'll learn: Keythe shares his history …
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How I Became the Flute Guy for Video Games
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Josh Plotner is a renowned musician, producer, and arranger known for his work in films, TV, and video games. Based in New York, Josh has been a freelance musician for over a decade, specializing as a saxophonist and woodwind multi-instrumentalist. At age three, Josh's journey began with a passion for saxophone, eventually expanding to other woodwi…
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How to Build and Launch Successful Web Games Using AI
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Daniel Tait is a prolific indie game developer who has created several popular puzzle games, including Mathler, CrossWordle, and Somplete. Despite not considering himself a professional programmer, Daniel has a knack for quickly building and launching games that capture players' attention. In this episode, we explore Daniel's journey from tinkering…
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One Game a Week: Two Years of Non-Stop Creation
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Gabe Cornish is a game creator with over 40 published games on itch.io and a decade of experience in the game industry. He's worked on hit mobile titles like Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery at Jam City and more recently at Paradox Interactive. Gabe is passionate about making game development more accessible and sustainable for creators. In this epis…
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Bootstrapping Chess.com Into 10 million Daily Players
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Eric Albaest, co-founder and CEO of Chess.com, joins the podcast to discuss how he's revolutionized the world of online chess. With 5-10 million daily players and nearly $100 million in annual revenue, Chess.com has become the go-to platform for chess enthusiasts worldwide. Eric shares his journey from e-commerce to building a chess empire, startin…
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Building Word Games Without Frameworks With Cassidy Williams
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Cassidy Williams is a prolific content creator, developer advocate, and builder. Aaron Kardell and Joseph Rueter discuss Jumblie—a word game inspired by a coding challenge—and Cassidy's previous games. Cassidy shares her journey, the influence of her time in Spain, SEO, her love for board games like Agricola and Civ 6, and her stint as a mascot at …
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How to Build a Successful Art Career by Embracing Creative Selfishness
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Peter Mohrbacher, creator of Angelarium, emphasizes the importance of creating art for yourself rather than trying to please others or meet market expectations. He argues that the best art comes from a place of "creative selfishness" - following your own obsessions and interests without worrying about external validation. This approach has allowed …
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How to Create a Viral Puzzle Game From Scratch
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Greg Karber is the creator of the hit murder mystery puzzle game Murdle. Greg shares the fascinating journey of Murdle's creation, from a simple puzzle made for a friend to a bestselling book series and popular daily online game. We dive into Greg's influences, how he monetizes Murdle, and the balance between game mechanics and storytelling. Check …
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How to Design Board Games That People Love
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Cole Medeiros' career in game design is driven by passion and authenticity. He started creating games as a child (GUBS in fourth grade) and has successfully transitioned this early interest into a professional career. His approach emphasizes the importance of genuine enthusiasm for the project, close collaboration with partners (as seen in his work…
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How to Design Obsessive Games by Breaking the Rules
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Zach Gage might be one of the most innovative game designers you've never heard of. He's the creator of Good Sudoku, Really Bad Chess, and 30+ other games that reimagine classic puzzles for the digital age. Now he's taking on the New York Times with Puzzmo.com We spent an hour exploring his creative process and the future of puzzle games. Check out…
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How FreeCell Snuck Its Way Into Millions of PCs
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Episode 29: Jim Horne is the creator of Microsoft FreeCell and xwordinfo.com. Jim shares his journey from early programming to joining Microsoft in 1988, where he secretly added FreeCell to Windows. His passion for crosswords led to writing for the New York Times and developing xwordinfo.com. Jim discusses his time at Microsoft, including sharing a…
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Say Yes to Creativity: Tracy Fullerton's 10-Year Project
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Episode 28: Tracy Fullerton is a pioneering game designer, educator, and USC Games Program Director emeritus. The conversation covers Tracy's extensive career in game design, her creation of the game 'Walden,' and her unique approach to blending philosophy with gameplay. Tracy opens up about the decade-long development of 'Walden,' the challenges a…
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Episode 27: Blake Harris is the acclaimed author of "Console Wars" and "The History of the Future." Blake shares his journey from a struggling screenwriter to a successful author, diving into the intense rivalry between Sega and Nintendo that defined a generation of gaming. He reveals insights into the internal conflicts at Sega that contributed to…
