Justin Waldron

Justin Waldron
Waldron speaking in Helsinki, Finland
Born
Watertown, Connecticut, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Connecticut
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur, investor
Known forCo-founder, Zynga
Co-founder, Zynga.org
Co-founder & president, Playco
Angel Investor

Justin Waldron is an American internet entrepreneur known as the co-founder of Zynga, a mobile social gaming company, and Zynga.org, a non-profit organization to promote and facilitate the use of social games for philanthropic initiatives. In 2020 Waldron co-founded Playco, a mobile instant game company backed by Sequoia Capital, where he currently serves as president.[1]

Zynga is considered to be the pioneer of the social games industry.[2] In 2011, Zynga held a $1 billion IPO and as of 2021 is the largest mobile gaming company by market share.[3] Waldron is an angel investor in more than 50 technology companies and was named as one of the top 100 seed investors by Business Insider in 2021.[4][5]

Zynga's most popular games include: FarmVille, CityVille, Zynga Poker, Mafia Wars, Words with Friends, and CSR Racing 2.[6]

Early life and background

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Waldron was born and raised in Watertown, Connecticut. He began programming his first video games and websites at 11 years old, shortly after receiving his first computer.[7] His early software projects included hacking AOL,[7] a favorite childhood pastime shared by other notable technology company founders such as Mark Zuckerberg.[8] Waldron also reverse engineered the disassembled MIPS machine code of PlayStation 2 games in his spare time to add his own features.[7]

In high school, Waldron cracked Burger King's coupon code algorithm and launched a website to programmatically create unlimited free sandwich coupon codes for visitors. The website grew quickly in popularity resulting in a cease and desist notice from Burger King.[9]

Career

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Zynga

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Main article: Zynga

In 2007, Justin dropped out of The University of Connecticut and co-founded Zynga at 19 years old.[10] He created Zynga's first title, Zynga Poker in 2007. In 2008, Waldron led the game studio behind YoVille and later led product strategy across Zynga's studios. Waldron also worked on special projects with Zynga's other founders.[11] He lived in Tokyo during Zynga's expansion to Japan.[12] Waldron served as the SVP of Product at Zynga until 2013.[13]

Playco

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In 2020, it was announced that Waldron had co-founded Playco, which has received over $100 million in funding from Sequoia Capital and others.[1] Playco is creating games that can be played instantly with friends without app downloads. The company's games are available within popular social applications such as Facebook, LINE, Snapchat, Viber, TikTok, Zoom and others.[14]

Web3 / Blockchain

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Waldron is active in the Web3 and broader blockchain ecosystem. In 2017, Waldron invested in the first blockchain focused hedge fund, Polychain Capital.[15] In 2018, Waldron became an advisor to Dapper Labs, the creators of CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot. Waldron also advises Immutable X, the first gas-free NFT platform on Ethereum. Waldron has advised Decentraland since 2018.[16][17]

Investing

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Waldron has made early-stage investments, advised, or served on the board of directors for companies such as Substack,[18] Lambda School, Kik Messenger, Asia Innovations Group,[citation needed] Snappr,[19] and over 50 others.[15]

Philanthropy and community service

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Zynga.org

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Main article: Zynga.org

In October 2009, Waldron and his co-founders started Zynga.org, which is "committed to transforming the world through virtual social goods."[20] Zynga.org has since raised more than $20 million[21] for more than 50 international nonprofits[22][23] by occasionally selling virtual goods for charitable causes.[24]

On March 11, 2011, Zynga announced that 100 percent of the proceeds from the purchase of virtual goods from more than seven of its games would go toward Japan's Save the Children Earthquake Emergency Fund.[25][26] During the 2012 holiday season, Zynga.org partnered with Toys for Tots in its largest charitable campaign not related to disaster relief. The campaign raised $745,000, with 100 percent of the purchase price of certain virtual goods going to Toys for Tots.[21]

