What’s up everyone! In this episode, I am joined by Alex Rigopulos. Alex is a video game designer, musician, and the founder and creative director of Harmonix Music Systems. Harmonix is a video game development company best known for their music video games such as Guitar Hero, Dance Central, and Rock Band.

Our mission has always been delighting the world through music and gameplay.

As a musician with a passion for the music game industry, Alex left MIT to start Harmonix with Eran Egozy. The first few years weren’t that great for Alex having to go through few flopped games. It was a defining moment until a monumental game called Guitar Hero changed the whole world of the company and shaped on what is now.

Listen as Alex and I talk about Harmonix, the hardest challenges he faced as an entrepreneur, how Guitar Hero became a success story, and some advice from Alex for entrepreneurs. Enjoy the episode.

Episode Quotes
"Music has this incredible, primal, mysterious power over our emotions"
"One thing that strengthened and flourished us as a company is we keep people focused on a mission"
"As an entrepreneur you simultaneously need to have an irrational amount of optimism and irrational amount of pessimism"
"I don't let fear be a factor in my decision making"

Listen to Learn
00:32 Getting to know Alex Rigopulos - Harmonix and startup journey
04:11 Core mission that strengthened the company, Alex's core company building skill
06:32 Make-it-or-break-it moments as an entrepreneur, The Frequency game story
16:02 The EyeToy: Antigrav story
18:34 The success story of Guitar Hero
20:34 How to balance optimism with rationality
23:47 Pivot or Persevere? The problem with Lean Methodology
27:10 Advice that helped Alex overcome business challenges
28:14 Non-Rapid Fire Questions
36:33 Exciting games coming up from Harmonix