show episodes
 
A podcast offering conversations with a diverse group of SaaS leaders from around the world who share lessons they learned at various stages of their business. You’ll hear stories from bootstrapped and VC-funded founders, c-suite executives, and developers that will inspire new growth strategies in your own business. This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for SaaS and software, FastSpring lets you reduce your payments, subscriptions, ...
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show series
 
Today Ed Fries joins us on the pod. Ed is a long-time veteran of gaming, having founded Microsoft Game Studios, and been there at the birth of Xbox. He is now a founder of 1Up Ventures which funds and supports independent game developers globally. Ed tells us about his early days in gaming, which actually started in high school on an Atari 800! Aft…
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Conversation with brandiD’s Founder and CEO Rachel Gogos about how SaaS leaders can build personal brands that drive connection, credibility, and growth. Your personal brand is more than a polished LinkedIn profile — it’s how you stand out, connect with customers, and build long-term credibility as a founder or executive. But how do you create an a…
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Kieran Donovan is the CEO and co-founder of k-ID, the first-of-its-kind global compliance engine designed to make online safety and privacy seamless for kids, teens, game developers, and parents alike. With a decade of experience at the forefront of data protection and online safety, Kieran has advised major online platforms and been named Privacy …
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Conversation with Nexus CEO Justin Sacks introducing the FastSpring and Nexus web shop integration. If you're looking for one of the fastest ways to launch your D2C channel, you may be interested in hearing more about the incredibly easy-to-implement solution offered through a partnership with D2C payment platform FastSpring and creator program in …
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Conversation with oeksound CEO Hannes Andersson about taking an audio plugins business global. When the first oeksound plugin, Soothe, was created in 2016, creator Olli Keskinen and his friend Hannes Andersson were studying music technology to become recording engineers. And as Hannes puts it, they weren’t in the plugin industry or experienced with…
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Asaf Gazit is the co-founder and CEO of Ludeo, a groundbreaking platform that’s reshaping the way players engage with video games. Founded alongside his brother, Ludeo was built with a bold vision: to remove the friction in gaming and make discovering and jumping into new games as seamless as scrolling through TikTok. Drawing on their lifelong pass…
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Today Daryl Ogden and Mike Merrill speak with Lizzie Mintus, founder of the boutique placement firm Here’s Waldo, now celebrating their 4-year anniversary. Lizzie explains how an off-handed conversation led her to a career in recruiting and to eventually founding her own firm, one based in the deeply customer-centric experience that she learned in …
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Zoe Curnoe is the founder and executive coach at Lumina Leadership, a boutique executive coaching and training firm. With over 20 years of leadership experience at companies like Electronic Arts, Riot Games, The Coalition (an Xbox studio), and co-founding Timbre Games, Zoe specializes in helping leaders navigate complex challenges and drive meaning…
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Conversation with Here’s Waldo Recruiting’s Founder and CEO Lizzie Mintus about how to compete with large brands to recruit the best talent. If you're running a smaller digital business, you may find it challenging to hire great talent. Larger technology companies can pay more, offer more benefits, and provide a more marketable brand on a candidate…
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Vishal Punwani is the CEO and co-founder of SoWork, the world’s first generative AI-enhanced virtual workplace platform. Founded at Harvard's Innovation Labs, SoWork transforms team productivity and collaboration by seamlessly integrating work tools, social spaces, and gamification. As businesses adapt to hybrid and remote-first environments, Visha…
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David Vogelpohl is the Chief Marketing Officer at FastSpring, a platform enabling direct-to-consumer (D2C) monetization for video games and digital products. With over two decades of experience in digital strategy and e-commerce, David offers valuable insights into creating meaningful player relationships, navigating platform regulations, and build…
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Conversation with Flippa CEO Blake Hutchison about Flippa and selling a SaaS or digital product business. If you own a SaaS or other digital product business — such as a Slack plugin, Chrome extension, online publishing business, mobile app, or even a blog — and you’re looking to exit, you may have a lot of questions about how best to go about it. …
