The iGaming Leader

Before SiGMA, Eman Pulis had a failed business, €16,000 in bank debt and no source of revenue. The bank kept calling. His way out was to return to what he knew best: events.

SiGMA grew from that low point. But Eman kept the old company name, Viking PC Health, on the invoices. He wanted a constant reminder of where he came from.

In this episode of the iGaming Leader podcast, Leo Judkins speaks with SiGMA founder Eman Pulis about the setbacks behind the business, an acquisition that fell through during COVID, and why he now sees that failed exit as a silver lining.

Eman also shares how he leads a global team without expecting everyone to think like a founder, why he prepares for life after an exit, and the question he keeps returning to: how much more time should go into building the business, and how much into the foundation?

ABOUT THE GUEST

Eman Pulis is the founder of SiGMA Group, a global iGaming events and media business that began with a summit in Malta. Alongside SiGMA, he launched Ikigai Ventures and the SiGMA Foundation. His work spans international events, investment in founders and philanthropic initiatives.

IN THIS EPISODE

00:00 Highlights and introduction
03:00 Founder ambition and exit planning
06:00 Growing SiGMA beyond Malta
12:00 The €16,000 failure before SiGMA
16:00 Leading a global team
21:00 A failed exit and crisis leadership
26:00 Calculated risk and reputation
30:00 Business, philanthropy and family
33:00 Finding mentors as a founder

QUOTES FROM EMAN

“The idea of SiGMA came out of that rock bottom moment.”

“I wouldn't want to take away any of the stress, any of the life lessons that came along with the pain.”

“If I look after my team, they look after my business.”

“Focus on the bigger picture, focus on the long term.”

“Looking back, do I want to be in a position where I say, ‘Man, I could have impacted a million more person. Instead, I focus on generating another million euros.’”

IMPORTANT LINKS

Connect with Eman Pulis on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/emanpulis/

Connect with Leo Judkins on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-judkins/

Sign up for the iGaming Leader newsletter:
https://www.igamingleader.com/signup

Join the iGaming Leader Mastermind:
https://www.igamingleader.com/

This episode was brought to you by:

Sumsub: the full-cycle verification platform helping iGaming operators onboard players, meet compliance requirements and prevent fraud. Learn more at: https://sumsub.link/8gu

Bloomreach: the AI-powered marketing automation platform helping iGaming operators turn real-time player data into personalised engagement that supports retention and loyalty. Learn more at: https://www.bloomreach.com/en/industries/igaming

In this episode, Leo talks with Tommy Kearns about how rugby shaped the way he runs a company: trust, loyalty, accountability, direct feedback and a role for everyone. He is clear about what he does not want around him. "I don't want yes men around me." Everything gets challenged until the team reaches alignment, and then everyone commits.

He also covers the harder parts of the story. Tommy lost his money in the property crash after selling his Mexico business. Xtremepush was bootstrapped and profitable within 13 to 14 months. It then took growth capital in 2021 and went negative for nearly 24 months. He also talks about the 2023 Thunderbite acquisition, why Xtremepush put CRM, gamification and loyalty into one platform, and why he thinks trust matters more in the AI era.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Tommy Kearns is CEO and Co-Founder of Xtremepush, a leading company now serving 230 iGaming brands around the world, including more than half of the EGR top 50. 

He is a technology entrepreneur with a track record in the global internet and mobile industry. He builds businesses that solve large customer problems for large enterprises, with technology and automation where relevant.
 

His core skills include customer analytics and engagement, digital strategy, mobile and system application development, innovation, business planning, market entry analysis and deployment, and building commercial partnerships.

IN THIS EPISODE

00:00:00 Introducing Tommy

00:03:00 Rugby career at Connacht and the lessons that carried into business

00:08:00 Challenge and commit: no yes men and the leadership team

00:12:00 Why toxicity is viral, Leaders for Leaders and hiring for urgency

00:19:00 Lean culture: single-digit churn, pod systems and Keep Driving Hard (KDH)

00:22:00 Career path: the Caribbean, Mexico, the 2009 property crash and the origin of Xtremepush

00:28:00 Bootstrapping, growth capital in 2021 and the first acquisition

00:32:00 One platform for CRM, gamification and loyalty, 24 months in the red and the Thunderbite acquisition

00:38:00 Expert OS, agentic AI, trust and the power of saying no

QUOTES FROM TOMMY

"I don't want yes men around me. I want people to challenge my thoughts. My thoughts are directionally very good, but specifically not always correct."

