Speaker: John Austin, Managing Director, Joystick Labs

Joystick Labs is a seed-stage accelerator that launches the next generation video game entrepreneurs through a unique mix of early-stage seed funding, mentorship, education, services, and networking.

Founded in July, 2010 and based on the model of accelerators such as Y Combinator and Techstars, Joystick has now funded six companies. We will talk about what we have accomplished and what we have learned during our first year, and how we are adapting the typical accelerator model for video game development. 

John Austin is the Managing Director of Joystick Labs. From 1998-2005 he was CEO of Numerical Design, Ltd., one of the first providers of game engines and tools for video game developers. In 2005 the company was acquired by Emergent Game Technologies, where he continued on the executive team until 2010. John's previous experience includes engineering and management positions at HP, virtual reality pioneer Division, Inc., Sun Microsystems, and UNC-Chapel Hill.