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Kicking off a new year of pods, Daryl Ogden speaks with Tanya Short, the co-founder and creative director of Kitfox Games. Tanya and Daryl dig into how her team accomplishes so much with limited resources, notably a very tight team of studio members. In addition to developing games like “Streets of Fortuna” & “Boyfriend Dungeon”, Kitfox serves as a…
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Nicola Mizon is the co-founder of VIZTA DGTL, a Berlin-based game studio on a mission to reshape the intersection of gaming, fashion, and commerce. She is passionate about creating engaging, inclusive experiences that redefine industry norms. In this episode, she discusses the evolution of fashion gaming, opportunities for brand collaborations, and…
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Rich Vogel is an award-winning executive producer with over 25 years of experience in the gaming industry. Today, he is the founder and studio head of T-Minus Zero. Before this, Rich built and led three major studios—Sony Online Entertainment Austin, Bioware Austin, and Bethesda Game Studio Battle Cry—together generating an impressive $3 billion in…
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Conversation with Nexus CEO Justin Sacks about earning 50% or more of your game’s revenue via D2C sales. With changes to legislation in the EU and lawsuits in the U.S., the future of monetizing your game direct to consumer looks brighter than ever. That said, you might be wondering what strategies work within the confines of today's rules and if it…
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Daryl Ogden is the co-founder of Valued Cultures, a startup dedicated to building healthy, sustainable, and innovative cultures in the gaming industry. With over a decade of experience advising leaders from top Fortune 500 companies and iconic game studios, Daryl is an expert in aligning leadership, investing in talent, and navigating critical tran…
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Peter Nagy is a prominent figure in the video game industry and a pioneer in Central Europe and Slovakia’s game development ecosystem. As the co-founder of Slovakia's oldest game development studio, Games Farm, Nagy brings over 20 years of experience in creating engaging, story-driven RPG games. He is also the founder of Grindstone, the country’s f…
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In this episode, Lizzie Mintus interviews Kevin Johnson, Director of Development at Double Fine Productions (now part of Xbox Games Studios), about his journey through the game industry and his role in fostering the studio’s collaborative and innovative culture. Kevin takes us behind the scenes of the making of Psychonauts 2, sharing how the team b…
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When you take on the head role of a studio in the wake of the founders departing, how do you not only maintain the “DNA” of the studio, but even build upon it? That is the challenge that Ninja Theory Studio Head Dom Matthews explores with our own Daryl Ogden. Dom started out thinking he wanted to be a sports agent, but quickly found himself pursuin…
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Jen MacLean, co-founder and CEO of a new studio, Dragon Snacks Games, is building social role-playing experiences that resonate with younger audiences. Formerly Xbox's General Manager of Creator Partnerships, she managed top partner relationships and co-led content strategies. With a passion for gaming, she also held senior roles in game developmen…
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Nancy MacIntyre is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of leadership in the gaming and digital entertainment industry. She has an outstanding track record, having launched over 100 games, including 11 No. 1 titles, collectively generating more than $2 billion in revenue. Nancy has held pivotal roles at top companies such as LeapFrog, LucasArts,…
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Robin Lavallée is the CEO and Co-Founder of Implicit Conversions, a company dedicated to bringing nostalgic games back to life by porting beloved classics to modern consoles using cutting-edge emulation technology. Their innovative software ensures that timeless games run seamlessly on today’s platforms like the PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Swit…
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Conversation with FastSpring Product Manager Sudipto Manna about using targeted payment methods to achieve global growth. As you work to expand your SaaS, software, mobile games, or other digital product business worldwide, having the right payment methods available to global customers is key to ensuring they all feel comfortable purchasing. But ju…
