#49 - Jenny Xu: From Indie Game Dev to CEO & Staying Focused Under Pressure

Today's guest is Jenny Xu, a long-distance runner, Forbes 30 Under 30, and CEO of Talofa Games.

Jenny breaks down her wild journey from making 100+ games as a kid to raising $6M and building Monster Walk, a genre-bending fitness RPG. We dig into founder focus, beating overwhelm, fundraising reality, personal identity, creative intuition, and the life moments that shaped her.

If you’re building games, raising money, or trying to stay disciplined as a founder, this episode is for you.

Connect with Jenny:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xujennyc/Monster walk: https://linktr.ee/talofa

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Chapters:00:00 Intro03:14 How Jenny started making games at 12 (anime, Pokémon, Flash)05:25 Paying for college with mobile games07:24 Edgy genres, horror dating sims, and internet anonymity10:29 How to make streamers pick up your game (real strategy)13:41 Building Talofa: combining fitness + games15:15 Monster Walk deep dive: world, mechanics, steps16:48 Behaviour change through game design18:22 Mission-driven recruiting & team motivation19:27 Fundraising reality: insecurity, desperation, and losing confidence21:53 The turning point: pitching from personal truth24:56 Why she taught fitness every single day for 3 years27:16 Jenny's 'almost quit' story & getting into the Niantic contest32:10 “Applying to everything” & creating your own luck36:34 Founder focus: events, burnout, and intentional calendars42:56 Calendar engineering, morning vs. evening energy45:42 Remote work strategies, treadmill calls, and keeping energy up47:45 What she’d do differently when building the first product51:18 Filtering feedback without losing creative vision53:34 The emotional story: surprising her parents with a wedding59:44 Life timing, gratitude, and closing reflections