"Toxicity is viral. It needs to be rooted out."

"You can't learn urgency. You either have it or you don't, and you have to test for it."

"You have to have felt failure. You have to feel it. You have to really feel it, not just see it."

"Success is not permanent, but neither is failure."

"Trust is going to become more important, relationships are gonna become more important."

IMPORTANT LINKS

Connect with Tommy Kearns on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommykearns/

Connect with Leo Judkins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-judkins/

Get the iGaming Leader newsletter: https://www.igamingleader.com/signup

Join the iGaming Leader Mastermind: https://www.igamingleader.com/

This episode is brought to you by Sumsub, the full-cycle verification platform for iGaming operators. Player onboarding, AML and fraud prevention, all in one place.

Learn more: sumsub.com/gambling or https://sumsub.link/8gu

Yoni Sidi wanted to slow down. After 17 years in corporate iGaming, he had a simple plan: build a platform, generate traffic, play golf, and reduce the pressure. Then Winpot took off in Mexico, the B2B business grew to 14 or 15 clients, and he found himself working 14 to 15-hour days across two continents. 

In this episode of the iGaming Leader podcast, Yoni, CEO of Wiztech Group, talks about building a bootstrapped operator and tech business from scratch, leading across cultures, and what he would tell his 2022 self.

About the guest:

Yoni Sidi is an experienced Chief Executive and Marketing Leader with a proven track record in the global iGaming and entertainment industry. He is currently driving growth at the intersection of technology, regulated gaming, and customer engagement, with skills across scaling brands, building high-performing teams, and developing data-driven strategies in acquisition, retention, and brand partnerships. He is passionate about bridging innovative digital platforms with real-world experiences and is actively expanding into new markets across LATAM, Europe, and beyond.

In this episode:

00:00 Introduction

00:48 Growing up around Ronnie Rosenthal, Liverpool, and Tottenham

06:29 Three years of military service as a combat instructor and what it taught him about standards

08:14 Building Winpot with no outside funding, brick by brick

12:38 How close he still is to the original vision of slowing down

15:32 Why switching off has been harder than any commercial decision

18:41 Managing two businesses across Cyprus and Mexico in different time zones

26:48 The hard part of leadership is people, not strategy

32:16 Learning to lead across Israeli, Mexican, British, and Cypriot cultures

35:50 What he would go back and tell himself in 2022

Quotes from Yoni:

"My aim and vision was to literally stop generating traffic. I'd be playing golf. No pressure, no stress. We make plans and God laughs."

"The bad times will feel like you have five elephants on your shoulders. The good times will not feel as good as you expect them to be."

"It can be a really lonely place at the top when you're making your own decisions."

"I wasted a lot of my own time and energy and deteriorated my own mental health by being too ashamed to ask for help or for advice."

"I would always choose the people over the speed."

"Everything will be okay. Nothing is life or death. Speak to people. Share your problems."

Connect with Yoni: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoni-sidi-b5b3a88/

Follow Leo Judkins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-judkins/

Subscribe to the iGaming Leader newsletter: https://www.igamingleader.com/signup

Join the iGaming Leader Mastermind: https://www.igamingleader.com/

This episode is sponsored by Sumsub, the full-cycle verification platform trusted by top iGaming operators worldwide. Player onboarding, AML, fraud prevention, all in one place.

Learn more at https://sumsub.link/8gu

David Carrion started as a dealer on Margarita Island, Venezuela in 1995. Thirty years later, he's Chief Strategy Officer at Gaming1, having run live poker events for PokerStars, launched a casino from scratch in his hometown, and led a four-state US market entry.

In this episode of the iGaming Leader podcast, David walks us through four transitions every leader has to make: from doing to letting do, from knowing everything to knowing very little, from argument to context, and from the smaller to the bigger picture.

In this episode:

00:00 Guest intro

00:03 Dealing cards at 18 on Margarita Island

00:06 Running Casino Buenos Aires for 21 million people

00:10 Launching Casino Asturias from zero

00:16 The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

00:21 What PokerStars got right about culture

00:36 The PCA 10th anniversary trying to break 10,000 players

00:44 Launching in four US states as a relatively small Belgian company

00:46 The strongest stretch of leadership I have ever went through

Quotes from David:

"Launching USA was one of our biggest failures, and that's why it's one of my proudest moments."

