Rizwan (“Riz”) Virk is a successful entrepreneur, investor, bestselling author, video game industry pioneer, and indie film producer. Riz received a B.S. in Computer Science from MIT, and a M.S. in Management from Stanford's GSB.
Riz is the founder of Play Labs @ MIT, a startup accelerator held on campus at the MIT Game Lab. He also runs Bayview Labs and is a venture partner with two VC funds, Ridge Ventures and Griffin Gaming Partners.
Riz is a prolific Silicon Valley angel investor, having invested in many startups including Tapjoy, Telltale Games, Discord, Funzio (sold to GREE), Pocket Gems, Moon Express, Theta Labs, Bitmovio and many others. His video games have included Tap Fish, Penny Dreadful: Demimonde and Grimm: Cards of Fate.
Riz has produced many indie films (imdb link), including Thrive, Sirius, Knights of Badassdom, starring Peter Dinklage and Summer Glau, The CW's The Outpost, as well as adaptations of the works of Philip K. Dick and Ursula K. Le Guin.
Riz’s books include Startup Myths & Models, The Simulation Hypothesis, Zen Entrepreneurship, and Treasure Hunt: Follow Your Inner Clues to Find True Success.
Riz has been featured in Inc. Magazine, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, Tech Crunch, Gamasutra, Venture Beat, Hackernoon, Vox.com, NBC News.com.
He speaks regularly on subjects such as startups, video games, meditation and career success both in person and online. He has been interviewed extensively ranging from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to Inside Edition Digital, Coast to Coast AM and CBC's Tapestry.
He lives in Mountain View, CA and Cambridge, MA.
