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May 11, 2017 · 18m · top-founders

656: How to Win VR Gaming Space, $500k Raised, Team of 12, First Release This Year with CEO Peter Kortenhoeven

Nathan Latka · 9m spoken Peter Kortenhoeven · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In episode 656 of The Top Podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews Peter Kortenhoeven, founder of Pillow's Willow VR Studios, discussing how the studio raised $500,000 in seed capital, scaled a 12-person development team, and formulated a premium monetization strategy for mobile virtual reality games.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 60.2% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 2.0 Guest teaching 1.0 Guest disagreement 0.4 Nathan pushing back 1.6
05100:0010:002:22–6:38 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Introducing Peter Kortenhoeven and Pillow's Willow VR Nathan introduces Peter's gaming background and probes how the studio operates in the VR ecosystem. He pushes back with mild confusion over how the studio won industry awards despite having not launched any commercial titles yet.6:38–10:01 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Seed Funding and Studio Growth Nathan presses on financial sustainability, asking how a 12-person team is supported on just $500k in seed funding without revenue. Peter explains their seed backing and target hardware ecosystem on mobile VR.10:02–12:59 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Pricing Model and Building an Expanding VR Universe The conversation explores unit pricing at $4.99 for 1-hour gameplay experiences and building an expanding character universe. Nathan connects the concept to Neopets, which Peter validates.13:00–15:55 · Nathan as informed peer 1/10 Mid-Roll Promo: Efficient Scheduling with Acuity Segment includes mid-roll sponsor reads for Clipfolio and Acuity before transitioning to the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions.15:55–17:43 · Nathan as informed peer 0/10 Executive Summary and Interview Wrap-Up Nathan delivers the executive recap of Peter's studio metrics and concludes with a solo outro and sponsor promotion.2:22–6:38 · Guest teaching 2/10 Introducing Peter Kortenhoeven and Pillow's Willow VR Nathan introduces Peter's gaming background and probes how the studio operates in the VR ecosystem. He pushes back with mild confusion over how the studio won industry awards despite having not launched any commercial titles yet.6:38–10:01 · Guest teaching 2/10 Seed Funding and Studio Growth Nathan presses on financial sustainability, asking how a 12-person team is supported on just $500k in seed funding without revenue. Peter explains their seed backing and target hardware ecosystem on mobile VR.10:02–12:59 · Guest teaching 1/10 Pricing Model and Building an Expanding VR Universe The conversation explores unit pricing at $4.99 for 1-hour gameplay experiences and building an expanding character universe. Nathan connects the concept to Neopets, which Peter validates.13:00–15:55 · Guest teaching 0/10 Mid-Roll Promo: Efficient Scheduling with Acuity Segment includes mid-roll sponsor reads for Clipfolio and Acuity before transitioning to the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions.15:55–17:43 · Guest teaching 0/10 Executive Summary and Interview Wrap-Up Nathan delivers the executive recap of Peter's studio metrics and concludes with a solo outro and sponsor promotion.2:22–6:38 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Peter Kortenhoeven and Pillow's Willow VR Nathan introduces Peter's gaming background and probes how the studio operates in the VR ecosystem. He pushes back with mild confusion over how the studio won industry awards despite having not launched any commercial titles yet.6:38–10:01 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Seed Funding and Studio Growth Nathan presses on financial sustainability, asking how a 12-person team is supported on just $500k in seed funding without revenue. Peter explains their seed backing and target hardware ecosystem on mobile VR.10:02–12:59 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Pricing Model and Building an Expanding VR Universe The conversation explores unit pricing at $4.99 for 1-hour gameplay experiences and building an expanding character universe. Nathan connects the concept to Neopets, which Peter validates.13:00–15:55 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Mid-Roll Promo: Efficient Scheduling with Acuity Segment includes mid-roll sponsor reads for Clipfolio and Acuity before transitioning to the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions.15:55–17:43 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Executive Summary and Interview Wrap-Up Nathan delivers the executive recap of Peter's studio metrics and concludes with a solo outro and sponsor promotion.2:22–6:38 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Introducing Peter Kortenhoeven and Pillow's Willow VR Nathan introduces Peter's gaming background and probes how the studio operates in the VR ecosystem. He pushes back with mild confusion over how the studio won industry awards despite having not launched any commercial titles yet.6:38–10:01 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Seed Funding and Studio Growth Nathan presses on financial sustainability, asking how a 12-person team is supported on just $500k in seed funding without revenue. Peter explains their seed backing and target hardware ecosystem on mobile VR.10:02–12:59 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Pricing Model and Building an Expanding VR Universe The conversation explores unit pricing at $4.99 for 1-hour gameplay experiences and building an expanding character universe. Nathan connects the concept to Neopets, which Peter validates.13:00–15:55 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Mid-Roll Promo: Efficient Scheduling with Acuity Segment includes mid-roll sponsor reads for Clipfolio and Acuity before transitioning to the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions.15:55–17:43 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Executive Summary and Interview Wrap-Up Nathan delivers the executive recap of Peter's studio metrics and concludes with a solo outro and sponsor promotion.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 95.7% · guest 4.3%0:00 · Nathan 95.7% · guest 4.3%3:00 · Nathan 33.4% · guest 66.6%3:00 · Nathan 33.4% · guest 66.6%6:00 · Nathan 27.5% · guest 72.5%6:00 · Nathan 27.5% · guest 72.5%9:00 · Nathan 31.1% · guest 68.9%9:00 · Nathan 31.1% · guest 68.9%12:00 · Nathan 85.8% · guest 14.2%12:00 · Nathan 85.8% · guest 14.2%15:00 · Nathan 84.5% · guest 15.5%15:00 · Nathan 84.5% · guest 15.5%18:00 · Nathan 0% · guest 0%18:00 · Nathan 0% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 5:58 Peter clarifies award basis

