148. From Corporate To Entrepreneurship - with Odile Limpach, co-founder of SpielFrabrique

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In this episode, host Sophie Vo Vo and Odile Limpach cover entrepreneurship in the gaming industry. Odile shares her journey from being a managing director at Ubisoft to co-founding SpielFabrique, a video game catalyst company. She discusses how after 16 years in the gaming industry, particularly at Ubisoft where she helped grow the company from 500 to over 10,000 employees, she decided to start her own venture. Odile emphasizes the importance of having financial stability, a strong network, and the right personality to handle uncertainty when starting a business.

The discussion delves into SpielFabrique evolution over 10 years, growing to a team of seven people and running several programs including EVA (European Video Games Accelerator) which receives around 100 applications from 15 European countries annually. Odile highlights their expansion into Africa and cross-industry initiatives involving books, cinema, and music in gaming.

A significant portion focuses on the challenges faced by indie game developers, particularly the balance between creativity and business acumen. Odile stresses the importance of early business planning and understanding one's purpose in starting a game company.

Learn more about SpielFrabique’s programs for indie developers: https://spielfabrique.eu/Thunderfox/

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