Alisa Chumachenko biography. Alisa Chumachenko: biography and personal life

Yesterday I went skiing on the slopes of the Russian Ski School in Novoperedelkino. The weather was great, frost, clear air, bright winter sun, crumbly snow. And it was very cool to go downhill after downhill, honing the ride in short arcs, but I remembered in time that a master class was scheduled for the evening Alisa Chumachenko, founder of Game Insight . Therefore, quickly getting ready and changing clothes, I went home, took a shower and arrived at the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University just in time for the start of the performance.

The impression that Alice made on me

As it turned out, my friends from the program "You are an entrepreneur" and I were a little late and arrived just a few seconds before the start of Alice's speech. Everyone already sat down in their seats, and the organizer girl began a welcoming speech. Two people were standing in the corridor near the audience, a guy in trendy sneakers and a pretty girl in a red sweatshirt. If I met them on the street, I would never have thought that in front of me are two directors of a company that showed a turnover of $ 90 million in 2012.

On the other hand, directors in interesting companies should be like that. Not old grunts surrounded by silent people in dark glasses, but normal cheerful people who are ready to communicate on equal terms with people who are mostly students (the master class was held at Moscow State University).

History of Game Insight

Alice immediately began her speech in a warm and friendly manner. There was no tension, no embarrassment. Sitting on the edge of the table, she told her story about how, having borrowed several thousand dollars, she managed to show an income of a million dollars a month already in the first months after the launch of the first game. And she also easily talked about how mail.ru disconnected her application from their service and overnight she turned from a millionaire back into an ordinary person with a cash gap in her business.

Then there was a search for new platforms, an attempt to work with all known social networks, a lot of analytical work and, as a result, entering the global market for mobile applications for iOS and Android. Of all the variety of social networks, we settled on the largest player on the world stage - Facebook. Alena believes, and in my opinion quite rightly, that it makes little sense to spend resources on porting applications for dying social networks. No traffic - come on, goodbye! The exception is only a few countries, including Russia, where local social networks show a positive trend in user growth despite the entry of Facebook into the market.

After formally founding Game Insight in 2010, Alisa has already achieved impressive results in two years. Now 5 games are consistently generating micropayment monetizations of more than a million dollars each, and another game hit millionaire is on the way. It would seem that what else is needed - if you cash out everything and sell the company, then you can live comfortably on the islands in the Caribbean. But it is obvious that a boring life is not an option for Alice. Therefore, the development of the company continues according to the marketing plans and personal preferences of Game Insight directors.

Where did the company get the initial investment from? Managed to borrow money from "friends and family"; they were enough for the start, the first shot and the first failure. Then there is a small gap in the story, mentions of cash gaps and a certain Russian investment fund that provides investments for the development of new projects. And, of course, the first profit was certainly put into circulation and development.

The company has grown into a serious holding in a few years. In addition to the head offices in Moscow and San Francisco (Game Insight is "registered not in Russia, but where - it's a secret") there are 15 almost independent studios that develop the game content itself. Another 6 studios did not cope with their tasks and were "sent to the labor market". Of course, the independence of the studios is limited from above by the parent company, but as Alice said, she chooses not the current team, but the leads. Those. if the head of the studio inspires confidence and respect, they will work with him. And then he is free to independently manage the personnel, work and technological process, while keeping in mind the corporate development quality standards and checklists for the requirements for his product.

Game Insight plans for 2013 are worthy of respect. If last year closed at $90 million, this year the ambitions are already at $180 million. Entering the global market, launching new products, continuous support for released content, market knowledge and strategic planning will allow them to get 30% in the worst case profit growth. And if there is a hit, there will be much more.

Conclusions from Alisa Chumachenko's speech

After telling the story of her company, Alice generously set aside time to interact with the audience. The questions were different, as well as the people present. Someone asked about the technical aspects of the issue, someone was interested in released products and announcements, and someone wanted cooperation.

I made the following conclusions for myself.

If you are a student and new to the business of mobile games and applications, then you can certainly find your own niche by gathering with friends in a rented apartment and making your first release in a couple of months.

