2019 was a banner year for all of us at Skillz. We have much to celebrate heading into the holidays, so we’re taking a breath, honoring our commitment to Balance, and recapping some of our proudest accomplishments as we head out for winter break. 

In a world where technology offers us more leisure time than ever before, art and entertainment create joy and bring us together, and the video game industry is increasingly defining the future of all consumer entertainment.

Skillz crossed a new milestone with over one billion tournament entries this year. Our millions of players now come from 180 countries and growing, and the majority of our gamers are women. 

We made great progress in getting more content onto our platform this year, adding mobile game developers including Big Run Games, Funkitron, and ESZPlay. These are often small businesses and individuals who can achieve substantial revenue and reach on our platform. 

GDC 2019 Skillz Booth

From an operations perspective, we rolled out manager training and a new performance management system company-wide. Our Portland office moved to a new and improved space, and we opened a new office in Las Vegas. 

Games in the new Portland office

Our product and engineering teams made huge improvements in our product and infrastructure.  The SDK team completed major product rollouts with immersive new features designed to improve player retention and engagement, and our developer experience team added new and improved features to make the onboarding experience more seamless for developers. 

Also this year, our growth and success attracted high-profile backers like the NFL and industry-leading advisors like our new board member Laurence Tosi, the former CFO of Airbnb and Blackstone. These backers can provide great support and counsel as we continue on our mission to provide “eSports for everyone.” 

We grew our partnerships with nonprofit organizations, including the American Cancer Society, The IGDA Foundation, the American Red Cross, and the Life is Good Kids Foundation. Our large-scale digital fundraising tournaments have shown that gaming can be an incredible force for good by activating a younger demographic of donors while allowing players to be part of something bigger than just a game.

Continuing to grow means continuing to recruit talented people to join our mission. We more than doubled the number of Skillzians in 2019, and expect to double again in 2020. To achieve our ambitious recruiting goals and continue to find the right people, we doubled down on our commitment to diversity and inclusion — and we foster a referral culture to enhance successful hiring and onboarding of new Skillzians.

Women in Tech Lunch & Quarterly Game Winners

Together, Skillzians are defining a multibillion-dollar industry, building game-changing products, and scaling cutting-edge technology. We were recognized for our innovation and leadership in gaming and technology this year by CNBC, the American Business Awards, BuiltIn San Francisco, and Entrepreneur. 

Casey Chafkin & Miriam Aguirre Attending the Disruptor 50 Award Ceremony

In the year ahead, we will recruit new developers, new investors, and new partners to join our mission to connect the world through fun, fair, and meaningful competition. We expect our growth in 2020 to exceed what we saw in 2019, with more people than ever ready to embrace their inner champion on the Skillz platform!