09/02/2014
I met Martin Kessler at Paisanos in Central. As soon as we met, he told me that he was starving and that, folks, is a proof that he is a harworker. He told me that “Our mission is to bring real gaming to smartphones and tablets”. He has set out on doing so with his work on the Phonejoy gaming device, which is a controller that allows easy attachment of nearly any smartphone turning them into portable consoles.
Can you tell me more about your background?
When I First came to HK 6 years ago I wanted to go to Shanghai. I learned some Chinese and I found a job dealing with importation/exportation. That was around the time when mobile phone was about to take off. I saw all the crazy things we could do with a phone. I actually used to be crazy about video games, I had a Nintendo, a playstation, I just had them all you know.
I saw the potential of smartphones, but the games were not there yet. I thought that if I had a controller it could be completely different and games could be much better.
I already knew a guy (who is now my partner) with whom I could speak about this idea. He was working at Schneider Electric at that time. I told him, “and what about we create our own controller”. So we just started to buy one for 1 or 2 dollars from a Chinese supplier and made all the changes. It was a cheap controller, but it was working. I put it a video on youtube and we started to have crazy feedbacks, people were asking us where to buy it. So we just put an auction of 10 controllers on Ebay to be sold (although we just had 1) and in 24 hours everything was already sold. Half a year later, we saw it was working well and we decided to quit our own jobs.
I would call us “entrepreneurs by accident”. I have always been a guy seeing opportunities. When I was in UK, I used to buy cigarette packs for 1 euro in Poland and sell them all in England. Sometimes it is just about the right time at the right place.
Are you developing the games as well?
No, not now, but maybe in the future. There are plenty of games on android and IOS and it is just the beginning. Not every games work on the controller so we have a catalogue of games for our customers.
Where are you producing the controller?
We came up with a new controller based on the feedback and we are producing it in China. It took us more than half a year to design it and add all the advanced features.
We are now at the stage of mass production. You have three stages: concept, prototype and mass production. The most difficult transition is from prototype to mass production.
Chinese factories have tooling engineers. They have to engineer huge tool machines for every part of the controller (for the front side, the back side etc…). We had to make the tooling adapt for mass production. For hardware it can take several months to create these machines. We met some problems of course with the factories. But it is good to be near those factories because it was easier to communicate with the engineers and tell them exactly what we want.
How did you find the right factories?
It took us quite some time to find the right factories. At the beginning we did like everybody, we went on Alibaba. The best way is to be introduced by other entrepreneurs to good factories or go to these shows such as Canton. They have much more credibility. What you have to look for is that they have all the accreditations such as ISO 9000 and look at their portfolio.
Where are you selling the product?
Worldwide. It is the reason HK is really great, they have perfect logistic systems, it is very cheap to post anything all over the world.
I would say it is better to be in outside Hong-Kong at the early stage because expenses are jut exorbitant (rent…) but after it is easier to be in HK. When you set up a company in China, It is very difficult to move some money outside the country; you have all these laws and rules. Contracts are in Chinese. In HK it will be in Chinese and English
Are you hiring people?
Yes we are hiring. We have people from France, America and different parts of the world. The last guy we hired moved from America and he couldn’t be happier.
What is the future of the industry?
Currently we have two different industries: video games with sony, xbox and video games with android, IOS. In the next two or three years, video games will be somewhere in the middle of those two sectors.
Do you have any innovative ideas to develop the company?
Of course. For us it is just the beginning. We could create a bigger version of the controller for tablets, it can be more advanced. But when you are a start-up you need to focus on one idea at a time.
I met Martin Kessler at Paisanos in Central. As soon as we met, he told me that he was starving and that, folks, is a proof that he is a harworker. He told me that “Our mission is to bring real gaming to smartphones and tablets”. He has set out on doing so with his work on the Phonejoy gaming device, which is a controller that allows easy attachment of nearly any smartphone turning them into portable consoles.
Can you tell me more about your background?
When I First came to HK 6 years ago I wanted to go to Shanghai. I learned some Chinese and I found a job dealing with importation/exportation. That was around the time when mobile phone was about to take off. I saw all the crazy things we could do with a phone. I actually used to be crazy about video games, I had a Nintendo, a playstation, I just had them all you know.
I saw the potential of smartphones, but the games were not there yet. I thought that if I had a controller it could be completely different and games could be much better.
I already knew a guy (who is now my partner) with whom I could speak about this idea. He was working at Schneider Electric at that time. I told him, “and what about we create our own controller”. So we just started to buy one for 1 or 2 dollars from a Chinese supplier and made all the changes. It was a cheap controller, but it was working. I put it a video on youtube and we started to have crazy feedbacks, people were asking us where to buy it. So we just put an auction of 10 controllers on Ebay to be sold (although we just had 1) and in 24 hours everything was already sold. Half a year later, we saw it was working well and we decided to quit our own jobs.
I would call us “entrepreneurs by accident”. I have always been a guy seeing opportunities. When I was in UK, I used to buy cigarette packs for 1 euro in Poland and sell them all in England. Sometimes it is just about the right time at the right place.
Are you developing the games as well?
No, not now, but maybe in the future. There are plenty of games on android and IOS and it is just the beginning. Not every games work on the controller so we have a catalogue of games for our customers.
Where are you producing the controller?
We came up with a new controller based on the feedback and we are producing it in China. It took us more than half a year to design it and add all the advanced features.
We are now at the stage of mass production. You have three stages: concept, prototype and mass production. The most difficult transition is from prototype to mass production.
Chinese factories have tooling engineers. They have to engineer huge tool machines for every part of the controller (for the front side, the back side etc…). We had to make the tooling adapt for mass production. For hardware it can take several months to create these machines. We met some problems of course with the factories. But it is good to be near those factories because it was easier to communicate with the engineers and tell them exactly what we want.
How did you find the right factories?
It took us quite some time to find the right factories. At the beginning we did like everybody, we went on Alibaba. The best way is to be introduced by other entrepreneurs to good factories or go to these shows such as Canton. They have much more credibility. What you have to look for is that they have all the accreditations such as ISO 9000 and look at their portfolio.
Where are you selling the product?
Worldwide. It is the reason HK is really great, they have perfect logistic systems, it is very cheap to post anything all over the world.
I would say it is better to be in outside Hong-Kong at the early stage because expenses are jut exorbitant (rent…) but after it is easier to be in HK. When you set up a company in China, It is very difficult to move some money outside the country; you have all these laws and rules. Contracts are in Chinese. In HK it will be in Chinese and English
Are you hiring people?
Yes we are hiring. We have people from France, America and different parts of the world. The last guy we hired moved from America and he couldn’t be happier.
What is the future of the industry?
Currently we have two different industries: video games with sony, xbox and video games with android, IOS. In the next two or three years, video games will be somewhere in the middle of those two sectors.
Do you have any innovative ideas to develop the company?
Of course. For us it is just the beginning. We could create a bigger version of the controller for tablets, it can be more advanced. But when you are a start-up you need to focus on one idea at a time.