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How does a gamemaker’s gamemaker transition to being a builder of an organization that cultivates studios? That is the story of Matt Booty, a veteran gamemaker–starting with pinball machines at Midway in Chicago before he moved on to Xbox in Seattle. He now serves as President of Game Content & Studios at Xbox where he oversees the dozens of games …
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In this episode of the Here's Waldo Podcast, Lizzie Mintus sits down with Anton Bernstein, the CEO and founder of Pocket Worlds, the fast-growing Y Combinator-backed company that has connected over 45 million users and 10,000 creators through shared virtual experiences. Pocket Worlds is the parent company behind two major platforms: High Rise and E…
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In this episode of the Here's Waldo Podcast, Lizzie Mintus chats with William Schmitt, the Head of Studio at Proof of Play, a company on a mission to shepherd games into Web3's on-chain universe through uncompromisingly fun games. With over 32 years in the gaming industry, William has held key leadership roles at Disney Interactive, Scopely, THQ, A…
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Joe Schaeppi is the CEO and co-founder of Solsten and is on a mission to fundamentally change the way that humans connect. With a strong background in psychology, he leverages his expertise in human behavior and motivation—gained from leading UX strategy at McCann and his impactful work as an adventure-based psychotherapist—Joe is pioneering the us…
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We’re back for Season 2 of the Valued Cultures Podcast, and we’re welcoming Julian Maroda, co-Founder and CEO of Norsfell, a Montréal studio with a mission to forge new genres that bring people together. The studio’s best-known game, Tribes of Midgard, is enjoyed by over 4.5 million players. Julian speaks with our co-Founder, Daryl Ogden, about his…
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Garrett Young is a 25+ year game industry veteran who led development teams at major companies, including Microsoft, Activision, Disney, and Id Software, contributing to the creation of iconic franchises such as DOOM, Quake, and Rage. He also played a pivotal role in launching the Forza Motorsport and Project Gotham Racing franchises, along with de…
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Heidi Vogel is a seasoned entrepreneur with over five companies under her belt, and today she shares her incredible journey from tech pioneer to gaming innovator. As a mother of four, she faced challenges managing her children's digital playground, which inspired her to develop GuardianGamer's monitoring solution. Her latest venture, GuardianGamer …
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John Goodale was employee #60 at Unity in 2010, where he launched and rapidly expanded Unity Asia. Under his leadership, he transformed Unity into the preferred platform for game developers across the region, driving exceptional growth and establishing the company as a dominant force in the gaming industry. Having also held key positions at Sega an…
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Chris Quaidoo is the Content Acquisition Lead at Carry1st, a leading African mobile games publisher backed by investors like Bitcraft and A16Z. He's also a Venture Partner at Griffin Gaming Partners and hosts Venture Games, a podcast where he interviews key players in gaming and venture capital. Tune in to this episode of the Here's Waldo Podcast t…
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Sami Ramly, founder of Echo Chunk AI and creator of the viral game Echo Chess, takes us on a journey from his early days learning chess at just 3 years old to the development of Echo Chess—a viral puzzle game that combines chess mechanics with real-time AI-driven obstacles. Recently, he raised $1.4M pre-seed to take Echo Chess and his vision for th…
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Conversation with FastSpring Senior Account Executive Jay Jia about expanding a digital goods company in Asia. If your business is based in the APAC region and you’re focused on expanding into new areas, there are a lot of common challenges to face and questions to ask about the best way to do that. On this episode of Growth Stage, we interview Jay…
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Neel Upadhye is an award-winning writer, director, and transmedia storyteller with over 15 years of experience in the video game industry. After starting as an assistant editor, he rose to become the marketing creative director at Electronic Arts (EA), where he played pivotal roles in marketing and narrative development. His contributions included …
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We’re entering a new era where games can be prescribed as part of medical treatment or used to train doctors more effectively than traditional lectures. In this episode, join host Lizzie Mintus and guest Noah Falstein, who was among the first 10 employees at Lucasfilm Games (later known as LucasArts), and has also worked with 3DO and DreamWorks Int…
