(Previously Gimli)
How it all started
The journey began in mid-2016 when I attended a blockchain conference called Consensus in New York. As I had recently learned about blockchain technologies, I took it upon myself to know about it more and meet business & tech-oriented people that shared the same interest. I was instantly convinced by the core values of decentralization. In my adventure to meet more people, I met a fellow Frenchman, Julien, a talented engineer working in New York. After a fascinating discussion, we quickly understood that we attended the conference for the same reason: « educate ourselves to create value through a project of our own.»
Following the conference, we spent a lot of time working together to put our skills into a common project. As an entrepreneur, your ultimate goal is to find an unsolved issue within an industry that motivates you to work for countless hours. As Julien was coding for the company he worked for, he watched live streams on Twitch at the same time. At that moment, I discovered what Twitch was, and I was blown away. When watching streams, I wanted to interact in so many ways with streamers but was limited to the following available interactions
- Chat
- Donations
- Subs
eSports, a booming industry
We studied the industry back to back, checking numbers, mapping every key actor, and concluded that Twitch streamers drove the entire industry up. Whether you are a game studio, a brand, or a software provider, streamers are the best way to market anything within the game ecosystem.
We decided to contact many streamers and pro-gamers to pinpoint the key information such as:
- What are the most important KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of their own channels?
- What do they struggle with as streamers and influencers?
- What tools or data would be helpful to grow their ecosystem?
- How do they monetize viewership?
- How do they create a bond with viewers, and through what?
This was a true game-changer for us. The data we have collected enabled us to extract common key issues streamers have. Hence, we narrowed it down to 4 main pillars on which we should always focus to create value as a problem solver:
- Audience Engagement
- Stream Monetization
- Audience Retention & Growth
- Streamer differentiation
We had all the data we need to focus on HOW we could create value.
Gimli and the I.C.O — The race to ETH
After pitching many potential business ideas to streamers, one really stood out amongst all others: Gambling on eSports live streams.
Through a parimutuel betting system, the streamer would act as the operator carrying each bet. He/she would earn a fixed commission fee of the pot. The audience would serve as the bettors, betting against each other on in-game outcomes such as kills, headshots, deaths, rank…
It was decided!!! Gimli’s vision was two-fold:
- Enable streamers to add a new layer of fun to their streams by enabling viewers to bet on in-game outcomes.
- In countries that prohibit gambling, the product would have a dedicated feature to allow any user to interact.
As you all know, gambling is a highly regulated industry. We contacted gambling regulators in many European jurisdictions, and we decided to launch our initiative from Malta, a beautiful island in south Europe.
In so many ways, trust is an essential success factor in the gambling space. Usage of blockchain technology would solve such an issue. How?
- By providing a fully transparent betting system where users could check how we have solved each bet.
- Using Smart-contract, we would prevent fraudulent human interaction behaviors.
We quickly managed to gather a core team of very talented people and a board of advisors to help us on our adventure. ICO (Initial Coin Offering) was very trendy and would enable us to raise funds from anyone who believes in our vision. We published a White paper and promoted our project all around the world. We participated in meet-ups, ICO pitches, and conferences in Malta, Tel-Aviv, London, Paris, New York, Barcelona… meeting incredible people.
Malta — The blockchain & Gaming island
Though it was a very stressful moment, we successfully raised enough to start the “GIMLI” adventure with a community of over 800 backers. Under the shiny sunlight of Malta, we started settling up by building a solid foundation for the company :
- Office: Rented offices at Soho Offices in St Julians.
- H.R: Finding the right talents (Gambling Expert with a +5 years experience in product, Marketing, Lead Dev, FullStack devs…)
- Product & Tech: Crafting the architecture of Gimli and writing product user stories
- Legal: Starting discussing with the Malta Gaming Authority before applying for a crypto gaming license
As any crypto startup that has created a token, we made our token listed following the ICO. It’s the only way for a token to be exchanged amongst people and gain volume & liquidity. Whether this volume is due to speculation or actual use of the token will depend on the project’s maturity.
