There was a time when I had very little empathy. Then I stumbled into a way to learn it, and I’d like to share that method with you, as I think it may significantly improve your relationships with backers, customers, and people in general. Way back in 2007, I was just starting a new job […]
This weekend, Stonemaier Games hosted its fourth annual Design Day. On Saturday, various hosts in St. Louis (myself and a few others) held day-long game days at our homes. On Sunday, the Design Day itself featured 95 designers, playtesters, and gamers from St. Louis and around the country for 12 hours of playtesting and gaming. […]
For my first Kickstarter–heck, even for my last Kickstarter–I pursued dozens of red herrings before I realized there was a better way. For example, for Viticulture there was a time when I thought I’d ship everything by hand…then I discovered fulfillment centers. I was recently talking about these false leads and lessons learned to fellow […]
“I’d love to read ways that you have dealt with procrastination, wanting to give up, productivity tips, what held you back from making your first commercial board game or writing an novel until you were in your 30’s.” –Anthony G. in the comments of this blog entry This comment hit home with me because I’m […]
“Wait, is that something I need for Stonemaier Games?” This is a question I’ve asked dozens of times since founding Stonemaier Games 5 years ago. I have an undergraduate degree in international business, but so much of what I’ve learned about running a company has come from actually running a company. My most recent deep dive […]
I’ve come to believe that the most powerful alert on Kickstarter is the message you receive when someone you follow pledges to a project. I didn’t always feel this way. In fact, when Kickstarter originally launched the option to follow creators and other backers, I was more worried about the implications than I was enthused […]
If you’re looking for the results of the 2018 survey, please click here. Last week on the Stonemaier Games monthly e-newsletter, I shared a demographic survey with our 30k subscribers. The intent was to learn more about the people who follow Stonemaier Games beyond those who engage with us on social media. I focused on […]
A few hours ago, I got an email from my business partner, Alan, about fair wages in St. Louis. As reported in the Riverfront Times, St. Louis City had a $10/hour minimum wage law set to go into effect in July. However, a new Missouri state law superseded it, causing minimum-wage employees in St. Louis […]
It’s video day on the blog! Just like earlier this month, I’ve added three new short videos about Kickstarter, crowdfunding, and entrepreneurship to my YouTube channel. You can find the previous videos on our website or mixed in with my game design videos on YouTube. What do you agree or disagree with in these videos? […]
I tried to think of a sexier name for this post, but I didn’t want to mislead anyone into thinking this is more exciting than it actually is. A few days ago, someone wrote to me with a question about the basics of the board game supply chain. As it turns out, even though I […]