"There's nothing more dangerous than a man that doesn't know what he doesn't know."

"The higher you are, the harder it is to influence."

"Growth is for sure on the other side of comfort."

"There aren't that many superheroes out there. There's a lot of common-sense and hard work."

Connect with David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-carrion-82332952/

Follow Leo Judkins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-judkins/  

Subscribe to the iGaming Leader newsletter: https://www.igamingleader.com/signup

Join the iGaming Leader Mastermind: https://www.igamingleader.com/

This episode is sponsored by Sumsub, the leading identity verification provider for iGaming operators. Learn more at https://sumsub.link/8gu

What happens when you lose 100% of your revenue in back-to-back meetings on the same day?

For Sidharth Swarup, it was the moment that forged everything. 

In this episode, Sid shares the real story behind building Ingenuity from a $1,000 investment into a business that in 2014 made more money than the previous 14 years combined. No outside investment. No borrowed money. No diluted equity.

Sid opens up about running on eight treadmills at full speed for decades, fuelled by toxic energy, wearing masks until he had nothing left inside, and what it actually took to rebuild. 

He also makes a bold claim: the conventional wisdom of "hire the right people and get out of the way" fails founder-led businesses 100% of the time. And he explains exactly why.

This one goes deep. Leadership, identity, burnout, culture, and one of the most inspiring social impact stories I have heard in years.

About the Guest

Sidharth Swarup is the co-founder and CEO of Ingenuity Gaming, a global game development partner for casino operators and suppliers across regulated markets worldwide. Ingenuity builds high-quality games, platforms, and teams, with craftsmanship at the core.

Sid co-founded the business in 2000 and has grown it without ever taking outside investment or diluting equity. He is a TEDx speaker, a member of YPO, an avid reader, a board game enthusiast, and a father. He cares deeply about how organisations grow, how leaders show up, and how culture is shaped over time.

Key Topics Discussed

00:00 The knockout punch. Losing both anchor clients in one day.
03:00 Growing up in a bubble and believing his family was the richest in the world.
05:00 Boarding school and a deep sense of abandonment.
08:00 Burnout and breakdown: calling a friend asking for help.
12:00 The founding of Ingenuity in 2000 with a $1,000 investment
16:00 Working with his brother. Twenty years of partnership.
19:00 get the right people and get out of the way fails founder-led businesses 100% of the time.
22:00 Founder Mode and why Sid wishes he had read it two years earlier.
24:00 Signal versus noise and why most effort goes into the wrong problems.
28:00 Pulling kids off the streets of Delhi and educating them.
34:00 Embracing the multi-billion-dollar ambition
36:00 Advice for anyone running on eight treadmills

Memorable Quotes

"It's a knockout punch. You're on your knees. You just gotta find a way to get back up."

"You're running on eight different treadmills at the same time, and any day you're not living up to your ideal self, you're miserable. It doesn't matter how many good things are happening in your life."

"Get the right people, but on these fronts, be in the weeds. Make sure nobody forgets."

"They are heroes in their communities. The other kids have their posters up on the walls. They're a source of serious inspiration of what you can pull off."

"The most selfish thing you can do as a human being is to be kind, compassionate, and generous. Because it comes back to you a hundredfold in terms of joy."

"I'm still running on eight different treadmills as fast as I can, even faster than before. But it's a very different fuel now. It's not toxic fuel anymore."

