Esports Roundtable Podcast: Past, Present and Future of Business in Esports

This week Nicola Piggott and Anna Rozwandowicz, two of the three co-founders of The Story Mob, join the show to discuss their journey towards entrepreneurialism, experiences as women in esports business and how our industry can better tell it's story on a local and globally level. Reach Nicola and Anna @ thestorymob on Twitter. -- Find and rate us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. For more content, follow "esroundtablepod" and "BearlyKoalified" on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Flame has tied together one of the most successful team brands in Overwatch where the deep rooted brotherhood between players, coaches and management is palpable. We twist and turn through early life inspiration towards performance, lessons learned from Season 1 and how management balances enabling players to build the brands whilst maintaining team morale and performance. Reach Matt @flameirl and LinkedIn on "Matt Rodriguez". -- Find and rate us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. For more content, follow "esroundtablepod" and "BearlyKoalified" on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Markel Lee, Creative Director for Infinite, is the leader behind the hugely successful launches of Houston Outlaws, OpTic Global and much more across the Infinite portfolio. He joins us on the show to tell his story, take us through the recent Spec Ops OpTic Gaming rebrand and his approach to pursuing success for himself and his team. Check out the rebrand on Vision Season 5: Episode 9 "Prestige" from 7,55 onwards! https://youtu.be/4pCSRM-Z1go Reach Markel - mlee@infinite.gg or @markel_lee on Twitter. -- Find and rate us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. For more content, follow "esroundtablepod" and "BearlyKoalified" on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Bryce Blum, one of the leading esports general counsels on retainer for Cloud9, Immortals, Team Liquid, TSM and OpTic Gaming, joins us to lift the veil on the rapid evolution of the legal standard in esports. We explore the state of player contracts, league infrastructures, player associations and unions as well as the difficult landscape of esports immigration; for athletes and business professionals alike. Reach out to Bryce @esportslaw on twitter and esglaw.com -- Find and rate us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. For more content, follow "esroundtablepod" on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

This week we are joined by Nicole Pike, Managing Director of Nielsen and Johannes Waldstein, CEO of FanAI to take an analytical review of how successful Season One of the OWL was, how we measure that and the overall state of business analytics in esports. We also dive into the business philosophies, life lessons and mottoes picked up by these two esports leaders. Reach out to our guests on nicole.pike@nielsen.com and johannes@fanai.com -- Find and rate us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. For more content, follow esroundtablepod on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

The Roundtable is back from the NGAGE Esports Studios in Frisco, TX! (Apologies for the early crackle - it ends quickly) Join PUBG standout OpTic Hypoc and I in our exploration of how the mindset of pro players varies between title, the importance of a structured approach to mental health and physical performance in esports and how the BR genre can mature to provide a better experience for players and fans alike. -- Please leave a rating and review and send your feedback or questions to: Twitter: @esroundtablepod / @bearlykoalified FB: @esportsroundtablepodcast LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joehillslfg/ Website: www.lookingforgrouplfg.com/podcast

Continuing our dive into the wonderful world of esports merchandise, Patrick Mahoney from We are Nations came on the show to share his impressions of how music/esports being so similar from a merchandising, stage production, touring and counter cultural fan tendencies perspective. Reach out to Patrick - patrick@wearenations.com and on @WeareNations. Apologies for the sound quality for this one. We had some corruption in the recording -- Please leave a rating and review and send your feedback or questions to: Twitter: @esroundtablepod / @bearlykoalified FB: @esportsroundtablepodcast LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joehillslfg/ Website: www.lookingforgrouplfg.com/podcast

Former Head of Esports EU, Riot Games and ERT alumni Jason Yeh comes on the show to discuss how esports is growing into mainstream entertainment, K-Swiss making moves with Immortals, analysing AirAsia's entry and the multi title Fnatic approach vs local market mastery of Vitality. We also touch on how imported rosters such as NYXL and London Spitfire gel with local audiences. -- Please leave a rating and review and send your feedback or questions to: Twitter: @esroundtablepod / @bearlykoalified FB: @esportsroundtablepodcast LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joehillslfg/ Website: www.lookingforgrouplfg.com/podcast

In one of our most inspiring episodes, Taylor Johnson from the Innovative Performance Institute shares his lessons from life, the scientific approach to enabling players to be their best selves and how elite performance in esports/sport can instil healthy habits in fans around the world. Reach Taylor on Twitter @ CoachT_Johnson or Linkedin -- Please leave a rating and review and send your feedback or questions to: Twitter: @esroundtablepod / @bearlykoalified FB: @esportsroundtablepodcast LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joehillslfg/ Website: www.lookingforgrouplfg.com/podcast

Sounds different? Recorded live from NGAGE Esport's office in Frisco, TX. Millions of esports investment is being assigned to cultivating the next generation of venues tailored for esports production - significantly more demanding than traditional sports. Jonathan Oudthone, President of NGAGE Esports joins the show to share his story from directing EVO for multiple years, how Esports Stadium came to be and the potential for social change through esports investment in local communities. Find out more here: www.arlington-tx.gov/esports Reach Jonathan on Twitter @solidxpanda and on LinkedIn. -- Please leave a rating and review and send your feedback or questions to: Twitter: @esroundtablepod FB: @esportsroundtablepodcast LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joehillslfg/ Website: www.lookingforgrouplfg.com/podcast

