Set 2 - Rep 4 with Marcus Howard
Episode Summary
In this episode, we are thrilled to feature Marcus Howard, CEO of MetArena, a Growth Hacker, Innovator, Techie, and Leader. Marcus discusses how MetArena makes Esports accessible to brands of all sizes and people from all walks of life. He talks of profitability and inclusion, of bringing Esports to businesses to engage their communities, how he managed the challenges of the COVID pandemic, the book on getting into the gaming industry, and more! Marcus shares stats, figures, and his plans for MetArena. This is an exciting interview, especially if you are planning to get into Esports, so please tune in!
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M-T:
What's going on, everybody! This is your boy Brother MT, and we're here with another Metric Mate Minute Podcast. On the Metric Mate Minute Podcast, we cover leaders from all over the world telling you about how they do what they do, why they do what they do and how staying fit keeps them in their best mindset. Let's go.
M-T:
What's going on, everybody? This is your boy, Brother MT. We're back with another Metric Mate Minute Podcast. Every week I try to bring you the hottest, the most expansive, the most thought-provoking people that are doing exceptional things in the industry. And this week is no different. I say I deliver and I try to deliver, Marcus Howard is out here doing everything with MetArena arena, bringing E-Sports to the common person and letting us know what the future looks like when it comes to video games and their interaction with the common people. Showing the job opportunities. You know, I can't give you as much about what they're doing as they can. I try to understand, but I try to leave it to them. So, Marcus, I appreciate you being on the show, as always. I appreciate my guests. And you are no different. Please tell the community about what you're doing and what MetArena means to the future of Esports.
Marcus Howard:
Yeah, MT. Thanks for the invitation, man. Basically, in one sentence, MetArena makes Esports accessible to brands of all sizes and people from all walks of life. That's what we're about, is building an inclusive ecosystem. And it's not just about being a charity play, right? It's about making Esports profitable and profitability through inclusion,
M-T:
Excellent. So bringing inclusion. Inclusion, in what ways? How are you all trying to get everybody in the community involved in what Esports' future is going to look like?
Marcus Howard:
Great question. You think about the gaming industry. It's one hundred and seventy-four billion-dollar industry. There are over three billion gamers worldwide. That's 40 percent of the world's population. And then you look at ESports, Esports is a nine hundred and fifty million dollar market compared to one hundred and seventy-four billion. That's just over half a percent of the larger market. It's just point one percent of gamers. It's restricted to partnerships with just blue-chip brands, you know, your Doritos and your MasterCard, Mercedes Benz, these big-name companies that everyone recognizes. But because of that, it's just too exclusive for the average gamer, the average business, the average game to get in, you only see the same 20 to 50 games Fortnite, Halo, Call of Duty Right, over and over and over again. But there are actually over one point three million games on the market. So what we're doing is simply just, again, making the space more accessible, getting more games in, making it accessible to more gamers, regardless of your age or race or gender or geography, and then again, making it accessible to brands of all sizes, again, from the blue-chip brands that you see all the way to the mom and pop stores down the street. We believe that Esports is the evolution of social media and we're bringing community Esports for businesses to engage their communities virtually, which is especially important now in COVID.
M-T:
Interesting. So you talk about businesses being able to be engaged with Esports. So say I'm a business that's coming to you because I want some exposure to that market because I feel like I have a product that's going to appeal to them. In what ways can I engage the across the market, across gender, across age, doing it through Esports in ways that I can't do another avenue?