Peter gently pushes back against Nathan's confusion by clarifying that the award was strictly awarded based on a submitted playable demo rather than a commercial release.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 5:49 Host challenges award claims

Nathan openly questions how Pillow's Willow could win 'Best VR Game' in 2016 when they have not actually released any finished games.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 9:09 Clarifying high-end mobile VR hardware

Peter educates Nathan on the distinction between cheap viewers like Google Cardboard and high-end mobile VR setups like Samsung Gear VR and Google Pixel.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 11:33 Connecting universe IP to Neopets model

Nathan shows business acumen by contextualizing Peter's multi-character game universe strategy through a comparison to Neopets.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Peter Kortenhoeven and Pillow's Willow VR 3213 Nathan introduces Peter's gaming background and probes how the studio operates in the VR ecosystem. He pushes back with mild confusion over how the studio won industry awards despite having not launched any commercial titles yet.
Seed Funding and Studio Growth 3213 Nathan presses on financial sustainability, asking how a 12-person team is supported on just $500k in seed funding without revenue. Peter explains their seed backing and target hardware ecosystem on mobile VR.
Pricing Model and Building an Expanding VR Universe 3101 The conversation explores unit pricing at $4.99 for 1-hour gameplay experiences and building an expanding character universe. Nathan connects the concept to Neopets, which Peter validates.
Mid-Roll Promo: Efficient Scheduling with Acuity 1001 Segment includes mid-roll sponsor reads for Clipfolio and Acuity before transitioning to the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions.
Executive Summary and Interview Wrap-Up 0000 Nathan delivers the executive recap of Peter's studio metrics and concludes with a solo outro and sponsor promotion.

Statements from this episode (7)

Disclosure
Kortenhoeven: Pillow's Willow is developing four VR titles simultaneously
“We're currently working on four titles at the same time and the first one will be released within June, and that's gonna be called Draco.”
Peter Kortenhoeven May 11, 2017 ▶ 4:39
Assertion Supported
Kortenhoeven: Pillow's Willow won best Dutch VR game with an unreleased demo
“Based on the demo which we sent over we received the award for best game, best Dutch VR game.”
Peter Kortenhoeven May 11, 2017 ▶ 6:03
Disclosure
Pillow's Willow VR Studios has raised $500k in seed funding
“We're currently at half half a million.”
Peter Kortenhoeven May 11, 2017 ▶ 7:59
Disclosure
Kortenhoeven: Pillow's Willow will charge upfront for games
“We're going to charge for these games.”
Peter Kortenhoeven May 11, 2017 ▶ 8:46
Assertion Supported
Samsung Gear VR installed base exceeded 5 million units by 2017
“The gear VR already goes beyond five million.”
Peter Kortenhoeven May 11, 2017 ▶ 9:51
Disclosure
Pillow's Willow's debut VR game will be one hour and cost $4.99
“So it's approximately the first game will be like one hour long and then within the range of about four 99.”
Peter Kortenhoeven May 11, 2017 ▶ 10:23
Disclosure
Lumo provided Pillow's Willow a CEO so the founder could make art
“Lumo helps me out a lot, and there are the, they give me the CEO, which enables me to be completely free as an artist.”
Peter Kortenhoeven May 11, 2017 ▶ 14:47
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