Building sustainable revenue streams whilst providing awesome products to fans is absolutely critical for enabling esports to continue it's exciting hockey stick of growth. Jon Gurman, CEO of H4X - the official ESL/Dreamhack merchandising partner, joins us to share the journey of H4X to 2018, the state/ quality of esports merchandise and what he dreams for the future of gaming/esports lifestyle brands. Reach Jon on Twitter @JonWayneGurman and check out H4X.gg for more details!! -- Please leave a rating and review and send your feedback or questions to: Twitter: @esroundtablepod FB: @esportsroundtablepodcast LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joehillslfg/ Website: www.lookingforgrouplfg.com/podcast

Ryan joins the show to give insight on the org that Joe is joining in the near future. The conversation flows from Ryan's time at Google (and what he learned there), how OpTic joined Infinite, Infinite's vision for the future of esports as a whole. They also dive into the under-discussed topic of how team brands need to innovate to build a unique proposition to fans and sponsors alike if they want to remain relevant. Reach Ryan on Linkedin or on Twitter @ OpTicJ -- Please leave a rating and review and send your feedback or questions to: Twitter: @esroundtablepod FB: @esportsroundtablepodcast LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joehillslfg/ Website: www.lookingforgrouplfg.com/podcast

After many requests, we focus in on the state of Oceanic Esports with David Harris from Guinevere Capital, the holding company behind Dire Wolves, Esports High Performance Centre and EGAA Reach David on LinkedIn or Twitter @ daveharrisAUS. -- Please leave a rating and review and send your feedback or questions to: Twitter: @esroundtablepod FB: @esportsroundtablepodcast LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joehillslfg/ Website: www.lookingforgrouplfg.com/podcast

My good friend Hans Durr comes on to discuss the FC Schalke turn around in 2017/2018, the old days of WoW Esports, his philosophy to sports teams entering esports and how he inspires his players + makes the right hires to build a culture of success. Reach Hans on Twitter @followLiq! -- Please leave a rating and review and send your feedback or questions to: Twitter: @esroundtablepod FB: @esportsroundtablepodcast LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joehillslfg/ Website: www.lookingforgrouplfg.com/podcast

Deborah joins us to discuss her view on how mobile will change the future of esports and redefine expectations of what we consider esports in the next few years. We also drift into the importance of mobile as a leveller for accessibility in gaming globally, how the industry can better educate next gen students to pursue gamings and esports seriously + much more Reach Deborah on Twitter @ DebMensahBonsu to say hey! -- Please leave a rating and review and send your feedback or questions to: Twitter: @esroundtablepod FB: @esportsroundtablepodcast LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joehillslfg/ Website: www.lookingforgrouplfg.com/podcast

Incredibly excited to get the inside scoop on how ESL One Birmingham Major came to be in May 2018 and how this year in esports is looking for the UK industry. James Dean, MD ESL UK and Rob Black, COO ESL UK join us to break down what this means for the local market and how awesome this event + FACEIT's CSGO Major later this year will be for springboarding UK esports to the next level. Reach James @ @j1mco and Rob @ RobMorgBlack. -- Please leave a rating and review and send your feedback or questions to: Twitter: @esroundtablepod FB: @esportsroundtablepodcast LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joehillslfg/ Website: www.lookingforgrouplfg.com/podcast

Continuing on from our episodes with Echo Fox and Optic, Marty and Grant from Splyce join us on the show to break down their approach to going all in on UK esports, their business organisation's philosophy and culture and how Splyce positions itself as a unique team entity to brands and fans alike. Reach out to Marty @Lazerchickenzzz and Grant @GrievanceLoL -- Please leave a rating and review and send your feedback or questions to: Twitter: @esroundtablepod FB: @esportsroundtablepodcast LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joehillslfg/ Website: www.lookingforgrouplfg.com/podcast

We caught up with Allan Phang, the esports champion for AirAsia's Allstars Esports Club: an internal esports community for gamers. AirAsia's approach to educating it's internal teams before activating externally with sponsors of Team Mineski. Many can learn from AirAsia's approach to entering the space and making esports work for them! -- Reach Allan @ Allan Phang on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Please leave a rating and review and send your feedback or questions to: Twitter: @esroundtablepod FB: @esportsroundtablepodcast LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joehillslfg/ Website: www.lookingforgrouplfg.com/podcast

This is your final chance to win an Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet! You can find the giveaway at https://gleam.io/ECuNE/esports-roundtable-tablet-giveaway We break down the second Nationals Esports Tournament, diversity in esports/gaming and more in our second live Roundtable! Please leave a rating and review and send your feedback or questions to: Twitter: @esroundtablepod FB: @esportsroundtablepodcast LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joehillslfg/ Website: www.lookingforgrouplfg.com/podcast

Apologies for the sound quality issues! We recorded this face to face in the VVP offices and are working out the kinks still. Jace talks the vision behind TwinGalaxies' H1 Pro League franchise, their metrics for success vs PUBG and Fortnite + view on the esports landscape and the relationship between the industry and television. Meanwhile, our Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet giveaway is still live! Grab your chance to win it while you can over at https://gleam.io/ECuNE/esports-roundtable-tablet-giveaway Please leave a rating and review and send your feedback or questions to: Twitter: @esroundtablepod FB: @esportsroundtablepodcast LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joehillslfg/ Website: www.lookingforgrouplfg.com/podcast