QLASH is growing up

Luca Pagano and I started QLASH in late 2016. At the time we shared a common passion for gaming and Esports. Through our extensive experience in poker we felt that we had some knowledge and knowhow to contribute to this young and growing industry that was in its early stages and reminded us somewhat of poker when it was first starting to become viral. We decided that the best way for us to explore the opportunity was to invest and put together a professional Esports team. This would allow us to travel with the team as they compete, while at the same time networking and learning along the way what makes this industry tick. 

What we learned was that the industry had 5 different types of important actors:

• Game publishers
• Media platforms
• Event organizers
• Content creators
• Competitive organizations

They all play very different, yet important roles and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. However, we still felt that something was missing. 

Back when Pokerstars was still owned by the original founders and both of us were ambassadors as part of Team Pro, we were part of a very vibrant and interactive community. There was this feeling of symbiosis where the company, the events, the players and the fans were all working perfectly in tune, adjusting and adapting towards the better based on constant interaction and feedback. We learned a lot from those days and decided to take some of that and see if we could apply it to this new industry with its many similar aspects. Our mission became on building a brand that would be known for connecting, engaging and bringing an immense amount of value for the community at large. 

This may sound somewhat broad, but we had some very specific and unique ideas of how to do this. We truly feel that gaming and Esport industry is still in its infancy. While our approach is evolving all the time, the one sure thing for us is that this is a long term mission. On a broad level, we are thinking in terms of 10-20 year timelines. As the famous saying goes -- It’s a marathon, not a race. 

When we first launched QLASH, I had a burning desire to put in a lot of hard work and effort into something I really felt passionate about, but overall had very limited business experience. Fast forward to today, I feel like I’ve learned a great deal and continue to learn new things each and every day all while retaining the same passion. 

For years I would read about startups in general and was always fascinated by the difficulties everyone talked about. Coming from the poker world though, I felt like I had a lot of experience in dealing with potentially volatile, high risk and unpredictable situations. So while I expected a tough road ahead, I really only started appreciating the intricacies involved once we actually started encountering them. Some examples of what I’ve learned:

1) Incredible importance of: 

• Culture
• Balance between work and personal life
• Structure
• Brand Identity
• Having Proactive people onboard
• Personal Connections
• Letting people go when they’re not a good fit
• Knowing how to lead

2) Things are constantly changing and you need to be adaptive

3) What works today may not work tomorrow

4) Investing into our internal superstars and give them the freedom and flexibility to explore different functions within the company is vital

5) Having everyone feel like QLASH is a big family where everyone succeeds or fails together

6) Difficulties of different offices working with each other across countries

7) Having a partner that has very different skill sets rather than someone similar to yourself. Luca and I bring different benefits to the company-- this reduces redundancy and allows us to continually learn from each other. 

Today I feel like we’re finally starting to put some good processes in place and are growing up from a startup into a more mature company. Most of the credit here belongs to the amazing team that we’ve been fortunate enough to put together over the past 3 years. We have some truly talented and passionate people on board who are all bringing different skills into the mix. Personally I feel very fortunate, as I’m constantly learning new things from all of them. 

Considering that we are in such a fast-changing and growing industry, it is critical for us to remain flexible and to be able to quickly pivot when needed. Because of this, the most important thing for us today is the core team, much more so than the ideas or strategies. With a vibrant and passionate team, we are able to remain flexible and adaptive to upcoming challenges and opportunities. 

In general, I’ve been reading and soaking up a lot of wise advice from others who’ve been through this startup experience, and it’s definitely very helpful. Also makes you understand that most of the issues you go through are actually not so unique on a general level and that others have found ways to overcome them. This gives me a great deal of confidence for us. 

Now we are starting to focus on bringing on-board some very senior and experienced talent that can help further solidify everything we’ve already accomplished. This will allow Luca and myself to continue pushing the boundaries of the vast opportunities that we see for QLASH in this industry without slowing down on what we already have today. We have some truly exciting plans that we just can’t wait to implement. 

We are also about to start the process of fundraising through the help of our incredible board of advisors who’ve been helping us all along the way. One of the amazing things about the poker industry is the different types of people that you can meet, from all walks of life. 

• Richard Arnold - former CFO of Charles Schwab
• Michael Hazel - former CEO of Rational Group -- Pokerstars 
• Zeno Pellizzari - former GM of Mondadori International

All these guys have been with us from the very beginning and have been instrumental and highly supportive in advising us on the big picture plans. Being fortunate enough to have input from experienced people who have gone through many stages of young and mature companies is simply invaluable. We look forward to working with them for years to come.

This whole process is yet another first time experience for me and Luca. We are confident it will help us accelerate growth even further and achieve some important milestones much faster. Considering that we both live and breathe QLASH 24/7, the trickiest part is to find a way to clearly transfer our knowledge and ideas to someone that may know little about the industry without confusing them. If we are successful in relaying our message properly, I have full confidence that the immense value and opportunity in front of us will quickly become evident. 

Off to the races!