Founder22Current founder
26th percentile
Investor21Current investor
65th percentile
Combined
Serial gaming founder behind Diner Dash, now CEO at Making Fun
Credibility
this founder typical founder (50th pct)
Traction · 76th percentile
- Current founder and CEO of Making Fun, Inc., which he co-founded in 2009.
- Past co-founder and CEO of PlayFirst, Inc., creator of the best-selling Diner Dash franchise, later acquired by Glu Mobile and then Electronic Arts.
- Both Making Fun and PlayFirst were co-founded with other co-founders.
- Making Fun, Inc. has raised approximately $50K in total funding.
- PlayFirst was acquired by Glu Mobile (later absorbed by Electronic Arts) at an undisclosed price.
Relationship Matrix
Most Complimentary
Founder score
- 95%Probability of being accurate (95%)Current founder and CEO of Making Fun, Inc., which he co-founded in 2009.
- 90%Probability of being accurate (90%)Past co-founder and CEO of PlayFirst, Inc., creator of the best-selling Diner Dash franchise, later acquired by Glu Mobile and then Electronic Arts.
- 85%Probability of being accurate (85%)Both Making Fun and PlayFirst were co-founded with other co-founders.
- 75%Probability of being accurate (75%)PlayFirst was acquired by Glu Mobile (later absorbed by Electronic Arts) at an undisclosed price.
- 70%Probability of being accurate (70%)Making Fun, Inc. has raised approximately $50K in total funding.
Investor score
- 80%Probability of being accurate (80%)Publicly identified as an angel investor with at least one confirmed investment (Secret Builders).
- 80%Probability of being accurate (80%)Made at least 1 confirmed angel investment (Secret Builders).
- 45%Probability of being accurate (45%)Approximately 5 or more years of angel investing experience based on known investment activity.
What you likely need
You're a serial founder with deep roots in gaming — from Diner Dash to Eternium — and you're actively navigating the challenge of funding new titles while sustaining a profitable indie studio. Events focused on mobile/PC game monetization, blockchain gaming, and connecting with investors who back entertainment and gaming would be most valuable to you right now. As an angel investor yourself, peer roundtables with other founder-investors in the gaming and entertainment space would also be a strong fit.
Would you attend these IRL Festival events?
We will tune and customize your Founder Festival experience to make sure you get invited to the events that would be most valuable to you.
- tacticalA dinner for mobile and PC game founders to share monetization strategies and lessons from free-to-play transitions.
- positioningA roundtable with blockchain gaming founders and investors exploring decentralized asset ownership models for games.
- fundraisingAn office-hours session with gaming-focused VCs and angels to explore funding options for new title development at Making Fun.
- introsA founder-investor peer dinner for serial founders who also angel invest, to share deal flow and co-investment opportunities in gaming and entertainment.
- introsA GDC-adjacent happy hour for Free-to-Play Summit organizers and speakers to build relationships with top game industry operators.
- hiringAn MIT alumni founder dinner in the Bay Area to reconnect with technical co-founders and explore hiring or partnership opportunities.
- hiringA workshop for indie game studio founders on hiring and retaining global engineering talent across distributed teams.
- fundraisingA seed/Series A fundraising dinner for blockchain gaming founders, where Making Fun can present its thesis to gaming-focused VCs using PlayFirst and Diner Dash as proof-of-execution anchorsDefinitely
- positioningA Web3 gaming thought leadership roundtable where indie studio founders debate free-to-play's structural flaws and decentralized ownership models, positioning Making Fun's blockchain vision in front of aligned investors and strategic partnersUnlikely
- introsA YPO founder-investor mixer specifically connecting gaming and entertainment entrepreneurs with gaming-focused VCs and strategic investors, designed to surface warm introductions for studios like Making FunDefinitely
- hiringA hiring roundtable for indie gaming studio founders on recruiting senior Web3 and blockchain engineering talent into small teams, with peer advice on competing against larger studios for credible technical hiresUnlikely
- tacticalA gaming IP monetization dinner where founders with established titles like Eternium explore licensing, partnership, and non-dilutive revenue strategies to bridge funding gaps during product pivotsUnlikely
- wellbeingA founder wellbeing roundtable for serial gaming entrepreneurs on building sustainable studio cultures and operating rhythms, drawing on hard-won lessons from burnout and career pivots across the mobile and PC gaming industryUnlikely
- tacticalA small founder workshop on optimizing investor discoverability — covering Crunchbase profile hygiene, funding history accuracy, and team presentation — tailored for indie gaming studios actively seeking institutional attentionProbably