Getting2Alpha

Mike Sellers is a pioneering social game designer turned academic. Long before World of Warcraft was a world-wide hit, Mike & his merry crew of innovators - including John Hanke, the driving force behind Pokemon Go - created Meridian 59, the first graphical MMO - or massively multiplayer online game. Since then Mike has worked on many games for companies like Electronic Arts and Kabam - and is now a professor of game design at Indiana University. Like many of our Getting2Alpha guests, Mike has a deep & longstanding fascination with human psychology and social systems - and a LOT of experience wrestling with the challenges of bringing new ideas to life. Mike is one of my favorite people in gaming - he’s a deeply insightful and innovative thinker, with as astonishing breadth of knowledge. In this interview, you'll learn what Mike thinks about early MMOs, super-powered mental models, and the pervasive future of Augmented Reality gaming.

Irene Au, a design leader and UX expert who has shaped user experiences at Netscape, Yahoo, Google, and Udacity, shares her insights into enhancing design practices in startups. She discusses her journey from math enthusiast to design pioneer, emphasizing the importance of user-centered design. Irene highlights the dynamic nature of leadership in tech and the significance of mentorship in startups. She also explores the impact of AI on design and advocates for a mindful approach that prioritizes humanity in technology.

Matt Leacock, acclaimed board game designer and UX expert, is best known for his cooperative masterpiece, Pandemic. In this discussion, he shares insights on the evolution of Pandemic into the narrative-driven Pandemic Legacy, highlighting how player choices impact gameplay. He explores the balance between cooperative and competitive games while emphasizing iterative prototyping. Matt also connects the art of storytelling in games to modern episodic television, enhancing player engagement and satisfaction. Additionally, he discusses overcoming design challenges and provides a peek into his innovative party game, KnitWit.

Kevin Kelly is is a multi-talented creator and deeply insightful futurist. His latest book, The Inevitable, lays out the twelve technological forces that will drive change over next thirty years and weaves together a convincing story about how these forces will shape our world. Listen in as Kevin explains how the world is changing - and how we can harness these insights to chart a a successful path into the future.

If you’ve ever struggled to get your team or organization to adopt Lean principles that really work - this interview is for you. Jeff Gothelf is a Lean UX expert who specializes in enterprise software & change management. In his new book, Sense & Respond, Jeff and his co-author Josh Seiden provide tools & techniques that help large organizations listen to customers & create new products continuously. In this fascinating interview, Jeff summarizes what he’s learned working with enterprise leaders - and pinpoints the speed bumps that get in the way of effective Lean product development. Listen in and discover how to implement change management that really works.

Dennis Crowley is the founder and executive chair of Foursquare - a company whose location-based technology is used by Uber, Apple, and others. Dennis a pioneer in location-based social experiences - and an endlessly creative serial entrepreneur who knows how to navigate the ups and downs that go along with bringing new ideas to life. Tune in and hear Dennis’s thoughts on Pokemon Go, entrepreneur payback, and the future of location-based social experiences.

Raph Koster is a leading expert in social gaming worlds. He’s best known for his work seminal MMOs like Ultima Online and Star Wars: Galaxies - and his influential book “A Theory of Fun” - a must-read if you want to understand the deep connection between games & learning. Raph is a multi-talented renaissance man - designer, artist, musician, and poet - someone who knows a LOT about bringing ideas to life. Listen in and get a shot of Raph’s relentless, inspiring creative energy.

Paul Adams is a Dublin-based designer, researcher and product manager with a storied career. He's played influential roles at both Google and Facebook — and now runs product at a fast-growing customer communications startup called Intercom. Paul and his colleagues use a product design technique called Job Stories that's inspired by the Jobs-To-Be-Done approach first developed by Clayton Christensen. I’ve been inspired by how Intercom uses Job Stories in product design - and I love Paul's clarity in communicating how to best turn customer insights into product design decisions. Listen in and learn how Paul and his intercom colleagues navigate the turbulent seas of customer feedback - and use core values and product vision - to steer their fast-growing startup towards success.

Tony Stubblebine is a product creator and entrepreneur who got his start working at Odeo and Twitter - and now runs an innovative training and education company called Coach.me. Tony has a unique perspective on finding product/market fit - and a long history of following his nose into whatever is new, hot and exciting in tech. Listen in and learn about what’s on Tony’s radar these days - and why he thinks nanodegrees and augmented intelligence might just be the future of online education.

Christina Wodtke, a designer and educator with a rich history at major tech firms like Yahoo and LinkedIn, dives into the essence of design thinking and its practical applications. She introduces her innovative view of design as distributed cognition, highlighting how collaboration enhances creativity. Listeners learn about the importance of real user engagement in product development and the evolving landscape of pricing models, like the shift to subscriptions. Christina also shares insights on how storytelling can bridge the gap between design and entrepreneurship.