If your ambitions are to push Game Insight, which is going to increase its market share from 15% to 30% in 2013, then you will need really serious investments, which can amount to tens of millions of dollars. Because it costs $5 million to develop and maintain Paradise Island from launch to date. And the same amount was directed to marketing and promotion of the game.

If you've outgrown your rented apartment and have a game that should make a splash, Alice will be happy to help you get it published. 140,000,000 people of the audience - that's what is offered for 60% of the profit share. Of course, if your game shows the required monetization figures during the test run.

And if the game didn’t go well, but everyone in the company is eager to try again, then you can become one of the Game Insight studios. Of course, losers are not expected there, but if people show their capabilities and determination, at least a productive dialogue is possible. Alice is ready to run after especially tough guys herself, which is confirmed by her three-month "run" for a team from Novgorod.

In any case, judging by the words of Alisa Chumachenko, the release of games for mobile platforms is not a creative process, it is a serious work. Therefore, the first thing you need is to have the determination to move forward and think globally.

PS: And behind the door of the auditorium, we talked with the PR director of Game Insight

Alisa Chumachenko is one of the most successful Internet entrepreneurs in Russia. She is also a happy wife and mother, who at one time entered the top ten sexiest female executives in the world. Everything she touches turns to gold. Marie Claire figured out how she does it.

On Alisa Chumachenko: top, Chanel; pantsuit, The Kooples; loafers, Christian Louboutin

How do people become rich and successful?

There are a million factors! I'm just thinking about writing a book about it. These are the chances seen in time, and like-minded people, and self-confidence, and the opportunities that have opened up in the market, and nights without sleep, multiplied by chance and luck. Of course, the measure of a successful businessman is the amount of money earned. But everything is relative. You may have a small cafe that makes a tiny profit. But the business model of this cafe may turn out to be so successful that the creators will eventually build a global business and, perhaps, change the world. When I founded my company (Game Insight. - approx. MC), then, of course, I wanted to make money. But it wasn't a priority. First of all, I wanted to create something of my own. I'm not interested in chasing only millions.

Where was your first job?

Circus artist on ice.

Are you seriously?

Yes, I am from a circus theatrical family, at the age of 14 I went to work in a circus and stayed there for 10 years. Then I decided that enough was enough and that I needed to change my life. And by chance I got into a team of people who were doing what I was terribly fond of then - computer games.

Why are you so drawn to games?

I have always loved online games, especially Fight Club. I liked big virtual worlds. Such games are usually played by people with a well-developed imagination - this is an opportunity to live a different life. At that moment, I was sitting at home with a baby and could afford to go online and play. I also know about what addiction to computer games is.

Do you still have it?

Aldeady no. When you understand what is happening to you, it is easier to control yourself. Yes, and no time.

And how did you end up making a career?

At the age of 24, I got a job as a secretary at the IT-Territory startup (we invented and promoted online games). Then I did not really understand what my goals were and what I wanted. There was a child in her arms, money was urgently needed. At first I just carried coffee, helped. When the PR woman quit, I began to beg to be taken in her place.

Did you know anything about PR then?

Of course I didn't know! But in our country the whole country knows nothing about PR - and that's fine. I was the same PR girl, of which there are thousands. But then this business was just in its infancy - there was no market, no industry, no professionals. The whole team was just like me, enthusiastic, enthusiastic players.

Lack of experience stops someone...

And sometimes, on the contrary, it stops the presence of experience. For me, it worked to my advantage. Perhaps if I were now aware of the consequences, I would not have dared to change my life so drastically.

What was the most difficult moment?

Yes all! If you look back at the last ten years, everything was very, very hard. Every day, every decision, every meeting... But I try not to be dramatic. I also have an excellent student syndrome: already in the morning my conscience undermines that I didn’t finish it, I don’t have time, I miss it. It helps to mobilize.

On Alisa Chumachenko: turtleneck, Uniqlo; Barbara Bui trousers; vest, Sonia Rykiel; Manolo Blahnik shoes

What did you spend the first big money on?

