Name: Neight Allen
Bio: Kansas City native, resident and enthusiast. Hacker, gamer, entrepreneur and philosopher.
Title: Managing Member and Data Viz Guy
Thanks to our sponsor
Age: 26
Residence: Mission, Kan.
Twitter: @neight
Linkedin: linkedin.com/pub/nathan-allen
Intro music: “Embody” by SebastiAn
Silicon Prairie News: You recently sold your share of your game development company, Vicinity Games. What are a couple of the most important lessons you learned from your foray into the world of game development?
Nate Allen: The thing I set out to learn was shipping a product. Going from concept to customers. I learned first hand that the last 10 percent takes as long as the other 90 percent. I learned that no matter how much sense your game makes to you, you’ve got to break it down for your players, and do it in game to keep them interested. I also learned that if you want to talk to an intimidating decision maker at a publisher, just ask nicely and in complete English sentences.
SPN: As an organizer of Startup Weekend Kansas City who’s now working on a company that was born out of the event, what’s your pitch to people unfamiliar with Startup Weekend about its value?
NA: I attended my first Startup Weekend in KC in 2009, and fell in love with the energy and freedom of the startup lifestyle. Every year I’ve returned for the energy and the opportunity to hack with creative, ambitious people. Even with a Startup Weekend company, I think the friends and skills you make are more important than trying to outlast the event. You’ll never learn more, make better connections or be more productive in a weekend.
SPN: Can you shed a little more light on that company, 4 First Names? What’s on the horizon for your new business?
NA: It’s an old story at this point that the world is filling up with its own data. We have data collection down. 4 First Names focuses on making data and information more engaging. We’re leveraging a lot of the skills and tools from the video game industry to make a custom interactive visualization for your information. It sounds kinda buzz wordy, but it will make sense when you see it. We call it a Graphtershock. We’re very excited to have The Kauffman Foundation as our first client.
SPN: After meeting your 4 First Names co-founder, Wes Mikel, at an Under 30 CEO event and working on a website together, you suggested he join you as co-founder. What qualities do you look for as you’re vetting a potential co-founder?
NA: First of all, it has to be someone that has shown they can execute and care about the end product. It’s all about showing off. Complementary skills are best. We’re the cliched developer/designer duo. Wes isn’t afraid of telling me I’m wrong and regularly plays devil’s advocate. It’s also a pretty perfect culture fit. I mean, I’m more into video games, and he’s more into comics, but we make it work.
SPN: You’ve dabbled in tech news satire with the site MockCrunch. What are the key ingredients to a good piece of tech satire?
NA: You’re going to make me tell how the sausage is made. I go with the classic exaggeration, which is not hard in an industry as extreme and extravagant as tech startups. And do your best not to break character. Just try and pretend you’re reporting from a world where 90 percent of Pintrest users haven’t seen the sun since 2011. Pretend.
Image credit: Photo courtesy of Nate Allen.
Prairie Portraits: To learn more about this series, see our introduction post, or visit our archives for past Prairie Portraits. To suggest an individual for a future Prairie Portrait, contact editor@siliconprairienews.com.
