The Here's Waldo Podcast

Joshua Howard is the COO of OtherSide Entertainment, a company focused on providing players with innovative gameplay, immersive worlds, and engaging narrative. His focus extends beyond creating great games; he fosters positive team cultures, cultivates future leaders, and prioritizes employee well-being as the foundation for exceptional player experiences. Joshua's experience spans leadership role...

Valerie Massey is a gaming veteran and community management expert. With more than two decades developing and fostering multiplayer online games, Valerie Massey has worked extensively in public relations, community building, and customer care. She has experience with businesses such as Consortium9, ArtCraft Entertainment, CCP Games, and Leap Motion.  Valerie helped build and establish the Eve Onli...

Moritz Baier-Lentz, is a Partner and Head of Gaming at Lightspeed Gaming, a company that partners with extraordinary founders in the gaming sector. In this position, Moritz has spearheaded investments in groundbreaking ventures, including Fortnite and League of Legends creators. With extensive experience at BITKRAFT and Goldman Sachs, he has advised on over $300 billion in transactions. As a forme...

Dawn Pinkney is a Career and Executive Coach and the Founder of Marjorie Dawn Coaching, where she provides life coaching services to professionals, empowering them to perform at their best. With over 25 years of experience in the games industry, Dawn has worked extensively in production with renowned teams, contributing to the creation and publication of successful video games for companies like 2...

Dean Takahashi is the Lead Writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat, a technology news website that provides news, analysis, features, interviews, and videos. He boasts over 28 years of experience as a tech journalist, with a dedicated focus on gaming. Joining VentureBeat in 2008, Dean previously contributed to esteemed publications such as The Mercury News , the Red Herring , the Wall Street Journal ,...

Renee Gittins is the Creative Director and CEO of Stumbling Cat, an indie studio based in Seattle. With a diverse skill set encompassing business operations, software engineering, and creative direction, Renee leads her team with a unique blend of expertise. Before her role at Stumbling Cat, she served as the General Manager of Phoenix Labs in Vancouver and held the position of Executive Director...

Eric Marcoullier is a Fractional Co-founder and Early-Stage Startup Coach at BPM140 Consulting, where he guides first and second-time founders in the pursuit of finding a successful product-market fit. His journey in the tech industry began with the co-founding of IGN in 1996, where he led product and engineering until its sale three years later. Following this, Eric contributed to game developmen...

Laura Taranto is the Senior Director of Product Management at Big Fish Games, a developer and distributor of casual games for computers and mobile devices. With 14 years of experience, Laura has traversed various phases of game development, with a particular emphasis on nurturing and growing live titles. In June of 2021, she joined Big Fish Games, where she spearheads new game development and over...

Jon Wolheim is the Volunteer Vice President of People and Culture at Games For Love, a nonprofit providing video games in children's hospitals and helping medical professionals to meaningfully integrate games into therapies. Jon's education runs through Stanford, USC, and MIT, where he got his start in core Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, ahead of leading some of the largest global H...

Anthony Castoro is the Owner of Protagonist Games, an independent games and technology company specializing in multiplayer and online games. He is also the Founder and CEO of Simulation Theory, a proprietary technologies platform yielding incredible high-performance results for video games, AR/VR, real-time AI applications, and industrial simulations. A gaming industry veteran, Anthony has led tea...

Štěpán Kaiser is the Co-founder and CEO of Remāngu, a cutting-edge platform designed to bridge the gap between remote individuals and prominent gaming studios. With a background in software engineering and a passion for innovation, Štěpán has spearheaded Remāngu's development of intuitive feedback management solutions tailored to meet the evolving needs of modern enterprises. Under his leadership,...

David Kaye is a General Partner at F4 Fund, a pioneering venture capital firm specializing in funding early-stage technology startups. With a passion for innovation and a keen eye for disruptive ideas, David leads F4 Fund in identifying and investing in high-potential ventures poised to impact their respective industries significantly. Leveraging his extensive experience in the startup ecosystem,...

Chris Zimmerman is the Co-founder of Sucker Punch Productions, a video game developer best known for creating action games for PlayStation consoles. A renowned figure in the video game industry, Chris has been instrumental in producing iconic titles such as Sly Cooper, inFAMOUS, and the critically acclaimed Ghost of Tsushima. Before his venture into Sucker Punch, Chris spent a decade at Microsoft,...

