Game startups: path from idea to successful launch

I've had several discussions of late with startup iOS entrepreneurs starting out and one thing always bubbles up to the surface:

"We need funding!"

Not an unreasonable request of course, but as many of us more experience individuals know, you can't raise funds based on an idea alone.

So what to do to get your business going? Most of the time you have a cool idea, and perhaps a prototype or demo done. So when and how do you get to the next step?

Here are some tips and THE steps:

1. DEMO: If you DON'T have a prototype or demo of your game, make one. Without it, you can't raise funds, interest a dev partner or a distributing partner. Nothing. Now many tell me: I'm not a programmer and I don't have enough funds to create the demo in the first place! Well my friend, time to get creative: find someone that will latch onto your idea enough to make a demo with you and split ownership of the company with him in a reasonable fashion, get your family / friends to invest with you on making the demo, learn programming yourself to get it done etc... whatever you need to do. But remember that the only ones that will likely partner with you based on an idea alone these days are people that know you well, believe in you and your capabilities to deliver, hence friends and family.

2. DEMO QUALITY: Your demo or prototype does not need to be perfect at all. It needs to have great flow and show what is fun about your idea or concept. You certainly don't need to have the best graphics and all extra features you wanted to put in there aren't needed. Just do the core fun functionalities over a few initial levels so people playing it can understand the progression and gameplay mechanics. Fun gameplay is key here. Make it fun and show through the demo how it can be really kick-ass with proper investment and development and you've got a winner.

3. RIGHT PARTNERS: Getting the right dev and distribution partners to make your game app a success is key. Many development companies have a niche or an expertise, and they also have a way to operate and mentality. Make sure the dev partner you wish to work with to make your final product has experience delivering successful game apps similar to your own design. Also, make sure they have a great attitude that you like so that its not like pulling teeth every time you need to deal with them on a project. For distributors, its more of the same thing... make sure their deck is filled with games that appeal to the same demographics as yours. Not only this will result in a better likelyhood to be interesting to them but your game will also get more exposure through efficient targeted cross-marketing. Everyone is looking for the big Win-Win. Find partners that will see that in your pitch.

4. RAISING FUNDS: If possible, avoid trying to do so to start. If you are able to find great partners, in particular if they are a dev company, very likely they won't work with you unless they receive funds to create the game. If your concept demo is great however, its possible to find a dev company in the right timing that will be ready to tackle your title for benefits outside of direct funding (being able to build a stronger game portfolio, they wish to enter the smartphone race but are having difficulty finding the right project and have no distributor relationships in the game space etc...). BUT don't count on it, they are rare. However, if you went through step 3 already, you already identified the companies for your pipeline that have shown interest. Perhaps only the funds are needed. Well, if you have Letters of Intent from the dev and distributor companies or even a verbal agreement that "this would be cool to us if you bring in the cash", then you can use the names, portfolio and brand of the dev and distribution company in your pitch to raise funds from Angels, VCs or game publishers alike. A great demo and pipeline established is a great story to funders.

5. THE PITCH: with a great game demo in hand, its time to pitch it right? Yes. However, there are good and bad ways to go about it. The best way is to make it easy for the person you want to get involved to play it without any hassle, whether its a funding entity, a dev company or a publisher/distributor. On iOS, the best way to do that is to put the game demo up on a system like Testflight, which allows the prospective partner to download the game on his iOS without dealing with UDIDs and the iTunes dev center at all. They install the testflight app, they download the app and play to heart's content. Also another good way to demo a game quickly is to make a gameplay video. Record a vid of yourself playing the game or create a montage of gameplay, with nice music, and splashing some cool functionalities through video editing tools. All sort of stuff you can do yourself that will allow you to show the "fun" aspects of your game.

Hopefully with the pitch properly done and set up with the right partners, you can get that finished product out the door and into a great distribution channel filled with millions of active users just waiting to be presented with the next big game app out there.
Hope this was useful to all you readers. :)

Cheers!