notes on social gaming

i’m currently at echelon 2010, and they keynote by bret terrill this morning was pretty interesting. i captured a few notes that i wanted to post here, mostly for my own benefit.

  • zynga – fastest growing firm kleiner perkins has ever invested in
  • big vision – the google for games, the place you go to play games
  • zynga’s advantage is execution
  • they just hire people from the top of their class and push – these are natural achievers
  • farmville was an aggregation of farm town (from china), lil green patch (gifting) and a few other ideas, most coming from china
  • farmville was built in 5 weeks
  • raise money because you need it, because the opportunity is big and because you need to get there quickly
  • sad animals that need your friends’ help drive usage
  • biz model & most concepts came out of asia
  • opportunity – go onto other platforms & get there fast
  • take good concepts, copy & execute quickly. QUICKLY!!!
  • speed is more important than IP protection
  • per mark pincus: prioritize + focus = the keys to being a great CEO