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If you're a fan of Diablo I, Diablo II, and Battle.net, don't miss our latest episode featuring David Brevik, a 33-year gaming industry veteran behind these legendary titles and services. David takes us on a journey through his career, from co-founding Condor Inc., which later became Blizzard North, to the original Diablo pitch and its iconic seque…
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Fun fact: Mark Subotnick, aka "Bot," began as an SF club promoter in the '80s-'90s before starting his game industry career in 1993 as a QA tester at SEGA of America, earning $9/hr. A longtime gaming and technology executive, Mark is renowned for his key roles at Intel, Microsoft, and SEGA, spanning multiple generations of technological innovation.…
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Michael Fridley is the CEO and studio director of Squanch Games. He has contributed to many titles since he started in the industry 26 years ago, including The Elder Scrolls, Morrowind and Oblivion, Fallout 3, Reckoning, Call of Cthulhu, PGA Tour, NBA Live, Dragonvale, and most recently Squanch Games' hit game, High on Life- the largest third-party…
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Conversation with Sr. Product Marketing Manager Braden Steel of FastSpring. Is your product marketing team struggling to coordinate marketing resources to support an endless stream of product launches, with vague release dates and a chorus of product managers demanding tons of marketing attention for each release? What if there were a better way? I…
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Sid Dhulipalla is the CEO and co-founder of Hathora, the server orchestration platform powering Frost Giant Studios' new game, Stormgate. In this episode, listeners get a glimpse of Sid's journey transitioning from engineering management roles at Databricks and Palantir Technologies to founding Hathora. He also shares insights into the interplay be…
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Tim Morten is the CEO and Production Director of Frost Giant Studios. From his early days at Activision in 1994 to leading major teams at EA and Blizzard, Tim has seen it all. Now, he’s steering Frost Giant Studios as they launch their highly anticipated RTS game, Stormgate, which is now available for Early Access! Stormgate builds on the legacy of…
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Conversation with Gamesight Founder and CEO Adam Lieb about developing a winning KPI strategy for video game marketing. With so many marketing channels to manage to promote your game, combined with the complexity of monetizing your games on multiple platforms, in PC marketplaces, or even D2C via your own webshop, your head might be spinning keeping…
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David Elton brings nearly three decades of expertise in the game industry, having worked with top studios like Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Zynga, and Capcom. He has held diverse roles from Vice President - Product to Creative Director, contributing to a wide array of titles from Microsoft's Solitaire to iconic franchises like Need For Speed and SSX…
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Yonatan Raz-Fridman is the CEO and founder of Supersocial, Inc., a pioneering studio that builds boundary-pushing virtual worlds on immersive social platforms like Roblox. Roblox is the most engaging platform on the Internet, with its 72 million daily active users spending an average of 2.4 hours per day—three times more than TikTok and five times …
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Conversation with Sahil Patel, CEO of Spiralyze, about B2B CRO and A/B testing. The most common examples of successful CRO tactics provided at many conferences tend to focus on B2C ecommerce, but what are the proven winning tactics you can use in your B2B CRO strategy? In this episode of Growth Stage, we interview Sahil Patel of Spiralyze about his…
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Justin Sacks has worn many hats in his 15+ years in the game industry—from competitive gamer to content creator to leading business development for a global multimedia game company. Today, he serves as the CEO of Nexus, a platform specializing in building and managing creator programs for the world's top live service games. Nexus provides a compreh…
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Ethan Evans is a career development expert dedicated to helping professionals overcome career blockages and advance to the next level. After retiring as VP from Amazon, where he built Prime Gaming, managed Amazon's first game studio, and contributed to Twitch, he shifted his focus to paying forward his good fortune by assisting clients from top US …
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Shawn Foust is the Co-founder and COO of Fortis Games, a global game studio with a mission to create worlds that matter – that challenge minds, build connections, and inspire communities. Before founding Fortis, Shawn was VP of Central Operations at WB Games after its acquisition of PlexChat, which he co-founded and led as CEO. Prior to that, he se…
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