M-T:
Well, you can't really do that right now. And that's the opportunity we're bringing to the table, the value we're bringing to the table. If you think about it again, traditional Esports, you see it on TV, is typically white, male, Asian male from sixteen to roughly twenty-four. But when you look at the United States, the average gamer is actually thirty-four years old. So what we're saying is to use Esports to actively engage your entire community because seventy-five percent of households in America have at least one gamer in them. So we're saying connect with those audiences, with that community and we're using family-friendly games. So it's something that everyone can enjoy. I'm sure you grew up playing Nintendo. Nintendo has done an excellent job for decades. We're bringing in family-friendly games. So whenever they have the Wii or the Wii U, the Switch, it's something that everybody in the house can be a part of compared to something like a Mortal Kombat or a Halo. You know, it's either too competitive or it may just be too violent. When I play games, shooting games like Apex Legends, I play them at night after my kids go to sleep because I don't want them exposed to that and have that kind of feeding into them. Obviously, there is no research that suggests that violent games lead to school shootings. Actually, all the research suggests the opposite. But is the public perception and I think just generally good people and well-meaning parents just don't want their kids exposed to that kind of content. It's the same reason you wouldn't let your kids watch a rated R movie.
M-T:
No. And that feeds into the fact that you said there one point three million games out there, but people only know about a small sliver of those games. Like, you can't get exposure to everything else and then judge it all for just one piece. You have to be able to know whether everything is out there. So that's what you all are trying to do, is introduce everybody to everything that's available in that space. Man, I love it because, of course, we grew up on video games which have evolved in the Esports because they weren't necessary. There you go. You know, they went as their sport was, but it was a good competition. It was something that we could do to measure us against each other and continue to advance and be better in a non-abrasive way, something that's not physical in this world. So you can move around and be who you need to be after that. That's awesome. So the pandemic has affected everybody. There have been changes that have gone on across the board, but thinking that people are staying in the house and more accessible to that consoles, you would think that Esports or Esports awareness would be more prevalent. How has the pandemic affected what you all do and how you all have been able to move and grow in the industry?
Marcus Howard:
Well, it's been exponential demand for our product, again, because we are thinking differently about new sports. We want again to make it accessible and make it virtual. You look at the traditional Esports space, it was actually projected, I believe, to eclipse a billion-dollar market by the end of this year. It's actually had a hundred and fifty million dollar loss this year because so much of Esports is kind of designed in the context of traditional sports, live events and jerseys, teams, stadiums, all of that. So they had the same to a degree, Esports had the same degree of impact from live events being shut down in traditional sports, which is interesting. Again, when you consider the larger space, the gaming industry, it grew by an unexpected extra 15 billion dollars. Gaming was already growing nearly 10 percent year over year. Because of COVID, we got a boost of an unexpected 15 billion dollars of extra revenue while Esports was losing money. So that's what we're trying to do, is align more on the gaming side of Esports and less on the sports side.
M-T:
Got it. Got it. That makes perfect sense. So focus on understanding how to market. So you all came out with a book as well. Try to get that out and publish and in the people's hands. Can you tell me more about that?
Marcus Howard:
Yeah, man, ironically, we had to put a bit of a hold on the book because we couldn't reach our crowdfunding goal, which is unfortunate, but we're still committed to the book. One hundred percent. We started it was going to be a physical copybook and we had one crowdfunding campaign that didn't work out. We didn't let it stop us. We went to a digital version that didn't work out. I'm still working on the book in the background and trying to get some sponsors to make it happen. But basically what this book is, is the book that I wish I had when I was growing up trying to understand how to make a career out of my interest in video games, not just for myself, so I could explain it to my parents and explain it to my teachers.
M-T:
Wow. So kind of a way to get into the industry and make sure that all the bases are covered in this growing industry, in this misunderstood industry, this industry a lot of people don't know about. You're giving the handbook to be able to prosper and be a giant in this industry. That's awesome. That's awesome, man. We all will continue to push that book. Man. I definitely look forward to getting my copy. I support it every time it comes up, man. I make sure I do because I want to be able to be a part of that because I would have loved to have been in the video game industry. I became an electrical engineer. I did my thing, but I was like, man, if I would have known how to do that and make sure that I could continue to grow in advance of my career and be a part of that industry, I would definitely have done it. s we need this to be in the hands of these young people so they can go ahead and carry on this legacy brother, for real.