Key Takeaways

1. Losing 100% of your revenue in a single day is survivable. Ingenuity broke even in year one, turned profitable in year two, and in the year after that made more than the previous 14 years combined.
2. The conventional wisdom of "hire the right people and get out of the way" fails in founder-led businesses. Founders must stay in the weeds on two things: keeping everyone focused on the most important problem, and protecting the resourcefulness that creates results with very little.
3. Burnout does not announce itself. It builds under masks that the outside world cannot see. Getting help is not weakness. It is the move that changes everything.
4. Redefine value in your organisation. Move from roles and responsibilities to problems solved. The question is not "what is your job?" but "what problem are you solving that nobody else can?"
5. You do not have to change who you are. You have to learn to run on better fuel. Ambition, the need for validation, the drive to prove yourself: these are not flaws to fix. They are engines to redirect.
6. Social impact and commercial excellence are not opposites. The Navodaya programme at Ingenuity is proof that a business can build high-performance teams and move people out of poverty at the same time.
7. The conventional wisdom of "hire the right people and get out of the way" fails in founder-led businesses. Founders must stay in the weeds on two things: keeping everyone focused on the most important problem, and protecting the resourcefulness that creates results with very little.
8. Burnout does not announce itself. It builds under masks that the outside world cannot see. Getting help is not weakness. It is the move that changes everything.
9. Redefine value in your organisation. Move from role and responsibilities to problems solved. The question is not "what is your job?" but "what problem are you solving that nobody else can?"
10. You do not have to change who you are. You have to learn to run on better fuel. Ambition, the need for validation, the drive to prove yourself: these are not flaws to fix. They are engines to redirect.
11. Social impact and commercial excellence are not opposites. The Navodaya program at Ingenuity is proof that a business can build high-performance teams and move people out of poverty at the same time.

Resources and Links Mentioned

• Founder Mode by Paul Graham: Referenced by Sid as the piece he wishes he had read two years earlier. https://paulgraham.com/foundermode.html
• Follow Leo Judkins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-judkins/
• Subscribe to the iGaming Leader newsletter: https://www.igamingleader.com/signup
• Join the iGaming Leader Mastermind: https://www.igamingleader.com/
• Sidharth Swarup on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sidharth-swarup-2773221/

This episode is sponsored by Sumsub, the leading identity verification provider for iGaming operators. Learn more at https://sumsub.link/8gu

In this episode of the iGaming Leader Podcast, Leo sits down with Andreas (Andy) Koeberl, aerospace engineer turned entrepreneur, who built HappyBet from three people to 180, survived COVID wiping out 100% of its revenue overnight, turned around BetGames from a shrinking business into one of the most profitable live dealer companies in the world, and is now building Autonomous Minds, an AI deeptech startup creating what he calls an "agent-first Palantir."

Andy talks about what real crisis leadership looks like from the inside, why the sunny periods are more dangerous than the hard ones, and why the only advisors worth having are the ones who've also failed.

Guest Bio

Andreas (Andy) Koeberl is an engineer turned entrepreneur and CEO. He started his career in aerospace engineering before moving to Microsoft, where he honed his commercial instincts. In 2017, he co-founded HPYBET, a retail sports betting business that grew to become one of the top operators in Germany and Austria before being sold to SNI in 2020. He then joined BetGames as CEO to lead a full company turnaround, taking the business from decline to record growth years of 50% in 2024 and 45% in 2025. In late 2024, he co-founded Autonomous Minds, an AI deeptech startup building the data infrastructure layer for the agent era.

Key Topics Discussed

00:00 – How COVID wiped out 100% of HappyBet's revenue in 90 days.
03:00 – Running a seven-figure monthly OpEx with zero revenue.
06:00 – The two-column whiteboard exercise Andy used to manage the crisis.
08:00 – Why not a single person quit during COVID
11:00 – "Andy bombs": dropping unscheduled harsh truths and why it kept the team together.
13:00 – "Shock them with your honesty." Advice from mentor Armin Sageder
15:00 – Leadership is learned during days of thunder, not sunshine. 
21:00 – BetGames: flying to Lithuania and finding great people.
27:00 – Turning down a deal that would have more than doubled revenues to protect a niche identity.
30:00 – How BetGames went from near-death to the number two crash game in its core markets and record growth.
36:00 – What an "agent-first Palantir" actually means.
42:00 – Burnout does not come from hard work.

Memorable Quotes

"You are not allowed to call yourself a senior leader until you've managed at least one substantial crisis. Not successfully. Just managed one."

"Everybody can be a sunshine leader. Leadership is only forged during a crisis."

"My mentor always told me: shock them with your honesty. I try to live by that in my personal life too."

"Burnout does not come from hard work. It comes from emotional stress. And as a founder, you are in with your time, your accountability, and your own cash."

"The best advisors are the ones who've been in your shoes and who you can call and say: I have no clue how to handle this, without being anxious about what they'll think."

