Ilkka Paananen – Superpowering Teams – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP.17]

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (0:00)
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Hello and welcome everyone. I'm Patrick O'Shaughnessy and this is Founders Field Guide. Founders Field Guide is a series of conversations with founders, CEOs and operators building great businesses.
I believe we are all builders in our own way and this series is dedicated to stories and lessons from builders of all types. You can find more episodes at investorfieldguide.com.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:46)
Patrick O'Shaughnessy is the CEO of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.
Clients of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (2:11)
My guest today is Ilkka Paananen, founder and CEO of Supercell, one of the most successful mobile game developers in the world based in Finland. Supercell has built hugely successful games like Clash of Clans and Clash Royale that have each reached over 100 million daily active users. What interests me most about the company is Supercell's unique culture built on decentralized autonomous teams with nearly total creative control. Ilkka and I talk about how Supercell hires and designs teams, why they incorporate as little process as possible, and the rise of global social games. I hope you enjoyed this great conversation with Ilkka Paananen.
So Ilkka, I've been so excited to do this with you for two reasons. One, I've been spending so much time thinking about and in COVID playing video games with myself and my young son. I think a great way to begin this conversation is with one of my favorite lines of yours, which is that you once said, I am the least powerful CEO in the world.
I love this concept because it will introduce the idea of culture and teams and people that we're going to spend most of our time talking about, which may sound a little strange for a video game company, but I think it's amazing and critical. So what did you mean by this line? Why did you say that? What does it mean to Supercell's culture?

**Ilkka Paananen** (3:23)
First of all, thanks so much for having me, Patrick.
I think to summarize the whole point about that phrase is that I just believe that the more decisions that teams make and the less I make, the better. In an ideal world, like if I made no decisions, then that would make me, I guess, the world's least powerful CEO. The whole idea about Supercell and what is at the core of our culture is this idea of these small and independent teams that we call cells and these independent game teams, sacred inside Supercell. And the way to think about them is think about smaller startups within the greater company. That's how we think about them.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (4:04)
I'd love to go back before Supercell because I think your career up until that point helped inform you in how to build Supercell with less focus on command and control and more focus on decentralized trust.
And I think our lessons today will be applicable across creative pursuits in industries, not just in gaming. What were you doing prior to founding Supercell and what were lessons that you learned or were taught by your experience before this business?