We talked with Anton Doronin, Co-founder and CEO of Overgear.
How would you describe Overgear in a single tweet?
A digital platform that allows gamers to buy and sell in-game valuables and services and connects players worldwide.
How did it all start and why?
It all started in the spring of 2017, and those were some crazy times in the game services industry. It was a digital Wild West populated by small websites and businesses. Sometimes there wasn’t a website at all— just a skype contact and a freshly created Paypal account. The demand for game services grew with a ridiculously high pace, but the quality wasn’t really there.
Some websites charged 2-3 times the player’s price for their services. If you had a spark of entrepreneurship in you, you could launch your own website and be a local millionaire in just a few months (in Rubles, not USD, but hey!).
The websites were ugly, customers undemanding, players who performed the services had shallow expectations, and they couldn’t even be sure they would get paid by the end of the month.
And there we were, future Overgear founders, thinking that there’s a better option than paying a “shady guy who knows a guy” to help you in your favorite game. That there must be a safe harbor for everyone to trade freely and safely.
That’s how Overgear was born.
Dima, Alex, and I have known each other for quite a long time — as friends, fellow gamers, and even contractors. But the real magic happened when the three of us started working on the same project. We suddenly realized that we all longed for the same thing — to make a big story, to create something more than just another small IT business.
Being experts from different fields, we were a strong synergy with a perfect blend of the right skills to make a balanced core team for a startup. Sometimes everything you need for success is right there, under your nose — simple as that.
Alex had more than five years of experience in investment banking. Since 2014, he has been fully focused on advising in the gaming industry, investing in different projects in this field as well as strategic planning. Over the past 4 years, he has attracted more than $7 million in startup funds from strategic and angel investors.
Dima has been in marketing since 2012 and has gained long-term expertise in online entertainment products. During eight years in marketing management, he spent more than $5 million on influencer marketing (bloggers), and $2 million on performance marketing (contextual advertising, targeted advertising).
What have you achieved so far?
Speaking of numbers, we have over 110K completed orders, over 90K registered users, 2K active players who perform the orders, and around 150K monthly visitors. Our revenue has grown significantly 6 times in the last year.
But more importantly, we’ve assembled a great team that is passionate about the product. We’ve integrated constant change and improvement into our DNA.
And Overgear is actively hiring with eight positions open right now, so we are looking forward to passing our mindset onto our new members.
Why and when did you decide to attract investments for the first time?
We knew for sure that developing a fully automated marketplace would not be even remotely cheap. It took us just two months to design a very basic prototype and attract our very first funds.
We were backed by a few private investors who knew nothing about the gaming industry. But they believed in the team behind the idea.
It was 1.5 years into the seed round when we realized we needed a strategic investor. We had a working product with a clear unit economy, yet our backlog burst with ideas and hypotheses. And we wanted to grow, and grow fast!
We needed more devs, QA’s, sales managers, a much larger marketing budget, etc. And that was the perfect time to activate Alex’s superpower — the art of pitching to investors.
So, a strong strategic investor was found for Overgear in just four months. It took us longer to undergo due diligence and prepare the deal than find the investor, which is fantastic.
What do you plan to achieve in the next 2-3 years?
To contribute to making online gaming a better experience.
Discord is a huge inspiration here. They didn’t introduce anything entirely new, yet created a product so refined it changed the way players communicate online and how communities are built, including guilds, teams, clans, and groups of friends. And with a vast and loyal audience like that, you have the power to do amazing things for the gaming industry.
We’ve planned several ambitious products that will be deeply integrated and use the power of the tools and software we already have. One is an online university for gamers where you can choose how deep you would like to dig into the game mechanics and strategy. You will have various courses to choose from, including written guides, video manuals, and coaching sessions. We are also developing a platform where you can find teammates in your favorite game. Teammates who share your values and interests, someone you’ve always wanted to play with!