Important Links

Follow Andy Koeberl on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/koeberlandreas/
Follow Leo Judkins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-judkins/
Subscribe to the iGaming Leader newsletter: https://www.igamingleader.com/signup

Join the iGaming Leader Mastermind: https://www.igamingleader.com/

This episode is sponsored by Sumsub, the leading identity verification provider for iGaming operators. Learn more at https://sumsub.link/8gu

In this episode of the iGaming Leader Podcast, Leo sits down with Michael Baker-Mosley, ex-Head of Brand at Kambi, ex-CMO at iGP, and one of the most respected B2B marketing minds in iGaming.

Michael pulls back the curtain on what it actually takes to step into a CMO role unprepared, why most B2B marketing in this industry is renting its audience rather than building one, and what happens when a leader has to let go of the people they hired and believed in. 

The conversation covers the art of hiring outside the industry, why picking a nemesis is a legitimate market entry strategy, the real ROI of brand, and the moment Michael went ballistic on his first holiday in years over a PR piece that was never meant to go live.

Guest Bio

Michael Baker-Mosley is a senior marketing leader and consultant with over a decade of experience across B2B technology, iGaming, and brand strategy.

He spent five years at Kambi, rising to Head of Brand Marketing, before joining iGP as CMO in January 2024, where he led the brand, PR, events, and product marketing functions through a period of significant growth and restructuring. He is widely cited as one of the most influential B2B marketers in the iGaming industry and serves as an Ambassador for the iGaming Leader Mastermind.

Key Topics Discussed

00:00 – From the smoking area at SBC Lisbon to the iGaming Leader: who Michael is now vs. then.
02:00 – The gap nobody prepares you for: the step up from head of to C-level.
05:00 – "We promote people who are good at their job. And we might get a shit manager."
09:00 – The best hire Michael ever made: a risk manager from Amazon with nine months of events experience.
12:00 – Two-thirds of marketers have never had formal training. What that actually means for the industry.
18:00 – Delegation gone wrong: the PR piece that went live on the first day of his holiday.
24:00 – Letting people go: why it is never just business, and why it should not be.
28:00 – The human cost of redundancy when the team was genuinely performing.
31:00 – Picking a nemesis: why having a competitor with 45 people in their B2B marketing team was a gift.
34:00 – Rented audience vs. owned brand: the most expensive mistake in B2B marketing.
38:00 – Why SEO, paid media, and affiliate are all forms of renting someone else's audience.
41:00 – The ROI of brand: why CFOs get it wrong and CMOs let them.
44:00 – What Michael would tell his earlier self on day one of the CMO role.
46:00 – Why Michael became an Ambassador for the iGaming Leader.

Memorable Quotes

"We promote people who are good at their job. And actually it's so wrong for so many people, because you lose somebody who's good at their job and you might get a shit manager as well."

"The best hire I made in my marketing team was a risk manager from Amazon. Outside the industry. Had about nine months of event management experience."

"Two-thirds of marketers have never had any formal training. I've hired a risk manager from Amazon, but it's true."

"I wasn't asking for people's opinions of whether or not I should be calm. It was too late. My mistake was to go ballistic."

"You as a leader always have to remember: it's not about you. 'I feel bad. I hope you...' It's not about you, is it? It's about them."

"If you're looking to enter a market, picking a nemesis is a great way to do it. One of our competitors had 45 people in their B2B marketing team. Ten to one outspending us. And we would find ways to subtly mock them at any opportunity."

"To build long-term value for a business, marketing needs to be building brand, building its own audience, owning the audience itself. Everything else is rented."

Key Takeaways

The Promotion Trap: Promoting the best performer into management is one of the most common and costly mistakes in iGaming. You lose a high performer and risk gaining a poor manager. The skills that make someone exceptional at a job are rarely the same skills that make someone exceptional at leading others who do it.

Hire for Your Weaknesses: The best hire Michael made was a risk manager from Amazon with nine months of events experience. She became one of the best hires of his career. Hiring outside the industry and outside your own strengths creates the depth of capability that frees a leader to operate at a strategic level.

Rented Audience vs. Owned Brand: Paid media, affiliates, SEO, and editorial placements are all rented. When the algorithm changes, the spend stops, or the platform shifts, the audience disappears with it. The only durable asset in marketing is a brand that people seek out directly. That is what separates market leaders from permanent bit players.

