You'll Never Be Able to Fulfill Your Dreams Alone

The story of my first Pokémon-based startup at 12 years old

When I discovered Nintendo as a child, the dream of my life became clear. I was going to create games. I started to fulfill it at age 12, thanks to two things that arrived in my country: The Pokémon anime and the internet.

A university student near my house had Internet access and as a business, sold the "pokedex": a 50-page Word document with photos of all 150 Pokémon, their descriptions, and attacks. I didn't have a computer and wouldn't until I was 15. I bought it printed on paper for 10 dollars.

The first investment in my first business.

I liked to draw with Jerson, my best friend from the block. So I proposed an idea to him. Without ever playing Magic or knowing what a role-playing game was, and with the experience of two kids aged 12 and 13, we created a homemade Pokémon card game.

I bought soft cardboard and white paper and cut them into 7cm x 5cm cards. I glued the paper to the cardboard and on top, with pencil and colors, drew the Pokémon, its name, description, and an "energy" bar where I noted how much life the card had left. On the back, I wrote the powers and a box to write the Pokémon's "level."

I covered the card in transparent adhesive plastic and sold it for US$0.25. The "customers" were children from my neighborhood. I bought a giant Pokémon poster (second investment, 1 dollar) where they chose which ones they wanted. Jerson and I made them, shared the income, and he got free cards.

Think the business was selling cards?

I organized battles in front of my house. I brought out a chess board, a calculator, and two dice. Each player chose 3 Pokémon per match. To attack, they called out 3 numbers on the die and the name of an attack. I calculated the attack damage, minus the defense percentage of the attacked Pokémon, and wrote that on the card's life bar. When a trainer lost all three Pokémon, it was over.

I took the dead Pokémon from the match. The players had to pay US$0.05 for the "Pokémon center to revive them". They would get them back the day after payment. EVERY single day, at 6pm, there were battles.

I think I made about 500 cards and more than 3000 battles in the year my business operated. This post is the first time I'll do the math. On average, I generated (without expenses) US$125 in cards and US$600 in "Pokémon center" fees. All with 15 customers who were the children from my neighborhood.

Children from other blocks started coming because of rumors about the game. I drew, on a sheet of cardboard, a board similar to Monopoly. It was a tournament where every certain number of spaces there were battles against powerful gym Pokémon (me with "special" cards) or against other players on the board.

I created my own Pokémon (cloned Kirby) and when someone won a "gym" battle, I gave them a real medal that cost about $2 dollars. There were 10 medals, 10 gyms, $10 dollars entry fee. My 15 customers paid happily.

My business didn't end because of competition, bored customers, or lawsuits from Bandai. My business ended because the mothers of the children united and asked my mother to make me stop. When my mother (hero) told them they were crazy, they forbade their children from talking to me. That's how my first business died.

I lost all my friends, except the one who drew those 1000 cards and that board with me. When I see Jerson on the street, I greet him and happily remember that part of my life. My first co-founder.

The biggest challenge of Cristalab is having it alone. I'm surrounded by the best community, but I'm the only founder. Creating Platzi together with Christian has been an incredible experience that has taught me a lot about them and has made me grow.

Great dreams are only fulfilled when the dreams of many come together.