I bought my parents a good apartment. When the first joys of life appeared, such as a good car, I began to transfer a lot to charity.

Do you prefer saving or spending?

I'm not Scrooge, I can't procrastinate. This is how I am in business - I prefer to reinvest everything. Money is energy, it must be put into circulation. Then they will bring new money.

Do you know what it is to be penniless?

My parents and I lived very modestly, if not worse. In Khrushchev on the outskirts. In the courtyard of the hungry 90s. You have a salary of $200, and you need $400 to get your child into kindergarten.

Aren't you afraid to be in that life again?

No need to renounce, but I think that my experience and skills are enough to make decent money. Now my priority is to give a good education to my son.

Can you afford an airplane? House on the ocean?

I can't fly a plane, but a house in California can. My category of understanding money is not numbers, but rather life stages. The first is when you stop knowing how much milk costs in the store. The second - you stop looking at the check in the supermarket - this is 1500 rubles or 10 thousand. Then you start thinking: will there be enough money for education and plus for one more house? And then - what can I do with this money useful? And this is already a big responsibility.

What feminine qualities help in business?

We are different from men, but not as much as people think. When I became vice president and the company was already huge (Astrum Online Entertainment is one of the largest resources for the production of online games in Eastern Europe, where Chumachenko left five years ago and opened her own business. - approx. MC), I went into the room for meetings with coffee and I was mistaken for a secretary. But I don't have a problem with that. I feel comfortable with hard-working, active people who always come up with something. What gender they are is secondary.

Are there many emotions in your decisions?

More than we would like. Although ten years ago there were much more. But I never had pink glasses. I, on the other hand, am paranoid. Any business is associated with huge risks. Everything can be lost at any moment. Your task is to mitigate these risks. Paranoid does not mean a coward and does not mean lazy. In general, though, I'm an optimist. I know that tomorrow will be a new day. And I constantly ask myself: what can I do today to make my life better in ten years?

How much should you trust your intuition in business?

There are studies confirming that intuition is the same accumulated experience. The brain simply processes this information in a different way. In this regard, I am one hundred percent intuitive. Although without statistics and pragmatic analysis it is difficult for me.

Alisa Chumachenko

“IF MY PARTNERS AND EMPLOYEES ARE QUESTIONED ON THE LIE DETECTOR, THEY WILL PROBABLY SAY THAT I AM A BITCH”

Are you a bitch?

Good question. If my partners and employees are interviewed on a lie detector, they will probably say yes. That Alice knows how to inspire, but she can also catch up with fear. Perhaps I will be able to be softer, calmer in the next round of life.

You recently left the very successful Game Insight company you created yourself. Why?

Own company - it is like a child, over time it grows and its interests may no longer coincide with the interests of shareholders and founders. She can interfere with your development, and you - to her.

How long have you been married?

Ten years. But I don't like discussing my personal life.

Has your success in business affected your family?

I succeeded, among other things, because my husband always supported me. Yes, in Russia, many men are still domostroev, but we had no problems, because he is much more successful than me. He is always a few giant steps ahead. And 99% of the advice on how to build a business, I received from him. He never gave me any advice, though. I just watched him make decisions, talk on the phone. But, of course, I strain it from time to time. And, probably, it could be softer, more flexible.

Is it your merit that he is successful?

May be. We have come a long way together. Somewhere he supported me, somewhere I supported him. The most important thing in a relationship is the same way of thinking. Very rare, but you can master it. If you carefully listen to a person, hear him, tune in to his wave, you can learn to understand his way of thinking. Then you will effectively help each other.

Do you consider yourself a strong woman?

It happens that such women scare away men ...

It is hard to say. What does strong mean anyway? domineering? For example, I'm generally a baby doll. I cook well, I love to fry meatballs, do housework. I have two dogs and three cats. In theory, I should not scare. Strength is elsewhere. In flexibility, for example. The ability to control yourself. The ability to get out of bed in any condition, come to work and smile.

Does the need to make decisions and work hard deprives femininity?

