Lester
@Chen • 29,513 subscribers
partner @a16z @speedrun | design, story, video, creators
Shorts
Videos
every early-stage startup needs attention. your weekend vibecoded website isn't cutting it you watch videos but don't know how to make one 'new media' seems distant, inaccessible you can't tell your story, so others won't either. here at speedrun we've designed brand, story, and launch programs to help fix this. if you're still considering applying, I'd love to work with you later this year. DMs always open to founders or creatives looking to work with us.
Lester111,102 Aufrufe • vor 5 Monaten
My full interview with Tom & Tony Cannon - Founders of EVO, Shoryuken, GGPO, Radiant Entertainment, and current leads on 2XKO. 0:00 - Intro 1:59 - Early Life: Games & Programming 5:20 - Arcade Culture, Forums, and Rivalries 9:55 - The Birth of Local Tournaments 14:50 - The Business of EVO 17:31 - The Genius Marketing of 'Moment 37' 20:01 - The Power of Community 22:44 - "The CRT TV Heist" 29:06 - GGPO and Online Play 34:52 - Founding a Game Studio (Radiant) 38:37 - Game Recognize Game: Riot Acquisition 44:03 - Riot's Influence on 2XKO 50:45 - Conclusion Thank you Tom Cannon and Tony Cannon for sharing your stories with me. Absolute legends. Also big shout to Riot Games 2XKO Evo and the entire FGC for the support!
Lester99,861 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
attention is currency. distribution matters. every founder has a story, and today's stories are videos. We've built several a16z speedrun 🧊 programs to help founders become better storytellers: 1) brand lab: we offer cost-effective design services to take your brand from 0-1: decks, logos, typography, colors, websites, and more. 2) launch lab: video is hard. talking to a camera for the first time sucks. we offer studio spaces for founders to level up their product demos, client-facing videos, and more. we also offer up a network of videographers, production teams, and creatives to build your launch+ strategy. 3) creator connect & press club: we've built data-backed systems to help connect you with both top creators and UGC/ambassadors. additionally, we help early-stage founders who don't yet have street cred get in front of the newest media outlets. Whether you're a seasoned creative with design chops or have no idea what 'marketing' is, we encourage you to apply. applications close this weekend.
Lester62,406 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
Dropping my 55-minute interview with Tom and Tony Cannon (Tom Cannon / Tony Cannon) TOMORROW! The brothers were Founders of Evo, rollback networking tech (GGPO), community site Shoryuken, Radiant Entertainment (acq. Riot Games) and current developers of 2XKO. Their legacy and impact on the FGC is remarkable - all fueled by a deep understanding of their community. Can't wait to share it with you all...
Lester76,475 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
My full interview with Allen Adham, Co-Founder of Blizzard Entertainment, game developer, and industry pioneer. 0:00 - Intro 1:20 - "I wanted to be a chocolate maker" 2:23 - A son of immigrant entrepreneurs 4:10 - Mentorship: Brian Fargo (Interplay/Fallout) 5:40 - The Crazy Story of Meeting Mike Morhaime 7:00 - The Inception of Blizzard 8:30 - What motivated Allen to start a company 9:50 - Blizzard’s Game Dev Philosophy 12:15 - IP Development "Common Folklore" 15:24 - Hiring: The Most Important Question 21:11 - Finding creative inspiration? 24:44 - The Game of Finance 26:35 - "My biggest mistake in life" 28:53 - How did you go back to Blizzard? 30:42 - What were the biggest changes? 33:29 - Leaving Blizzard (again) + The Future 36:11 - Advice for Gaming Founders
Lester64,498 Aufrufe • vor 2 Jahren
Speedrun Founder Profile: Austin, Vatsal, & Ankit Two brothers and their childhood friend Cold applied to speedrun (SR006) Left frontier labs and big tech to start Modern Industrials Three months later they closed their round and are heading back home to build. Their story:
Lester15,606 Aufrufe • vor 4 Monaten
My full interview with Forest Willard Forest, Programmer & Co-Founder of Innersloth 🦥. We cover so many topics that should be interesting to new game devs and founders: -From player, to programmer, to game developer -Tinkering, prototypes, and "finding the fun" -The importance of complimentary co-founders (Puff hehe)! -Early Among Us development inspiration -"You're making two games" (Single vs Multiplayer) I was blown away to learn that at one point development nearly stopped on Among Us! Hearing how Forest describes that time is why I wanted to create "Win Conditions" -- luck is the residue of "hard work"!
Lester42,819 Aufrufe • vor 2 Jahren
The original designers of VALORANT had never made an FPS title. Of the 13 team members, there was a 6-6 tie between choosing Action vs. Tac Shooter, 1 vote remained. Jon Lai and I sat with Stephen Lim and Trevor Romleski to discuss the 5+ yrs developing VALORANT. Link👇
Lester46,326 Aufrufe • vor 3 Jahren
My full interview with Jaeho Hwang (Jaeho Hwang), Game Director of Dave the Diver. "If Dave the Diver can do it, anyone can do it." 0:00 - Intro 1:26 - Making friends through games 4:30 - College & Early Career 7:01 - Moving to the United States 10:51 - Jaeho's first Startup 15:11 - Return to NEXON 20:56 - Assembling the perfect team 21:42 - Understanding Scope 22:45 - Identifying Risk 23:57 - IP & Storytelling 28:48 - Shipping Dave the Diver 29:39 - Early Access & Community Interaction 32:55 - How to Collaborate with other IP 34:41 - Humor in videogames 36:12 - Reflections 39:56 - Advice to New Developers
Lester32,610 Aufrufe • vor 2 Jahren
Dropping my 38-minute interview with Forest Willard (Forest), Co-Founder of Innersloth later this week. Forest's approach to designing games, company building, and team culture has one common theme - keep it small. Nearly a decade since Innersloth 🦥's inception, the team has gone on to ship a VR game, a fund for indies (Outersloth), an upcoming TV show, and more titles yet to be announced. I'm excited to share Forest's journey!
Lester16,566 Aufrufe • vor 2 Jahren
Launching our new speedrun YouTube Channel today! We've hosted some legends from companies like Figma, Doordash, Adobe, Quora, Zynga, Carta, Google, and Twilio and will be posting highlights from these chats on a weekly basis. Here's a snippet from our kickoff ft. Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸
Lester11,574 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
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