Games Advisory · Operations Catalyst
Business strategy, investment readiness, and go-to-market advisory for companies across the games industry. Studios, tools, serious games, and services companies welcome.
Games Advisory · Quick Facts
Who This Is For
The games industry is bigger than entertainment game studios. If your company is in games, this is for you.
Indie and mid-size studios from first game to franchise. Pre-funding to post-launch.
PC, console, mobile, hybrid, live service
SDKs, middleware, analytics platforms, engine plugins, and developer services built for the games market.
Developer tools · Infrastructure · Analytics
Training, simulation, defense, education, and health applications built on game technology.
Government · Defense · Healthcare · Education
Animation, art outsourcing, co-development, QA, porting, and other services companies serving the games industry.
Art · Animation · Co-dev · QA · Porting
What I Bring
Advisory is most useful when it comes from someone who has done the thing, not just observed it.
Builder
I co-founded ZeniMax Online Studios and built us from 3 people to 150 people in 18 months. I ran production, operations, and P&L from idea until I left to work in social/mobile. Then worked with multiple game startups directly on production, operations, finance, and live ops. I know what makes a studio work, and what makes one fail.
Ecosystem
At AWS I built the global games partner ecosystem from zero to 300 companies in two years. Likewise, I built MAVRIC and worked with over 200 XR Startups there. At both, I worked directly with studios, tools companies, middleware providers, and services companies across every market and stage. That's 500+ looks at what's working, what isn't, and what founders consistently get wrong.
Advisory Services
Three engagement types. Most start with the Doc Review and expand from there.
01 · Entry Point
$3,500 · Up to 5 hours
Annotated written feedback on your pitch deck, business plan, or funding narrative. Covers business model, investor framing, and operational credibility. Includes 2x 1-hour live calls and one follow-up review of revised materials. Most useful before a fundraise or major partner conversation.
02
Monthly · from $3,000
Up to 1 hour/week of strategy and coaching, structured around a specific goal. Includes access for async questions, document reviews, and investor or partner introductions. Deferred retainer available for pre-funding companies. Typically 3 to 12 months.
03
Equity or cash · negotiated
Formal board or advisory board role. Scope, compensation, and cadence negotiated. Best suited for companies that want ongoing strategic input as part of a formal governance or advisory structure, not just periodic consulting.
How Engagements Work
Most advisory relationships start with a single project and expand based on what's useful.
A 30-minute call about what you're building, what stage you're at, and what you're trying to figure out. No commitment, no pitch. If it's not the right fit, I'll say so.
Most relationships start with a Doc Review, Company Audit, or Pre-Mortem. A bounded project that produces something specific, at a defined price.
Most clients continue with a monthly retainer or more formal advisory relationship. Scope and cadence are set by what's actually needed.
A diagnostic framework for identifying the operational and go-to-market failures that sink games before launch, built on patterns from 20+ years working across studios large and small. If you work at or run a studio, the frameworks here will help you spot potential issues before they become big problems.
Slides free on GDC Vault. Full recorded talk requires a Vault login.
A few sentences about the company and what you're trying to figure out is enough to start.
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