I believe that working hard is good for everyone. Something all the time to create, produce. But it is important to be able to switch, relax, then you will be much more productive. I don't believe in super busy people. It's all a matter of priorities. For me, if I manage to devote at least an hour a day to cooking and then have dinner with my family, this is tantamount to a full-fledged day off.

“MONEY IS ENERGY. THEY SHOULD BE SPENDED, PUSHED INTO THE CYCLE. THEN THEY WILL BRING NEW MONEY.”

There is an opinion that every five years it is necessary to change jobs. Do you agree?

Everything is individual. Each has its own life cycles. If we talk about managers, yes, most of them start to burn out after five years on one project. In this case, it is not necessary to change jobs, sometimes it is enough to change the direction of activity. Although life is now speeding up so much that the cycles are getting shorter - two or three years.

Do you allow your son to play on the computer?

He doesn't have a computer. More precisely, there is, but it is locked in a closet. And how does he have time to sit at the computer? Lessons, extra classes, sports. By the way, he doesn't watch TV either. I'm trying to teach him to read books - conventional, not electronic. In my house in Vilnius, I have walls with shelves of books, most of which are old. I love going to bookstores.

Why do you live in Vilnius?

The environment for business and for life in general is very good there. Plus, my father is Lithuanian. At one time, we moved the head office of the company to Vilnius, especially since no more than 10% of the revenue came from Russia at that moment. We moved there six months ago. I like everything there - people, nature, location. Our house is in a pine forest, ten minutes drive from the city. Twenty meters from the windows of my bedroom there is a lake, hefty hare-hares run around my site, I constantly meet foxes, roe deer. The air, of course, cannot be compared with Moscow.

Do you feel isolated?

I am a Muscovite, and I don't have the feeling of a province, perhaps only in New York. This is snobbery, but I think any Muscovite will understand me. But at 24, it doesn’t matter to you what you breathe and what your children breathe, which you may not have yet. It is important for you to build your personal life and career. And now you are already thinking about the future, about the strategy of your future life. I am a very domestic person. And in the so-called province I catch a buzz. I no longer understand how you can live in a city and in an apartment. In general, I am not strongly attached to places, much more to people. And I'm never bored anywhere.

Would you still like children?

If it works, of course. A career is a career, it's very, very important, but children are the most magical thing that can happen to a woman. And most importantly - in this regard, she has a choice that men do not have. And I dream that when I am 70, I will be surrounded by many children and, perhaps, even grandchildren.

And this is all about her:

Alisa Chumachenko, 35, founder of Game Insight (online game production, one of the ten largest Internet companies in Russia).

• She started working at the age of 14.
• Net Worth - $90 million (number 21 in the list of 30 richest women in Russia according to Forbes).
• Children - son, 11 years old.
• Favorite brand is Chanel.
• Cosmetics - Valmont.
• Favorite cities: Paris, Vilnius, Moscow.
• Favorite accessory - designer bags.
• Hobbies: horseback riding, sailing, shopping.

Alisa Chumachenko became famous after she managed to found and become the president of Game Insight. It is well known to experts in the gaming industry. She is considered the leading expert in the Russian Federation in the field of online games and games popular in social networks.

The beginning of the labor path

At the age of fourteen, Alisa Chumachenko began to join the field of art, as she was from a family of circus theatergoers. For 10 years she performed in the circus on ice.
Alice is a graduate of the directing department of GITIS.

Being an active player in the "Fight Club", she made a lot of contacts in this get-together. According to her, she was so passionate about the game that, even when she was nursing a child, she did not stop playing with her other hand on the computer.

In 2004, Alisa Chumachenko, whose biography became closely connected with, got a job at a small company IT-Territory.

This team was headed by the soloist of the group "Hands up" Sergei Zhukov, who decided to create one of the computer games - "Territory".

Starting as a secretary, Alice quickly moved to the PR department.

On the marketing team

In 2007, she already worked as Vice President for Marketing and Advertising of Astrum Online Entertainment, the largest gaming holding in Eastern Europe, which gradually turned into a small company.

