SILICON
FOREST
HUFFINGTON
11.10.13
Throughout the country, technology startups tend to
be clustered around world-class research universities
that spawn entrepreneurial undertakings and then feed
them with breakthroughs and talented recruits.
financial and legal expertise.
Amy Dallas, who oversees
ClutchPlay’s business development, had been mulling whether
to seek funding for the new company. Winning the contest put
her in touch with an experienced
lawyer at a major local firm who
bluntly laid out the pros and cons.
Yes, extra cash can be useful for
obvious reasons, but outside investors bring pressures to succeed
or fail quickly. They may want to
realize their gains too swiftly and
find an exit, with their immediate interests potentially conflicting with the company’s long-term
aims. The investors might press
to release new games too quickly,
before the designers are fully satisfied that they have achieved the
best gaming experience.
“Once you get funding, it’s no
longer your own company,” Dallas says. “It was really useful to
be able to have a totally candid
conversation with someone who
has faced all these issues before. I
don’t think we need funding right
now. For us, continuing to have
autonomy was really important.”
ClutchPlay could by now have
afforded its own office space. After losing their last jobs, the four
founders plowed everything they
had into launching the new company — their severance, their
savings, and their so-called self
employment assistance, an Oregon program that provides unemployment benefits to people
who are not looking for work but
rather seeking to start their own
business. Last fall, they released
their first game, Little Chomp, a
sort of cross between Angry Birds
and the children’s classic book
The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The
title was soon spotlighted by a
prestigious video game venue,
the Pax East Indie Showcase. The
partners have since been flooded
with contract work from other