In conversation with the Founder of Gameberry Labs
Exclusive coverage: A sneak peak into what goes behind making mobile games
Afsar Ahmad is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gameberry Labs, one of India’s leading mobile gaming companies. 125 Million downloads. 25 Million Monthly Active Users. Bootstrapped all the way.
And guess what?
Team ReadOn had the opportunity to interact with him. Bringing you some insightful nuggets!
Early Signs
Growing up in a joint family, living in a small house, Afsar spent a lot of time strategizing and creating innovative ways to have fun. He was an avid cricket lover, but he did not have the space to play or friends who shared a similar love for the game. It was a problem his Builder-mindset was waiting to solve. He built his own bowling machine and installed it in his bedroom. An ingenious solution that solved for both space and team-mates!
He believes it is then that he was bitten by the creator-builder bug. Looking back, he can connect the dots to becoming an entrepreneur.
Passion for the Product is important
Afsar met his friend and now co-founder, Govind, during his time at IIT Kharagpur. The world had changed when they passed out as graduates. This was a new India. The internet had democratized the power to build. Now, a bunch of developers could start a multi-million dollar company from their backyards. Afsar was not going to be left out of the party. He spent his time in college building a host of products - Hell book, God’s Advocate, LOL Center.
Post-college, Afsar worked in a company for about a year. But this was 2014. The Startup Boom had taken the Indian business ecosystem by storm. There were funds galore. Starting a startup was an attractive proposition. Being a founder was a cool tag to wear. Afsar wore it too. He and his friends started Half Teaspoon, a food delivery service. But within 6 months, they realized that it wasn’t going to work out.
“You have to be passionate about the product, rather than being passionate about being a start-up founder”.
Today, Afsar believes that passion is the driving force behind Gameberry’s success. It is the key trait he looks for when hiring for his team. Aankho mein chamak, as he calls it :)
Making Games that you grow old with
At Gameberry, the mission is to build games that stick with the player for life. Games that players can keep going back to. Like a pillow. An escape, an illusion of a world of dreams out there. That is what they are gunning for. They are not in the business of hyper-casual games. They are in the business of making memorable games. Games that evolve with time and age.
Network effects play a huge role in making multi-player games popular. Afsar draws an example from the old days, back in 1999 during the Cricket World Cup when Britannia had launched cricket cards with their biscuits. Creating a sense of FOMO is a big puller. Through their strong socially gamified features, Gameberry’s products try and create a similar sense.
The Gaming Company Setup
The Ideal Game Designer: Someone who loves playing games. AND being a part of the building process, helping represent the user in the best possible way.
Financial Independence for a Startup Founder
Afsar believes financial independence is always a personal call. He for one had a lot of support from his family. Financial well-being is an important aspect to consider when starting out. But he believes that if you are passionate enough about an idea, you owe it to yourself to take a leap of faith. Be a little crazy. Trying to logically find out an answer by plotting data points on an excel sheet never helps in matters of the heart ❤️
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