Vator Box

Raptr - the social plumbling of gaming?

Zynga's Mark Pincus helps us evaluate online gaming company Raptr

Innovation series by Bambi Francisco Roizen
May 13, 2009 | Comments
Short URL: http://vator.tv/n/863

5

We took Vator Box on the road and visited Mark Pincus, CEO and founder of Zynga, the leading social gaming company with 45 million unique monthly visitors. Lyla, Zynga's mascot also joined us. Pincus was our guest host, joining me and Ezra Roizen to analyze Raptr, an online gaming company that raised $12 million in funding from Accel Partners and Founders Fund. 

Here's a few highlighted observations about Raptr, and CEO and founder Dennis Fong, who refers to Raptr as a Facebook for gamers.

- On a macro level, Raptr's gaming service - which is to connect online gamers across social networks and existing gaming communities, such as World of Warcraft - is a great idea because social gaming is a fast-growing industry. "I think he's going into a great body of water," said Pincus. Clearly, with Pincus at the helm of leading social gaming company Zynga, he's a big believer in the theme. 

- While Fong was polished and came across as genuine and sincere while giving his pitch, he could have improved his pitch by discussing whether the product was in the market and demonstrating traction, or just explaining how people were using his product. 

- The big macro opportunity is to be the social plumbing of the Web, much like Facebook and Twitter have become the social plumbers of the Web. Social plumbing, as defined by Pincus, is the network that seemlessly connects Web sites together without users not having to try. "If I were writing his pitch," said Pincus, "I would say, there are a small number of companies creating social plumbing, I'm going to be the social plumbing of gaming." 

- Lastly, Lyla gives Raptr a big paws up!

There's a lot more observations, but you'll have to watch the show to hear them. 


Related companies, investors and entrepreneurs

Plogo_zynga_zynga-logo-for-screen-v2
Zynga
Startup/Business
Description: Zynga is the largest social gaming company with 8.5 million daily users and 45 million monthly users.  Zynga’s games are avail...
Plogo_raptr
Raptr
Startup/Business
Description: Raptr is a Silicon Valley based startup that has built a revolutionary social games platform to change the way people play and discover g...
12951
Mark Pincus
Founder and CEO,
Zynga
Bio: Mark Pincus is a leading Internet entrepreneur, having founded and established four successfulcompanies.  His latest venture Zynga, ...
12736
Dennis Fong
CEO,
Raptr, Inc.
CEO,
Raptr, Inc.
Bio: Founder & CEO of Raptr.  Previously founded three companies: Xfire (http://www.xfire.com), Lithium (http://www.lithium.com), and...

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