@arish
Arish Ali
@arish · 0:56

Interview with Keith Pichelman, Founder and CEO of Concrete Software

article image placeholderUploaded by @arish
Hi Swell, I am very excited to introducing Keith Pichelman, Founder and CEO Community Keith will be on Swell on Wednesday, April 6 to answer questions about startups, mobile games and life in Minnesota. I have known Keith for nearly in two decades now since the very early days of mobile games and apps ecosystems. Keith is the founder and CEO of Concrete Software, which is an amazing part of a mobile games company with hit titles such as PBA Bowling Challenge, PGA Tour calls, and many more

#AskAFounder #TalkToArish #swellinterview on April 6th. Keith’s profile https://s.swell.life/ST1rC3XWsSIcttN

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@livblair
Liv Blair
@livblair · 0:25
Hi. This is kind of a general question, but I was just curious about just like the process of beginning a startups and kind of like the emotions that went along with that and kind of how you were feeling whenever you were first getting off the ground and just how much all the little things you had to think about, kind of how you juggle that whenever you are creating this. So yeah. Thank you. Bye
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@jomariexann
Jomarie Almeus
@jomariexann · 0:21
This is a general question for Keef and for his team. My question is what is the deliberate planning you guys have when it comes to character design? How do you show the characters personality suit or design? Is there a specific method you guys use and where does your inspiration come from? Thank you
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@Swell
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15

Welcome to Swell!

@studentlife
Jas (They/them) Martin
@studentlife · 1:22
Hello, Keith. Nice to meet you. That's so cool that you have so many, like, successful experiences in tech and startups. I'm super into coding, software coding. I do a little bit more on the science side of like, data analysis coding. They got me interested in, like, tech apps and software in general. And I kind of like the whole startups culture
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@isabellaa
Isabella Croston
@isabellaa · 0:42
Hi, Keith. My name is Isabella and I'm a sophomore at Washington State University, and I'm majoring in public relations. And I'm really interested in startup companies and everything like that, and especially the PR side of them, too. I take particular interest in
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@Appjunky
Keith Pichelman
@Appjunky · 1:19

@livblair

You really feel like, you know, go right the day you say you've started this company and obviously you work hard and put a lot of time in, but you also kind of figure out pretty quickly that it's a Martin and that you're in it for the long haul and that you have more time for your decisions, more time to listen to people, more time to talk to lots of people and figure out the best path for your company
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@Appjunky
Keith Pichelman
@Appjunky · 1:43

@jomariexann

I'm always amazed at how good our character artists are, and it's almost like magic to me to see some of the characters and drawings they come up with and how good they are at really conveying the different personalities that we're looking for
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@Appjunky
Keith Pichelman
@Appjunky · 3:44

@studentlife

And I look back, I think there's been a few conferences where I look back, I try to see what is that worth it did it help me network and grow the company at all? And pretty much I think everyone I've ever gone to has been helpful and some much more than others. But it's amazing the power of meeting somebody face to face in person. It just feels like inherently people want to help each other out and you kind of bring up what you're doing
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@Appjunky
Keith Pichelman
@Appjunky · 2:26

@isabellacroston

I think after a little bit, the one thing we started to do is do a few more get togethers, whether be with people in the company or outside of it, and just take time off and put it on the calendar and just make sure that I got away for it from it for just a little bit
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@Appjunky
Keith Pichelman
@Appjunky · 4:59

@AngelaO

And so it's so important to have great people and have people that are really talented and good at what they do. And people want to be in a place where they can make a difference. They want to be heard. They want to show their skills and do the right thing and come out and make something awesome. If we don't listen to people, I really believe we're just going to lose all our great employees and not do a great job
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@Phil
phil spade
@Phil · 2:54

@AngelaO Reasons for MN. @Appjunky Am I on/off base?

There is that tendency to maybe overwork, but there is that tendency to work hard. And I've seen that from people within Minneapolis, and that's one of the things that I would say it makes a difference in a start up within Minneapolis. Keith, I'm wondering if you've seen that. I've observed the same kind of observations that I have, and I'm guessing that you're one of those people that should somebody acquire you, you're not moving
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@Appjunky
Keith Pichelman
@Appjunky · 2:43

@Phil

It's more fun to stay in and get things done. But overall, I think the real reason that we do as well as we do with people in the area is work ethic overall, yeah, that works out really well. I'd also say being here, the cost of living is a little bit less too, so maybe I should say a lot less
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@livblair
Liv Blair
@livblair · 0:25

@Appjunky

Hi Keith, I just wanted to give a quick reply and say thank you so much for your response. What you said about just like everyone is going to have different opinions, it could be anywhere from them saying like ten out of ten, best idea ever to like this has zero potential. I feel like that applies to just like a lot of different industries and a lot of different aspects of life, honestly. So that's really great advice. Thank you so much
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@arish
Arish Ali
@arish · 0:26

Thank you @Appjunky

Hey Keith, I wanted to thank you so much for coming on to Swell and answering all these questions. I learned quite a few things as well that I did not know about you from this interview. It was great listening to it. Thanks to all the the students who asked the questions as well. And Keith, we look forward to having you back again for other questions and conversations down the line. Thank you again. It was great listening to you
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