Our buddy sold his app for $200M in just 6 weeks?!

TL;DR

Dan Porter, founder of OMGPOP, recounts his journey from a failing Flash gaming company to selling Draw Something to Zynga for $200 million roughly six weeks after the game’s launch. He attributes the success to making a simple, co‑operative game where nobody loses (streaks), relying on organic word‑of‑mouth and user‑generated playback, and recognizing that strategic buyers were desperate to stop

Key insights

• The game used streaks (inspired by watching kids collaborate to throw a football) so that no player loses; both sides are winners, which prevents churn.
• Draw Something had no in‑app sharing capability; users screenshot and posted organically, leading to viral spread without paid influencer deals.
• The playback feature (showing the other person’s drawing process with erasures) created a sense of human connection and vulnerability, making it feel like charades.