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Ralf Reichert, is considered a founding father of the Gaming/Esports industry, having shaped the industry for the past 20 years as an Entrepreneur.\xa0 We are unpacking the early days of ESL Gaming and off course the current state of play and plans for the future.\xa0 Recording from my hometown in Koeln (Cologne), Germany.\xa0 Happy holidays everyone.\xa0\n\xa0\nKey Highlights\nGrowing up in Oberhausen, the \u201chonest\u201d Coal mining part of Germany with two competitive brothers\nGreat learning from his apprenticeship at a BWM dealership while studying in Essen\nHow SK Gaming started in 1997, by his brother.\xa0 1999 connecting with Jens Hilgers (now Bitkraft Ventures), Alex Mueller (SK Gaming) to start Turtle Entertainment, later called ESL Gaming (Electronic Sports League)\nSK Gaming stories, started with playing Quake World and his involved at the beginning of the team.\xa0 Later sold shares due to conflict of interest with ESL\nESL Gaming, the \u201cworld\u2019s largest independent esports company\u201d,\xa0 where everyone can be somebody \u2013 creating an ecosystem where Gamers can be stars, from amateur to pro player (From Zero to Hero)\nFirst 10 years, hard to find sponsors and funding, had to be smart and cost efficient \u2013 fight for survival \u2013 ESL was a match making platform\nThe first big break, Intel Extreme Masters (IEM), 2006, longest running global pro gaming Tour in the world\nWorking with Twitch when it was still Justin.tv \xa0\u2013 2010 -2014 the golden era and big break through of Esports as an industry\nBootstrapping the company the first 8-9 years, only small fund raise (US$ 1 mil), being frugal was the key.\xa0\nFrom 2010-2016 growing from a US$ 10 mil company to US$ 100 mil company \u2013 the big growth period\nThe different events and Leagues 2002 ESL Pro Series, local Pro League in Germany, \xa0ESL Pro League 2013,\xa0 ESL Pro Tour 2018 (local, regional and global competitions)\nFocus on Counter Strike for Pro League, because of the maturity in the Game and longevity\nIndividual Tournaments on top of the Leagues, ie. IEM and ESL ONE \xa0- world championships type of events\n\nPrize money and event model \u2013 own and operated (ESL branded events), hybrid events in partnership with Publishers, Esports Services (agency model, power Esports for Publishers)\nGlobal footprint of ESL from Cologne to New York, regional HQs in LA, Singapore, Riyad, etc and production hubs in Poland and Malaysia and local offices in partnership with local partners\n2000-2010 start up phase, 2010-2015 scale up phase, 2015-2021 globalization phase\nModern Times Group (MTG) transaction in 2015 (which wasn\u2019t a sale according to Ralf), Swedish group, synergies, neutral and independent\nConstant changes in industry, staying focused on ESL Brand premise (North Star) and making adjustments as industry growth\nNew partnership with Immutable X, first dip into NFT space \u2013 always trying and investing in new things\nESL during Covid \u2013 going back to roots, being online focused \u2013 Esports continued to grow during Pandemic\nBeing global is difficult and hard but the best thing the company did and ESL thrived in Covid, setting new processes\nClose to 700 people now, after merger with DreamHack in 2020\nOther activities, advisory roles, etc mostly connected and synergies to main role as CEO of ESL \u2013 some angel investment \xa0\xa0\n\xa0\nAbout Ralf Reichert\nRalf is Managing Director / CEO of Turtle Entertainment the world\u2019s largest eSports company leading the industry in raising eSport production and audience levels to those of mainstream sports. Alongside the creation of Turtle Entertainment, Ralf has been an integral part of the development of ESL Gaming which is now the largest global Esports league, as well as the elite pro gaming tour Intel Extreme Masters which has given out over $3.5million of prize money spanning across 8 seasons. \xa0Reichert\u2019s passion for gaming and technology is for all to see, and with over 20 years of experience in the industry, it is no surprise that Turtle Entertainment has been such a resounding success.\n\xa0\nFollow us\xa0on o