Paul Kurowski's guest appearances

Paul Kurowski

Elite Game Developers Podcast

Eric Goldberg

Matthew Ryan

Paul Murphy

Josh Buckley

Nat Eliason

Richard Kim

Susana Meza Graham

David Gardner

Simon Hill

Sebastiaan Heijne

Karoliina Korppoo

Simon Davis

Jeferson Valadares

Celia Hodent

Nick Kneuper

OwlTail

Robin Squire

Today we have a true first-time founder story. I’m talking with Robin Squire and Paul Kurowski. Robin is the CEO and Paul the Creative Director of Black Block, a new games company working on an open-world game, in Helsinki, Finland. Highlights from the discussion: Paul believes that the stars aligned and that’s how the eventually got the chance to work on their own company. Robin says that working in a small games company is like baptism by fire, learning as much as possible. At the early stage of the company, timing is important. At GDC, the company was launched and the pitch was ready. Never drop the ball on financials and logistics. Robin consumes lots of podcasts to learn, also has gotten reading tips from VCs, incl. the Venture Deals book. Ambition level is aligned with the game that they are making. Since it's an open-world game, the idea already makes the company very ambitious. Going after an open-world MMO: Paul has always been fascinated about these games, and with this team, they believe they can bring it into mobile. Breaking it into smaller pieces and seeing how it flies. Understanding the market: open-world in the new platforms, there's games like Agar.io, little multiplayer experiences, cross-platform, Robin and Paul are going after that kind of a game, taking it to the next level. How to hire: Since it's hard to get the best talent to a new games company, the guys are planning on looking for trainees, people who don't have gaming experiences. Getting diverse people in, who would bring different perspectives to the work. Hiring tips: need to know what kind of roles you want, people who are the right fit. The guys want to be smart about experimenting things in their games. It's important to learn and iterate fast. Founder advice: If you have the gut feeling of doing a startup, you should do it.

<p>Today we have a true first-time founder story. I’m talking with Robin Squire and Paul Kurowski. Robin is the CEO and Paul the Creative Director of Black Block, a new games company working on an open-world game, in Helsinki, Finland. Highlights from the discussion: Paul believes that the stars aligned and that’s how the eventually got the chance to work on their own company. Robin says that working in a small games company is like baptism by fire, learning as much as possible. At the early stage of the company, timing is important. At GDC, the company was launched and the pitch was ready. Never drop the ball on financials and logistics. Robin consumes lots of podcasts to learn, also has gotten reading tips from VCs, incl. the Venture Deals book. Ambition level is aligned with the game that they are making. Since it's an open-world game, the idea already makes the company very ambitious. Going after an open-world MMO: Paul has always been fascinated about these games, and with this team, they believe they can bring it into mobile. Breaking it into smaller pieces and seeing how it flies. Understanding the market: open-world in the new platforms, there's games like <a href="http://Agar.io" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Agar.io</a>, little multiplayer experiences, cross-platform, Robin and Paul are going after that kind of a game, taking it to the next level. How to hire: Since it's hard to get the best talent to a new games company, the guys are planning on looking for trainees, people who don't have gaming experiences. Getting diverse people in, who would bring different perspectives to the work. Hiring tips: need to know what kind of roles you want, people who are the right fit. The guys want to be smart about experimenting things in their games. It's important to learn and iterate fast. Founder advice: If you have the gut feeling of doing a startup, you should do it.</p>

EGD 004: Robin Squire and Paul Kurowski, Co-Founders of Black Block