Marcus Howard:
One of the things that we highlight in the book, and this isn't my stat, but it's great information. There are one hundred and ten thousand career opportunities in the gaming and sports industry, everything from traditional professional services like accounting and legal. Definitely software development. Video games are just apps, and apps are made with code. Event production, health and wellness, sales, marketing, education. All of that stuff happens within the gaming and sports industry. But whenever you see it on LinkedIn or YouTube or Twitch, it's either or mainstream broadcast news. It's either tournament or its live streaming. You know, people either want to be the next ninja or they want to be they want to win three million dollars on Fortnite. And there's so much more to it than just those two opportunities.
Marcus Howard:
We need to get this in the hands of the people. I love it. I love it. So you found a way to navigate COVID. You found ways to give your lasting impression to future generations. Man, what's next for MetArena and for Esports in general?
Marcus Howard:
Well, the next thing that I'm focused on is our Super Bowl event. We've got the Ascend VCU, Esports Conference and Career Expo. It's really, again, just the same stuff we've been talking about. How do we get this information to the people? It's going to be one hundred percent virtual because. We want to protect the health and safety of our attendees, but the other great thing it does is it allows us to have global reach because it's a virtual event. Anyone around the world can attend this event. If you think about a kind of traditional to global events, you can't fly to the host city even if you live within the city. If you can afford to go to the event, then you can't be a part of the experience. Our event is virtual and our event is free. And our goal is to teach the black and Latinx community about the wealth creation opportunities in ESports and crypto because crypto is about monetizing value in a digital ecosystem and definitely postcode that we're living in a digital ecosystem also.
M-T:
Man, awesome, good stuff. That that all sounds definitely interesting. I'm glad that MetricMate is a huge supporter and from beginning hearing about everything that was going on, trying to help support the movement and making sure everybody is aware of ESports and the plethora of opportunities that are present in that industry as we grow and become more digital and move in that space a lot more efficiently.
M-T:
So, as always, with all of my guests, man, I asked one big hope diamond sized nugget, because you've been dropping tools all over this conversation. Tell them about the growth and the ability to be able to adapt and see change and manifest as an entity that's making a change in the future. What is one big hope diamond jewel that you would give our community as far as being a leader, continuing to be a leader, and continuing to push forward?
Marcus Howard:
I'd say this. This is an original quote. Here is a mix of some things that I've read over the years. It's aim small, miss small, fail fast, learn, repeat. And again, I didn't come up with those individual pieces, but combining them together was my philosophy. I built that philosophy based on not following those pieces of advice and having the scars from my mistakes to know best what I need to do in the future. So if you aim small, miss small, that can be you building an app instead of you spinning one hundred thousand dollars or even fifty thousand dollars, get a clickable prototype for fifty bucks. Right. You can go to Kleiber and get that prototype done and then put up a page for free on Wix and validate the value of the app that you're building or the prototype of the product for less than one hundred dollars. Right. And then if it's wrong, fail fast. If you find out that there's something wrong with what you're doing, make the immediate change. Don't stick with the bad decision. Pivot, know when to pivot, learn from your mistakes, accept the failure as a learning opportunity and then repeat. It's always iterative. So every time you're getting better. and that's what I've done over the last seven years.
M-T:
Love it. I love it. That's awesome. And my people told me my bad, my bad. I missed the question. I missed the question. And this is the most key question because, you know, MetricMate is a platform that supports health and wellness and everybody being in a fit state of mind to help us live longer and be better as we continue to thrive and push the boundaries. So how does keeping a fit in sound, mind, body, and spirit help you to continue to push forward, be a great father to your wonderful children and a great husband to you, your awesome wife? Be able to push MetArena forward and write books and be a part of the leadership that's pushing the world forward? How does that help>.