Thiel Foundation

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Main article: Thiel Foundation

Waldron is a mentor at Peter Thiel's Thiel Foundation, using his experience as a college dropout to help young entrepreneurs in the Thiel Fellowship's 20 under 20 program.[27]

Government

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Waldron is a special advisor to the Shibuya city government in Tokyo, Japan. His focus is helping to grow the startup ecosystem in Japan.[28]

References

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  1. ^ a b Ha, Anthony. "With $100M in funding, Playco is already a mobile gaming unicorn". MSN. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  2. ^ Kesarios, George (10 December 2012). "Can Zynga Execute In The Online Gambling Space?". Blog Post. Seeking Alpha. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  3. ^ Pepitone, Julianne (1 July 2011). "Zynga files for $1 billion IPO". CNNMoney. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  4. ^ Fujino, Lisa. "Across the Gap: Justin Waldron". Interview. Initial. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  5. ^ "The Seed 100: The best early-stage investors". Business Insider. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  6. ^ "FORM S-1 REGISTRATION STATEMENT". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Website. July 1, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
  7. ^ a b c "EcoMUKTI - Justin Waldron". Archived from the original on 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  8. ^ "Steve Case Confirms Zuckerberg As Former AOL Hacker".
  9. ^ Stephens, Dale (2013). Hacking Your Education. The Penguin Group. ISBN 978-1101619681.
  10. ^ "Zynga's IPO: made possible by the Zynga Dream Team". July 2011.
  11. ^ "The Cofounders of Zynga Are Working On a Huge Project". Business Insider.
  12. ^ "What Happened To The Founding Team Behind The Largest IPO Since Google". Business Insider.
  13. ^ "Zynga Co-Founder Justin Waldron Leaves the Company". 17 October 2013.
  14. ^ "Three Reasons Why Playco Is Worth $1 Billion". Pocket Gamer. 28 September 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  15. ^ a b "AngelList: Justin Waldron".
  16. ^ "Zynga co-founder Justin Waldron joins the Decentraland Advisory Board!". YouTube.
  17. ^ "Justin Waldron, a pioneer in the game industry, is joining Immutable as a Strategic Advisor".
  18. ^ "Substack raises $2 million to prove newsletters can help media". May 2018.
  19. ^ "Photography startup Snappr raises $2.5 million from prominent investors as it takes on the $10 billion US market". 12 September 2017.
  20. ^ Web 2 Summit Archived 2010-07-17 at the Wayback Machine. Web 2 Summit. Retrieved on 2011-11-13.
  21. ^ a b "Zynga.org – A Digital Giving Year in Review". Blog. Zynga. Archived from the original on 11 February 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  22. ^ Investopedia (2015-06-09). "Will Zynga's New Strategy Win Back Mobile Gamers?". Investopedia. Archived from the original on 2018-02-11. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
  23. ^ "Zynga CEO Don Mattrick to Depart; Founder and Chairman Mark Pincus to Return to Chief Executive Officer Role to Lead Zynga Into Next Chapter | Zynga Inc". Zynga Inc. Archived from the original on 2018-02-11. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
  24. ^ Zynga Will No Longer Take A Cut Of Charitable Donations Archived 2018-02-11 at the Wayback Machine. Techcrunch.com (2010-11-16). Retrieved on July 9, 2011.
  25. ^ Zynga Enables Donations To Tsunami Relief Through In-Game Purchases Archived 2017-07-07 at the Wayback Machine. TechCrunch (2011-03-11). Retrieved on September 23, 2011.
  26. ^ Save the Children and Zynga Team Up to Help Japan Disaster Relief Efforts Archived 2011-11-03 at the Wayback Machine. Save The Children (2011-03-12). Retrieved on September 23, 2011.
  27. ^ "Zynga Co-Founder Departs For Greener Pastures". ZDNet.
  28. ^ "Shibuya Startup Support".
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