Passion Versus Results

Shaan Puri reflects on meeting the creator of Exploding Kittens, noting the stark contrast between someone who genuinely loves the process of making games versus entrepreneurs who primarily focus on outcomes.

Key Points:

• The Exploding Kittens creator (Elan) has achieved remarkable success:

  • His company makes "number one, two, four, and five" of the top five most popular games in the world
  • The business is "shockingly large" in terms of revenue/scale

• What stood out was his childlike enthusiasm for game creation:

  • "He felt like a 12-year-old" in his excitement about games
  • He was "so into games and making people smile via these games"
  • He was actively creating and modifying games during their meeting
  • "He was making the game as he was going" with handwritten notes and real-time changes

• This passion for process revealed a key insight about entrepreneurship:

  • "My takeaway was like oh my god I wish I was doing this this is so cool I could do this"
  • "Then I saw how truly joyful he was about making the games not being successful at it but the doing part"
  • "I was like oh that's different than me I don't have that"
  • "I just want to have done it" rather than enjoying the creation process
  • "You want the result" versus enjoying the journey

• The creator's approach to game development was hands-on and iterative:

  • He was "rapid prototyping" in real-time
  • Would suggest changes on the fly: "Wouldn't this be cool? Let's change the game to this"
  • Had a pen to write different points on cards as they played