Marcus Howard:
It's critical, really, and I won't even pretend that I'm good at it. Not even great. And I have been good at it. I still struggle at it all the time, just being really good. But I know that I have to have that discipline. I know I need to drink water. I know I need to do a little bit of exercise as my schedule's hectic. I don't have time to go to the gym. So again, I'm not it, but I try to get three to four times a day, just get twenty push-ups in. So I try to get to one hundred push-ups a day and then again drinking the water. I know I'm not getting the sleep I need to, but eating something healthy every now and again because I'm under a lot of stress. There are a lot of demands on my schedule and I got to be ready every day, all the time. So it's important, man. It's critical.
M-T:
Love it. I have to get you on the fifty push up challenge to be doing join the bandwagon, man, you know, if you push up a challenge out here. So let's push for it, baby. Let's be excellent. I love it.
Marcus Howard:
All right. All right. But Marcus tell everybody where they can find you. Find out more about what you got going on about MetArena and the future of Esports. And tell them a little bit.
Marcus Howard:
Yeah, you can find me on LinkedIn and on Facebook, Marcus Esports Howard. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm not on there as much anymore, but I am there. And there are two of me with the number two because, you know, I'm an identical twin. And then you can learn more about the future of Esports by visiting www.MetArena.gg. That's MetArena. We're redefining ESports and the future of sports. And I'm going to start posting some exclusive articles that I'm sharing now over to ESports bars. You can learn more about the things that really valuable insights I have. That's where I'm sharing.
M-T:
Love it. Love it. Speaking of identical twins, I have not asked you this whole time, how's Malcolm man?
Marcus Howard:
Malcolm's good, Malcolm good, He's up in Savannah. You know, he still lives in Georgia. And, you know, he's married. He's got a couple of animals there. He's got his family. He's got his house. He's he and his wife. They're good. And my sister. She's in South Carolina. They're good too man. She's married too.
M-T:
Love it. love it. Love it. We're going to have to catch up with them. We're going to have to make that happen anyway. Appreciate you being on, Brother P.J. for sharing a piece of everything that you've got going on and that you're doing for the Esports community. I know that is going to be a huge benefit and I'm super excited to share this with the broader community. So community, thank you for listening in. Made it this far in the podcast. We always appreciate everybody for spending their time with us because you don't necessarily have to spend your time with the Metric Mate Minute but since you do. We appreciate it. This has been another Metric Mate Minute Podcast This has been Marcus Howard. Definitely check them out and everything he's got going on until next week. Y'all be safe. Peace.
M-T:
Thanks, everybody, for joining us for another Metric Mate minute. We appreciate everybody that comes through and shows us love in the Metric Mate community. Make sure that you stopover at themetricmate.com to find out more information about the podcast, about what we're doing, any of our blog information, the transcript of the show, and just the show us massive support. Also, remember to follow us on social media @MetricMate. Check us out, y'all. Peace.
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Today's Guest Marcus Howard
Marcus is CEO of MetArena, the Esports Advisor of Game Credits, a member of the Blockchain Game Alliance, and the President of Tampa Association of Gaming, a non-profit dedicated to growing the gaming industry and STEAM youth programs in the Tampa Bay area.
He's also the Founder of Growth Hacker and the CEO of Howard Bros. Technology.
Marcus has 13 consecutive years of strategic/tactical experience with building startups in various industries, including gaming, news media and restaurants. He specializes in identifying exponential growth opportunities and converging trends in consumer markets. He excels at creating/executing blue ocean business strategies.
He's a Growth Hacker, Innovator, and Leader.
Key Takeaways
Aim small, miss small. Fail fast, learn, repeat.
Don't stick with the bad decision. Know when to pivot. Learn from your mistakes.
Accept the failure as a learning opportunity and then repeat. It's always iterative so every time you're getting better.
Resource
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-esports-howard-60785023/
Twitter - @ThereAreTwoOfMe
https://www.metarena.gg/
M-T STRICKLANDJANUARY 27, 2021