[lug] Looking for sweat equity partners in gaming system

[Glyn Ottofy]

Bear, 
    Your right sweat equity ownership is not for everyone, and I just went out there on a whim to see if there might be interest. Didn't necessarily think I would find someone, nor do I just need anyone. I have good team of people for sweat equity and some developers I pay, now, There is also CoFounders.com.
    The online poker industry and gaming for that matter in the US is in a huge state of flux and several attempts at Federal laws have failed leaving it with the states, similar to marijuana laws taking place. There are many off shore companies and not many US based for obvious reasons, but that will change. Besides Nevada which has approved online poker for licensing there are several other states lining up to follow suit, and there are a fair amount of casinos/ poker rooms that will be looking for an online presence that won't necessarily want to go with some big guys from Europe. 
    Nothing we are planning on doing is illegal or will be. 95% of US players play for free / freemium  (eg Zynga/ PurePlay/ HogWild) the other 5% subscription since PokerStars, FullTilt, & Ultimate cash games were shut down in US. Our market model is unique and has significant entry points that can be exploited immediately, and will build with the industry. I also own a patent in team gaming which I hope to use as an edge.
All the best to you,
Glyn Ottofy   
 

________________________________
 From: Bear Giles <bgiles at coyotesong.com>
To: Glyn Ottofy <gottofy at yahoo.com>; Boulder (Colorado) Linux Users Group -- General Mailing List <lug at lug.boulder.co.us> 
Sent: Thursday, April 4, 2013 3:17 PM
Subject: Re: [lug] Looking for sweat equity partners in gaming system
  

Since I was asked to clarify and others might not have picked up on some of the details:

1. "sweat equity" was something that might have been common in the 90s but, especially in Boulder, anything with a reasonable shot of success will be attractive to venture capital. You need to kick-start the process, of course, but you should think long and hard before doing anything for somebody else for no compensation other than "sweat equity". This might be attractive to recent graduates trying to get their first job but, honestly, I don't know how much weight anyone would give one these jobs as "professional experience". 

2. The gaming industry is mature and there's a huge entry barrier to be competitive. Again, in the 90s you could go a long way with a good idea and one or two competent graphics designers but that's not the case today. 

3. Poker, specifically, falls into a special category. I haven't kept up with the law but the last I heard it was illegal to play online for money in the US and while some organizations were trying to get a license through an established gaming company in Nevada that just brings you back to the second point - you're going against competition with deep pockets. 

In the meanwhile I know some companies were operating on foreign servers but that's of marginal use if the feds start twisting arms at the credit card companies. They wouldn't have to twist hard - as one of the terms you can't use credit cards for illegal activities (see federal law) and most if not all also include explicit restrictions on gambling. 

So, yeah, the 'heh' was because I haven't seen anyone proposing "sweat equity" in a long time.  (I have seen people proposing "work for us now and we'll pay you later" but that's a different matter.)


The 'ahem' was because it's either a) illegal for the players or b) against the terms of credit card usage or c) currently legal and okay but that could easily go away tomorrow. Not an issue if I have cash on the barrelhead but if I'm working for "equity" that's a HUGE gamble. So to speak. 

Bear 
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