Alice managed to form a highly professional team of marketers, which was able to make a real contribution, as a result of which the holding's financial indicators began to grow steadily upwards. She launched several dozen free-to-play MMOG projects.

Since 2009, this holding has become an integral part of the Mail.Ru Group, Alice did not find a place in it and she was "overboard".

As she explains in an interview, she had three options for her further existence. Be hired by a company, do charity work, or start your own business.

Having settled on the latter option, Alisa Chumachenko six months later created the Game Insight company, which specialized in the development of games used in mobile devices and social networks.

Newly established company

Game Insight almost immediately took the lead in the social gaming market, and soon in the line of mobile applications. From the very beginning, the project was conceived as an incubator for gaming startups.

The team decided to develop the business outside the Russian Federation using the Facebook platform.

The year 2011 was marked for the Chumachenko team with the release of a game using a mobile platform, micropayments from which brought developers the opportunity to earn an amount equal to a million dollars.

Today, GI is recognized as a leading developer and publisher of games using mobile and social platforms.

The team consists of 800 employees, of which 600 are involved in project development, and 200 in management.

During the last year, more than twenty million people have become users of Game Insight games.

About Game Insight

In 2011, Forbes magazine wrote that Alisa Chumachenko is a rather famous figure in the online business.

Currently, the board of directors of the company is headed by Igor Matsanyuk, previously he was the president of Astrum. After Alisa Chumachenko left the post of president of the company, this position was taken by Maxim Donskikh.

In 2012, the company opened an office in San Francisco with eight to fifteen employees. A little later, representative offices of the company appeared in such large cities as Novosibirsk and St. Petersburg.

In the summer of 2013, Alisa Chumachenko and Igor Matsanyuk were on the cover of Forbes magazine together.

In 2014, the American office was closed, and the headquarters was moved from Moscow to the capital of Lithuania, "to strengthen its presence on the European continent, as the most key market."

In the same year, Game Insight, according to Forbes, entered the top 10 largest Russian companies operating in the Internet.

In beams of glory

By the age of 35, Alisa Chumachenko, whose photo adorns some Russian and Western publications, with a fortune of $ 90 million, is, according to Forbes magazine, twenty-first on the list of the richest Russian women.

The portfolio of the company she leads includes over forty projects of various genres. In the world, more than 230 million people have ever accessed the games released by this company.

Chumachenko is the winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. 2012 brought her a victory in one of the nominations ("Fast-growing business").

In the same year, Forbes recognized her as their manager of the year.

At one time, she was included in the list of ten female leaders who were recognized as the sexiest in the world.

Launch of makerspace in Vilnius

In 2015, there was information in the news reports that Green Garage was launched in Vilnius by the founder of Game Insight. Alisa Chumachenko had already invested 200 thousand euros in this project by that time and planned to invest about 100 thousand more.

The Green Garage includes three parts. The first part includes the makerspace, which has modern equipment. The other part consists of an electronic laboratory. The third is from the training center.

As Chumachenko explains, Green Garage is "a hall where classes should be held." It can be visited by makers one-time, or by purchased subscription. The cost of a monthly visit to the makerspace is approximately 80 euros.

From the moment the makerspace was opened, the launch of various paid events and educational courses was immediately planned.

Upon successful implementation of the project, a similar structure is planned to be created in Kaunas.

Alisa Chumachenko, personal life

Alice has been married for over 10 years and has a son. His hobbies are horse riding, sailing and shopping.

Her favorite accessory is designer bags. More than others, she likes the brand "Chanel", from cosmetics - Valmont.

According to her, she gets the most pleasure when visiting Paris, Vilnius and Moscow.

Alisa Chumachenko, whose husband constantly provides her with all possible support, alone could hardly have achieved such impressive financial success.

Alice says that she constantly observed how her husband Igor Matsanyuk communicates with partners, how he conducts business conversations on the phone and the like.

She considers the method of thinking of the same type with her husband to be the main thing in their relationship. In his success, she also sees her certain merit.

