This Week in Startups

E602: Roger Dickey scores $10m Series A from Andreessen Horowitz for his on-demand software dev platform, Gigster; bonus LAUNCH Scale growth lessons from Sue Khim, Brilliant.org


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Today’s guest is Roger Dickey, Founder of Gigster, an on-demand software development platform that just raised $10m in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. Roger showcases to Jason how Gigster works, using a sample “Uber for Pizza” project to illustrate how quickly a quote is offered and why it’s so important to qualify the customer. We learn about “the central brain of Gigster” (the AI that puts together the quote so quickly), what it will take to make Gigster a billion-dollar business, the fastest path from an idea to a finished product, why startups should outsource their development and why technical teams can get too attached to their prototypes. Roger also reflects on his time at Zynga (where he founded Mafia Wars and served as a GM), why the company isn’t doing as well as it used to (hint: a tough mobile shift...), and the differences between dominating social gaming on Facebook and dominating in on mobile. ALSO! A bonus segment from LAUNCH Scale, featuring Sue Khim, Founder of Brilliant.org, sharing her growth tactics: specifically, how focusing on triggers, not users, got Brilliant into the "2 comma club."
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This Week in StartupsBy Jason Calacanis

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