Like many other small projects out there, the problem faced by Gimbli is that listing a token in a proper exchange was very expensive, with prices increasing day by day. As a result, we listed our token on Gatecoin and decentralized exchanges such as Etherdelta, Forkdelta. We had an agreement with HitBTC before the ICO, but the price went up 10 times the agreed price. Accepting to list the token on HitBTC was putting the entire project at risk, and we took the decision to protect the value of the project that creates real value.
The motivation was at its highest amongst us. The game was just starting, and we went into “Production mode.” And as any entrepreneurs, we started facing unexpected problems. The sun was not so bright after all in Malta.
As it is an island that holds most European gambling operators, hiring skilled talents was way more complex than we thought. The market has way more job offers than people actually searching. This factor drove the prices up when it came to finding the right people. We took the decision to open a French office in Paris as our Tech hub. Paris is full of developers, great engineers, and at a reasonable cost. All other operations (gambling, marketing, product…) remained in Malta.
In the process of designing a gaming product, we had to focus on legal boundaries. Indeed, any gaming casino has to abide by a set of rules, whether it’s in the product architecture, product feature, or even player’s protection. At each step of the way, we made sure to check with the M.G.A (Malta Gaming Authority) the compliance of Gimli’s product evolution.
Gimli became Gimbl
After reaching a new stage in our business’ maturity and growth as we were about to release our product, we saw this release as an opportunity to revamp the brand’s core values.
We have combined 3 concepts.
- GIM: is the token that was created and that would be used on the platform. It represents our commitment to blockchain technology.
- .gg: means “Good Game” and is commonly used at the end of a gaming match. It represents our commitment to eSports.
- Gamble: take opportunistic action in the hope of a desired result. We see our platform as a way to enhance the eSports experience. We call a winning bet a Good Gimbl.
Gimbl’s core values:
- Gimbl.gg is a community.
- We are decentralized and social.
- We are transparent.
- We are global.
- We are focused.
Gimli officially became Gimbl.gg
Gambling & Crypto — the never-ending discussion
As the product was almost ready to be released, the gaming license approval was lacking behind. We were putting a lot of effort into our discussions with the M.G.A. However, the issues were not involving the MGA but other regulatory bodies. Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies were still very new to legal administrations and not framed within a clear legal framework. The M.G.A could not deliver a gaming license to enable crypto gambling activities without an enforced financial regulation on cryptocurrencies transactions coming from the M.F.S.A (Malta Financial Service Authority). We did our best to speed up the process by meeting with officials from the MFSA, but it was without results. We had no choice but to push back the release of Gimbl’s first version several times.
In the meantime, we were putting in motion our digital marketing strategy and our sales & acquisition strategy. In both of those strategies, Gimbl’s growth is defined by having a growing streamer user base. Our acquisition tactics were entirely centered around the answer to the following question: “How can we convince high-level and mid-level streamers to use Gimbl?”.
In an effort to achieve results, we discussed with Twitch for an opportunity to attend Twitchcon (Twitch annual conference) as an exhibitor in San Diego. It was a challenging task as many companies were queuing in line for the same reason. We pitched our story to Twitch and explained how we have always focused on creating value even in countries where our product’s gambling aspect could not operate.
To be more specific, using the same technology built for gambling, we created a feature that enables the audience to send a conditional donation to streamers called “Challenges”. The streamer would receive a challenge-based donation unlocked only upon its completion. Our intention was to implement gamification in “Donations & Subscription” by creating a meaningful interaction. This concept was the key to convince Twitch to select us as an exhibitor.
The approval came at a challenging moment when we felt locked between the MGA and the MFSA without any power to speed up our chances of getting the license. We seized the opportunity, and we focused on customizing our product towards TwitchCon.
We established a strategy to test every hypothesis we had built our product on at Twitchcon. Even if we had performed user interviews, focus groups, workshops, this opportunity offered us a way to scale our testings beyond what we could dream of.
The Twitchcon pivot- From Gambling to Challenges
We flew to San Diego, rented an Airbnb, and headed to the conference venue to build our own booth without losing any time. The D-Day finally arrived, and here we were with 40.000 streamer attendees from all over the world. The product demo was fully functional and ready to be presented. Our ultimate goal was to gather as many sign-ups as possible for the product’s official launch.
