Riot-E

Pekka · July 14, 2005, 06:36

.. Riot-E is.. well was a Finnish company in the mobile entertainment business. 5 (or 6?) guys basically set up with the idea a business that was soon to gain notoriety, even more so after their crash.

They went to bunch of investors and were able to get over 20 million dollars without having anything, no technology, no workers, just a concept that was fuzzy at best. But as the charismatic and extremely talented and young guys, friends, whipped the investors into climax with their presentations and with their strong marketing abilities, everyone wanted a piece of it. Nokia Ventures, Carlyle Group.. everyone. And they had nothing to show! They just kind of.. threw it together and just went for it.

So they had over 20 millions to start a business, which was supposed to create entertainment for mobile business. At the beginnig of 2000, cell phones were starting to get even bigger business, but they lacked.. content. So they offered content, or at least the idea of content, or at least the idea to promise to produce content. Or .. etc.

So after the initial first round of investing, they quickly started growing their nest, everyone was in their hands, even Rupert (or is it Robert) Murdoch was one of their fanboys. They were modern, in your face, with their company managment. Riot-E became more famous with it's parties, wild parties, legendary ones with alleged weekly sauna orgies organized by the company coders, and random people just having sex anyway in weird positions and places. It was very liberal, and the creative atmosphere was delivered so strong, that the workers started actually lose their contacts outside the company, because they were living Riot-E, a place of business, an experience, life, fun, crazy.

Nudity was common place, and the offices were glorious with modern design and all unnecessary stuff like a movie theater. But ****.. why not? The managment was no exception of the creative seeking people, when CEO himself went on streaking run in downtown Helsinki with 30 other employees, because well.. why not? Streaking is fun after all

.. I think that sums up the atmosphere they were creating. Think of .. the movie Boiling Room, but more legit, with all the hype, and with even wilder parties and liberal atmosphere.

The documentary presents (yes this is about the documentary) some great stories, like the one when they introduced their offices to coca-cola some type of chief, and they went all the floors and then the chief asked where the hell are all the workers, and well.. it's not like they had punch cards, it was 2PM and tuesday

.

Or how they handled Hollywood big producers, eventually getting the exclusive rights for LOTR, Spiderman, X-Men etc.. With less than 4 million together. It is said now by analysts that the worth of those deals right now is over 200 million. I guess it's safe to say they were masters of negotiating, not because they were talking business first and only, but because everyone wanted to be part of their zone. Their crazy, fast zone.

So the big Hollywood dude comes in DAY early, and he calls them saying he's at the airport. They think 'damn our presentations and everything is nto ready now and say 'well, we are supposed to meet tomorrow'. The big dude says hey he knows but he is in Helsinki NOW. Well too bad for him. The meeting is still tomorrow. So he says maybe he will eat in restaurant by hismelf tonight then? The answer? 'I guess you do'.

Day after that, they basically get smashed, talk and insult the dude, insult japanese, and everyone else, telling jokes that is until the dude says his wife is japanese. Does it make a difference? No. Now one of them promises to 'end her life' with his business. Then it's time to get naked and go to sauna. Unfortunately the guest does not drink alcohol to begin with, nor does he want to go to sauna. So they tell him he must not have a penis because he doesn't want to strip and join. ETc etc etc.

The next day they tell him, after sobering up, that they are sorry for the things said and well they are ready to hear what he has to say and they'll book his tickets back to the states. INstead that, he was extatic, the new fanboy. He hugged them, laughed and didn't want to leave helsinki. I guess mofos so crazy treating a man of his caliber like that and trying to actually get a deal with him MUST be just that good.

Or how about the time they went to posh Finnish restaurant because a deal went bad and they were feeling bored. What the hell let's get ALL naked at this restaurant. It was posh, so the owner got mad about it but said it's ok if they pay the drinks of EVERYONE in the restaurant. What the hell let's do that. Then someone suggested they should oil each other and start wrestling. Adn that they did. in posh restaurant, drunk as hell, nude, in a gang of 30 people.

That sums up the business, Riot-E and it's notoriety, and check out the documentary Riot-On!... it's nuts.. and it was fun. Few years of madness and mayhem, great things, egos, and nothing coming up

.

However it must be noted, that at the end, they actually started succeeding in their initial goals they promised and it's been said a lot that aside form the big f up they made with the whole business, at the last days, it started actually making money but it was too late. And if it survived the bad times.. it should be HUGE now. Too bad it crashed and burned in the wild days of drug usage, prostitutes, strippers, fear, loathing and paranoia

VetLegion · July 14, 2005, 06:42

Is the documentary in English and if so where can I download it?

Frankychan · July 14, 2005, 06:46

The guys who decided to make this business failure should be tied together and pushed off a boat in the Atlantic.

But....it sounds like a very interesting documentary that I wouldn't mind watching.

Pekka · July 14, 2005, 06:49

VetLegion, yeah it's in English.

Frankychan, you should see it first before making that judgment call. They were actually quite brilliant, they just went too strong at the end. It wasn't failing business at the beginning, it was got too big too fast, and they went too strong on the creative side instead of getting actual results. And they did not decide to make it a failure. It did fail, but it was no ones intention. They just thought this is the way it should be, and like I said, had it gotten the 3rd round of investors, it shoudl be huge right now said by analysts etc.. they made one of the best deals ever. But they made few fundamental mistakes they go over in the documentary.

Pekka · July 14, 2005, 06:52

You will also get a glimpse of understanding why they were so good because they interview the founders, who are mostly displayed throughout the film, and you see after a while why they got their deals and stuff. They do have charisma and potential. A small note also here, they are in good positions now in big companies by the way. They weren't bad, they were good. But well.. just check out the film if you want to see what it was

Frankychan · July 14, 2005, 07:00

You've piqued my interest....so despite my initial comments, I'll try and watch it if I can get my hands on a (legit) copy.

Damn, sounding more and more conservative here...

Pekka · July 14, 2005, 07:05

.. yeah well it's rather small production so it's the right thing to do. I'm not sure if you can get it on DVD and from where, but I know it's on DVD and someone sells it or at least .. AARGH! it will be sold soon somewhere.. it's been travelling all these international film festivals and have gotten lots of hype and interest... strangely enough, since it was basically made by the founders themselves

.

But it's good. Don't expect Fahrenheit 911, expect an interesting story of a company that was totally nuts, got huge, crashed and burned.