Course Fee

$1,755 (approx. £1,300) per student.

Seating is limited to ensure each student has time with the instructor, and registration for these courses will be closed when capacity is reached. Purchasing a GDC Masterclass pass also gives you full access to the AI Summit during London Tech Week. 

Course Description

This masterclass will focus on fundraising strategy and pitching your game studio to venture capitalists (VCs) and other equity investors. The following key elements will be covered in this class:

• Understanding what it means to be venture investible
• Overall deal-making strategy and mindset
• Researching and tracking investor targets
• Pitch deck construction and fine-tuning
• Investor introduction process and meeting tactics

Additionally, as part of the class, each attendee will deliver their company pitch and receive direct feedback and advice for improving their pitch.

This masterclass is intended for game industry entrepreneurs who have ambition to build a successful/scalable game studio, primarily focused on games-as-a-service style games. You should be actively (or will soon be) pitching to VCs.

Course Type

In-person, one-day course: This is a single course that takes place at the AI Summit in London over one full eight-hour day with breaks.

Intended Audience

This masterclass is intended for game industry entrepreneurs who have ambition to build a successful/scalable game studio, primarily focused on games-as-a-service style games. You should be actively (or will soon be) pitching to VCs or angel investors. This class is NOT suitable if your goal is mainly to pitch your premium game to publishers. If you want to learn how pitch your game to publishers, check out the Advanced Publisher Pitching course.

Key Takeaways

• Understanding what it means to be venture investible
• Overall deal-making strategy and mindset
• Researching and tracking investor targets
• Pitch deck construction and fine-tuning
• Investor introduction process and meeting tactics

Prerequisites

Participants opting to do a practice pitch will need to prepare a draft pitch deck PRIOR to the masterclass. Instructions for preparing a pitch deck will be sent upon registration for the course.

Instructor Bio

Jason Della Rocca is a game industry entrepreneur, funding advisor, and cluster expert. He specializes in business/partnership development, pitching/funding, and ecosystem/cluster development. As the co-founder of Executions Labs, he was a hands-on early stage investor to over 20 independent game studios from North America and Europe. Between 2000-09 he served as the executive director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), and was honored for his industry building efforts with the inaugural Ambassador Award at the Game Developers Conference. In 2009, Jason was named to Game Developer Magazine's "Power50," a list which profiles 50 of the most important contributors to the state of the game industry. As a sought after expert on the game industry, Jason has lectured at conferences and universities worldwide.