Zynga Hires Biz Dev Gold, Pt. 2

So earlier this year, I wrote a post about former Pogo employee, Hugh De Loayza being hired by Zynga as VP of Biz Dev. I entitled it: Zynga hires Biz Dev Gold. I mentioned how he was a great person, a shining example of humanity.

Boy, was I wrong. :)

Six months later, the jerk hires me to be Zynga's new director of biz dev thus shattering the last vestiges of hope that I could make a living at blogging.

Thursday, at the Casual Games Association's Minna Mingle, I came out publicly. Revealed to the world that I'm now employed by Zynga.

So will I continue blogging?

Yes. But only 2-3 times a week. You'll notice that my blogging frequency has already slowed considerably. Sorry about that, Zynga's been keeping me busy for the last two weeks.

One of the things I cherish about my blog is that I have the complete freedom to talk about anything I want. Amazingly, Zynga is cool with me running my mouth off about whatever happens to come into my head at 3 in the morning. They're brave.

Having said that, I decided to not talk about Zynga in the blog. Once you're part of a company it's very hard to be objective about it.

However, since you may be interested, here are the main reasons I decided to join Zynga (over some other options):

1. Hugh. The guy's a rockstar and I want to learn whatever I can from him. (wow, do I feel like a suckup, I'm going to get so much crap about this post at the office.)

2. The job. In many ways, I'm getting paid to do what I had been doing already for the last year. Tracking the industry, identifying trends, and conversing with guys making cool games (so please keep emailing me, I'm still happy to offer free advice).

3. Zynga's vision. After a long chat with Mark Pincus, Zynga's CEO, I decided that I liked him (the most important factor for me) and that he had a smart long-term vision for Zynga (also pretty important). Fact is, it took a lot for me to link myself to someone else's vision rather than my own. A lot. So believe me when I say this: Zynga is going to kill it.