 realize it's the last meeting of the day here and we stand between you and after parties but I can't think of better company to do this last fireside than Catty from Robio and Rich from Excel. So I just started by saying I think anyone close to the game industry is very fond of Robio as a company that has meant a lot of things both for Finland and for games. It was certainly the first company to make a global success sort of casual game on smartphones but also I think it's a company that embodies the Finnish spirit of Sisu, of perseverance, of resilience, of will to win and it was really the first company that put Finland in the map for many people around the world other than Nokia several years before and I think I'd like to give the benefit to the audience to hear a little bit of the origin of the company, the story of how did it start, how the first challenges you faced in the first six years built, what is it, 51 games before Angry Birds and really give us a sense of all the hard work that went in behind the scenes. Hey, thanks, great to be here first of all and thank you Rich as well joining the short chat that we're having today. Well, Robio was established in 2003 and that was, as you said, game number 52 that made the huge success that Robio experienced and the game was actually launched in December 2009. So we are celebrating the bird day in a few days and that's gonna be eight years now. So of course there was a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication, determination from the team that put together the game and there were ups and downs already during those years definitely but when the success came it obviously was a huge and kind of like it came in a very short period of time as well, we're in a digital world so the game was out there very quickly and also the bird characters that had been created were so, how would I say, one would say lovable and kind of like a little bit mischievous, edgy and there was a clear sign that these characters can do much more also beyond the games and after that there was a different kind of entertainment means that the company stepped in, consumer products and obviously one of the big things that started already in the minds of the company at that point of time was the movie. We did certain animations and it felt like this is an IP and then later on a brand that can create actually a movie as well and that thinking started in very early days after the launch of the game. I'll come right back at this sort of evolution of the IP through different forms of media over time but Rich, my main question for you when I first saw the relationship between Excel and Rovio was the fact that you're based in California and I think Helsinki was at the time a bit of a remote place so compared to today I'm wondering what was it that Rovio to pursue this investment at the time jointly with Atomico and what was it that really captivated you on the company? Sure, sure. First of all, thanks for having me here. Thank you for moderating the panel and I've had the chance to see Slush from the very beginning of the first conference so it's amazing how large this event and this organization has come to your specific question. For all of us that grew up in the mobile industry, Helsinki and Finland was not a distant place. Obviously Nokia, which really created a lot of the modern world of mobile was of course headquartered here, still is headquartered here and so a lot of us came here to Helsinki to meet with the partnerships and develop partnerships there so Helsinki did not feel like an unfamiliar place to me in those days but the simple reality is as you know in gaming there are companies that are only produced one thing and are unable to sustain that over the course of time and I'd heard the story about the I didn't actually realize it was 51 games at the time but I knew the company had experimented and tried many things before they got to Angry Birds and the very fact that they had that seesaw that toughness to keep experimenting was what very much attracted us in addition to the incredible brand that Angry Birds had started to become and then I should of course just briefly mention that Peter Vesterbocka who many of you know who also helped to create Slush was a personal and still remains a very close personal friend and that connection in addition to the incredible work of the management team at the head family is why we and Nicola Zenstrom who was just up here from Atomico became investors were incredibly grateful to Kati and the rest of the management team you know to be part of it great so going back to the topic of expanding an IP into into different ideas different media formats when when you build Angry Birds the filling of a customer really is of that of one of the most recognizable brands in the world today do you think that is because of this transmedia approach what what drove the decision making to you know pursue merchandising and then later films and different games that have less to do with the slingshot mechanic that made it that the first game popular and really make people exposed to the birds in in different in different ways our experience with Supercell was a bit on the countryside where we focused really on on mobile games not on you know movies and and other aspects and I I was very interested when when I saw the success of the film last year congratulations on the box office thank you well first of all you talked about the awareness and the brand awareness is incredible it is 97% globally and that of course gives you a lot of benefits being in a we're having an owning a brand like Angry Birds is definitely something that you should be exploiting in a in a wider means than than only in mobile games although we are games first entertainment company we do still have as you said merchandising and we keep on having them with regards to the movie we've made a little bit of a different decision according to our current strategy being games first company instead of financing it by ourselves as we did the first movie we actually licensed the brand to Sony and Sony is now producing and distributing the movie we figured out that this is pretty safe way to continue Sony was our partner in the first movie as well and since they have the expertise the knowledge that's their core business so it's better that they focus on that one and we focus on our core business which is games although you know as said giving the brand in the minds of consumers it's good to have additional things beyond the games as well great this is a question for the two of you and you'll probably take turns answering this but for those of you who were around and a few hours ago my colleague Martin introduced a sort of new initiative to to educate founders into how to reward talent how to attract talent how to retain talent over time and I feel one of the really good things Robio did you know with the success of the brand was really start importing talent from around the world into Finland and later on in the different haps that Robio has opened around the world at which point did you decide that diversity of talent was important how did you manage to extend the CSU that the founding team had into the rest of the team you know through good times and bad and make people loyal over time it was very very early on when it was clear that it's good to have different cultures working for the company we have at the moment approximately 30 different nationalities in Robio as well as the diversity from male female gender perspective is important as well I mean we're making products for both females and males and I think it is very important to have people who actually are are from the both tenders to think about the products as well from the development phase already and like I said they started very early on we have approximately 30% of of our workforce females so in that sense it could be obviously bigger but but we are gradually getting more and more hopefully going forward at least promoting for that as well because like said I believe diversity is very important for the company as well and then how to your second point how to you know the build the culture and extend the CSU from for to those people who might not be born in Finland but I'm not saying that CSU or this