Robert Smith
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Nobody's going to give him money yet, right?
He's just some stoner with one video game in a bar.
Yes.
So he makes a move that has already come up a few times on our young show.
Your favorite?
Negative cash conversion cycle.
The negative cash conversion cycle.
He's able to sell games before he has to pay for the parts.
So the parts to make a game cost Atari like $300.
But crucially, they don't have to pay for those parts on delivery, right?
They have like a month.
So the parts come in.
Atari doesn't have to pay anything.
They put them together and sell the machine for $900.
And then a few months later, they have to pay $300.
But meanwhile, they got the money from that machine.
They're growing.
They're off and running.
Now, other problem, classic scale problem, hiring.
And then one day, this like 19-year-old hippie kid walks in and he says he won't leave until they give him a job.