[lug] Looking for sweat equity partners in gaming system

Fri Apr 5 11:34:38 MDT 2013

Glyn,

I have no opinion on the legal side of things, but you might want to pitch
this at Alon Katz's Boulder Pitch to
Developers<http://www.pitchtodevelopers.com/events/110480942/?fromms=1&a=me2_grp&rv=me2&_af_eid=110480942&__domain=www.pitchtodevelopers.com&_af=event>
meetup.
The meetings are a series of short (5') presentation by business-types
looking for technical folks, sometimes for immediate or deferred
compensation, sometimes for sweat equity.

On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 10:06 AM, Glyn Ottofy <gottofy at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 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
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Web Page:  http://lug.boulder.co.us
> Mailing List: http://lists.lug.boulder.co.us/mailman/listinfo/lug
> Join us on IRC: irc.hackingsociety.org port=6667 channel=#hackingsociety
>

-- 
Jeffrey Haemer <jeffrey.haemer at gmail.com>
720-837-8908 [cell], http://seejeffrun.blogspot.com [blog],
http://www.youtube.com/user/goyishekop [vlog]
*פרייהייט? דאס איז יאַנג דינען וואָרט.*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.lug.boulder.co.us/pipermail/lug/attachments/20130405/ef85cca2/attachment.html>