Year Two... in the Life of a Startup

The transition from working for someone to for Yourself

It is something many want to do but few ever think they can do, and even fewer try. Starting in 2006, Joe McDonald (TGA co-founder and Managing Partner) and I went through the stages that many have gone through in the past where we said to ourselves “we should do this” which then became “we can do this” and eventually reached the “we ARE doing this”. We left the security of working for a large company, getting a paycheck and 401k and paid vacations, etc. - basically stability for our families - and risked it all to start a brand new company from scratch.

It was December 2006 when we first started talking about starting The Game Agency and November 2007 when we officially opened our doors. We knew we had a lot to offer… a new approach for the industry, great products and superior services. We set out to start a company focused on creating, marketing and licensing content in the video game space. Now, that’s not too lofty, is it? Luckily Joe and I shared a similar vision of what we wanted to accomplish and the approach in which to do so.

We named our Company “The Game Agency” because we wanted to position ourselves as the “go to” gaming specialists for non-gaming companies.

Two years later, I can point to several mistakes we’ve made, but just as many solutions. Not that we won’t ever make mistakes again, but some of the biggest mistakes people make is repeating them. We’re constantly looking for new ways of doing business and new models for the industry. Bringing games to life is fun, and maximizing the reach and impact of that content is our sweet spot!

For TGA, vision and focus has been critical. Like other businesses, we spent several months defining a clear vision for our future and determining what it would take to get you there. We believe quality, integrity and fun are the keys towards success and those qualities have been a motivator for everything we do from design to development and from hiring to client service.

The first year of being in business was really hard. Things you take for granted when you work for someone else suddenly fall on your shoulders and it takes some getting used to. We certainly have a whole new respect for accountants, human resource managers, designers, etc. having played all those roles at one point or another.

Before we started TGA, Joe and I had very strong work ethics and would regularly work evenings and weekends, but it doesn’t compare to the work involved in the first year of starting your own business. Today we spend 24 hours a day on the business whether it’s through travel, planning, meetings, interviewing – we sleep with one eye open and our PDA’s in one hand and we are constantly looking for the next big task to accomplish. By no means is the storm over now that the first year has passed. The whole experience is extremely rewarding and one we would do over and over again.