The Idea: In 2003, Riccardo Zacconi had a decision to make. After a stint at Boston Consulting Group and a small exit from uDate (sold to Match.com for $300K), he could have played it safe. Instead, he sold his car, gave up his flat, and moved into a friend's guest bedroom for 2.5 years to bootstrap a gaming company called Midasplayer. His bet? That casual games - the kind you could play for a few minutes on your lunch break - would become massive. No one was funding it. He put in everything he had. This was the beginning of King.

The Execution:

• 2003: Riccardo co-founded King with a skill-gaming model where players could compete for small cash prizes. Revenue was modest but steady.
• 2005: Raised their first and only funding round - €33M from APAX and Index Ventures. Danny Rimer at Index reportedly locked them in a room until they signed.
• 2011: Pivoted to Facebook games. Launched Bubble Witch Saga, which gained traction but faced brutal competition from Zynga, who held 85% market share.
• 2012: Released Candy Crush Saga on Facebook in April, then mobile in November. They were the first to let players seamlessly switch between desktop and mobile. By year end, they'd already hit their entire 2013 plan.
• 2013: Revenue exploded from $165M to $1.85B in 12 months - an 11x increase. They invested $100M+ in marketing and became the #1 game on Facebook.
• 2014: King IPO'd on the NYSE, making Riccardo a billionaire on paper.
• 2016: Activision Blizzard acquired King for $5.9 billion. Candy Crush had been downloaded over 3 billion times.

The lesson? Riccardo spent nine years building games before Candy Crush took off. The overnight success was a decade in the making. He trusted his team, stayed close to users, and kept experimenting until something clicked. Today, he invests in early-stage founders through Sweet Capital - using his own money to back the next generation of builders who are willing to sleep in guest bedrooms.