Connect Midlands Investment Conference (CMIC)

Posted by Alan O'Dea | Filed under Business Opportunities, Events, Investors, News

I will be presenting at the Connect Midlands Investment Conference (CMIC) event so if you want to meet me just head over to the contact page and leave me a message.

Event Details

The wait is almost over. The Connect Midlands Investment Conference 2008 is virtually upon us. This year’s event, sponsored by BT Business, is set to provide an unrivalled investment showcase opportunity for the region’s most exciting investment ready companies. 

Preparation for the conference is rigorous. The 18 pre-screened companies selected to present have already run the gauntlet of several rounds of panels, training and advice. The final adjustments are now being made to ensure that their propositions are complete and compelling. CMIC has a rich history of success. Companies who have taken the stage at the conference in previous years recognise that it was an instrumental catalyst in raising significant finance for growth. Connect Midlands has assisted over 450 companies to pitch to investors and 200 have gone on to raise over £135m of investment finance.

If you are an investor, and have not yet secured your place at this year’s conference, go to www.connectshowcase.org and find out more from the dedicated micro-site.

Date/Time: 20 November, 9.00 - 4.00 PM
Location: International Events Centre, Ricoh Arena, Phoenix Way, Foleshill, Coventry, CV6 6AQ.
Website: www.connectshowcase.org

About Connect Midlands

Connect Midlands is a not-for-profit network, that supports technology and high growth companies to gain investment through training and mentoring,  investment showcasing, and networking between businesses, investors and the professional services community in the Midlands.

• Since 2001 Connect Midlands has assisted hundreds of companies who have gone on to raise over £100 million in investment.
• Connect Midlands organise up to 100 events per year including workshops and networking events, the annual Connect Midlands Investment Conference and the highly successful Connect Midlands Investment Challenge.

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Tags: Business Opportunities, Event
Read more | Comments (0) | Nov 12, 2008

Funding & Investment Summit for Casual Online Games, MMOs & Virtual Worlds

Posted by Alan O'Dea | Filed under Business Opportunities, Events, Investors, News

I will be at the Funding & Investment Summit for Casual Online Games, MMOs & Virtual Worlds event so if you want to meet me just head over to the contact page and leave me a message.

Event Details

In the current credit crisis, the only sure thing is that entertainment and new media platforms, especially games and virtual worlds - will outperform many other sectors in terms of market reach and sales. Witness this with the recent increase in sales at retail and online - and the massive injection of VC funding into Virtual Worlds over the last 12 months.

Over the last year the key areas receiving funding are online networked games and virtual worlds, whilst the new - and extended family market genre grows on the wave of green & sustainable casual games, interactive quiz shows and personal improvement titles.

Date/Time: 5th December. 1.30 - 5.30pm
Location: RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London W1B.
Website: http://www.applygroup.com/EventSite/FundingEvents.htm

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Tags: Business Opportunities, Event
Read more | Comments (0) | Nov 11, 2008

Beers & Partners Investment Fair

Posted by Alan O'Dea | Filed under Business Opportunities, Events, Investors, News

Event Details

We are pleased to say that despite all the doom and gloom we are reading every day, the Beer & Partners Investment Fair on the 4th November was a great success, with many fund seekers receiving expressions of interest on the day – all to be followed up over the coming weeks.

32 companies looking for funding had the opportunity to meet with over 100 investors. We were pleased to see that Investor appetite for a good deal has not been dampened down by the current climate, in fact, many experienced investors are seeing the current times as a great opportunity. As always the Fair was over subscribed by businesses looking for funding.

Date/Time: 4 November, 9.30 - 4.00 PM
Location: Mark Masons Hall, 86 St. James Street, London, SW1A 1PL.
Website: http://www.fundingforgrowth.co.uk/events.php

About Beers & Partners

Beer & Partners is the leading source of venture capital and business angel investment for growing SME businesses in the UK. Our contacts with Business Angels, High Net Worth private investors and secured lenders are second to none.

We understand that growing businesses need finance but also help if they are to reach their potential and they need this without fuss, with maximum discretion and at a reasonable cost.

