CRACKING THE MULTIPLAYER CONUNDRUM
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CRACKING THE MULTIPLAYER CONUNDRUM
Karolina Pelc • CEO , BeyondPlay ; Vice President , FanDuel
Founding BeyondPlay — with its software system that allows multiple players to play the same casino game with a pooled stake — was something of a sliding-doors moment for Karolina Pelc . After a long period working as a consultant to major operators such as William Hill , Gamesys and Hard Rock Online , she was interviewing for “ a very prestigious corporate role .” However , one of her friends intervened .
“ He told me , ‘ Don ’ t go for it . This is the time ,’” she says . “ I was still consulting , but in the evenings I was working on the deck and then I started the money raise .”
It wasn ’ t Pelc ’ s first attempt . A previous startup , focused on live casino , “ failed completely ,” she recalls .
That did provide lessons which informed BeyondPlay ’ s development . Chief among them , not giving up . “ I went to a small network of investors , some of them my personal friends and and people I work with ,” she says of the first startup . “ It was pretty hard to be rejected by them , because it triggers the imposter syndrome , thinking I wasn ’ t good enough .
“ Many people at that point would have just folded and gone for the safe corporate job . But I iterated and came up with a different idea that addressed all the weaknesses they spotted in that first fundraising process .
“ That ’ s something I always repeat ; rejection is part of the journey . If you want to build a startup and if you want to be a successful entrepreneur , you have to accept that .”
The multiplayer concept captured the industry ’ s imagination and ultimately led to its acquisition by FanDuel , meaning BeyondPlay is one of — if not the — quickest turnarounds from startup to sale in gaming , ever . But Pelc says it ’ s not a three-year-old company . Instead , it is “ a combination of my 20 years in the industry , my track record , my network ,” she says .
And while there are some similar businesses , BeyondPlay is the most visible and arguably the closest to taking the multiplayer gaming concept to market . It ’ s not live yet , though now it has FanDuel ’ s expertise and resources behind it .
And Pelc admits operators have proven quite hesitant about embracing such innovation . “ It ’ s a difficult product from the technical complexity level , but it ’ s also a difficult product to get buy-in for ,” she says . “ There ’ s a lot of skeptics that think the gambling experience has not changed over the years and doesn ’ t need to innovate to that level .
“ You ’ re fighting quite a few different complexities around it . Then there ’ s obviously the regulation and licensing ; no one knows which license it falls under . It ’ s different in every country , so it ’ s extremely difficult on that level .”
This created a degree of trepidation . Pelc is building a product that is totally new to the industry , and doing so in public . “ There are two approaches ,” she says . “ You only talk about things when you ’ ve done them or you talk about them sooner .
“ For me , because it was such an innovative product , we needed to raise money and we needed operators ’ interest . It was very much about building momentum because that ( multiplayer ) trend didn ’ t exist . I was one of the very first people to start talking about it .
“ So the more I talked about BeyondPlay , the more people were getting interested . I essentially created the demand for the product with that brand awareness . I have zero regrets . It came with huge pressure on me ; when the product wasn ’ t delivered on time and it took longer , it got more complex and challenging .
“ But without that trend and brand awareness , we wouldn ’ t have raised money . We wouldn ’ t have customers in the pipeline . So I had to put it out there and and be very public about it .”
That determination positions her at the cusp of something hugely disruptive . With BeyondPlay , Pelc is poised to change the way we play online casino games . That ’ s reason enough to take that risk . — Robin Harrison-Millan
30 Global Gaming Business NOVEMBER 2024