Joakim Achren

There are several questions that I ask from founders before investing. Many of these are related to human psychology: - Have you had any entrepreneurial experiences in life, and what did you learn from them?- What have you learned from failure in your life?- Why are you doing this startup and not something else?These questions help to understand the founder's ambition, motivation, and preparation for the long, hard road ahead.

What's one early investment I passed on that I regret, and what did it teach me? In 2021, a US-based startup was developing avatar tech with a somewhat experienced team. I passed on investing because I felt there was no real business in B2B avatar services.Twelve months later, the company was acquired by a tech giant with an 8X multiple of the valuation that I could have invested in.What did I learn?- I quickly dismissed the opportunity for their product in the market. It's too small, I thought. With further analysis, I could have understood the underlying potential and the appetite of tech giants to do M&A in the space.- I should have consulted other angel investors and VCs who were investing in the round. Back then, I felt like I needed to develop a conviction to invest on my […]

The best way to balance short- and long-term rewards as an investor is to first be a founder. For me, the craving for short-term returns was extinguished as I struggled to get my first startup off the ground. After starting in 2005, it took until 2010 for us to finally become profitable. Then, a year later, our numbers started sloping down, and we tried everything to recover, ultimately shutting down in August 2011.With my next startup, which launched in 2013, it took three years to reach profitability, which was sustainable until an exit some years later.As an investor, I only view startups through the long-term lens.

Here they are, under Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TVydG6SeDNXnwnbii4jpp1cBQ-npgCfL

People often ask me about angel investors in the games industry. I can usually name a dozen folks, mostly previous founders or executives in the field. However, these individuals are constantly bombarded with inbound deals and often aren't consistently active in angel investing. While some might be full-time investors, the truth is that the games industry lacks well-known, dedicated angel investors. In this post, I want to share a strategy for new game founders who lack a broad network but have something compelling for potential investors. I call it "creating your own angel investors." Searching for angel investors on social media or LinkedIn won't yield many results because people rarely advertise this role. Yet, many industry professionals are open to angel investing if given the opportunity. From 2020 to 2023, I ran an angel syndicate with over 200 game industry […]

I was recently asked about the indie PC game publishing space and why no Voodoo-like company exists in the PC gaming ecosystem. It's a great question, and I wanted to spend some time thinking about it. A note for those unfamiliar with Voodoo: Voodoo is a French company that popularized the rapid development and testing of hyper-casual mobile games in the late 2010s. They developed games ready to ship in just a few weeks, then relied on early KPIs to determine if they were engaging the audience and generating a return on ad spend. If the results were positive, they'd continue development and invest more in user acquisition. So why doesn't this rapid development model exist in PC gaming? There are several factors, but the key one is the current distribution method for PC games. Steam dominates the PC gaming […]

After receiving considerable feedback on my consumer app piece from March, I am compelled to address the growing interest in incorporating TikTok-like elements into gaming experiences and vice versa. With TikTok dominating social media, game developers are seeking ways to bring gaming into this new realm of content consumption. But first, let's break down the factors that make TikTok successful. TikTok's success lies in its doom-scrolling interface, which doesn't require a social graph. Instead, the algorithm focuses on watch time; the longer you view a specific type of video, the more of those videos you'll be served in the future. This platform couldn't have existed before now—it's tailored for a generation that grew up with smartphones and touchscreen interfaces. "In previous eras, most of the spoils went to the platform’s earliest adopters - mining value gets harder as the platform […]

This is interesting from Carta. It shows what kind of valuation caps are happening with SAFE notes in 2023. A few observations:- Sub $500K rounds are happening with a dilution of 10% or less (light blue most significant segment $5M-$7.5M)- This feels more reflecting the pre-seed and seed market of the US than Europe, where founders still are diluted by 20%-25%- Many things point out that seed is not as affected by a down market (e.g., $1M to $2M at $10M-$15M is normal from 2021)

I cannot show you the exact path, but I can point you in the right direction. The longer I've been a startup investor, the more evident it becomes where game company pitches fail: it's when you pitch a game, not a company. A typical deck introduces the company as slide number one, preceded by a team slide. Then, the deck deep dives into the game pitch and never emerges. Why is that not a good thing? First, if the game fails, the company will have an identity crisis; its whole existence was built on the idea of the game working. As a second point, a game's success is often only possible to know after it's launched. Many variables, often unknown ones, will cause a perfect game to not work in the market. If the game is still in early development, […]

When evaluating an investment, I often ask: Is this company suited for the VC-backed path? For early-stage investors, a major risk is determining whether a follow-on VC will invest in the company down the line. While some startups may never need additional funding, this is the exception rather than the rule—99% of startups that raise pre-seed and survive will require further capital.Let's approach this from first principles:1) Will a later-stage investor give money to this company in 18-24 months?2) What conditions or milestones need to be met for that fundraising to take place in 18-24 months?3) What actions need to be taken now to ensure this happens?4) Is this team capable of executing these actions with the capital and resources available to them?

Tips for founders looking for angel investors: 😇 Create your own angel investors. Not many people say on their social media profiles that they are angel investors. But many industry professionals could be up to angel investing, so just ask!📚 Do your research. Many angel investors are out there, but it's important to find ones who are a good fit for your company. Free-to-play? Find Free-to-play people. Premium? Find premium people.🖥️ Be prepared to pitch your company. Angel investors are busy people, so you need to be able to give them a concise and persuasive pitch.💪 Be clear about what you're looking for. Angel investors want to know what you need the money for, how you plan to use it, and what other support you are looking for.

Here is a quick list of things that founders should do when starting to fundraise: 1. Does my pitch resonate?Ask founders who've previously raised in your sector about your chances of raising. Don't know anyone like that? Do cold outreach to founders on LinkedIn. Do many outreaches; eventually, you will find people to help you. If founders tell you your pitch won't resonate with investors, you should ask why and what could be done differently.2. Pitch resonates, then what?Create a list of VCs who specialize in your sector. Just google for "gaming vc list." Use a spreadsheet to list and track your fundraising process. I have such lists on EGD, just google for "EGD News #109 — Success in fundraising"3. Talk to actual investorsPitch a few VCs and get feedback on questions: is it the right time to raise? What […]