Simplay : The Beginning
This is going to be a short story of how it all started, at least for me.
It was just another day at ClicksMob, my previous place of work where I led system infrastructure design and administration for the past two years. Being the only dev-ops engineer responsible for the system’s infrastructure in the company, it felt great to be the one who researches, decides, and implements solutions. Yet, it wasn’t challenging enough. So, as a matter of fact, it wasn’t “just another day” — it was the day I informed my teammates that I was leaving the company and moving on to my next challenge. Despite being a great place to work, the routine and scale at ClicksMob made me realize that I needed a bigger challenge for myself. At the same time, a bigger challenge for me meant a bigger company (which turned out to be false, eventually). So an obvious decision for me was to move on to an enterprise. Finding one wasn’t too difficult — I was pretty young with decent experience, so it didn’t take long before I had my new job lined up.
After I talked to my teammates (I had a great team, and it was much more difficult to leave them than the company itself), the company’s director of product, Gil, asked me to join him in his office. Suspecting nothing at all, I did.
Gil was always a straightforward person, so it was clear right from the beginning what was on his mind. His plan was to build a company that would give all gamers the option to play every game at the best graphic performance and affordable price. Both being gamers (we shared a lot of stories about gaming), we found it easy enough to understand each other. Gil, being the analytical type that he is, did extensive deep research in this field before he came to me with a founding proposal. It almost sounded like, “Let’s make the world better place” (at least for the gamers among us). Giving it a little thought, I agreed to take part as CTO of this project, but only part time.
But, as with every story, not everything was so easy and smooth. To agree to take part in something is very easy if you are not giving any thought to the consequences.
I started to research the technical side. With every new detail, the scale of the project dramatically grew. Soon, I found myself working more than 16 hours every single day. This wasn’t easy, especially because I have a family. Yet, being intrigued by the project, I spent more than four months in this hectic routine. If that wasn’t enough, being the fitness lover that I am, I spent 4–5 mornings each week in the gym, which is also time-consuming.
It’s the tough decisions time!
It was clear as day that I had to choose to either commit full time to Simplay or abandon the project. Moving to Simplay had significant downsides. In fact, it had much more downsides than the other option. Here are some of my concerns:
- Probably the most obvious was the financials, or should I say the lack of them. Being a system/dev-ops engineer, I got paid very well, which translated to somehow big expenses. I can’t say we spent money recklessly, but, boy, did we know how to spend it. A lack of monthly income would mean that we would need to spend extremely carefully. After all, a family of three (with second baby on the way) should be able to live this way for an unknown period of time. Equally important was a change in our lifestyle, which was a major mental difficulty.
- More than 90% of startups fail. Yes, I hate those numbers, especially if it’s somehow related to my own business. But the reality is sad, and it must be face d. Most startups will die. In other words, I would need to spend all my savings on something that has a really high chance of failing. A real concern here.
I know that there are probably a gazillion reasons why you shouldn’t start a startup, but those two were my reasons.
You’re probably asking what the benefits were. Well, the real benefit and the reason why I decided to take the chance here is because of the challenge. I started my story searching for bigger challenges and “found” them in an enterprise company. But this time it was different. What can be more challenging than building on your own, making the decisions that either get you to the sky or bury you alive? I felt that this was the opportunity I was waiting for a long time. And no company can give that.
Another reason to go for it was the tremendous progress we made, from the idea to development and release of the alpha version to early testers. Also, Simplay was accepted to the prestige accelerator — 8200 EISP. With all the benefits we got from the accelerator program, we could really think and act big. Moreover, if we were chosen from among hundreds of companies by people who are smarter and more experienced than us, that surely meant something, didn’t it?
So we have a decision! Now what?
To make it all work, I had to earn my wife’s support. It was not only a matter of getting her to agree , but I’d also need her support through thick and thin, in the rough moments that were sure to come. I was blessed with a great wife, so it didn’t take a lot convincing.
Armed with my family’s support, a talented co-founder, and tons of motivation, I was finally able to start this journey (and conquer the world!).
And that I call “just another day in the office”!
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Follow our progress building Simplay at our website, and follow us on Twitter @Simplay_Gaming
