Keynote at arctic15 in Helsinki by wooga founder Jens Begemann on September 22nd 2011. *Frogs, hippos and weddings: Learnings from building wooga* In his keynote, Jens Begemann talks about his learnings from building wooga and provides insights of what he thinks are the key aspects for successfully founding a company.

1. +
Frogs,
hippos
and
weddings:
Learnings
from
building
wooga
Jens
Begemann
(Founder
&
CEO)

2. Remember
Jamba‘s
Crazy
Frog
§ 2001-­‐2008:
valuable
entrepreneurial
learnings
made
@Jamba
(startup
in
Berlin)
§ Best
preparaBon
for
starBng
wooga

3. wooga
–
world
of
gaming
About
wooga
Jens
Begemann
Founded
January
2009
-­‐Founder
&
CEO-­‐
Funding
of
$32m
InternaBonal
team
of
110
from
over
20
countries
in
Berlin
Key
stats
6
games
on
Facebook
40
million
acBve
users
70%
of
users
are
female
(age
20-­‐60)
3

4. Agenda
I. Founding
team
II. How
to
get
started
III. Product
development
IV. Culture
V. RecruiBng
VI. Investors
4

5. Trust,
clear
responsibiliBes
&
strenghts
Philipp
Moeser
Jens
Begemann
Co-­‐founder
&
CTO
Founder
&
CEO
5

6. FOCUS
vs.
vs.
Sales
Technology
Product
6

7. FOCUS
PRODUCT
§ NO
Biz
Dev
§ NO
Sales
7

8. Agenda
I. Founding
team
II. How
to
get
started
III. Product
development
IV. Culture
V. RecruiBng
VI. Investors
8

9. Business
Plan
9

10. Slide
fro10
m
Product
Plan:
Financial
Plan:
Nov
2008
Casual
Social
Games
Networks
Brain
training
Brain
Sport
Vision:
Become
a
major
consumer
brand
&
desBnaBon
for
social
casual
games
on
the
web
&
mobile
phones

11. Business
Plan
11

12. Have
a
vision!
„Games
for
everyone“
12

13. Important:
Product
-­‐
prototype
13

14. How
do
you
grow
customers?
-­‐
Brain
Buddies

15. 4
month
ader
launch
we
ran
out
of
wall
15

16. Maybe:
How
do
you
moneBze?
16

17. Agenda
I. Founding
team
II. How
to
get
started
III. Product
development
IV. Culture
V. RecruiBng
VI. Investors
17

18. DON‘T
follow
the
HIPPO*
*Highest
paid
person’s
opinion
Source
(Hippo):
hep://www.am.dodea.edu/bragg/murray/Images/hippo.png
18

19. A/B
tesBng
111%
100%
104%
19

20. User
tesBng
20

21. Throw
stuff
away
Success
comes
by
what
you
don‘t
do!
21

22. Agenda
I. Founding
team
II. How
to
get
started
III. Product
development
IV. Culture
V. RecruiBng
VI. Investors
22

23. 1
One
office,
one
team,
one
language
23

24. 2
OPENNESS
Share
key
informa`on
internally
24

25. 3
Geang
things
done!
✔
25

26. 4
10
year
vision
6
month
plan
Weekly
itera`ons
26

27. 5
Your
behavior
=
your
company
culture
vs.
27

28. Agenda
I. Founding
team
II. How
to
get
started
III. Product
development
IV. Culture
V. Recrui`ng
VI. Investors
28

29. RecruiBng
2h/day
for
everyone
in
senior
team
29

30. NO
compromise
Rather
leave
a
job
posiBon
open
than
employ
someone
who
doesn’t
fully
fit
30

31. Onboarding
Equally
important
Leaving
employees
Happy people talk to 10 people
!
Unhappy people talk to 100 people 31

32. Agenda
I. Founding
team
II. How
to
get
started
III. Product
development
IV. Culture
V. RecruiBng
VI. Investors
32

33. Raise
2x
what
you
need
&
Before
you
need
it
33

34. Valua`on
not
most
important
Difficulty
to
raise
next
round
!
Don‘t
forget
other
contract
terms
Be
long-­‐term
greedy
34

35. Investor
=
geong
married
Investors
=
35

36. Select
your
partner
Bad
partners
§ Don‘t understand your business
§ Cost you time instead of helping
§ Throw you out
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
36

37. Board
meeBng
checklist
Send
before
the
mee`ng:
¨ Latest
financials
incl.
re-­‐forecast
¨ „Update
on
the
business“
memo
(highly
structured
email)
¨ Clear
agenda
¨ Theme
of
the
board
meeBng
Mee`ng
every
2
months:
¨ No
slides
¨ Have
a
Bme
keeper
¨ 3
hour
meeBng:
¨ 2
hours
on
theme
of
the
board
meeBng
¨ 1
hour
on
„other“/open
discussion
37

38. I.
Founders
II.
How
to
get
started
III.
Product
development
Trust,
responsibiliBes
Product
Prototype
&
strengths
IV.
Culture
V.
Recrui`ng
VI.
Investors
Your
behavior
=
your
company
culture
2h/day

39. One
more
thing...
39

40. Get
experience
@wooga:
wooga.com/jobs
40

41. Thank
you!
Jens
Begemann
Founder
&
CEO
wooga
Twiker:
@begemann
wooga.com/jobs
41