Jon Goldman’s 2018 investment thesis treated gaming as a broad entertainment and media opportunity—not just a bet on individual games. He saw potential across the studios making content and the tools, distribution, monetization and measurement businesses that could help interactive experiences reach and earn from audiences. His comments describe his views at the time, not a statement of his current investment outlook.
What Goldman saw in gaming
In a 2019 TechCrunch roundup, Goldman called videogaming “the largest and most exciting part of the entertainment and media landscape.” His reasoning connected the value of games to a wider ecosystem: games are content, but they also create demand for platforms and services that help people make, find, watch, play and measure interactive entertainment.
By 2019, he was particularly emphatic about game-development studios. He argued that studios create the value that drives the rest of gaming. He also pointed to new distribution platforms and subscription services as making content more valuable. These were Goldman’s investment views, not proof that every studio or adjacent service would succeed.
Why his focus extended beyond game studios
In a 2018 GamesBeat interview, Goldman discussed startups working on different parts of the interactive entertainment business. The examples show how he connected creative content with supporting tools and audience-facing services:
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- Interactive VR creativity: Mindshow was an example of a tool for creating animated experiences in virtual reality.
- VR music experiences: TheWave VR illustrated the possibility of bringing music experiences into virtual environments.
- Esports analytics and brand participation: FanAI represented audience measurement and ways for brands to participate in esports.
- AR authoring: Camera IQ represented tools for creating augmented-reality experiences.
These are examples Goldman discussed in 2018, not confirmations of the companies’ present status. Across the categories, the underlying investment logic was to look for businesses that could create interactive content or make it easier to develop, distribute, monetize or measure that content.
VR was an opportunity, not an assumption of immediate growth
Goldman acknowledged that the VR market had not expanded immediately and said he was not urgently adding to that part of his portfolio. That qualification matters: his interest in VR creativity and music did not amount to a claim that the market had already reached mass adoption.
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How the fund related to Greycroft
At the time of the 2018 interview, Goldman was a Greycroft venture partner and managed GC VR Gaming Tracker Fund, a separate seed-stage fund focused on games, VR, AR and esports. He described the fund as independent of Greycroft’s core funds, with Greycroft serving as a limited partner and close business partner. The fund and Greycroft should therefore not be treated as the same investment vehicle.
The interview also described Goldman as having a managing-partner role at Skybound. These are historical role descriptions from the 2018 interview, not confirmation of his current positions.
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A 2017 Los Angeles Business Journal report said the fund had $15.6 million in commitments and had made more than 20 seed-stage investments, with reported investments ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 each. Those figures describe the fund at launch; they are not its current size, present investment policy or a measure of performance.
What Goldman looked for in a gaming startup
Goldman’s 2018 comments make clear that an exciting concept alone was not enough. He warned, “You can’t hype your way to an A and B round,” adding, “Ultimately you need fundamentals.” For a seed-stage company, he pointed to evidence that people actually use and engage with the product, followed by a credible route to monetization.
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- Users: Is the product attracting an audience?
- Engagement: Do people keep interacting with it?
- Monetization: Is there a plausible way to turn that activity into revenue?
- Business fundamentals: Can the company support its growth with a sound business model?
- Financing path: Is there enough evidence to make a later funding round credible?
That standard also explains the risk in the fund’s seed-stage focus. Early ideas may be promising, but founders need to demonstrate a business capable of progressing beyond the initial concept.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The thesis in context
Goldman’s cross-category approach was not a claim that games, esports, AR and VR offered equal returns or equal levels of risk. It was a way to look for value at multiple points in the interactive entertainment chain: studios could create the content, while tools and services could help build experiences, connect them with audiences, or measure and monetize engagement. His emphasis on studios in 2019 placed content creation at the center of that ecosystem.
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