Our October member highlight is Value Quraishi from LionDragon Studio!
Innevation Center member Value Quraishi is an entrepreneur, investor, and board advisor to a number of startups. She has extensive experience in the international gaming and technology industry and has led multi-cultural teams in delivering technology solutions for startups and growth businesses, including serving as CTO.
After graduating from the Â鶹ӳ» with a degree in Electrical Engineering, Value started her career in the gaming industry and became the Director of Technology for IGT. She then became the Game Studio Director for IGT where she launched international game studios in the US and the Asia Pacific which led to the expansion of the global gaming market.
The gaming industry in Â鶹ӳ» has largely been “real money gaming in physical venues” which has been hit hard during the pandemic. Value believes that Â鶹ӳ»’s gaming industry needs to move towards digital transformation and expand capacity in mobile and cloud gaming. She sees the future of gaming as “mobile-first” with more original content, better player experiences targeting different demographics, streaming Netflix style, fun social interactions, instant play like a movie preview, and enhanced player engagement, all with the advances in technology such as AI, AR/VR (augmented/virtual reality), 5G, and blockchain technology. These digital trends are similar to those in the home entertainment industry as a whole.
Aside from her technology expertise, Value is also an investor both with her own investment firm, Value Asset Management LLC, and as a partner with the Reno Seed Fund. Value believes that the entrepreneurs in Reno now have more funding sources than ever. Being close to the Bay Area, Value believes that Reno has the opportunity to position itself as a software development powerhouse and content creation center. This would give Reno an infusion of Silicon Valley capital while growing the talent pool in our ecosystem, and help us become “an indispensable part of the continued growth in digital transformation and content creation,” said Value.
With opportunity comes challenges and responsibilities. In developing a tech industry here, Value believes that there are two key challenges, one being the lack of mid-level technical sales professionals, i.e., people who can “roll up their sleeves and make actual sales.” There seems to be a dichotomy of senior-level sales leaders and inexperienced graduates who need mentoring. The other key challenge is the lack of tech professionals with specific domain expertise. This forces some startups to outsource software development elsewhere especially with lower costs developers in regions outside the US. “It’s a missed opportunity to not grow the local developer community,” said Value. New graduates who aspire to become a developer locally have to compete with lower wage, experienced overseas developers. Some graduates may leave Reno to find jobs elsewhere or jobs outside their fields.
To break this cycle, “we need local government, companies, universities, and startup investors to subsidize and invest in this great cause.” We need companies to sponsor internships and we need experienced entrepreneurs and subject matter experts to mentor young professionals so we can keep “technical people in the pipeline” and grow them into experienced engineers or full-stack developers to serve the local market. Given the same time zone, it’s easier for local companies to meet with local developers to ensure a well-planned product rollout.
To support the Reno entrepreneurial community, Value and her company, LionDragon Studio, provide software prototype or MVP (minimum viable product) development services for startups searching for software product assistance. She also provides interim CTO service to startups while entrepreneurs search for a technical co-founder or build out their technical team. To learn more, visit .
