Kai Huang – From selling dance pads to rock stardom: bootstrapping Guitar Hero to $1B

<p>Today we sit down with Kai Huang, co-founder of RedOctane and the iconic game Guitar Hero. Kai shares his journey, from growing up in Silicon Valley as the child of Taiwanese immigrants to creating one of the most legendary music game franchises of all time. He reflects on key lessons from building RedOctane, including an early pivot from renting video games (like Blockbuster) to selling high-margin dance pads — a move that helped them bootstrap growth despite early struggles raising venture capital.</p><p>Kai reveals the inspiration behind Guitar Hero, their immediate and explosive growth, and the challenges of forecasting demand. He also shares clever strategies for managing retailer demand that fueled their rapid rise, ultimately leading to a $100m exit to Activision (all in stock) just eight months after launch. Activision’s stock went on to 10x (not a bad return!), while Guitar Hero generated billions more for the company.</p><p>Kai also reflects on the role of luck, the import...