Deal Radar 2010: Brandissimo!, Encino, California

“Kids can smell a rat from a mile away,” says Andy Babb, president of Brandissimo! Inc., a company that tries to keep Babb’s observation in mind and focus on creating good stories and characters for the online games, Web sites, and other content it develops to help companies and brands better engage with children. It

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Making Serious Money From Casual Games: King.com CEO Riccardo Zacconi (Part 7)

SM: What else should I have asked you? RZ: I would like to give you some reasons why I think we have a good model. I think that our model differs from other models in the casual gaming space, such as the download model or subscription models.

Making Serious Money From Casual Games: King.com CEO Riccardo Zacconi (Part 6)

SM: Can you describe the games that people are playing in these tournaments? RZ: We had about 150 games on the site. They are classic casual games. They go from puzzle and word games to suduko and card games. We develop all the games in-house.

Making Serious Money From Casual Games: King.com CEO Riccardo Zacconi (Part 5)

SM: Let me ask you some ramp questions. In 2003, you launched the site. In 2005, it started becoming profitable. What was your revenue ramp between 2003 and 2005? RZ: In 2003, we had very little. Revenue, in euros, was 14,000. In 2004, we had 2.3 million and in 2005 we had 10.8 million.

Making Serious Money From Casual Games: King.com CEO Riccardo Zacconi (Part 4)

SM: Who were your primary partners in the early days of King? RZ: We partnered with Lycos, T-Online, and major portals.

Making Serious Money From Casual Games: King.com CEO Riccardo Zacconi (Part 2)

SM: How much did you sell the company for? RZ: We sold it for $764 million.

Making Serious Money From Casual Games: King.com CEO Riccardo Zacconi (Part 1)

Riccardo Zacconi is the CEO of King.com, a company that is pioneering casual gaming online. Prior to coming to King, he was EIR at Benchmark Capital and before that, managing director at Spray, a European portal company that was sold to Lycos in 2000. Before joining Spray, he was a consultant at Boston Consulting Group.

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Deal Radar 2008: GameDuell

GameDuell was launched in 2003 and offers skill games to be played against real opponents for real money. The site has around 20 popular games like Solitaire, Roll 5, Freecell and Roll 5.