The necessity of building and maintaining a strong network is a familiar construct among numerous industries, and is certainly one that is not lost in the gaming community.
However, among the multitude of strategies and expert tutorials on how best to achieve such a goal, is the question of: how much do you know about your network? With this in mind, CasinoBeats is aiming to take a look under the hood, if you will, and has tasked the 100 Club to help out.
Giorgi Tsutskiridze, Chief Commercial Officer of Spribe, becomes the latest participant, detailing a history of entrepreneurship, how a love of poker nudged open the door for professional opportunities and if non-traditional content can ultimately be a replacement for slots.
CasinoBeats: Could you begin by talking us through any past experiences that have been gained outside of the gambling industry? Could your career have taken any different paths?
Giorgi Tsutskiridze: As a graduate of the Harvard Business School, I have strong skills when it comes to management and entrepreneurship – skills that I have been able to lean on throughout my career and when establishing and running international businesses. I have been a lifelong entrepreneur, and this has seen me establish businesses both inside and outside of the online gambling industry.
I’ve founded HawX, an igaming solutions provider company that operates in more than 40 countries with more than 120 employees with offices in 2 countries. Another business I’ve been involved in is an online learning and teaching platform and have several other start-ups in the works at the moment.
Taking these businesses from concept to launch and then managing the day-to-day running of them has allowed me to build a varied set of skills and vast experience, both in terms of the specific industries they have served but more broadly when it comes to things like team management, funding, development, technology and more.
This has been incredibly useful for the positions that I’ve held within the online gambling sector, which includes senior roles at big-name companies such as Adjarabet, BetConstruct and of course, Spribe. My career has taken me away from the gambling industry at times, but the excitement and opportunity it provides always draws me back in.
CB: What was it that eventually led you into this industry?
GT: There were a couple of factors. I have always had a passion for poker and played professionally for many years, taking part in major tournaments in Georgia and across Europe. This ultimately opened the door at Adjarabet, where I was Head of Poker and Games. I’m also a maths guy so the fact that numbers would be a major part of my role at Adjarabet made the opportunity very appealing to me.
Of course, I’ve been able to combine my passions for poker and maths in the roles I have held since. I also like the challenges the industry presents and the thrill of overcoming them in a way that has a significant impact on the company I am working for and ultimately the player.
CB: How would you assess your progress through the industry to date?
GT: When I look at where I am now in the role of Chief Commercial Officer at Spribe, I can say that I have come a long way. Spribe is the developer behind Aviator, the world’s number one crash game, and it’s a huge privilege to hold such a senior role at the organisation.
My role is varied – I’m responsible for working closely with key departments across the business for budgeting, sales processes and marketing strategies. I’ve also been tasked with leading and scaling the business development and customer success teams. I have only been able to take on such a role because of the experience I have gained over the years, both at the online gambling companies where I have worked and also at the businesses that I have established and run.
The great thing about working at Spribe is that the company has an entrepreneurial culture and does not sit still. This makes it a perfect fit for me, and I feel like I have found a company where I can have a meaningful impact. To have achieved that a little over seven years after first entering the sector is pretty good going.
CB: Are there any interesting anecdotes that would interest our readers, or any stand-out experiences that may not have been possible without the current or a past role?
GT: Playing Aviator for the first time was a standout experience for me. I remember thinking to myself that Spribe had developed something truly special and that it was really ahead of the game. Aviator is the number one crash game – many studios have tried to copy it since, but none have come close to delivering the same fast-paced action that more than 10 million players enjoy every month.
Aviator has not only been transformational for Spribe and the operators that offer it but for the entire industry. This can be seen in the surge in non-traditional content landing in operator game lobbies that are ultimately engaging new audiences in ways that standard games simply can’t compete with.
CB: What would you say have been the major changes during your time working in the industry? Both for the better and worse.
GT: The speed of change in this industry is unrivalled and this can make it incredibly tough for operators and suppliers to stay relevant and deliver the experiences that consumers are seeking. If you rest, you rust, and this is absolutely the case for businesses in this sector. Spribe understood this from the get-go and came out of the box with a game that set the standard for others to follow.
This is absolutely a good thing – change is crucial to progress and at Spribe we are constantly working to push boundaries and bring new and exciting entertainment experiences to the market.
CB: If you could ask the 100 Club any questions or task them with tackling any issue, what would that be?
GT: I’d ask them to what extent they think non-traditional content such as crash games like Aviator will dominate casino game lobbies over time. Will they ultimately replace traditional slot and table game content, or will they always exist side by side? At Spribe, we think there is room for both, but I’d like to hear what the rest of the 100 Club has to say about it.
If you would like to tell your story, or be considered for the CasinoBeats 100 Club, please email us at [email protected].
Launched to give a voice to the industry on a range of key issues, the 100 Club tackles the tricky questions and shares members’ views across the CasinoBeats network. Have your say by joining the 100 Club.