They carefully listen to each other, "tuning in to the appropriate wave."

Alice loves to do household chores. She cooks well, often indulges homemade fried cutlets.

Alice has two dogs and three cats at home.

From the statements of A. Chumachenko

Alice does not avoid media correspondents, but it is almost impossible to find information regarding her personal life in her interviews. At the same time, she is happy to share her thoughts on ways to achieve success in business.

She spoke about the venture capital market in Russia as follows: "It differs in that the founders on it often become" dreamy astronauts "".

They have an erroneous opinion, according to which it is supposedly a pleasure for an investor to spend his finances, watching how a company (namely, a founder, that is, a specific person) spends money "on investments in market promotion" and "building a space story", at the same time, "Twitter" or "Elon Musk" are taken as a comparison, but in reality the project is "driving into a dead end". Getting out of there is becoming less and less.

It seems to such "cosmonauts", Chumachenko ironically, that the happiness of an investor is in getting his share, but often it must be calculated from zero.

Until now, Alice spends a lot of time in the virtual world of games. While testing one of the applications, she managed to spend three thousand dollars, while the average player has a bill of three to five dollars during the month.

Alisa Chumachenko, a serial entrepreneur and game industry specialist, says that an international company can be launched from anywhere in the world. She herself prefers to do this from Lithuania, where in the early 2010s she moved the head office of Game Insight, a game development company she created, and where she has already launched several projects. Not all of them were successful: for example, the children's engineering workshop Green Garage failed to turn a profit and had to be closed in 2017. Chumachenko's new business is Gosu.ai, an artificial intelligence-based training platform for gamers that allows gamers to improve their skills. The project has already attracted $2.5 million in investments from venture funds Systema_VC and Gagarin Capital, in June the number of its users exceeded 100 thousand people. Chumachenko told Inc. why it is better to launch an AI startup in Moscow and open an office in Eastern Europe, which game will make a breakthrough in eSports, and why a swearing chatbot is needed for a service for gamers.

Launch in Moscow, operate from Lithuania

Global business is not always convenient to manage from Russia - you have to choose another place. You have to take into account a huge number of nuances: what employees are needed, whether they can be brought there, what conditions they need, what their families should do, what laws are there and how they fit into relations with shareholders, where the proceeds come from, etc.

Eastern Europe today is the optimal place for the office of a technology company. Megacities of Western Europe are expensive for a small startup. In the USA, business lives and is structured differently, where you need to know the market and be sure that you want to create an American company. Eastern Europe is attractive in terms of costs, quality of life, proximity to Russia (we all have families and connections here anyway), and transport accessibility. Plus, the former Soviet republics have an absolutely amazing bonus - they speak and understand Russian there, and there are many Russian schools in Lithuania (this is important for families with children, for example). And there is no mental break.

Lithuania was chosen, among other things, because its government has done quite a lot to attract foreign IT companies - it has simplified the procedure for obtaining a residence permit for IT specialists, for example. Well, my father is also Lithuanian, I have many relatives there, this is my second homeland. But that was at the end of the list of bonuses.

You can launch a global company from anywhere - but you need to understand where you will take specialists when you start growing. There are practically no big data specialists in small European countries - they are usually concentrated in centers, in megacities. They will either have to be lured (which is not always possible) or taken with you. For example, we launched Gosu.ai in Moscow, because there are simply no big data specialists of the level we need in Lithuania. Having launched in Moscow, we were able to quickly make a prototype and test it, and then we calmly decided where exactly to settle down operationally and how to develop further.

Computer games and eSports in numbers

Source: New Zoo

2,2

Billion people around the world playing computer games.

$122

billion - volume of the global gaming market in 2017.

~50%

volume the gaming market is made up of mobile games.

$180

billion will be the size of the global gaming market by 2021.

$1,4

billion will be the size of the eSports market by 2020.

Seek data, count the economy

Getting big data is easier than you think. Many IT giants, banks, payment systems, city administrations share them - the same Sberbank conducts a huge number of hackathons with open data. You have to be very lazy not to see how much data is in the public domain. For one case, they will definitely be enough, and scaling is the next question.

