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When this article was originally published in June 2007, the byline and title were both cut off and the body of the article was smashed between other articles confusing readers as to which article they were reading. I am presenting the original final draft of the article here in it’s proper form. Enjoy!

Edmonds C.C. Alumnus’ “Novel Conception”
By Triton Review Copy Editor

This spring at Seattle University’s annual The Harriet Stephenson Business Plan Competition, Edmonds C.C. alumnus Brayden Olson unveiled Novel Conception LLC (www.novelconception.com), a development studio of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs). The contestants with the best plans had an opportunity May 2 to pitch their business plans to a panel of judges comprised of 10 local CEO, with $10,000 to be awarded for the winner. For the 19 year-old Lynnwood native, this competition is only a step along the path to challenging the likes of Blizzard’s World of Warcraft or Turbine’s Asheron’s Call.

Novel Conception first began during Olson’s junior and senior years in high school while he attended Edmonds Community College as a Running Start student and eventually completed his Associate of Arts degree in summer 2006. Brayden expects to devote a good share of this summer as well as his senior year at Seattle University to launching Novel Conception, securing $5 million from investors for development of the company’s first product, hire new employees and continue contracting with professional artists and 3D renderers. After completing his Associate of Arts degree at the college, Olson went on to the Business Management program at Seattle University while developing his business plan and conceptualizing the company’s flagship game with the help of Michael Fox, 19, a computer science major.

Brayden Olson found time in his busy schedule to grant an interview.

T.R.: I was wondering if you could tell me more about your experiences at Edmonds C.C. You were a business major if I’m correct, any favorite recollections or instructors?

B.O.: Yes, I was a business major at EDCC. EDCC is where I learned many of the foundational skills I still use today. I had many great professors, but two that stand out to me at this moment are Barry Kotlove and Nancy Kennedy.

I learned a great deal about economics from Barry Kotlove much of which I still think about today. I really enjoyed the freedom to discuss ideas within his class, but he was also extremely available outside of class. We had quite a few great discussions outside of the classroom.

Nancy Kennedy was my research writing teacher. Research writing might not seem like it has a lot to do with business, but a great deal of my job is written communication. Business planning requires research and whether you like it or not a big portion of the business profession requires exceptional written communication. Nancy was exceptionally supportive in helping me learn the material even though unforeseen circumstances frequently kept me out of class.

I have to also give thanks to Running Start and the people at the EDCC Running Start Office. Without Running Start I would still be years away from finishing school and having the knowledge I need to create a successful new venture. Additionally, I was always aided and supported by the people working in the Running Start Office who helped me schedule classes to stay on my program and graduate with my AA at the same time I finished high school.

T.R.: Were you a member of the Game Developers Club?

B.O.: No, this was unfortunately an opportunity I missed out on.

T.R.: By the way, how is The Harriet Stephenson Business Plan Competition going so far?

B.O.: We feel the Business Plan Competition went well. Overall, we placed 5th, which is quite good considering the complexity of our idea. We scored higher than any other team on the business plan, but we struggled with the 3-minute pitch. It is much easier to talk about a more traditional type of company in a 3-minute pitch. We are encouraged by the fact that many great technology companies have had this same problem and difficulty. To quickly pitch a new or cutting edge technology is very difficult. IBM has an infamous story for when they tried to pitch the personal computer and were laughed at by the CEO of an early computer company who said no one would ever want a personal computer in their home. Yahoo! also entered into their school’s business plan competition and were kicked out much earlier in the competition than Novel Conception was!

It is only now in retrospect really easy for us all to understand the use of the PC or Yahoo!, and many other similarly innovative technologies, as these technologies are now much more a part of mainstream society.

The business plan competition gave us an avenue to help hone how we present the company. Despite not winning the business plan competition we have received an incredible amount of investor interest because of the potential for such a high return with a relatively risk-mitigated new venture.

We are fully confident that Novel Conception will move forward in its development and succeed in our goals.

T.R.: What does a Novel Conception LLC game have that Blizzard or Turbine games don’t?

B.O.: We are currently not discussing the specific details of our flagship product. However, I can say that we intend to create a new standard for MMO development. We will swiftly build our brand around this standard, and anticipate being the category killer for product innovation within the MMO industry. This industry needs Novel Conception, LLC.

T.R.: With all of the advances in game technology do you see Novel Conception ever getting into non-game-related ventures?

B.O.: Without question. The opportunity in the virtual environment space is growing phenomenally.

The above character model was distributed in early 2007. It is unknown if this model will ship at release time.

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