Picking a Nemesis: Entering a competitive B2B market without positioning is invisible. Identifying a well-funded competitor and building your identity in contrast to theirs is a legitimate and powerful go-to-market strategy. You do not need their budget if your message does the hard work they cannot buy.

It Is Never Just Business: The hardest part of leadership is not strategy. It is sitting across from someone you hired, believed in, and worked beside, and telling them it is over, for reasons that are not their fault. The leaders who treat that moment as purely transactional lose something they do not get back.

Stamp Your Vision Early: The biggest regret from Michael's time as CMO was waiting a year before taking his vision for the brand and the business to board level. The conversation was worth far more than he gave it credit for. A CMO who waits to be invited into strategy is always going to be seen as a cost, not a driver of growth.

Important Links

Follow Michael Baker-Mosley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mosleymichael
Follow Leo Judkins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-judkins/
Subscribe to the iGaming Leader newsletter: https://www.igamingleader.com/signup
Join the iGaming Leader Mastermind: https://www.igamingleader.com/

This episode is sponsored by Sumsub, the leading identity verification provider for iGaming operators. Learn more at https://sumsub.link/8gu

In this episode of the iGaming Leader Podcast, Leo sits down with Savvas Fellas, founder and CEO of MrQ, the bootstrap challenger brand that decided the UK gambling industry's nonsense had gone on long enough.

Growing up on a council estate in Birmingham, Savvas built his way into iGaming through SEO, affiliates, and white-label operations before a simple question changed everything: why is the player experience still so bad? In 2018, he launched MrQ with no external funding, no wagering requirements, no smoke and mirrors, just a product built on the belief that players deserve better. The conversation covers how he scaled to 200 people, why building the right C-suite nearly broke him, how MrQ responded to the UK's 40% gambling tax shock, and why he believes the next frontier of real money entertainment is shared, synchronous, and nothing like a slot machine.

Guest Bio

Savvas Fellas is the founder and CEO of MrQ and Lindar Media. Starting out in digital marketing and affiliate SEO in London, he identified the gaps in the player experience from both sides of the fence before deciding to build his own platform from scratch.

MrQ launched in 2018 as a fully bootstrapped, UK-focused online casino built around fairness and transparency: no fees, no wagering requirements, no complexity. Under Savvas's leadership, MrQ has grown into one of the UK's fastest-rising gaming brands, backed by partnerships with Watford FC, the World Snooker Tour, UFC, and boxing with Queensbury and DAZN.

Key Topics Discussed

00:00 – "How hard can it be?" The frustration that started MrQ.
05:00 – Running both sides of the fence as advertiser and affiliate publisher.
09:00 – MrQ's six core values and how they shape every interview.
11:00 – The secret sauce: mission, vision, and values as a decision-making framework.
13:00 – Shiny objects and one-way door decisions: staying focused when everything is calling.
18:00 – The C-suite problem: why building the right leadership team took eight years.
24:00 – "What got you here won't get you there": managing the human cost of restructuring.
27:00 – The tech vs. product realisation: the mistake that cost MrQ years of momentum.
32:00 – The 40% tax shock: MrQ's response and why Savvas thinks the government is reckless.
35:00 – Creating a common enemy: how the tax change rallied the whole team.
38:00 – Shifting the paradigm: why real money entertainment doesn't have to mean slots.
42:00 – What Savvas would tell his earlier self about building the C-suite faster.

Memorable Quotes

"The frustration started to brew. I couldn't get anything over the line. Eventually I was like, 'Do you know what? Fuck this. How hard can it be?'"

"Have a very clear mission and clear vision and values that underpin your behaviours and your collective personality. The first principles in which you make your day-to-day decisions should be your value framework. That's the secret sauce."

"I don't wanna tell you that you can't do the job when I don't even know what the job is. I'll run you through this programme and they'll benchmark you. And I said: if I don't benchmark either, I'll also step aside."

"This government does not have an idea of how business works. They've never been in business. How can you be okay with £500,000 going into the black market knowing that people are going to be put in front of risk?"

"We sell entertainment. Can we shift the paradigm of what real money entertainment is? That's the headline."

"The genius with a thousand helpers are the good companies. But you take them out and the thing should still perform as good if not better."

