Wes Keltner

Wes Keltner

Wes Keltner's work within video games has appeared in The New York Times, MSNBC, Forbes, Business Week, FOX News and Reuters. As well as being on the front page of Ad Age and WSJ.

United States
Member since July 22, 2013
Quote
"Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb." Quote_down
  • About
Education
University of Ky
I am a(n):

Entrepreneur

Companies I've founded or co-founded:
Gun Media
If you're an entrepreneur or corporate innovator, why?

This is a dumb question. It's like saying "If you're a human, why?"

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

Most frustrating: Talking to people that aren't entrepreneurs about what you do for a living.

Most rewarding: Being in control of success.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs/innovators make?

Underestimate how much money it's going to take...overestimate when they become cash flow positive.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

1. Get a NDA
2. Get a Contract
3. Make sure contract matches work order. ;)

Full bio

I love video games, they are my passion. Since my youth, growing up in a small town in KY, some of my fondest memories include me sitting in front of a television, playing my NES. Contra, Mario, Zelda, Metroid. These were, in some instances, my best friends. I spent so many hours with them. They frustrated me, made me laugh and kept me entertained. When you live in a small town, staying entertained can be difficult.

I became an entrepreneur in 2006 when I placed American Apparel into Second Life to become the first retailer to make the virtual leap. The press went bananas, my phone wouldn't stop ringing, I immediately picked up work from fortune 500 companies. Samsung and Ford became my next clients followed by Intel, Home Depot and several others. These were clients that all shared something simliar...they knew they needed to do something with video games...but they had no idea what that was. So I helped.

After working with companies like P&G, Ford, etc, I wanted to try something different. I wanted to make a game. I had some success helping brands understand how to leverage gaming to their advantage, but I wanted more of a challenge. So I raised a couple bucks and started designing and developing Breach & Clear. A turn-based strategy game for iOS. It launched July 18th, 2013 in the iTunes App Store for iPad and iPhone. 

B&C launched globally, in 90 App Stores. It screamed to the #2 top paid app in 24 hours. It was incredible. We quickly became the #1 Strategy game in 18 countries, and still remain in the top ten iPad games and top 15 iPhone games. It's been a helluva ride so far. And the future looks incredibly bright for Gun, B&C and for a kid from Kentucky, that loves video games.