Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Leatherwood.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Eric. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Growing up in the Inglewood – Culver City area, I have always had a fondness for entertainment, science, and video games. This resulted in a unique blend of both a tech nerd and a proud African American.
My friends and I were into stuff like Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Mortal Kombat, Grand Theft Auto, and many more. There was nothing like having your childhood be marked by games like: Mario Kart 64, Super Mario 64, Final Fantasy 7, Super Smash Bros, Pokemon Blue, etc. Then being in high school and airing out beef through games like Call of Duty Modern Warfare and Dragon Ball Z Tenkaichi 3. It’s impossible to not being your life interests be influenced by that type of surrounding in your growing years.
But what really started my journey was when I went to a local convention called Anime Expo (which was unfortunately canceled due to the pandemic) and met my good friend Alli. After becoming friends due to our mutual interest, she invited me to help her manage a social media page that she was running. That moment began my interest in marketing. Figuring out what type of posts the audience would be most interested in, location of the audiences, interaction times, etc.
That eventually lead to me create the company Tessen Productions, initially a marketing and data analysis firm. We worked with clients of varied standings. Large businesses, small mom and pop shops, startups, law firms, etc. in developing strategies to expand their digital presence and guide clientele growth.
However, what truly set me on the path that me and my company is on, is when my friend Miki and I decided to launch an esports tournament a few years back, and that’s when we thought: “Why only have one tournament every few months at a venue when we could have one every week online?”. That was when everything really took off.
Has it been a smooth road?
Oh, there has definitely been may many challenges. On the personal side, it coincides with acknowledging that I have learning disabilities and figuring out the best way to maintain peak productivity while not neglecting my mental health. There have been countless frustrating days where I was barely able to get anything done.
How did I get over that? I developed a small team of people with different skills and abilities. With this, I was able to split roles and responsibilities to ensure that everything that needed to be done could be done. Combining this with altering my work activity to suit the hours in which I was most active.
On the business side, there were massive issues with funding due to the difficulty of reaching out to investors who were interested in our cause, so we had to start from the ground up. Figuring out how to accomplish things in the most cost-efficient way possible while still pulling off a profit.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Tessen Gaming Productions is a dual marketing agency and an esports communication firm.
The marketing agency operates under the name Tessen Production and esports under Tessen Gaming (both combined being Tessen Gaming Productions).
What sets Tessen Gaming Productions apart? It aims to resolve the issues experienced by both Discord and Zoom. Zoom has numerous security problems not just around it basing its servers in the People’s Republic Of China, but all kinds of security vulnerabilities that allow hacking and spying.
Tessen Gaming has a focus on ensuring the safety of user data and commits itself to running its servers in North America.
Discord has a notorious latency problem where it becomes incredibly difficult to maintain video conferences or even basic audio meetings. This has resulted in many issues when trying to pull off interviews or maintaining team chat.
What Tessen Gaming further accomplishes are weekly tournaments accompanied by a robust leaderboard system that tracks top winners and gives different types of rewards.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
It’s a really good city, especially with regards to networking and developing a team. Access to all kinds of local resources, from incubators
But the main problem is the taxes and not enough support the city gives to upstart businesses in terms of grants and loans. The requirements from loans are way to steep for new business owners. Though the problems are more related to the state itself rather than the city.
Pricing:
- The Tessen Gaming app is free
- Tournaments are tiered starting at 9.99-14.99
- Consulting and startegy starts at $599 depending on the needs of the business
Contact Info:
- Website: tessengaming.com
- Phone: 323-717-5866
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credit:
Stepanyan Photography
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