Companies benefit from sharing big data. Companies that do not disclose data are forced to develop on their own - and many choose this path. Companies that are willing to give developers API access have a chance to turn into a platform (as Google, Apple and Facebook did in their time) and even earn extra money.

At some point, an AI startup must decide whether to focus on one technology (and refine its application in different areas) or one area (and develop different technologies in it). An example for the first case is computer vision, which can recognize images of people, process images of products on shelves, and so on. We at Gosu.ai chose the second way: we use different technologies: we experiment with various predictions, voice, image processing, etc., but we use them only in the gaming sector.

Every market needs its own strategy. In a settled market with big players and established business models, the quality of the product and the correct alignment of the business are much more important. Here we need specialists with relevant experience and experiments are not always possible. In a new, unformed market, where there are many risks, but also many opportunities, you have to run very fast to find your niche. Of course, the product must be good, but there are few of them, the competition is lower, and time is more important. Get ready to learn on the go.

In any project, even in the newest market, it is necessary to calculate the economy very well. I ran into this problem when I was doing a project for the Green Garage engineering workshop for children. I wanted kids with engineering skills to change the world, experiment and spend money - but I just couldn't bring the project to profit. I didn’t take into account that the cost of depreciation should be added to the cost of equipment (higher than in a fitness center - most of it was not even useful), security costs and the inability to raise prices if your clients are children and teenagers. Technically, the project paid for itself, but the money for quality development had to be “extracted” from the non-profit sector, to interact, including with government agencies, and I realized that I would not want to do this. As a result, I had to close the Green Garage because I was financially unable to pull it on my own.

Hard economics: why DIY workshops failed

In 2015-16 around the world, workshop projects for "makers" - those who love to do things with their own hands, were gaining popularity. Then in the USA, the TechShop network was on the rise - workshops that provided round-the-clock access to professional equipment (CNC machines, 3D printers, welding machines, etc.) for a small fee. The workshops were popular with start-ups and small businesses, who were able to build a prototype without the help of large factories.

This wave also reached Europe: at the beginning of 2015, the former founder of Svyaznoy Maxim Nogotkov tried to create such a workshop in Russia (he abandoned the idea, believing that the project could be economically profitable only with the support of the state), and in Vilnius Alisa Chumachenko launched a space for makers Green Garage.

The workshops earned by selling subscriptions to users and by conducting training sessions. This business model actually proved unprofitable: the workshops were equipped with about $ 1 million worth of equipment, not including depreciation costs, and the income from visitors did not recoup these costs. In November 2017, the TechShop chain went bankrupt and all 10 shops in the US were closed. Alisa Chumachenko's Green Garage closed the same year.

Not toys but hardcore

Gamers are a huge audience that is ready to pay for new services. Over the past 20 years, there has not been a single year that the gaming market has not grown in terms of money or users. There is a feeling that the drivers of its growth in the next few years will be competitive games and eSports, and on different platforms - desktops, consoles, mobile devices.

Competitive games are a very hardcore audience. Players want to win and move on - to participate in serious tournaments. This is the path to eSports - at the top of this pyramid is professional gaming - but to get to the top, you need to improve your skills all the time. And people are willing to pay for training services. About 600 million people play competitive games in the West, and another 1.2 billion in Asia.

We are not interested in eSports (this is a very narrow niche), but non-professional players - ordinary guys who play competitive games. We give them detailed analytics on how they play, what they are doing right, and what needs to be improved. For example, here you, instead of using hot keys, dragged the mouse around the screen and lost 59 seconds, here you didn’t use various items as efficiently as possible, etc. We pull all this out of big data and visualize it beautifully.

We do not have the task of "teaching" how to play - when people play, they just want to have a good time, and not necessarily with benefit. Our task is to suggest how to make the game even more fun. We build infrastructure around the game so that the player constantly turns to us for advice, information for reflection and additional services.

