On starting The Mix and finding diverse funding sources for indies | Justin Woodward

Justin Woodward started out as one of the small cogs in the big wheel of the game industry. He studied game art and design in college. Then he got a job at a triple-A game company as a 3D background artist.

But he decided he would rather be a game designer instead of being one among many 3D artists. He started his own graphic design studio, doing tasks like logo design that could connect him with entrepreneurs. He learned how to fund projects and create businesses. He went on to create an indie game studio. He stayed on that path.

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Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.