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Building Games at the NY Times: Interview With Jeff Petriello
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Episode 26: Jeff Petriello, a game producer at the New York Times and a game design educator at NYU Game Center, shares his unique journey from producing movies to producing games played by millions of people. Go behind the scenes at the New York Times, learn what it's like to shepherd hits like Wordle, and create games from scratch like Strands. W…
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Will He Reply? The Wordle Game That Got Away
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Right before the New York Times announced they acquired Wordle in the low-mid seven figures, Aaron attempted to buy Wordle, and wordle.com. Listen to Aaron's story on why he started building games, and how that led to his attempt to purchase the popular daily word game that took the world by storm. How close did he get? Listen and find out! -- (00:…
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Episode 24: In this episode, explores the journey of Mark and Jeff Rogers, creators of Canuckle and Canoku games, inspired by Wordle. It delves into their background, game development process, hiatus, renewal with added features, community engagement strategies, collaborations with other game creators and notable organizations, partnerships for spo…
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Episode 23: In this episode, we dive deep into the creative process behind the game WordPeaks with its creator, Devin Spikowski. Discover the inspirations, design decisions, and the unique journey from concept to a game enjoyed by thousands. Check out Devin's Games and Resources: https://vegeta897.github.io/word-peaks/ https://twitter.com/vegeta897…
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The Beauty of Games With Frank Lantz
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Episode 22: This conversation features a deep and insightful discussion with Frank Lantz, the director of the New York University Game Center and an award-winning game designer. Throughout the interview, Lantz explores the intricate relationship between games, culture, and education, highlighting how games can serve as a potent medium for both arti…
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Sell or Scale? The Strategic Sale of Semantle
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Episode 21: David Turner created Semantle.com, a unique word-guessing game focusing on semantic relationships. Turner shares insights on his journey from ideation to acquisition, his creative process, and upcoming projects like a graphical adventure game. We also chat about game design challenges, user testing, creativity in game development, and e…
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Shaping Words with Grant Warman: The Story of Polygonle
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Episode 20: Grant Warman, the creator of Polygonle and Quadragonal word games, discussing the game mechanics, user feedback, collaboration with other games, and plans for future projects. Check out Grant's games and links: https://polygonle.com/ https://quadragonle.com/ https://www.reddit.com/r/polygonle/ https://discord.gg/ https://www.facebook.co…
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Waffle: How this game reached 500k daily players
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Episode 19: James Robinson runs the ever-popular game, Wafflegame.net. In his first-ever podcast, he shares the history of Waffle, where it is headed, and how it has reached 500,000 daily players. James discusses the game's design, user feedback, and the human-centric approach to game creation. Themes include his accidental success, and the future …
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“It's either Minesweeper or smoking, I can't write if I have to give up both.”
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Episode 18: Today's episode join me and lets explore the fascinating journey of Minesweeper through an interview with Damien Moore, the visionary behind MinesweeperGame.com. Delve into the origins of Minesweeper, the celebrities who played this game, its evolution, strategic gameplay, online community, and the intricate mathematics that define this…
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GDC Unplugged: Our First Trip to the Game Developer Conference
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Hey, Good Game podcast hosts Nate Kadlac and Aaron Kardell attend the GDC conference in San Francisco for the first time. They share their experiences at the event, interactions with different booths, and their plans for potential future participation. Check out Hey GG's games and links: https://www.hey.gg/ https://lilsnack.co/ https://poki.com/ ht…
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From Crosswords to Squeezy: Jeff Chen's Creative Adventure
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Episode 16: Today's episode features an interview with Jeff Chen, the creator of the new game Squeezy, discussing his journey in creating the game, his experience in puzzle making and writing, including the challenges and successes. Jeff also shares his writing experience and the upcoming puzzle book collaboration with Stuart Gibbs. He emphasizes t…
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How to Build Your HoldCo with Michael Girdley
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E75: Michael Girdley (@girdley) needs no introduction. He's a HoldCo legend. Today, host Yong-Soo (@YongSooChung) sits down with Michael to discuss how he has built a successful HoldCo. We talk about Michael's "Right People, Right Structure, Right Mission" framework, which he uses to build all of his businesses. Michael shares how to find the best …
