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Martijn van Zwieten

Best practices, models and frameworks that will help you run and grow a business in the videogames industry. https://www.martijnvanzwieten.com

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BWB#69: Paint Me A Picture

Hello friends, Greetings from Utrecht! I'm slowly putting to paper all the facets of the work I do with clients, especially the elements of the Operating System I help them adapt for running the company. Today's essay is one such element, which I haven't written about before: ✨ The 3-Year Picture ✨ Today at a glance: Essay - Paint Me A Picture From solo dev to top 50 wishlist on Steam The Ultimate Onboarding Checklist Death to PMF Paint Me A Picture: Setting Medium Term Goals To Guide Your...

18 days ago • 5 min read

Hello friends, Greetings from Utrecht! I think this might be the first time I'm sending the newsletter on a Friday. Sometimes life happens, and that's ok. Today I'm sharing the core principles that underlie my approach to business coaching. This, together with the concept of the Three Arenas, makes up the foundation of my coaching method. Next week is GDC, and while I won't be there, I'll be rooting for you if you do make the pilgrimage to San Francisco. You're a better person than I am, and...

about 1 month ago • 3 min read

Hello friends, Greetings from Utrecht! After a bit of a slow start to the year, I can now feel things picking up all around me. The first events are behind us, and people are gearing up for GDC. And while I won't attend the event myself, I'm taking that energy and saving it for Reboot in April, for which I've just been announced as a speaker. The rest of the line-up is quite spectacular, and I'm very happy that I get to share the stage with them once again. Behind the scenes, I've been slowly...

about 2 months ago • 5 min read

Hello friends, Greetings from Utrecht! I've been working on my personal brand in the background, and one of the steps I'm taking is to go through the Hedgehog Concept exercise. I do it with most of my clients to figure out what their real core business is, and so it's only right that I subject myself to the same existential crisis. It then came up again in Kim Nordstrom's book UP DOWN UP, along with an excellent and practical example, so I figured this was a great time to share this exercise...

2 months ago • 5 min read

Hello friends, Greetings from Utrecht! Pocket Gamer Connects was the first event for many people in the games industry, and from what I hear it was a great edition. One of the soundbites that was apparently making the rounds was "survive to '25". Sure, there is some optimism about funding opening up again in the second half of 2024, but by and large it looks like this will be a year we all have to survive. Read the essay for my take on what your studio or company can do to make it through...

3 months ago • 5 min read

Hello friends, Greetings from Utrecht! The industry is going through a bit of a dark period, and it looks like it will be a while before we get to the end of the tunnel. The year has only just started, and we've already seen a bunch of new layoffs from a number of companies. I hope you're all hanging in there, and can find a way to make things work until money becomes more accessible again. And if you need help - you know where to find me. Today at a glance: Essay - Mastering the Three Arenas...

3 months ago • 4 min read

Hello friends, Happy New Year, and greetings from Utrecht. In each (ok, most) edition of this newsletter, I share a handful of links to the things that caught my attention. These can be related to the games industry and running a business, but just as often they are related to other interests, fascinations and frustrations of mine. Below is the list of the links that you, my readers, clicked the most. I've roughly divided them by subject, and ranked them by click count. I hope you'll find...

4 months ago • 6 min read

Hello friends, Greetings from Utrecht! It's my last newsletter for the year, in which I'm sharing my annual review. This year is the first time since I started setting goals and doing reviews that I actually failed to hit most of my goals. This is unfortunate of course, but read on to find out why I'm not too fussed about it, and what lessons I'm taking into 2024. Today at a glance: Essay - Annual Review 2023 Annual review template How will you measure your life? Gamesindustry.biz 2023 in...

4 months ago • 7 min read

Hello friends, Greetings from Utrecht! It’s the end of the year, and I’ve once again taken a long hard look at my media diet to come up with the books, movies, games and songs that meant the most to me this year. As in previous years, I’ll note that I don’t restrict my media diet to the stuff that is released in a given year, so my lists won’t look like the end-of-year lists of professional reviewers. This list is very personal, and simply reflects what mattered to and had an impact on me....

4 months ago • 4 min read

Hello friends, Greetings from Utrecht! We're in the home stretch for the year. I'm slowly starting to round up my affairs for the year, and making sure I have everything I need for my yearly review. This is also the time of year that I spend the most time in road-side hotels, helping clients with their annual planning. So in that spirit, I'm sharing my full playbook for the perfect yearly planning session today, as well as linking to a personal annual review template that I really like. This...

5 months ago • 10 min read
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