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The Challenge of Replicating Reality with Steve Zhao from SandboxVR

What would you do if you believed in an idea but everyone said it would fail, nobody would fund you, and the industry was experiencing a nuclear winter? Despite experiencing exactly that, Sandbox VR founder Steve Zhao doubled down and invested all of his personal savings into the unproven business. 7 years and 1 bankruptcy later, Steve has built the world’s leading full-body VR experience with over 30 locations across the globe. In this interview, we get to chat with Steve about the many challenges he faced, how Sandbox made it through the pandemic, the future of VR, and the difficult task of tackling hardware, software, a new computing platform, and real estate. Topics Covered: 00:00 - Introduction 01:37 - Bonus segment 06:17 - Steve’s gaming story 11:37 - A minimum viable matrix 15:37 - Betting your life savings 20:11 - Building an MVP 22:38 - Branding a new experience 25:06 - Surviving the pandemic 30:45 - Sharing risk with landlords 33:22 - The competitive matrix 36:14 - Content and IP 39:14 - Special announcement! 47:37 - Building on hard(ware) mode 50:23 - Placing multiple bets 51:17 - Moving from novelty to necessity 58:18 - Startup learnings Resources: * Check out Sandbox VR: https://sandboxvr.com * Find Steve Zhao on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zhaosaurus * Learn more about the Squid Game partnership: https://venturebeat.com/games/squid-game-is-coming-to-sandbox-vr-immersive-experience-locations/ * Watch Steph’s highlight video: https://sandboxvr.com/event/b0b22aad-7c73-475d-ab43-281a456ff590 Stay Updated: * Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z * Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z * Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/ * Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Steve ZhaoguestSteph Smithhost

Feb 22, 20231h 3mWatch on YouTube ↗

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EPISODE INFO

Released: February 22, 2023
Duration: 1h 3m
Channel: a16z
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

What would you do if you believed in an idea but everyone said it would fail, nobody would fund you, and the industry was experiencing a nuclear winter? Despite experiencing exactly that, Sandbox VR founder Steve Zhao doubled down and invested all of his personal savings into the unproven business. 7 years and 1 bankruptcy later, Steve has built the world’s leading full-body VR experience with over 30 locations across the globe. In this interview, we get to chat with Steve about the many challenges he faced, how Sandbox made it through the pandemic, the future of VR, and the difficult task of tackling hardware, software, a new computing platform, and real estate. Topics Covered: 00:00 - Introduction 01:37 - Bonus segment 06:17 - Steve’s gaming story 11:37 - A minimum viable matrix 15:37 - Betting your life savings 20:11 - Building an MVP 22:38 - Branding a new experience 25:06 - Surviving the pandemic 30:45 - Sharing risk with landlords 33:22 - The competitive matrix 36:14 - Content and IP 39:14 - Special announcement! 47:37 - Building on hard(ware) mode 50:23 - Placing multiple bets 51:17 - Moving from novelty to necessity 58:18 - Startup learnings Resources:
Check out Sandbox VR: https://sandboxvr.com
Find Steve Zhao on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zhaosaurus
Learn more about the Squid Game partnership: https://venturebeat.com/games/squid-game-is-coming-to-sandbox-vr-immersive-experience-locations/
Watch Steph’s highlight video: https://sandboxvr.com/event/b0b22aad-7c73-475d-ab43-281a456ff590
Stay Updated:
Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z
Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z
Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/
Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio
Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

SPEAKERS

Steve Zhao
guest
Founder of SandboxVR, a location-based full-body virtual reality entertainment company.
Steph Smith
host
Host at a16z who interviews founders and operators about technology and business.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of a16z, featuring Steve Zhao and Steph Smith, The Challenge of Replicating Reality with Steve Zhao from SandboxVR explores sandbox VR Founder Bets Savings, Survives Bankruptcy, Builds Full-Body VR Zhao traces his path from building shareware games as a teen and in college through Blue Tea Games to founding Sandbox VR after missing the mobile wave.

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