On today’s episode, our featured guest is Stephan Sherman. Stephan is the founder and Creative Chief Officer of Super Evil Megacorp, which is a gaming and eSports developer. The company’s first title, Vainglory, quickly rose to become the world’s largest mobile eSport app after it’s global launch in early 2015. 

In less than a year, Vainglory has held live competitive gaming events around the world, and it has received numerous accolades, including Apple’s best apps in 2014 and 2015, the Apple design award at World Wide Developers Conference, the IMGA’s best technical achievement at People’s Choice Awards, and the Tabby Award for best iPad game. 

The company has also raised more than $41M in funding and is based in San Mateo, California. Prior to founding Super Evil Megacorp and running it’s creative design and programming, Stephan worked as an engineer and programmer for the last 15 years at companies including Riot Games, Slipgate Ironworks, and Gazillion Entertainment. 

Stephan joins us today to talk about the two different business models within gaming and what the future trends will be for the industry. He also shares the specific growth tactics Super Evil Megacorp used to grow the business and why partnering is such an essential component to building up a company. Stephan leaves off the conversation with his final piece of guidance to any new or potential startup founders, encouraging them to simply give it a try.