The Wester Front
03/07/2011

From Good to Great

Seven years and counting

For this guest blog post , I've borrowed some inspiration from a book that struck a cord with me as I can relate to our development over the past seven years, you'll know it as "Good to Great" by Jim Collins. This is a highly subjective account (my own) of that journey.

When I joined Paradox Interactive, the company was just in the process of transitioning from being a developer to being a publisher.  Fred Wester (current CEO) hired me to spearhead our marketing & PR and back then, that was a very controversial decision. One of the first things I was told when I joined was “no offence but we don’t need a marketing person, we need another programmer, a good game sells itself” and there were some suspicions about what I actually spent my days doing.  Then we released Hearts of Iron II which was our most successful launch up until then and even my harshest critics were won over.  Fred and I were the publishing business and did everything from negotiating distribution deals to print discs at Sony to burn and pack press copies to send out to interested journalists to create banner ads for Gamespot.  Over the years, as the team has grown, the tasks have changed but we have no “divas” in our organisation. No task is below anyone else, rather it’s about using your resources smart.

As we leave 2010, which saw a 50% growth in turnover/gross revenue and record profits for us and move into Q1 which already looks like it will be record breaking for us, I’ve pondered over what has made us go from "Good to Great". Many different steps have led us to where we are today but here’s a summary of what I believe have been the key ingredients:

  1. Strong leadership with a clear direction and vision but no strict rules or guidelines on how to get there
  2. We’ve kept our core team lean and mean; meaning we can take decisions quickly and change direction when needed. And in this industry it’s needed – all the time.
  3. We’ve understood over the years what it takes to run a successful publishing business and now have a team with individuals who want to excel in everything that they do, and are committed to helping others excel in their roles.
  4. We have fun at work and while we work.
  5. Our bread and butter has always been to focus the bulk of our time on what we know, sprinkled with a hefty dose of innovative business ideas/projects initiated along the way
  6. We are a small organization with a big organizations mind set, we work with a very large network of freelancers that allows us to scale up or down when needed
  7. We can’t always compete on sheer terms, but our competitive edge has always been the relationships that we’ve built, the passion we put behind everything we do and our team’s commitment and dedication.  
  8. We’ve been fortunate enough to work with partners, media, development teams and others who share the same passion for games as we do. 
  9. Our willingness to learn, we don’t always get it right the first time, but we are willing to learn from our mistakes and always try to improve.
  10. The personal touch – I don’t know of any other company with our turnover and size who keep such open lines of communication to the most important people for any business – our customers/fans.

That last point deserves an elaboration actually, because if we isolate single factors, one of the most significant is without a doubt all those fans who believed in us, who supported us through thick and thin and who let us know when they were happy (and unhappy...) over the years.

I think people would find it perfectly acceptable if we were to stay in our comfort zone now and potter along on the path we have paved for ourselves. But if you've paid close attention, you know that's not "The Paradox Way". We'll continue to stay true to who we are, and the principles upon which we have build this company but  as we look into the future, it's clear we haven’t begun to scratch the surface yet. We hope you'll want to stick around for the ride, it's going to be a wild one! 

Susana Meza Graham | EVP Publishing | Twitter @Sus_Paradox | Susana.Meza @ paradoxplaza.com

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