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Episode 15: In today's episode features an interview with Jeff Widderich, the president of Syndicated Puzzles, who discusses his background, experience on Dragon's Den, game creation, the challenges faced in the puzzle industry, and the future of game design. Widderich shares insights on the importance of spatial thinking, the necessity for new and…
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Breaking Down the Personal HoldCo of Tim Stoddart of Copyblogger
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E74: Have you ever wondered how a person can flip their life's script from constant struggles to having a multi-million dollar business? Today, host Yong-Soo (@YongSooChung) has a rich conversation with successful entrepreneur Tim Stoddart (@TimStodz), the proud owner of Copyblogger Media. He discusses his incredible transition from a troubled yout…
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Nerdle: The Math Game Bill Gates Loves to Play
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Today we're excited to sit down with Richard Mann, the CEO and founder of Nerdle, a math game similar to Wordle. Richard discusses the development of Nerdle, the challenges of creating math games that are fun for kids, the game's advertising model, the launch of a new game called 2D Nerdle, and the importance of user feedback. We also dive into how…
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8 Unconventional Truths I Learned in 8 Years of Entrepreneurship
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E73: Not many know it, but a lot of aspiring business owners run the risk of making expensive mistakes that could put their goals on hold before they ever take off. So, today, host Yong-Soo Chung (@YongSooChung) shares eight important things he learned over eight years of building three businesses from the ground up. He shares how to have an expone…
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BONUS: How To Earn a Living From Your Game, How Game Creators are Using AI, and more
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We're back with Joseph, Nate, and Aaron! They discuss the past 12 episodes of the podcasts, what stood out from our conversations, how game creators earn a living from their games, and the differences between creators. The conversation ends with reflections on the progress of their business, Hey Good Game, and its growth strategy in buying and buil…
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How to Build and Sell a Startup with Andrew Gazdecki, Founder and CEO of Acquire.com
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E72: When is the right time to exit a business? Sounds like a simple question, but the answer... isn't as simple. Today, host Yong-Soo (@YongSooChung) sits down with accomplished entrepreneur Andrew Gazdecki (@agazdecki), the Founder and CEO of Acquire.com. Andrew discusses the strategies behind successful exits and how to position your company to …
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Lil Snack is a new daily game platform created by Eric Berman and Travis Chen. They talk about their approach to creating a new game every day with the desire to be an app recommended by friends in text messages. They credit AI for their ability to be nimble, noting that the technology helps with the middle part of their creative process such as re…
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Don't Make These Design Mistakes: How to Build Your Brand Identity with Nate Kadlac
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E71: How do you design a personal brand that truly reflects you, stands out, and captivates your audience? Do you find yourself lost in the sea of design choices? Not sure how to align your website elements with your personal brand values? Today, host Yong-Soo (@YongSooChung) is joined by talented designer, Nate Kadlac (@kadlac). Nate will guide us…
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Kings, Pawns, and Coders: Turning Passion into Chessworld.net
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Our recent chat with the creators of ChessWorld pushes the edges on what you might know about correspondence-style Chess as a game. Tryfon (aka Kingscrusher) and his brother Nick share how maintaining ChessWorld allows them to pursue a passion for playing chess while also earning a living. They talk about how Tryfon’s enjoyment of chess guided the …
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How to Get A Free PR for Your Business with Christina Nicholson
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E70: Who doesn't like free or cheap stuff? Imagine getting more customers without spending money. Today, host Yong-Soo (@YongSooChung) is joined by an expert in PR and earned media, Christina Nicholson (@ChristinaAllDay), an award-winning journalist. Christina will discuss why small businesses should start with local media and why earned media's cr…
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The Future of Puzzle Creation with Krazydad
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Join us as we delve into Jim Bumgardner's fascinating odyssey within the realms of coding and brainteasers. We explore his profound insights on the convergence of computers, music, and puzzle creation, alongside his clever utilization of Foursquare's capabilities which paved the way for his brainchild—the acclaimed puzzle hub—KrazyDad. Our chat als…
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Million Dollar Weekend: How To Launch A Successful Business In 48 Hours with Noah Kagan, CEO of AppSumo
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E69: Imagine creating a million dollar business in just 48 hours. Today, host Yong-Soo (@YongSooChung) is joined by a special guest Noah Kagan (@noahkagan), the CEO of AppSumo.com. Noah will discuss his new book "Million Dollar Weekend" and explain how he used these strategies and tactics to build AppSumo, a near 9-figure business. On today’s episo…