Key Takeaways

First Principles Over Pattern Matching: The best founders don't ask "this worked over there, will it work here?" They break the problem down to bare bones, challenge every assumption, and build back up. MrQ's entire product philosophy, from no wagering requirements to synchronous entertainment, is first principles thinking applied consistently.

Values as a Decision-Making Framework: MrQ's six values (We Own It, We Challenge Everything, We Win as One, We Care by Design, We Play Smart Long Games, We Get Shit Done) are not a wall poster. They are the filter through which every hire, every decision, and every strategic debate runs. That's the difference between a culture and a slogan.

The Tech vs. Product Mistake: Savvas spent years solving a technology problem that had already become a product problem. More engineers without product ownership produces nothing. Recognising when the nature of the bottleneck has fundamentally changed is one of the most important and most missed leadership calls in a scaling business.

Management Debt Is Exponential: Every hard decision deferred compounds. Savvas learned this when he reversed a C-suite appointment in front of his entire leadership team. The earlier you reverse a wrong call, the less it costs. Waiting does not make it easier; it makes it more expensive.

The Common Enemy Playbook: When the UK's 40% gambling tax landed, MrQ reframed it immediately. The threat was not internal. It was the black market. That reframe turned a business crisis into a team rallying point and a brand differentiator.

Founder Mode vs. CEO Mode: Great companies transcend their founders. Good ones collapse when the founder leaves. The distinction is whether the leader has built an organisation that runs on mission and values or one that runs on their own energy and oversight. Savvas's goal is the former.

Important Links

Follow Savvas Fellas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/savvas-fellas/
Follow Leo Judkins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-judkins/
Subscribe to the iGaming Leader newsletter: https://www.igamingleader.com/signup
Join the iGaming Leader Mastermind: https://www.igamingleader.com/

This episode is sponsored by Sumsub, the leading identity verification provider for iGaming operators. Learn more at https://sumsub.link/8gu

In this episode of the iGaming Leader Podcast, Leo sits down with Ramiro Atucha, co-founder of Leander Games and Vibra Gaming, who has done something most founders never do twice: voluntarily stepped down as CEO of two companies he built from scratch.

Ramiro pulls back the curtain on the painful reality of recognising when you are no longer the right person to lead what you created, the difference between ego and self-esteem, and why the best decisions of his life were not really decisions at all. 

The conversation spans two decades of building in iGaming, including the moment he stepped aside at Leander to bring in Steven Matsell, how Brazilian regulation is repeating the same mistakes as the UK and Germany, and why, at 50, he chose to become the Miyagi rather than start over again.

Guest Bio

Ramiro Atucha is a gaming industry executive and strategic advisor with more than 20 years of experience building and scaling businesses across Europe and Latin America.

He co-founded Leander Games and later co-founded Vibra Gaming, helping build both into recognised industry names. 

He stepped down as CEO of Vibra in mid-2025 and launched Atucha Strategic Advisory in November 2025, where he works as a board-level advisor to operators, suppliers, and investors focused on growth strategy and market expansion across Latin America.

Key Topics Discussed

00:00 – Stepping down from two companies you built: what it actually feels like.
03:00 – The Argentinian restaurant story: how Ramiro saved a Mastermind dinner in Barcelona.
05:00 – The morning you post on LinkedIn that you're leaving the company you co-founded.
07:00 – The accidental marriage proposal: why the best decisions aren't always decisions.
09:00 – As CEO, the ultimate responsibility is always yours. The cost of that over time.
11:00 – Ego vs. self-esteem: why anything driven by ego is cursed.
13:00 – Bringing Steven Matsell in as CEO at Leander in 2012 and stepping into the COO role.
15:00 – Landing Betsson, PokerStars, and VideoSlots: the pressure of delivering on a new scale.
16:00 – Knowing when you're not the right person to lead the next phase of your own company.
18:00 – Essence preservation: what happens when majority shareholders take the company in a direction you can't stop.
20:00 – Fundraising mistakes Ramiro would fix if he were starting Leander today.
23:00 – Launching Atucha Strategic Advisory: why he chose five clients over thirty.
26:00 – Leaders cannot be seen in doubt. The case for confidential peer spaces.
28:00 – LATAM regulators are making the same mistakes as the UK and Germany.
31:00 – Brazil: church politics, $5M licences, and why 60% of the market stays unregulated.
33:00 – Where founder CEOs spend their time incorrectly and where they should overspend it.
35:00 – Alex Tomic and the Alea model: how to untie a founder's hands without losing them.
36:00 – If you were starting Leander today: fight harder for your equity from day one.
38:00 – Validating yourself in new rooms. Why Ramiro loved not knowing anyone at Indian Gaming in San Diego.

