Laxmi Khanolkar
CEO & Co-Founder
Apar Games
Short Description
Entrepreneurs in gaming industry.Dream! Follow it! Make it happen! You’re the one whom people look upto to make their dreams come true!
Brief about company, offerings and foundation of the company
Apar Games was found in May 2007. We have a widespread range of products right from outsourcing art work to conceptualization and developing games on various platforms like PC, smartphone, tablet and social networks. From a 4 member team, Apar games has culminated into a 60 member team with a head office in Mumbai and a support office in Chennai. We work in technologies like Flash, HTML5, Unity 3D, Objective C, Android NDK and Augmented reality games.
Risks involved in business and way of addressing
Information security is crucial , Developing talent is a challenge (not risk really), Retaining skilled talent.While offering game development as a service, as gaming is all about developing experience, every thing cannot be defined in the scope of work. You have to introduce certain features that may not be part of the initial defined scope and yet deliver the product on time. This may hamper your budget for the product and the entire thought process goes for toss. However, we minimize these risks by having detailed GDDs and prototype in the production cycle.Secondly we believe to build a long-term relationships with our clients to get an advantage over the competition.
Some of the difficulties faced while building product/ solution
When we were a 4 member team without any “brand” backup, we faced various issues like attracting talent, retaining them, making the global market believe in us to give us the “First “ chance etc. Only way to tackle it, was the determination of creating a difference.
Different actions if I rebuild my company from scratch all over again
Nothing! Each step in building this company, consider it as a pros or a con, has added to what it is today. ‘Experience makes a man perfect!’ It’s the same here. Every experience in terms of may it be a project, client or resources have been the ladder to Apar Games success.
Motivation and Drives factor
“Creating a GAME”
Unique about my way of motivating troops
Nothing in specific that is individually practiced by only me. I am just passionate about games and I know the idea of creating, designing, talking, playing & living GAMES is what motivates me & my troops both. I believe creative people are motivated to evade into another world by even a ray of light in the dark.
Way of choosing my people
Hiring a talented person is easy but nurturing and creating a cutting edge talent is what a company should look at for every individual they hire since it’s beneficial for both the company and the individual. We at Apar Games believe in the same and hence have always inspired people to take up challenging projects guiding them through the process. With Intel as our partners, we research and keep ourselves and the team updated with the upcoming technology and give them freedom to explore it.
The challenges and lessons learnt to get first customer
When we started the company we all had our share of experience working in the gaming industry. The combined experience and exposure of our team convinced the client that we could deliver the desired product in the said time. Our approach is to “help” rather “service” them in their game development need, gave us the big break.
My role at different dimensions as the company evolved
The journey of starting from scratch and leading the company to this level in a matter of just 5years means you have been through all phases involved in the company. Right from identifying the right talent, to training them in the desired manner to deriving the desired output. Apart from pitching for clients, conceptualizing the game, design, programing, stemming, we also maintain the game till the said time. Initially I was involved in even minute processes rather I would say I still keep a tab of each minute processes but now obviously it has scaled down a lot.
As a leader how I make sure that I am connecting the right dots
A leader is never a one if he/she does not possess the qualities of being one. Being calm, listening and acting at the right time with precision is my mantra. Of course, I have had my share of falls but important is we were able to stabilize them.
Best company I admire globally
POPCAP. They create games to entertain people, do not really go by the set path. But they have a specific goal and follow a specific process, eye for detail. etc.
Advice for fellow entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs in gaming industry.Dream! Follow it! Make it happen! You’re the one whom people look upto to make their dreams come true
No comments:
Post a Comment