Venture Capitalists & video games - Thoughts on Reassessing a Business Plan.

        There comes a time when you start to think about the information you've gleaned from others. In particular, my last blog post on Venture Capital companies Lightspeed and Joystick got me thinking – what have I learned, and what can I put to use in my own business plans? Of course, plans aren't just about you – but those who might invest in you, which begs its own question – what might be important to them, as well.

         While there's a lot to be learned, certainly a few things spring to mind in the whole affair of the business plan – discovery and cross-promotion. An article from Lightspeed Venture Partners at Gamasutra, goes over some of these pertinent topics, with regard to investing in gaming companies. In this market climate, it's important to have a business model that involves user acquisition backed by cross promotion. Since the social and mobile gaming markets are stil

l in their relative infancy, but quickly maturing, kit's important to find methods to overcome saturation, and improve total market retention. After researching Lightspeed Venture Partners, Jeremy Liew and other experts, such as Andrea Cockerton, a pitch expert, the consensus is relatively similar between them – you've got to stand out, either by the ingenuity of your product/service, or by capitalizing on a portion of market that wants or needs what you have.

Venture Capital money helps build dreams

         For my own business plan, restructuring portions of it to have a focus on cross-promotion benefits, both with similar products of my own, and/or products/services of affiliates, feels pertinent. Additionally, Focusing on core elements that are likely to excite investors (i.e. Paid acquisition, user retention, life expectancy-per-game increase via premium content services) is something that is likely to improve the overall effectiveness of the gaming business plan for an investor reading it. If anything, Lloyd Melnick's article at Quora on the secrets of monetization is a major eye-opener. Regardless of the kind of games you might release, getting the most out of your products and services is something everyone can appreciate. 

 

Ouya Kickstarter - $8.6 million can't be wrong, can it?

         There's ultimately a clear need to focus more on the product/service than just the marketing and branding of the company, within my video game business plan. Using the aforementioned content to help redirect my focus will help bring together a far more useful video game business plan. If anything, it's got a good start, focusing on – as Grace Davis, CEO and Founder of Omega Environmental Technologies puts it – selling relationships, not products – as a core of the branding process of the company. Certainly not a bad place to begin filling in. There's, however, always crowdfuning – a fare less scrutinizing and controlling sector for venture funds. After all, if the Ouya, which obtained almost 8.6 million from its Kickstarter campaign - a mini console vying for space in a veritable landscape of console super powers, can do it, then well, there's no reason not to keep that as a viable option for funding.