5 ms·

Zynga’s Mark Pincus: I got kicked out of some of the best companies in America

58 points by dawie 17y ago

icey 17y ago
I wish he had another 20 or 30 minutes to talk. When the "5 minute warning" was flashed, I think everyone was genuinely surprised that that much time had already gone. He had some fascination stories & information to share.
- theli0nheart 17y ago
  Same. He was definitely one of the most insightful speakers and was a great choice to close the day. Nice guy, too.
- icey 17y ago
  Hah. This morning I just realized that I said "fascination" instead of "fascinating". I should learn to not multi-task when commenting.
ajju 17y ago
I think I need to see the video. The transcript seems to be quite a bit rambling and hard to consume.
- wavesplash 17y ago
  He was a bit rambling. But he did it with style ;)
  - ajju 17y ago
    Now that I have seen the video and then reread the transcript: Yes, putting up with the slightly rambling nature of the talk was entirely worth it.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
davidppp 17y ago
Although the sound quality is not ideal, here's an archive of his talk on justin.tv: http://www.justin.tv/clip/4df4ad14c58b6ed6 http://www.justin.tv/clip/4df4ad14c58b6ed6
kul 17y ago
He was definitely the most engaging speaker I saw. Like Tony Robbins, Mark spoke with emotion, which is what made what he had to say so interesting.
qbert 17y ago
I thought he said he had $80,000 in savings not just $8,000.
- pchristensen 17y ago
  He did say $80K.
teej 17y ago
I have a huge amount of respect for Mark Pincus. He's really been through the trenches and has done a great job growing Zynga. Mark followed two points of pg's advice in "What Startups Are Really Like" that set him up for success. Here's what I've seen that have made Mark great. In 2007, it was myself and Shervin Pishevar who set out to directly compete against Mark in the gaming space on Facebook. We set our sights directly on Zynga - we used the absolutely best PR company and our huge stacks of VC cash to make sure that we were always one step ahead. From the media's standpoint, it was a two-horse race with SGN taking a commanding lead over Zynga. Mark, however, decided to ignore his competitors. While we were too busy reading the headlines, he kept iterating on his core strategy. He was spending every day polishing his secret sauce to make his games the largest and most profitable on Facebook. Then Mafia Wars launched, ultimately validating his strategy. The rest is history. Mark certainly had plenty of opportunities to give up. The app acquisition race was costly to all companies involved. While bleeding that cash, Mark was constantly fighting to maintain the profitability of Poker in the midst of massive fraud. Mark's dog, Zynga's namesake, also passed away in this time. Despite all of this, he stayed persistent and stuck through to the end. I've butted heads with Mark in the past on panels and in the news, but I can tell you without a doubt that Mark Pincus demands some serious respect for the company he's built and the work he's done to get there.
- blader 17y ago
  Couldn't agree more.

58 points by dawie 17y ago

icey 17y ago

I wish he had another 20 or 30 minutes to talk. When the "5 minute warning" was flashed, I think everyone was genuinely surprised that that much time had already gone. He had some fascination stories & information to share.

theli0nheart 17y ago
Same. He was definitely one of the most insightful speakers and was a great choice to close the day. Nice guy, too.
icey 17y ago
Hah. This morning I just realized that I said "fascination" instead of "fascinating". I should learn to not multi-task when commenting.

ajju 17y ago

I think I need to see the video. The transcript seems to be quite a bit rambling and hard to consume.

wavesplash 17y ago
He was a bit rambling. But he did it with style ;)
- ajju 17y ago
  Now that I have seen the video and then reread the transcript: Yes, putting up with the slightly rambling nature of the talk was entirely worth it.

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

davidppp 17y ago

Although the sound quality is not ideal, here's an archive of his talk on justin.tv: http://www.justin.tv/clip/4df4ad14c58b6ed6 http://www.justin.tv/clip/4df4ad14c58b6ed6

kul 17y ago

He was definitely the most engaging speaker I saw. Like Tony Robbins, Mark spoke with emotion, which is what made what he had to say so interesting.

qbert 17y ago

I thought he said he had $80,000 in savings not just $8,000.

pchristensen 17y ago
He did say $80K.

teej 17y ago

I have a huge amount of respect for Mark Pincus. He's really been through the trenches and has done a great job growing Zynga. Mark followed two points of pg's advice in "What Startups Are Really Like" that set him up for success. Here's what I've seen that have made Mark great. In 2007, it was myself and Shervin Pishevar who set out to directly compete against Mark in the gaming space on Facebook. We set our sights directly on Zynga - we used the absolutely best PR company and our huge stacks of VC cash to make sure that we were always one step ahead. From the media's standpoint, it was a two-horse race with SGN taking a commanding lead over Zynga. Mark, however, decided to ignore his competitors. While we were too busy reading the headlines, he kept iterating on his core strategy. He was spending every day polishing his secret sauce to make his games the largest and most profitable on Facebook. Then Mafia Wars launched, ultimately validating his strategy. The rest is history. Mark certainly had plenty of opportunities to give up. The app acquisition race was costly to all companies involved. While bleeding that cash, Mark was constantly fighting to maintain the profitability of Poker in the midst of massive fraud. Mark's dog, Zynga's namesake, also passed away in this time. Despite all of this, he stayed persistent and stuck through to the end. I've butted heads with Mark in the past on panels and in the news, but I can tell you without a doubt that Mark Pincus demands some serious respect for the company he's built and the work he's done to get there.

blader 17y ago
Couldn't agree more.