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Tags: Business Opportunities, Event
Read more | Comments (0) | Nov 4, 2008

The Big Pitch

Posted by Alan O'Dea | Filed under Business Opportunities, Events, Investors, News

So I unveiled the business for the first time to a panel of investors at an event called The Big Pitch at Shoreditch House on September 23rd. This is the first time that anyone outside of our founders or inital investors have seen or heard about our plans for Simple Lifeforms. The event was a great success and the presentation and the business was very well received.

The Future 500

Last year I was selected to become a member of Courvoisier the Future 500. The Future 500 is an exclusive private members network for rising stars across the UK drawn from 10 diverse categories. Its members have one thing in common, they have achieved significant success in their field. The Future 500 have arranged this event to allow members to present business ideas to investors.

The Big Pitch

Part Dragon’s Den and part Business Consultancy, The Big Pitch gave Members, the opportunity to present their business to funding experts who could offer guidance on raising capital, insight into developing their business, and investment!

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Tags: Business Opportunities, Simple Lifeforms, Startup
Read more | Comments (0) | Oct 3, 2008

Starting a Games Company

Posted by Alan O'Dea | Filed under About, Business Opportunities, Games, News

I found myself reading an article entitled Starting a Games Company in Recession by Brett Terrill. The article is personally relevant as I have recently left my role as Business Development Director at Online Game, Virtual World, and Technology developer Monumental Games to form a new start-up company Simple Lifeforms.

At Monumental I worked on extremely well funded online game and virtual world projects using our globally commercialised online game development technology platform (Monumental Technology Suite). We really didn’t want for anything at Monumental. We were extremely well funded, we had an extremely talented pool of experienced game development professionals, we also had a complete MMO game development technology at hand to develop our games. On top of all that we had publishers and investors that supported us 110% in everything we did.

Some may question my sanity at leaving such a uniquely rewarding position, certainly when working at Monumental was a dream job where I got to work with an unbelievable team of people which I am glad to all call my friends. Ok you may all question my sanity but leave I did. A fundamental reason for my departure is my belief that social gaming, i.e. games that blend the best features of online games and social networks represent a massive step change and industry shift in the future development of online games.

So I now find myself at the opposite end of the game development industry. Now this is not entirely unfamiliar territory, I have run a successful Internet advertising start-up in the 90’s, Steamdriven. Simple Lifeforms is not a well funding company; we are a small start-up working from our bedrooms and homes. We have just secured our first small investment round to cover the development of a small prototype, more about that in a later post. Sure we are all experts in our field but there are less than a handful of us, a few fingers at most. We do not have a market proven technology platform with licensees around the world and multiple online game development projects across many platforms. 

Now I am sure we will get funding. We do not entirely come without contacts, partners, and allies. We are not as young as once we were and have, along with a few grey hairs picked up a few tricks so the fact we’re a start up dosn’t scare me. I think about why we’re here starting Simple Lifeforms and I believe more so than any other factor the drive to keep on working on something new, something that is at the cutting edge, and something that has the potential to either fail or succeed is why the other company founders and I are here. We belive social games has a significant future and it is always reassuring when you find others that also believe in that vision and passion, so hats off to Brett.

Staring a Games Company in Recession

Warren Buffett says that the economy in a recession. When it comes to the economy, I believe Warren Buffet. Recession is a scary word. But if you’re a social games company (or thinking about starting one), a recession may actually be a good thing.

Obviously macroeconomic factors affect tech startups, and the big and the wise are raising enough money to weather a 2-3 year drought. Most small startups are not in the position to raise 2-3 years of runway money. Instead, we have to tighten our belts or become profitable. Startups in most fields have a very low likelihood of becoming profitable, check out Jeremy Liew’s fantastic analysis on profitability in the consumer interest space.

However, profitability is not a problem in social games. Most, if not all of the top social games companies are already profitable (or would be if not for their rapid expansion plans). Many smaller, quieter players are also seeing excellent revenues, but you’ll have to take my word for it, since no one seems eager to advertise their success.

When it comes to a recession, the common wisdom is that home entertainment surges, because people feeling the pinch opt for staying home rather then the more expensive option of going out. If that holds true during this recession, then online games are certain to benefit. After all, no one is giving up their Internet connection. And if you’re a free online game, then…well, I mean is there any better entertainment deal for a consumer then a free game?