When developing a service, you have to listen to what the community says. It’s different in games: you hear the wishes of users, but you still do it your own way, so that it would be more interesting for them to play. But when working on the service, for the first time in my life, I came across the concept of community-based development: we have about 4 thousand people in the chat who write whole lists of what they need, we consult with them, and this synergy works great.

To find an approach to gamers, I had to write a swearing chatbot. The Dota 2 game has a brutal community - it is very toxic, it does not accept newcomers, it is very easy to run into rudeness in it. But we decided that if this community accepts us, it will be easier with the rest. A special chatbot analyzes the logs of players' conversations and writes messages like a typical Dota 2 player - immediately sends you to your mother. He is hellish, hooligan, terribly toxic, but very funny. We made it for fun - but it went viral on social networks, thanks to which several thousand new users came to us.

Gosu.ai is a training platform for gamers. Artificial intelligence analyzes data on the style of the game and provides players with personalized tips to improve their skills. The platform works for Dota 2, CS:GO and PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds) multiplayer online games, with Hearthstone and World of Tanks coming in 2019.

Alisa Chumachenko launched the project in 2016 in Moscow, investing "several hundred thousand dollars" in it. In May 2017, venture funds Sistema_VC and Gagarin Capital invested in the project, and a year later - Runa Capital and Ventech. In total, the company raised over $2.5 million, and in June 2018, it celebrated reaching 100,000 users. Now the company is moving to Vilnius, where Chumachenko has already launched a number of projects (there is an office of the Game Insight company she created).

Most Gosu.ai content is free, but certain services and analytics will be available on a subscription basis. In addition, the company has already begun to earn on sponsorship contracts with game manufacturers.

Distinguish breakouts from viruses

Thinking that all gamers are teenagers is a big misconception. The largest segment of the competitive gaming audience is men aged 25-35, and they pay well. But the teen segment is also growing, so brands are happy to consider this market.

It is important for game service providers to integrate with game producers - this is an opportunity to earn extra money. Many startups believe that the game developer did something badly or did not finish it, but they will do it cool now. We make our product with the approval of developers - or if we are sure that they will approve new features. At the same time, the service (unless it generates cheat codes) encourages players to spend more time in the game, increasing the return. These business models are just taking shape, but it is very likely that in the near future game developers will pay services for retention - and services will pay developers a commission for monetizing players. For myself, I consider this as an exit strategy.

The task of game developers is to make players pay more, play longer, and get involved in the game more easily. In a hardcore game (competitive games in which the user spends from 4 hours a day, such as Dota 2), the user is hard to lure - most likely he will fall off somewhere along the way and go to play something simpler. In casual games (mechanically simple games without violence that can be played in short sessions of several minutes, such as solitaire), it is easy to lure a client, but such games usually have a low return rate and a very low conversion in paying. Therefore, it makes sense for a game developer to move from two directions: to make the game hardcore, but to simplify the involvement as much as possible.

Investors who want to invest in esports need to navigate the entire gaming industry: The esports market audience is a tiny segment of the entire gaming audience. And this is not IT, where the basic indicators are more or less clear - it is extremely difficult even for specialists in this market to predict which game will take off, and which will not even be fully developed.

Mobile games are still a promising segment for investment and for opening new businesses. But it's expensive to enter. When we started making Game Insight in 2009, the entry price was several hundred thousand dollars, and now, without several million dollars for development, it’s not even worth looking into.

It is necessary to distinguish breakthroughs in the gaming market from viruses that pass and are forgotten. Everyone thought that Pokemon Go was a breakthrough. But, despite the fact that Pokemon Go itself has earned a lot, it has not spawned new successful AR projects.

But PUBG and Fortnite have made a breakthrough in the genre of competitive survival games: their “clones” come out one after another; the survival segment is growing and developing.

For successful AR and VR games to emerge, a distribution market must emerge. You can make great VR content, but how will it sell? The VR market now is not only games, but also devices. There is growth on it, but it is not comparable to the growth in the number of smartphones over the past 10 years. If you are making a game for VR devices, your audience is several million people. And if you make a game for a smartphone - billions.