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Racing Through Rabbit Holes in The Wiki Game
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The Wiki Game is a fun, web-based game that connects two random Wikipedia article links. Alex shares his journey of how he started out, using concepts like six degrees of separation to create a game involving Wikipedia articles, and how it has steadily grown over the years to around 60,000 - 80,000 unique users a month. Despite challenges like hack…
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Master the Power of Relational Capital with Jay Abraham
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E68: Ever wonder how to grow your business profits just by leveraging relationships and strategic partnerships? Today, host Yong-Soo (@YongSooChung) is privileged to have a very special guest, Jay Abraham (@RealJayAbraham), the Owner of Abraham Group and America’s Highest Paid Marketing Consultant. Jay will discuss the concept of Relational Capital…
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Modernizing a Classic Puzzle With Sven's SudokuPad
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In this episode, hosts Aaron Kardell and Joseph Rueter of the 'Hey, Good Game' podcast sit down with game developer Sven Neumann. They discuss the creation and development of Sven's SudokuPad, used by Cracking the Cryptic, his early interest in technology and gaming, as well as his vision for the platform's future. Neumann also discusses the consid…
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How to Hire the Best Operators for Your Personal HoldCo
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E67: What if I told you hiring the right operator for your PHC could supercharge your business? But get it wrong, and it could all go up in flames. Even worse, it could get swiped right from under you. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? But believe me, I've lived that story. I've spent the last four years taking notes, testing strategies, and refining my hi…
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How Abe Train's First Game Globle Went Global
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You’d be surprised how a well-established corporate worker like Abe Train started creating games for a living! From big-name companies like Tesla, General Motors and Hello Fresh, to creating his own brand and entering a niche that he loves, Abe has a great story to share behind his success. This is how a corporate worker traded his stable life to v…
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From $0 to $10M ARR in Six Months: The Growth Playbook of Hunter Hammonds, Co-Founder & CEO of Assembly Ventures
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E66: How did Assembly Ventures, from nothing but dreams and passion, pull in a crazy $10 million in less than six months? Call it nuts. Call it ambitious. Call it a crazy result. But it happened, my friend, it happened. Today, host Yong-Soo (@YongSooChung) sits down and spills the beans with Hunter Hammonds (@_hunterhammonds), the CEO and Co-Founde…
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Bridging the Word Gap: How Woogles is Revolutionizing Scrabble
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Unlock the secrets of Scrabble with Woogles creators César Del Solar and Jesse Day, who join us to discuss the power of two-letter words and parallel plays that can transform your word game skills. As we chat with these Scrabble aficionados, we uncover not only their journeys into the world of competitive Scrabble but also how their diverse backgro…
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I – We – They Framework: How I Scale My Personal HoldCo
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E65: In today's episode, I revisit and remake one of the popular episodes to date and to be honest, one of the most important concepts that all founders should know - the I – We – They Framework, which has accelerated my business growth and could do the same for yours. I'm sharing this framework that I developed to help me gain clarity on what I ne…
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Behind the Success of KenKen: An Interview with Robert Fuhrer
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Robert Fuhrer explores his years-long journey in the toy and game industry in this interview. He reminisces about the many experiences that shaped his career from early exposure to the toy industry, his first creation, his various partnerships and ventures and how he ended up being the owner of the popular puzzle game, KenKen. His journey reflects …
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How to Build and Scale Your Business: 11-Slide Business Plan with Brandon White
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E64: In the world of startups, everyone wants that magic formula to get their business off the ground and scaling fast. But all too often, business plans end up as complicated, unwieldy documents that feel overwhelming to create and follow. Today, host Yong-Soo (@YongSooChung) goes behind the scenes with Brandon White (@BrandonCWhite). He generousl…
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Horror, Puzzles, and Pragmatism: The Improbable Journey of CineNerdle
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Step into the shadowy corridors of game development with our esteemed guest, Nilanth Yogadasan, the creative genius behind the eerie yet addictive games, CineNerdle and CineNerdle 2. His games reach over 30,000 daily players, and over 15 million games played. Our conversation takes a deep dive into Nilanth's inspiration, drawing heavily from his pa…
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