Free R&D Perspective

Siqi Chen shares insights about Mark Pincus's competitive philosophy at Zynga, revealing how the company approached competition in the social gaming space with a unique mindset that embraced new market entrants rather than fearing them.

• When Siqi asked Pincus about the low-moat nature of the gaming industry and how defensible it was, Pincus had a surprising response:

  • "No this is great. I want there to be more new entrants into the space because it's free R&D for me"
  • This perspective "blew [Siqi's] mind" as it represented "next level" thinking

• Pincus's confidence stemmed from:

  • Absolute belief in Zynga's superior execution capabilities
  • Conviction that they could fast-follow any new idea and "do a much better job of growing it"
  • This was "what they did" - their formula worked well "during the Facebook era"

• The approach proved successful with games like:

  • Poker (first poker game)
  • Other titles that followed the same pattern

• Sam Parr questioned if this was a waste of Pincus's "conquer energy" on seemingly trivial games like FarmVille

  • Siqi's pragmatic response: "a few billion dollars is a few billion dollars"

• Zynga's culture reflected this aggressive execution mindset:

  • Employees worked "eighty ninety a hundred hours a week" as "the norm"
  • Pincus had what Sam described as "Genghis Khan energy" - a conqueror mentality