Comments on: Work in a startup Aside from the company funding, which is often useful to get all the logistics and first months of work done, in my experience the main challenge in an indie company is keeping enough money coming in each month to pay everyone. Making games takes time and unless you are able to have more than one project in the pipe, the commercial failure of one game could very well mean the end of your business. Some indies work on their savings for some time but this is really hard to consider when team members have families or simply a life outside of work (and as James pointed out, you can't realistically expect all your employees to have the startup-fire burning in their hearts if they don't own part of the company). The perverse effect is that the more projects you need to parallelize to lift part of the risk, the more people/money you need. Thus, it's endless cycle until you get lucky and achieve a successful game which gets you enough money to keep going (which on the supposedly indie-friendly iOS is becoming really hard). Aside from the company funding, which is often useful to get all the logistics and first months of work done, in my experience the main challenge in an indie company is keeping enough money coming in each month to pay everyone.
Making games takes time and unless you are able to have more than one project in the pipe, the commercial failure of one game could very well mean the end of your business. Some indies work on their savings for some time but this is really hard to consider when team members have families or simply a life outside of work (and as James pointed out, you can’t realistically expect all your employees to have the startup-fire burning in their hearts if they don’t own part of the company).

The perverse effect is that the more projects you need to parallelize to lift part of the risk, the more people/money you need. Thus, it’s endless cycle until you get lucky and achieve a successful game which gets you enough money to keep going (which on the supposedly indie-friendly iOS is becoming really hard).

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By: JD/2011/05/04/work-in-a-startup/#comment-3618 JD Thu, 05 May 2011 08:58:20 +0000 Probably worth noting that unless you own a significant portion of the startup, then working for a small startup is still "“allowing your potential future to be dictated by the whims of someone else”". So a lot of staff will be looking for stability, promotion avenues and wages, which is why they will be holding out for a larger AAA studio. Working on something big-budget and high-profile that all the world is waiting to see is also a big drawcard. If you had a choice of a small startup or a well known AAA studio, I'm not sure what the draw card for startup would be? AAA studios can have good atmospheres, great people, great benefits, and as much creative input into the project as the size of the project and their hierachical position will allow. I know someone working for GameLoft jumped straight to lead position because they are smaller mobile projects... so its not the size of the company that restricts creative input, its the size of the projects. Probably worth noting that unless you own a significant portion of the startup, then working for a small startup is still ““allowing your potential future to be dictated by the whims of someone else””.

So a lot of staff will be looking for stability, promotion avenues and wages, which is why they will be holding out for a larger AAA studio. Working on something big-budget and high-profile that all the world is waiting to see is also a big drawcard.

If you had a choice of a small startup or a well known AAA studio, I’m not sure what the draw card for startup would be? AAA studios can have good atmospheres, great people, great benefits, and as much creative input into the project as the size of the project and their hierachical position will allow. I know someone working for GameLoft jumped straight to lead position because they are smaller mobile projects… so its not the size of the company that restricts creative input, its the size of the projects.

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By: Cam Jackson/2011/05/04/work-in-a-startup/#comment-3594 Cam Jackson Wed, 04 May 2011 23:20:05 +0000 One other challenge I've noticed vicariously (via a close friend getting her startup off the ground) is the nonsense of pure bureaucratic hoops that you have to jump through to get any sort of new business up and running. The legal paperwork just surrounding accepting funding seems a nightmare, let alone getting the funding to begin with! One other challenge I’ve noticed vicariously (via a close friend getting her startup off the ground) is the nonsense of pure bureaucratic hoops that you have to jump through to get any sort of new business up and running. The legal paperwork just surrounding accepting funding seems a nightmare, let alone getting the funding to begin with!

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