Schilling Makes Pitch to Harvard Business School

The life of a startup in the video game industry can be full of many potholes and pitfalls. There will be mistakes and second-guessing. But through it all, the hope is that the effort will bring success and a return on investment for the owners trying to build a dream.

In the case of Curt Schilling, former Red Sox starting pitcher, the road for his gaming startup 38 Studios has had its share of ups and downs. Schilling funded the studio himself and so far has been unable to entice other investors into his company, despite having some prominent members of a development team creating a massively multiplayer online game codenamed Copernicus, and purchasing startegy gaming studio Big Huge Games from THQ last year.

Schilling and 38 Studios are part of a recently published case study by Harvard Business School professor Noam Wasserman, who teaches the class Founders' Dilemmas at the school. The study reveals many of the issues that Schilling has faced since 38 Studios was founded in 2006, according to an article on Boston.com.

Some points from the study:

• When Schilling made his initial $5 million investment in the start-up in 2006 (38 Studios was initially known as Green Monster Games), he hadn't yet told his wife about his decision.
• In 2007, Comcast was ready to pay $10 million for 20 percent of the company, and exclusive digital distribution rights to the game it was working on. But "...Comcast senior management decided to pursue a different strategic direction for games and pulled the term sheet." Comcast executive Jennifer MacLean, who'd tried to make the deal happen, later joined 38 Studios as head of business development
• When Schilling was trying to recruit a CEO for the company, he was reluctant to give up any equity. "Curt wanted to maintain 100 percent ownership," said Brett Close, the CEO he eventually recruited. Close persuaded him to change that position.
• Ever conscious of creating a strong team culture, Schilling has at times been reluctant to fire employees. Close: "Curt said, 'I don't want to be the kind of company that just fires people." Schilling: "The employee lacked the proper people skills... I hired him, it was my mistake." Schilling and Close eventually came to terms and axed the employee in question.

Schilling and now-CEO Jennifer MacLean were at the business school on Tuesday to answer questions from Wasserman's class. According to various Tweets about the appearance, Schilling made a good impression. Some selected Tweets:

• @gehrig38 (Curt Schilling): We gave the students enough to walk away with. Great stuff, proud as hell of the team at 38
• @gehrig38: The Harvard Business Study done by @bussgang and @noamwass. Couldn't have enjoyed it any more unless we had more Q&A time.
• @bussgang: My favorite line from @gehrig38 (Curt Schilling) at HBS for 38 Studios case -"it only took me $30M to make it to Harvard."
• @ansridhar: Great @gehrig38 quote #1: ""I don't want meetings with me to be like the Last Supper- Jesus speaks, everyone listens, ev. leaves."
• @ansridhar: Great @gehrig38 quote #2: Critiques his early hiring 'land grab' & then says, "You have to trust your HR person more than your wife."
• @noamwass: Next yr I'll have 2 giv u 1/2 the class, Curt!
• @Rafaelcorrales: @bussgang what did you think of @gehrig38 saying launching a startup in Boston was a disadvantage? Curt was very firm about it too!

Sounds like an interesting day all around.