"Inverse Entrepreneurship": Lessons from Building on Platform Shifts in Games with Kristian Segerstråle

Few entrepreneurs have caught as many waves in gaming as Kristian Segerstråle. He was making multiplayer games for Java phones before the iPhone existed. With Playfish he turned Facebook into a place where millions played every day, and at EA he led the move from boxed products to free-to-play. As an early backer and board member of Supercell, and later as CEO of Super Evil Megacorp, he watched mobile gaming grow from a niche into the industry’s biggest market. Kristian will talk about how to spot a platform shift early, how to build a company that survives the next one, and what he learned moving between founder, executive and investor. Expect a candid conversation, with plenty of time for your questions.

Speaker Bio:

Kristian is a builder of teams and companies that break new grounds in technology. He spent 25 years building game companies, and now focused on frontier tech / AI.

Kristian was co-founder of Macrospace / Glu Mobile (Nasdaq: GLUU, sold for $2.1Bn). CEO and co-founder of Playfish, a social gaming pioneer acquired by EA ($420M), subsequently EVP Digital at EA driving the games-as-a-product to games-as-a-service transformation. He was also co-founder of Initial Capital where he led the seed round into Supercell (acquired by Tencent for $10Bn).

WHEN: Thursday, 5th November 2026

5.30 PM – 6.30 PM: Fireside discussion in Keynes Lecture Theatre

6.30 PM – 7.00 PM: Drinks reception and networking in King’s Bar

WHERE: King’s College, Cambridge

TICKETS: Find tickets here!

Description supplied by the event organiser.