New Opportunities in Game Monetization

In the one year since our first educational event, this group has shared game monetization tips and tactics for: social, freemium, and mobile; casual, mid-core, and hardcore; ad-based, IAP and paid apps; and more. Yet one thing we haven’t discussed is the new opportunities in game monetization, whether it be tactics that haven’t been tried before, or entirely new applications of mobile apps in the offline world. Joining us are three speakers who will share their experiences working on mobile apps and what they new opportunities they see for game monetization and beyond.

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The event will be hosted at IGN’s SF office, 625 2nd Street, San Francisco, CA. Thank you IGN for hosting!

Pizza and beer will be served at 6:00pm, followed by three speaker presentations at 7:00pm. Each speaker will present for 20-25 minutes, allowing 5 minutes for Q&A. After the event, drinks and more networking will be on tap until 9:00pm.

Schedule
6:00 - Food, Drinks & Networking
7:00 - “It’s an A.R.M.’s Race - Acquisition, Retention, and Monetization in Mobile Gaming”
Brian Sapp, Developer Partnerships, Tapjoy
7:30 - ”Dynamics of Mobile Game Monetization”
Marco DeMiroz, President & CEO, Playfirst
8:00 - “Monetizing the Offline World with Apps”
Alex Rampell, Founder & CEO, Trialpay
8:30 - More Food, Drinks & Networking
9:00 - Wrap Up

Speakers
http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/6/b/f/a/event_175827642.jpegBrian Sapp, Director of Developer Partnerships, Tapjoy (@sappalicious (https://twitter.com/sappalicious))
Tapjoy, the largest monetization and distribution platform on mobile, has played an integral part in launching many of today’s top mobile studios. As Tapjoy’s Director of Developer Partnerships, Brian works closely with mobile game developers of all sizes, from two person indie teams working on a shoe string budget to multinational gaming corporations, helping them successfully navigate the increasingly competitive mobile landscape. Prior to joining Tapjoy, Brian conceptualized and founded the music discovery site Fuzzedout.com and worked for Sony Entertainment. Brian is a graduate of the University of Southern California.

http://photos1.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/6/c/7/2/event_175827762.jpegMarco DeMiroz, President & CEO, Playfirst (@marcodemiroz (https://twitter.com/marcodemiroz))
Marco DeMiroz is president and CEO of PlayFirst, a leading developer of mobile games for family and friends. DeMiroz has over 20 years of experience in executive roles with leading technology companies and in global investments. Prior, DeMiroz was president and CEO of Racktivity, a leading cloud platform provider. Prior to Racktivity, DeMiroz was with Trinity Ventures, focusing on early-stage media, entertainment and energy investments. He was also a Managing Director at Selby Ventures, and led its investments in digital media and Internet sectors. DeMiroz has worked at leading technology companies including Oracle, Sun, Silicon Graphics and General Magic, and his executive roles have encompassed CEO, President, CFO, SVP Business Development and VP Operations. DeMiroz obtained his MBA from Carnegie Mellon University; where he received a Rockwell Scholarship, after receiving a postgraduate degree in Aeronautics/Astronautics from Stanford University.

http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/6/c/d/6/event_175827862.jpegAlex Rampell, CEO & Co-Founder, Trialpay (@arampell (https://twitter.com/arampell))
Alex Rampell is the CEO and co-founder of TrialPay, a leading transactional advertising and payments company serving digital goods and e-commerce clients such as Facebook, Zynga, and Netflix. Previously, Alex co-founded FraudEliminator, the first consumer anti-phishing company, which merged into SiteAdvisor and was acquired by McAfee for $75M in 2006. He is a frequent writer on e-commerce and advertising topics for TechCrunch, and coined the term "O2O" to refer to the growing category of Online-to-Offline commerce companies like Groupon. Alex is an active angel investor in Silicon Valley, and served on the board of friend.ly (acquired by Facebook) and Backstage Technologies (acquired by RealNetworks), and currently serves on the board of CashStar, a leading electronic gift card company. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from Harvard University.

Mass Transit & Parking Information
625 2nd Street is on 2nd Street between Brannan and Townsend. You can easily reach the location by Caltrain, BART/MUNI, or car.
BART/MUNI: Take BART to the Embarcadero Station, then go to the in-station MUNI stop. Take the Inbound (Ballpark) MUNI N or T train to the 2nd and King stop. Then walk up 2nd Street one and a half blocks, and you’re there.
Caltrain: Take any northbound Caltrain until it reaches its final destination of 4th and King. Then, walk out of the Caltrain station to 4th and Townsend corner. Walk down Townsend towards the direction of the ballpark until you reach 2nd, then turn left on 2nd and walk half a block.
Car: Take 280 Northbound until it splits between the King Street exit and the 6th Street exit. Taking the King Street exit, turn left at the third light onto Townsend, and then drive one and a half blocks and you’re there.
Parking: Street parking is plentiful around the event, and there are numerous parking garages near the event location.