Getting2Alpha

Hiten Shah is a serial entrepreneur and startup advisor who loves to create and grow businesses. He's is the co-founder of two software-as-a-service companies: Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics - and co-host of The Startup Chat - a podcast that offers actionable advice straight from the trenches of startup life. Hiten has great insights about business and marketing - and a knack for simplifying complexity into cogent ideas. Listen in and learn from a true pioneer who’s on the forefront of building and selling software as a service.

Peek inside the creative mind of Eric Zimmerman - a multi-talented game designer, educator and artist who never stops innovating. A self-described Play-Test Fundamentalist, Eric teaches at the NYU Game School and co-creates innovative experiences on the sides. Eric is a true industry visionary - always ahead of his time. What does Eric thinks about teaching, playing and creating compelling and meaningful games: Listen in.

Katherine Isbister is well-known for her work exploring how emotions are evoked through interactive entertainment. She's an accomplished game designer and educator who works with students and collaborators to bring innovative ideas to life. Her new book, Games and Emotions, will be out in February from MIT press. Join me for a glimpse into Katherine’s approach to teaching, researching, and creating emotionally evocative games.

Blair Ethington is a product manager turned game creator - with a passion for numbers and a knack for innovation. At Crowdstar, she's VP of Covet Fashion - a innovative mobile game with over 3 million monthly players who like to dress-up in real-world designer fashions - and then purchase those clothes in real life. I worked on Covet Fashion under Blair's leadership - I learned a lot from her, and admire her greatly. Listen in and discover what Blair has learned about bringing hit products to life.

Erin Hoffman is a game designer and fantasy novelist - with a passion for social activism and projects with a purpose. She's currently lead game designer at GlassLabs, a Gates-foundation initiative where she creates assessment-based learning games for underserved niches. Erin has deep insights into the nature of games and learning - and powerful ideas about how game design can impact the world.

Jesse Schell is a game designer, educator and product leader. His approach is fun, playful and enlightening - and his experience spans theme park design, interactive entertainment, educational games and juggling. Come hear Jesse reveal the magical roots of his lifelong fascination with transformative entertainment, and take notes as he shares the powerful techniques that his team uses to prototype their games into existence.

Chelsea Howe wears many hats: indie game designer, community organizer of local game jams & QGCon, a Creative Director of Electronic Arts Mobile, creator of successful mobile games, and champion of underdogs and outsiders everywhere. She's not afraid to speak her mind and cut to the chase - a woman after my own heart :-) She's fascinated with the role of love in game design, and the submission to ritual that's embedded in free-to-play gaming. Always stimulating and original, Chelsea is a force of nature - and a rising star in the gaming industry.

Tracy Fullerton is a player and maker of games. Her most recent game, “Walden,” puts you - the player - inside Thoreau’s Walden Pond experiment. Tracy runs the USC Digital Media and Games program - the top game design school in the country, according to the Princeton Review. We co-taught multi-player game design when that program was first getting started - and Tracy has gone on to train innovative designers like Jenova Chen - creator of Journey. She's an accomplished and insightful designer and educator, and one of my all-time favorite people on the planet.

Laura Klein a customer development ninja. She runs the “Users Know” website, and wrote UX for Lean Startups. In this episode, we explore design-led growth hacking, ninja user research techniques, and how to turn your hot idea into a high-learning MVP. Find out how to create better products with Laura’s special blend of Lean UX with smart customer research.

Dan Cook is a pioneering co-op game designer, co-founder of Indie game studio Spry Fox, author of the legendary Lost Garden website, and a truly inspiring and insightful guy. Dan has a deep understanding of social dynamics in online gaming - our conversations blow my mind on a regular basis. Come along as Dan takes us on a whirlwind tour of indie game design life, remote collaboration, and the magic of small groups for getting things done.