Matin Macmillan presentation from GDC San Francisco 2015on Alternative funding for game developers

1. ALTERNATIVE FUNDING FOR GAME DEVS
GDC SAN FRANCISCO - FEB 2015

2. PollenVC - GDC San Francisco 2015 2
THE REALITY IS THAT
YOU NEED TO SUPPORT
YOUR GAME LAUNCH
WITH PAID UA
Everyone knows the stories about a few games that just go viral with
no promotion. For the 99.9% of all other games and apps launched,
it’s necessary to spend to acquire users.

3. 3
THE FUNDING GAP…
LAUNCH
You’re earning money from day 1
This is your money
trapped in the payment system
Apple Releases
your cash
PollenVC - GDC San Francisco 2015

4. PollenVC - GDC San Francisco 2015

5. 5
HOW DEVS FUND USER ACQUISITION
Venture Capital
Using equity financing from
yourVC is expensive and
dilutive (and they don’t like
it…)
Publisher
The developer can’t afford
to fund UA on their own so
they look for a publisher
and give up a rev share.
Credit Card
High growth or long tail
developers don’t meet the
credit parameters for ad
networks, so relegated to
pre-paying. Doesn’t work in
high growth scenarios.
Err… Not at all…
So many times, the funding
gap means that great apps
and games never see the
limelight as devs cannot
afford to promote
effectively.
PollenVC - GDC San Francisco 2015

6. 6
MONETISATION ACQUISITION SUCCESS
SUCCESS FORMULA
PollenVC - GDC San Francisco 2015

7. 7
It’s not just the cash,
it’s what you can
do with it.
7
REINVEST DIRECTLY
INTO PROMOTION
ACQUIRE MORE USERS
ACCESS FUNDING BASED
ON DAILY SALES
PollenVC - GDC San Francisco 2015

8. 8
TYPICAL LAUNCH SCENARIO
DOWNLOADS
LAUNCH
Downloads
PollenVC - GDC San Francisco 2015

9. 9
TYPICAL LAUNCH SCENARIO
LAUNCH
REVENUE
Revenue
PollenVC - GDC San Francisco 2015

10. 10
TYPICAL LAUNCH SCENARIO
LAUNCH
Fail to get
credit with
ad networks
Can’t
reinvest to
acq more
users
You get
paid by
Apple
DOWNLOADS REVENUE
Revenue/Downloads
PollenVC - GDC San Francisco 2015

11. 11
LOWER YOUR EFFECTIVE CPI
BY REINVESTING WHEN
YOU ARE RIDING HIGH…
PollenVC - GDC San Francisco 2015

12. 12
YOUR GAME
FUNDS ITS OWN UA
PollenVC - GDC San Francisco 2015

13. THANK YOU
@martinmacmillan