Episode Summary:

In this special encore presentation, we revisit one of our earliest and most popular conversations. Originally recorded two years ago, Greg Posner sits down with Beau Button, the visionary CTO and Co-Founder of Atlas Reality.

Beau breaks down how Atlas Reality is merging the digital and physical worlds through a "virtual real estate" metaverse that actually drives foot traffic to brick-and-mortar retail. From the transition from enterprise software to gaming to the "guerrilla warfare" of shipping a product, Beau offers a transparent look at the highs and lows of building a location-based gaming powerhouse.

Key Takeaways:

• The Bridge to Physical Retail: Discover how Atlas Reality uses a patent-pending, card-linked reward system to motivate players to shop at physical stores, turning gaming into a powerful marketing engine for retail.
• A Pragmatic View of Web3: Why Atlas Reality identifies as a Web2 game inspired by Web3 tenets. Beau explains why "ownership" and "equity" matter more than buzzwords like blockchain or NFTs.
• The Reality of Startup Growth: Beau shares the "hard way" lessons of scaling from a 12-person startup to a 30+ person company, including the transition from "just get it out the door" to sustainable engineering.
• Community as a Founder: The mental health toll and strategic value of a founder personally managing Discord and Reddit communities during the first six months of a launch.
• The Future of Work: Why low-code, no-code, and generative AI aren't threats to engineers, but tools that turn great developers into "rockstars" by handling the boilerplate work.

Memorable Quotes:"Building software is not hard. Shipping a software product is very hard.""I’m not a gamer in the traditional sense... I appreciate the machines, the energy, and I’m inquisitive. My take from games is: I just want to know how they work.""If you’re not establishing a customer feedback loop, you are doing yourself a disservice. It’s a blessing and a curse, but it’s essential."Links & Resources:

• Atlas Reality: atlasreality.com
• Connect with Beau Button: LinkedIn
• Connect with Greg Posner: LinkedIn