SmallBizResource Blog -- Women in Business

Wednesday's Woman: Meet Mytopia Co-Founder Galia Ben-Artzi

Posted by Gayle Kesten Wednesday, Jun 18, 2008, 08:41 AM ET

Galia Ben-Artzi clearly remembers the corporate recruiting process during her senior year at college for two reasons: One, it wasn't very long ago. Two, "I remember watching my peers marching around in suits and ties and just knowing very distinctly that wasn't what I wanted to do."

What did Galia want to do? She wasn't sure. But it was at that point in time, in late 2005, that her older brother, Guy, had the idea for what became Mytopia, now in beta. "Mytopia is a digital gaming community that anyone can access from anywhere," says Galia, its 25-year-old co-founder, director of marketing and business development, and "unofficial VP of everything." Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Hi5 feed into it, enabling players from all around the Web to compete in such games as backgammon, hearts and poker. Mytopia employs 23, siblings included; its engineering team is based south of Tel Aviv, Israel, but company headquarters are officially in Palo Alto, Calif.

Galia also grew up in Palo Alto. Among her neighbors: Apple CEO Steve Jobs. While Galia's degree in comparative literature would seemingly have little relevance to running a business, the way she truly listened to my questions, then thought through and communicated her answers in such an articulate manner demonstrated to me her education's undeniable value.

Read on and you'll see what I mean.

GK: Where did you get the money to start Mytopia?
GBA: We have raised $1.5 million in angel seed money, from family and family. That really got us going. We also used money we made selling software in the mobile gaming space.

GK: How did you know how to form a company?
GBA: Guy has a tech background. He coded as a hobby. We also grew up in tech-heavy neighborhood. Guy is more than capable of not only specing out a product roadmap, but understands the engineering as well. I'm not officially trained, but I'm learning as I go.

GK: Does that help you or hurt you?
GBA: There's nothing really safe about what I'm doing, so that reminds me to take risks. For example, Guy and I presented at Under the Radar [a conference for startups]. We had decided Guy was presenting, and I'd support him in presentation. But the morning of the pitch, I woke up and thought it would be a great opportunity for me to practice public speaking--to exercise my comfort level. I did it and it went really well.

GK: You're much braver than I am!
GBA: It just happened spontaneously, but when I reflected on it I realized that at any other job, I'd likely not stick my neck out for the extra responsibility, where I could make a fool of myself. Age plays into it a little bit, too. Based on some of my friends who share with me their experiences, when you're young and new in the corporate environment, the tendency is to shrink back around older people, trying not to attract too much attention. For me, that dynamic has been completely turned on its head.

GK: What's it like working with your sibling?
GBA: It's incredible. If it wasn't, I couldn’t do it. Of course there are difficulties when working with anyone you have an out-of-work relationship with, but we completely trust each other to do everything we can, to make good decisions, to discuss what we're worried about.

GK: What's the hardest part about running a small business?
GBA: The feeling that I don't have a mentor, someone to shadow. I am very envious of friends who work in large companies who have bosses who take them under their wings. At the end of the day, I'm really on my own. Every mistake feels so personal. It's trial by fire.

GK: What surprises you most about running a small business?
GBA: I'm constantly surprised by how much you can do. I think of this all of the times I'm in rooms with senior VPs of strategy and CEOs of major companies. People take me and our company seriously. If you take yourself seriously, other people will, too. The feelings of being a startup, of being 25, of being a girl--you realize you can do anything you want to do. I'm constantly amazed that the sky is the limit. It's unique to be on the younger side of the spectrum.

GK: How will Mytopia make money?
GBA: We're going to use four rivers of revenue--Web advertising; micro transactions and payments around game items and virtual items; premium subscriptions if you want to get rid of the advertising and unlock exclusive content; and another form of advertising based on the sponsorship model. To date, we have been spending time in beta collecting information from our users to see what they like.

GK: What advice do you have for fellow entrepreneurs?
GBA: Never underestimate the importance of human capital. One thing that's scary when you're on your own is that there aren't these built-in networks, like seeing colleagues in the cafeteria. Some of the best contacts I've made were randomly at the coffee shop or gym.

GK: Good segue. What do you do in your spare time?
GBA: I'm trying to keep up on the health side of things, such as doing yoga to channel stress and energy. I read books by entrepreneurs, industry reports and a lot of blogs. Reading venture-capital blogs is a great way to see what people are thinking. They're also a great hook when you meet these people and can mention what you read. I follow TechCrunch and Valleywag.

GK: Who in business inspires you?
GBA: Steve Jobs, who we grew up right down the street from, literally. He brings his magic touch to the different products he takes to market--things that are beautiful, functional and inspirational. When you look at building a gaming community with a wide demographic appeal, it takes a lot of inspiration and ideology in terms of the experience. Also, Pixar movies really embody that sense of what we're looking for. I'm looking forward to seeing Wall E.

GK: Where you see yourself in 10 years?
GBA: I see myself in similar types of entrepreneurial roles in 10 years. In the past two years it became clear that I'm capable and that I really enjoy it. Many of my friends are in a phase of not enjoying what they're doing and are brainstorming how to get to what they want to do. People find comfort in having jobs they don't hate--they like the people and the salary is good, but you would be hard-pressed to get them in a heated conversation about what they do over dinner.

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Previous Wednesday's Woman articles:
>> Hear Our Ringtones Roar
>> The Makings of a Smooth Maternity Leave
>> A Rocker Girl's Journey to Tech CEO
>> Why So Many Women Are Bolting From Tech
>> Meet TodaysMama CEO Rachael Herrscher

Wednesday's Woman is a new feature you can look forward to reading smack-dab in the middle of each week. Look for more profiles, trends, research and other topics of interest to today's community of hard-working, small-business women. As always, send me your ideas.

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