SPEEDRUN Your Gaming Startup

Starting a gaming company is like playing one of the most difficult video games out there. It’s an expensive and time-consuming grind with the vast majority of games never making it to launch. But what if there was a hack to build a successful game? What if you had access to the innovative knowledge and guidance you need to navigate this challenging game successfully? What if AI could help you build a game as fast as building a website?

Drawing inspiration from the games speedrunning community, we created a16z Games: SPEEDRUN, a 6-week startup school, as a shortcut for gaming founders.

Interested? APPLY NOW before 4/21 to participate in a16z Games: SPEEDRUN

Key Dates

The program starts in May with a kickoff in-person event, followed by online/local meetups, and culminates in a private demo day with the a16z Games network of partners and investors during LA Tech Week in June. Key dates are as follows:

• 4/21 8PM 📆 Application Deadline
• 4/24-4/28 🎙️ Finalist Interviews
• May 2023 🏁 SPEEDRUN program begins with a SF kickoff* in-person event, one-on-one and group office hours, and talks with gaming luminaries
• 6/5-6/9 🎪 LA #TechWeek Demo* at Invite-Only Games Investor Event

*we will fly you out to SF and LA

Speakers

You’ll receive mentorship from games industry professionals, participate in discussions with games industry luminaries, and receive ongoing feedback and advice through office hours. Some select speakers include:

• Eros Resmini (ex Discord)
• Doug McCracken (ex Supercell/Riot)
• Ben Feder (ex Tencent/Take Two)
• Josh Lu (ex Blizzard/Zynga)
• Kevin Lin (ex Twitch)
• Riccardo Zacconi (ex King)
• Chris Dewolfe (ex Jam City/MySpace)
• Mark Pincus (ex Zynga)
• …and more TO BE ANNOUNCED including alums from Riot & Minecraft

Topics

Selected founders will learn the shortcuts and the cutting edge insights to build and run a successful games company, including:

• Business of a gaming startup
• Building and launching your game
• Hiring your team
• Fundraising
• Live operations
• Trends like AI, UGC, Web3, and AR/VR

Who Should Apply

Teams are not required to have a live product or company before applying. We’re interested in fostering a community of gaming founders, whether they are interested in starting a company or are already building. Even if you’ve already raised funding, you’ll still benefit from the program.

To speedrun a game is an ambitious endeavor and we’re looking for ambitious founders of any age, demographic or specialty. We’re interested in hearing from cutting edge gaming studios and novel technology companies that serve games. We’re not just here to help you ship your game or games infrastructure company; we want to help you become a leader in the games industry. a16z Games: SPEEDRUN is designed for:

• Teams, not solo founders
• Demonstrated ability to build/deliver a game
• Idea of what you’d like to build

Limited Edition a16zGames Mechnical Keyboard

Even if you’re not a fit for SPEEDRUN. Please refer a friend! If your friend makes it into SPEEDRUN, you’ll receive a custom limited edition a16z Games mechanical keyboard

See here for SPEEDRUN Terms & Conditions

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