How Did You Do That?

When Google and Microsoft came calling with the type of jobs many young computer engineering graduates look for, Justin Beck turned them down. The 2009 graduate of UW-Madison wanted to stay in town and build the gaming studio PerBlue , which he started with his business partner, Andrew Hansen. Their first effort, a Pokeman Go-type video game was about 10 years too early. But Beck and his partner went on to create Parallel Kingdom, a successful mobile location-based, massively multi-player game that put players in a virtual world on top of the real world. In 2016, they sold another hit game, DragonSoul, to GREE Entertainment for $35 million. PerBlue today employs more than 50 developers in Madison. It publishes, among other titles, Disney Heroes: Battle Mode under a partnership with the mega entertainment company. Beck's tips for other entrepreneurs Focus When you run out of money, the whole show stops. Prudent management of cash is a critical attitude to have. Choose carefully who you