determination resilience wouldn't be with others as well but maybe it's something a little bit more common to finish at least we want to believe so so it is it's something that you can only you know teach or or spread around by your own example you have to be the the one who doesn't give up and bring the energy to the organization and show that this is how we do it it's not words it's not a book that you will give somebody or some employee guidelines that this is how we want to be it's it's how you act and behave and it is actually contagious that's what we realized if I could just add to that for a second I think one of the unique I think advantages of coming from a smaller country a smaller population base as opposed to like say the US or say China where everybody kind of is most of the people you talk to are from your own culture is I think whether you're from Finland whether you're from Australia from some of these other smaller population markets is that you have a understanding and an immediate outward looking view of other cultures and other nationalities because inherently you're going to be working across multiple cultures and geographies and so I think that's why you see in a couple of interesting cases you know Atlassian and Australia as an example obviously here Rovio and Supercell companies that are creating products that come from some of these small countries have a more natural understanding in some cases outside their home country because they have to in order to grow reasonably successfully and so I think that mentality that underlying finished mentality that started here with Rovio and Helsinki is why it has I think such a attractiveness to people of many different backgrounds and then second if I could just emphasize this again you're without Kati's leadership we wouldn't be anywhere close to where we are today I mean there we all know there were some ups and downs along the way to even get to this point and of course we'll deal with challenges and issues in the future and when you look at what the company went through in those last couple years in the successful place it is now it's because of the leadership that we have is why we're there in addition to all the other nice things about culture so I just want to ensure that that's clear and and and rich just to double that on that you know you're one of the investors in the in the bay area that has had exposure to I guess most distant cultures and places geographically with your involvement in it at Lajan as well as here in Rovio and do you feel it's added to you as an investor as a board member to kind of go a bit out of your comfort zone to search for this pearls and exciting investment opportunities outside you know look the simple reality is that life is about a combination of experiences that you're lucky enough to have of course we have a day job as you know we're index and excel at Tomica all have the job of making money for our limited partners and for our partners but you know I think you know life would be kind of boring if all you did was invest within 30 miles of Palo Alto and in all the same social media and the same software companies and so for me I do have a special joy of coming here of going to Sydney Australia of going to Lithuania and sort of seeing entrepreneurship really develop in markets where maybe 15 20 years ago that wasn't expected because you you hope that you get a chance to leave a imprint that's not just making a bunch of money and having a couple of companies be sold but to get to touch certain other parts of the world and have an impact beyond that so that's why I very much enjoy coming here and spending time with Rovio team and in other areas that are many cases outside of traditional traditional Silicon Valley maybe just to add that we definitely appreciate that a lot it's been such a great to see that even though being so far from Palo Alto we still get you here frequently and can have these threats thank you and you know as you mentioned a good times bad times could you you know for the benefit of the public in your experience what was the hardest sort of challenge the company run into since founding possibly or since the investment whichever but yeah obviously I've been with the company five and a half years so I wasn't there in early days and have to give a big credit to the people who have been there and done the job and are still there doing the job as well together we are we're a team that's that's clear but if we look at five years horizon time horizon obviously we had a challenging time when the when the business model in mobile games changed from premium games to free to play and we had a bit of a catch up there to do and to get the team in a right spirit again believing in themselves and you know in giving the let's say the encouragement and I myself I can't do the mobile games I'm not a coding person I've I've admitted that publicly and I'm adding again but it doesn't mean that that you couldn't help the team to to feel that hey we have the belief we have the talent we can make this we'll just push through and we'll learn and we'll get there and again there were many other people doing this as well but but that's that's the team stuff and to believe what you're doing having the passion and loving what you're doing will take you there and the effort is is is clearly worthwhile so you know it's interesting to see that you're probably the only or among the few women who are CEOs of a of not just a gaming company but also a tech company more broadly and you know it personally I wish in a few years from now we can see that as a much more widespread phenomenon but but especially not being a founder but being elected as as as a CEO when when you first how does the industry perceive that in a way you know the ratio of gender diversity you have is fantastic I wish we could say the same about many other companies in games and in other sectors so how do you approach you know managing the team and growing the team and and keeping that true over time it's always interesting to discuss the the ratio of female male and different industries and I have to say that for example during the IPO roadshow rounds that we did quite a few I didn't see many females in the meeting rooms it was usually only males only males few exceptions I have to say and and it kind of like makes you feel a little bit like hmm who is not belonging to this group but then again you know it just that's how it is as of today if we can do something going forward in in those sectors as well to get more female very good because I think again diversity is a good thing for everyone also for males and but then what comes to the to the teams and and building them and growing the teams I think it it doesn't actually I don't think that there is a very much difference between being a female or male leader in the sense that it's a lot about your personality and and the the understanding how you can you know make sure that you have right people in the right spots there can be tons of talents in the company but if they are not sourced in a right way or you know make sure that they have the tools to succeed it doesn't help and I think that's one of the things that the leader must understand regardless of being a male or female that he or she is there for the people and not the other way around and making sure that the teams can success and if that comes then the whole company will be successful so it I think very simple but that's how I think about it that's great I think we're about to finish but I would last question for me is for the entrepreneurs in the room would you give them advice especially the ones in the early days I think there is a one word and that's see so exactly yeah great well thank you everyone it's it's it's always wonderful to be here in Helsinki and especially in such a good company thank you if I could just say one last thing to say hey congratulations to the slush team I remember when this was a relatively small conference at the cable factory as I remember and it was no heating and it was cold there was certainly no lasers and I just it's stunning to see how far this has come so to feature and all the other people that helped create this over the years it's incredible work thank you for having us thank you