In addition, we had a strategy to double and triple-check our previously confirmed user interview results. Among the many strategic key points to validate, these were the most important ones:
- How comfortable would a streamer feel using and promoting a gambling product on their own channel?
- What do they think about collecting cryptocurrency payments (Gim token, Ethereum, or Bitcoin)?
- What do they think about enabling the audience to send live challenges during games?
3 days later, the result was as straightforward as it could be:
- Gambling was a very sensitive word that frightened 99% of streamers we have discussed with
- Cryptocurrencies were still a vague concept to the vast majority, and they felt more secure interacting with regular FIAT currencies.
- Challenges were very well received by the streaming community. It adds a new layer of fun and interaction while being made fully automatic.
As a young startup without revenue, a hard decision had to be taken. The end goal of any company is to create value through fixing existing market flaws. After a week of discussing with advisors, entrepreneurs, key opinion leaders, we had put the gambling side of Gimbl on hold. We could no longer afford to be on the bench and passively wait for regulators to grant us the ability to operate.
A week later, we got back from San Diego. We gathered the team and announced that we would pivot into a challenge-based product. We rushed into UX/UI, product, and technical development to deploy a new product. With the help of our fantastic team, we managed to launch a private beta version 6 months later. The beta was only accessible to streamers who had signed up during Twitchcon. This beta launch enabled us to instantly fix and improve the user flow to make it as seamless as possible.
3 months after the private beta launch, it was time to launch the product publicly. New team members joined our roaster to strengthen our online digital presence and our acquisition strategy. The product converted streamers quickly into product users. However, we faced a critical churned ratio due to reasons that we did not see coming:
- The majority of streamers asked to be paid to use Gimbl
- High-level streamers felt that the app was putting too much pressure on the audience to donate without receiving any incentives. The audience would prefer a free-to-play experience
- Small-sized streamers were using the product very frequently but did not manage to collect challenges as their audience was too small and was not even sending donations yet.
We had to admit that we have failed in seeing those market fit issues. However, the fight was not over, and we still had it in us to change our fate. Through workshops and collaboration with game studios, we worked on improving the user experience to increase our user acquisition metrics.
The countdown toward the ending funds
We knew that we did not have unlimited financial resources and had one more chance to make it right. It was time to make a drastic change and narrow it down to the most essential points to focus on:
- Not Twitch integrated: Viewers had to leave Twitch to interact
- Not FREE: Impossible to interact without donating money
- Not intuitive enough: Onboarding has to improve to both streamers and the audience
- Not organic: User base growth was not growing organically.
- Not gamified: Lack of gamification and fun within user flows
Prediction Pivot — Make it free-to-play & free-to-earn
We gathered the team and explained very clearly that it was our last shot. This time, we were going for the “Home Run,” and we felt very confident about this last pivot. We aligned the team on a schedule that was going to be challenging but doable altogether.
- Create and design a new feature called “Predictions” on Gimbl. A free-to-play experience with a clear reward for retained users [3–4 months]
- Deploy on a Preprod for a complete testing phase and debugging [2–3 weeks]
- Apply for a Twitch extension [1 month]
- Launch and gather metrics
We went all-in on this pivot. With a promise of make streamers and viewers both earn real-life gifts/vouchers, while doing what they do best (streaming or watching), we were sure to attract many users. Today, the eSports scene is becoming more prominent than ever, and brands, online stores, and manufacturers do not know how to penetrate the market to reach this new generation of customers. Our tool would be the best way to create friendly advertising. We contacted many online stores and have reached agreements to promote them in our loot shop, so each winner on our app would be the client of our partner tomorrow.
4 months and a half later, we started performing tests and debugging. Streamers can’t have their attention away from their game one second. Therefore, we focused on providing a quality service to our streamers to have the best experience possible. After 3 weeks and a half of debugging, we proudly submitted our extension to Twitch for approval. At that moment, we knew we had 6–7 more months in cash. That would allow us enough time to launch, test, fix and add small features if needed according to product usage.
Unfortunately, nothing went as planned. We entered 4 months of back-and-forth discussion with Twitch to get our extension approved. We had to change the product according to what they think would suit best the Twitch ecosystem. We tried it all, we contacted people at Twitch and attempted to speed the process, but unfortunately, things were out of our power.