Of course, the problem as always with free services on the internet, is that we rely on advertisers for our revenue stream. Fortunately, the digital goods model removes that dependency, making it even more attractive in the face of an advertising downturn. It’s still an open question whether people will buy virtual goods with a thinner wallet.

This is an aside, but I’d suggest that virtual goods can offer an excellent substitute for purchasing more expensive real goods. The desire to shop does not go away just because a consumer has less money. That desire to buy real items, such as clothes, shoes, and accessories is easily transferred to vanity virtual goods. Goods that come at a fraction of the cost of a real item, and therefore attractive even when you have a thinner wallet.

However, some people believe that that online advertising will actually increase during the downturn, as ad agencies turn their budgets toward the measurable world of online v.s that vast unmeasurable wasteland that is TV and print. If you look at data aggregated by Pubmatic, smaller publishers (around the scale of most social games companies) have seen rising ad rates, even as the rates of larger publishers have fallen.
So to summarize:

Free online games using a virtual goods model with an advertising kicker are one of the safest bets you can make in a recession. So come join the party.

And if you need further convincing, the biggest games company in the world, EA, started in a recession.

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Tags: Social Games, Startup
Read more | Comments (0) | Sep 27, 2008

Simple Lifeforms

Posted by Alan O'Dea | Filed under Home

Who are Simple Lifeforms?

Simple Lifeforms is a new start-up company based in Nottingham, United Kingdom. The team have a passion for all types of games and have worked throughout the video game industry making massively multiplayer, online, causal, mobile and console games.

Simple Lifeforms create games that blend the best features of Online Games and Social Networks. We call these Social Games.

What games will Simple Lifeforms make?

We know that if you’re anything like us you live busy and complicated lives and don’t have a lot of time to play games. We also know that you don’t want to spend a lot of money on new computers, hardware or software just to play games. You want games that are easy to play on any computer, easy to access, quick to learn and fun to play in the short periods of time you have set aside to enjoy yourself.

Our social games will be Free-to-Play. Our games can be played on any computer with a web browser such as Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari. You won’t need to buy a new computer or get new hardware to play our games. Our games will be available on our website but you will also be able to play our games from your favourite social networking site such as Facebook, Bebo, Friendster, Orkut, Hi5 and MySpace. Our games will be available on mobile devices and eventually handheld and other Internet enabled games consoles.

What are Social Games?

Social Games combine the best features of online games such as World of Warcraft and Runescape and also of social networks like Facebook and MySpace.

What’s so different about Social Games?

The web has become a huge social network where everyone is linked to everyone else. People have blogs, social network profiles, characters within online games, avatars within virtual worlds and there all talking, linking and chatting with each other, all day, every day.

We think this is seriously cool.

We believe that this new socially connected Internet is a great place to launch new games that allow people to enjoy fun and entertaining gameplay but also share all that cool gameplay with their friends using social networks.

What will players be able to do in a Social Game?

Players log into our website. Players create a character, choosing from a wide range of character customisation options. Player can participate in adventures, quests and stories on their own or with friends. Players gather items, prizes and rewards as part of their adventures. Players will be able to create their own content making items, images, movies and sharing these with other players in the game. Players will be able to link their character profile to blogs, feeds and social network sites such as Facebook and monitor their game progress.

What is the first game about?

In our first game, players take the parts of unborn spirits living in a spirit world that closely resembles the real world, but is more surreal. There is a spirit-world version of London, of New York, of smaller and larger towns all throughout the world. Within each of these locations, players live little virtual lives. They are spirits, trying to see themselves along the path toward being born.

You are a character in another world. This world is only a click away. You play with your friends, sending messages, trading goods, creating gifts, socialising and having adventures with them. You do so from your desktop, from your workplace, on the phone, on the move. You strive to be the best, by being the most active, the friendliest and the most helpful. You check in with it every day, or leave it for a few days and come back to check your progress.

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Tags: Facebook, Games, MySpace, Simple Lifeforms, Social Games
Read more | Comments (1) | Aug 3, 2008