Smedley On Record About Start Up Companies

In a recent book by staff writer Morgan Ramsay interviewed John Smedley about his thoughts regarding start up companies and his notion that he might start one up at some point in the future. Apparently, that future is now with Smedley's announcement earlier this week that he had resigned from Daybreak Game Company and is striking out on his own.

These quotes are taken from Morgan Ramsay's book Gamers at Work:

"I personally took a lot of calls from customers. I felt that I had to stay in touch with the user base, stay up-to-date with the day-to-day, and make sure that I was not sitting in an ivory tower. That was something that I was able to do with a company that size, and it was a lot of fun."

"What I miss most about the Verant days is that there was no bureaucracy. We just moved."

"I intensely love online games, and I really can't stand sports games, so for me, it was a no-brainer. I already had two kids at the time, which made the risk a little scary." [According to Smedley's Facebook page, his daughter just left for college on the East Coast.]

"It's a hell of a lot of work, but it was also so much fun. It was just an immensely fun time."

"Almost everybody was a developer or a producer. It was awesome. […] Now, when you build an organization, you have 500 people, and you've got all kinds of middle management and all that stuff. It's a lot different today than it was then."

"When the company's small and you're learning this stuff, it's just a very different animal. It's an everybody-does-everything kind of a business then."

"I've still got an entrepreneurial streak, and I think it's my dream to someday do that again."

What are your thoughts about Smedley's statements? Let us know!

Thanks to John for the heads up!