After 5 months, we eventually received this green light email from Twitch. It was such a relief for the entire team. We were filled with energy while being at the very last moment of the adventure. We only had a month ahead of us in terms of cash, and after that, we would have to let the team go. Julien and I kept the product alive by doing everything in our power to bring excellent product metrics.
The painful reality & lessons learned
We managed to get the ball rolling with new streamers signing up every day. We even got the chance to discuss with highly influential pro-gamers and streamers to accelerate product adoption through our eSports advisors. We had great exchanges with our users, and we understood what was needed to make the product evolve fast into an even better one.
Unfortunately, it was not enough. We tried to raise funds through a more conventional way to keep the product alive and reach massive adoption. We convinced multiple VCs that Gimbl is a great tool and a great product to invest in. We needed to display serious traction start in organic growth. However, figures were not high enough for them to jump in and join the roaster.
If I look back and try to objectively assess why we failed, here are the reasons I think were part of Gimbl failure:
- The majority of highly & mid-size streamers were asking for financial compensation to use the product. Even when explaining that our product helps them improve their monetization, the only thing that was of interest was getting paid to use Gimbl.
- During a game, predictions were only open for a few minutes following the start of the game. The audience needed to be on-stream at the beginning of the game to interact. Otherwise, they had to wait until the next game. This has limited the amount of interaction. We have found the issue but unfortunately did not have time to develop it.
- We have spent too much time pursuing a crypto gaming license. We did all our best to comply with all the regulator’s requests. We should have been way more flexible and prepared ourselves for an alternative scenario from the start.
- The vast majority of Twitch streamers are ordinary folks, working full-time jobs and without a clear schedule streaming schedule. With more than 10M Monthly broadcasters, Twitch accounts for only 50k Twitch partners that can live off streaming. We focused only on very famous streamers, but it was over our budget capacity and beyond financial logic.
- We focused too much on performance and quality in opposition to focus on shipping and deploying features. We could have won an award for having an A-class codebase that respects the highest javascript standards and efficiency.
- Understanding users is the key to everything. We should have involved users in product sessions at every step of the way.
- Being entirely dependant on Twitch. Indeed, Twitch is not alone, but it still has above 90% of eSports live streams market share. Even Microsoft failed in making Twitch less dominant. Our entire business relies on Twitch and its ecosystem. If they decide to shut down our Twitch extension, we won’t have any power over Twitch. This issue is what scared every V.C & business angels we have engaged in serious discussions with.
This adventure has been a hell of a ride from the start. I’m so thankful for the entire Crypto and eSports community that has believed in our vision and enabled us to create value. We have learned so much along the way. It’s heartbroken to reach this point when you dedicated so much time, effort, and passion. Unfortunately, that’s life and we can’t control everything. We convinced a community of amazing people to back our project. We tried days and nights to achieve success and share the positive outcomes with our early backers.
I have to admit, I was terrified of failing. But there’s no better way of learning, growing than experiencing failure. As Winston Churchill says: “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Success is so much sweeter after having experienced failure. My will as an entrepreneur to work harder every day has never been so high. It gave me a proper perspective on success.
I want to take a minute to thank my incredible team that worked without ever being exhausted by changes. To all the people that joined our team (Julien, Lucie, Max, Johan, Gabriel, Theo, Andrew, Abraham, Quynh, Darill, Tanguy, Naim, Joseph, Benoit, David, Aurelien, Dimitri, Emmanuel, Antoine…), Thank You.
Thank you as well to all the advisors who have collaborated and provided us guidance: Julien Romanetto, Joseph.B, Jérémie Bordier, Skyyart, Hadrien Noci, Lowkii, and many more.
Last but not least, to my co-founder Julen, it would not have been possible without you. It was a hell of a ride and an honor to have worked with you for almost 3 years. I wish you all the best and I’m sure we will collaborate again in the near future ;-)
Ask questions. I’ll answer them.
It’s a hard time to be transparent, but to me, that is the most important time to be so. If we shy away from transparency when things are rough, then it’s not really a core value; it’s just a marketing tactic. Therefore, I invite you to ask whatever’s on your mind, and whatever this post left you wanting.