Alina Matson is the Co-founder and CEO of Glossbird, an innovative game studio creating lifestyle-improving games for untapped player markets. She is an award-winning designer, engineer, inventor, and startup consultant with a diverse portfolio ranging from flying cars to the latest VR headset at Metis. In her roles at Glossbird, Alina leads a team dedicated to evoking positive emotions and enhanc...

Negar Shaghaghi is the Co-founder and CEO of Auxuman, a game technology company with a mission to bridge the divide between social media and gaming. With a remarkable career trajectory, Negar served as an AI Product Leader for the past six years, showcasing her expertise and leadership in the dynamic intersection of artificial intelligence and product development. Under her guidance, Auxuman thriv...

Terry Redfield is the Founder of a stealth mode startup, a company in its early stages of development and inspired by a game she created in 2015. With nearly three decades in the gaming industry, Terry embarked on her remarkable journey at 3DO as a junior artist. Her notable contributions include content creation for acclaimed games such as Psychonauts , Gardens of Time , and League of Legends . T...

Gina Joseph is the Chief Strategy Officer at VentureBeat and GamesBeat, the leading sources for news, events, and groundbreaking research used to help leaders make intuitive decisions. Gina brings two decades of expertise in media and technology to her role. As a first-generation Afghan American woman, she actively champions diversity and inclusion, especially for women leaders.  Gina is also the...

Kate Edwards is the CEO of Geogrify, a niche consultancy providing geocultural and geopolitical content strategy to help clients reach a global audience. She is also the Co-founder and Chief Experience Officer of SetJetters, which aims to revolutionize the film tourism experience with its location-based app. An award-winning gaming industry veteran, Kate's career spans over 30 years working with p...

Ray Winninger is a seasoned video game pioneer who began his career as a freelance designer in high school. His most recent role was as Executive Producer at Wizards of the Coast, where he managed a studio for Wizards' Dungeons and Dragons. Ray's career spans over 30 years, leading departments for prominent companies such as Sony, Viacom, Microsoft, and Amazon.  In this episode… The popular tablet...

Raph Koster is the CEO of Playable Worlds, a computer games company specializing in gamification, online games, and game development. As a veteran game designer, he's been professionally credited in almost every industry area. Raph was the lead designer and director of Ultima Online, one of the first MMOs to reach $1 billion, and Star Wars Galaxies. Raph is also the Founder of Metaplace, a metaver...

Rafael Brown is the Founder and CEO of Symbol Zero, a video game studio developing interactive software across games, XR, virtual worlds, and concerts. As a seasoned veteran with 27 years of industry experience, he's contributed his talents to over 37 projects. Before Symbol Zero, Rafael founded Digital Leaf Design, serving as the Creative Director for 22 years. His expertise has garnered him a re...

Joe Nickolls is the VP of Sumo Digital North America, a multi-genre video game platform featuring titles for major publishers, including Microsoft, Sony, Sega, and 2K. With 25 years of industry experience, he's contributed his talents at various studios like Capcom and EA, where he led the MAXIS Studio, overseeing the Sims franchises. Joe is also the Co-founder and Managing Director of Timbre Game...

Jerry Hook is the Founder and CEO of Jar of Sparks, a new studio committed to creating AAA action-adventure games. He has over 20 years in the industry and was a founding member of Xbox Live during his Microsoft tenure. Jerry also led the Destiny franchise at Bungie and headed the Design team for Halo Infinite at 343 Industries. While at 343 Industries, Jerry was the visionary behind progression,...

Jenny Xu is the Founder and CEO of Talofa, a video game platform inspired by her interests in running, fitness, and gaming. She hopes Talofa can help gamers improve their mental and physical health through play. Jenny is also the Founder and former CEO of JCSoft Inc., an independent game company that creates experimental horror-comedy mobile games. While at JCSoft, she collaborated with Niantic —...

Gordon Walton is the Chief Product Officer and Executive Producer at Playable Worlds, a computer games company specializing in gamification, online games, and game development. As a pioneer in the industry, Gordon started his career in 1977 and has executive-produced multiple MMO games. He has an extensive resume, working for companies such as ArtsCraft Entertainment (formally known as Crowfall),...