Memorable Quotes

"It's always painful to realise that the company you created, you grew as a baby, that you put the hours and the time into... that you're not the right person to continue to lead it."

"I hate the word ego. Anything driven by ego is cursed. Self-esteem is a lot better. My self-esteem is bulletproof. Nobody loves me more than myself."

"You need to know: 'I really messed up here. Really messed up.' I still love me. That's what allows you to accept that you messed up."

"As CEO, the ultimate responsible is you. If a bill is not paid, you cannot hide behind finance."

"Imagine you're in a boat and all of a sudden the captain says: 'I have no clue where we are.' People will start jumping out of the boat."

"I didn't feel the need to do it again. With Vibra, I felt the need to prove my stripes as CEO. After Vibra, I didn't need that anymore."

"The company needs to make more money by working with me than they did before. That's how I'll be judged."

Important Links

Follow Ramiro Atucha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramiro-atucha-3a69054
Follow Leo Judkins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-judkins/
Subscribe to the iGaming Leader newsletter: https://www.igamingleader.com/signup
Join the iGaming Leader Mastermind: https://www.igamingleader.com/

This episode is sponsored by Sumsub, the leading identity verification provider for iGaming operators. Learn more at https://sumsub.link/8gu

In this episode of the iGaming Leader Podcast, Leo Judkins sits down with Nigel Eccles, the co-founder and former CEO of FanDuel. Moving from a small dairy farm in Northern Ireland to scaling one of the most iconic brands in sports betting history, Nigel pulls back the curtain on the psychological distortions required to build a massive tech enterprise.

The conversation challenges the foundational myths of entrepreneurship, proving through research that founders aren't actually risk-seeking, they are simply bad at assessing risk. 

Nigel recounts the early grinding days of FanDuel, the terrifying moment he burned his boats by resigning from his public corporate job, and how he learned to handle the operational numbness of being sued by multiple state attorney generals. 

Finally, Nigel shares his second act: launching BetHog and Sentient Studios, and why generative AI means non-technical leaders are now "vibe coding" whole software platforms from scratch.

Guest Bio

Nigel Eccles is a 25-year veteran of the online gaming and technology sectors. He was product manager at Flutter.com, guiding its structural transition into an exchange prior to its landmark merger with Betfair. 

He went on to co-found and lead FanDuel as CEO and currently serves as the co-founder and CEO of BetHog and Sentient Studios, pioneering the intersection of iGaming, web3, and advanced AI-driven game environments.

Key Topics Discussed

00:00 – The Risk Illusion: Why data shows entrepreneurs are just bad at calculating probabilities.
03:00 – From an Irish farm to New York
04:45 – The Flutter Origin Story
06:30 – Burning Your Boats
11:45 – Why startups are not "big companies in miniature".
13:30 – Product-Market Fit
16:00 – Being Right vs. Right Now
20:15 – Knowing When a Venture is Dead
25:15 – The Pivot to B2B
29:15 – Scaling multiple companies with the same core team.
35:00 – Vibe Coding: no more technical barrier to entry for new founders.
38:00 – The Solo Founder Trap

Memorable Quotes

"Entrepreneurs aren't more risk-seeking... they are just very bad at assessing risk. They just look at it, over-assess their ability and think, 'I can figure it out.'"
"Startups aren't like big companies in miniature. Startups are really like a science experiment."
"It's very, very hard at that first point to know, am I a visionary or am I just deluded?"
"By this point you're like, anything that's below like a federal agency suing me is not worth getting out of bed for."
"If you have a co-founder, your chance of being successful increases dramatically... You own 100% of zero without one."

Important Links

Follow Nigel Eccles on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigeleccles/
Follow Leo Judkins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-judkins/
Subscribe to the iGaming Leader newsletter: https://www.igamingleader.com/signup
Join the iGaming Leader Mastermind: https://www.igamingleader.com/

This episode is sponsored by Sumsub, the leading identity verification provider for iGaming operators. Learn more at https://sumsub.link/8gu