My firstminute with Riccardo Zacconi (King, Sweet Capital)
My firstminute is a series of informal talks with global leaders sharing stories about the earliest days of their career, how they overcame some of their toughest challenges, and how they now enjoy supporting the next generation. On Thursday 30th April 2020, Lina Wenner, Principal at firstminute capital, hosted Riccardo Zacconi, Co-founder of King and Sweet Capital, and delved into Riccardo's depth of experience in running King during a major financial downturn, and explored how he now enjoys helping and backing founders. Riccardo Zacconi's biography: Riccardo was a co-founder of King and continues to serve as company Chairman, having served as CEO from 2003 until 2019. Riccardo grew up in Italy, worked in management consulting at LEK and BCG before transitioning into tech at the start of the dotcom boom. In 1999, Riccardo joined Swedish online startup Spray to build its business in Germany. After the sale of Spray to Lycos Europe he moved to the UK as an Entrepreneur in Residence for Benchmark Capital. In 2002 Riccardo joined uk online dating startup uDate as VP of European sales and marketing. After the sale of uDate to IAC/Match.com, Riccardo co-founded King in March 2003 and was its CEO from the start, overseeing the company's rapid growth in the global mobile gaming sector to over 500 million monthly players, the company's IPO on NYSE and its $6bn sale to Activision Blizzard in 2016. In December 2016 Riccardo was knighted by the Italian President with the title of Commendatore dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia. Riccardo is also the founder of the PTEN Research Foundation for rare genetic diseases.