Kinda Funny co-founder Greg Miller values connection with audience

Greg Miller doesn’t like to describe his followers as fans. Instead, he calls them his best friends. While that may be a buzzword for some, for Miller, co-founder of Kinda Funny, it’s how he’s operated his entire career.

“By listening in on me hanging out with my friends, you get to know me in a way that people I would consider my real-life best friends, my parents, don’t know me,” Miller said. “You get into such a minutia on somebody’ soul and even though I don’t get to hear the person who’s telling me the same information, I understand the connection we have.”

Miller’s path toward starting Kinda Funny began early.

“I was in fourth grade and I had an issue of GamePro magazine and on the cover was the Death and Return of Superman and on the inside was Maximum Carnage,” Miller said. “I read it cover to cover every night for the first month I had it.”

It was then that Miller had a revelation.

“It finally dawned on me that an adult got paid to write these words,” Miller said. “So, I snatched the magazine and I walked into the kitchen and my mom was cooking and I said, ‘mom, I figured out what I want to do with my life. I want to write about video games.’”

After graduating from college with a journalism degree, Miller thought he was set and that gaming publications would welcome him with open arms. Turns out it was a little more difficult than that. Miller applied at multiple publications, including 12 times at IGN.

“Nobody would touch me with a nine-foot pole,” Miller said.

Instead of writing about video games, Miller found himself as a general assignment reporter at a local newspaper.

After a year at a local paper, Miller started writing a video game column and kept a daily blog going.

“I begged and begged and begged,” Miller said. “They gave me a column in their magazine insert. It was a matter of they still think I’m a general assignment reporter covering everything and anything. Now, I’m their video game journalist and they don’t know it.”

Six months after starting his column, he applied to IGN for the 13th time since graduating from college.

This time, things were different.

“I got contacted, interviewed and hired within 24 hours, so overnight my dreams came true,” Miller said.

When Miller arrived at IGN in 2007, in addition to his writing duties, he started appearing on camera and was one of the founding members of Beyond, IGN’s PlayStation podcast.

During his time at IGN, Miller established himself as a writer and a podcast and video host and began to stand out for the way he married games and his personal life in his work.

“I write the way I would talk to my best friend in my basement about games,” Miller said. “To this day, that’s how I podcast. I’ve learned the sacred space we inhabit with people. I’m with you for your best times and I’m with you for your worst.”

That has gone both ways, with Miller sharing his highs and lows, including a divorce from his first wife and battling cancer. In both instances, it was never a question of whether to share his struggles.

“It all goes back to Superman and being truthful,” Miller said. “I couldn’t ever lie to my audience. I know so many people use authenticity or best friends and say it’s all buzzwords and marketing. Legitimately the only commodity we have is authenticity and being ourselves. When the bad started to come out like the divorce or cancer, it was never even a question.”

While Miller loved IGN, in 2012, he started a YouTube channel that would eventually become Kinda Funny. At first, he made videos with some of his IGN co-workers as a way to learn how to use Adobe Premiere and make “dumb” videos. But things began to change and before long, they started making money off the channel.

“In the summer of 2014, we had a meeting,” Miller said. “It was this conversation of could we do this full time? Could we break away? We said everyone go home and come back with the number you need to survive, which is paying your rent, paying your car and you’re eating ramen noodles.”

The numbers they returned with didn’t give them hope.

“It was a universal, oof, OK, maybe in a year-and-a-half to two years, we’ll be able to make this,” Miller said.

Two months later, things would change drastically.

“I went to another Vid Con,” Miller said. “On the way there, Tim showed me an article on Patreon and said, when we get back, we should look into it.”

While at Vid Con, some fans began chatting with them. One of them had a Patreon shirt on.

“I’m like, oh my gosh, you know the Patreon guys,” Miller said. “One of them is like, yeah, I’m the vice president.”

After meeting with Patreon, they launched their first Patreon in August of 2014. Within 24 hours, Patron supporters had pledged $10,000 for the first month.

In January 2015, Miller, Colin Moriarty, Nick Scarpino and Tim Gettys left IGN to work on Kinda Funny full time. Kinda Funny now has nine full-time employees. But, his goal isn’t to build a large company. He wants to continue making content that connects with his audience — the same goal he’s had since the day he started.

“We’re not trying to explode,” Miller said. “That’s not where our power is. Our power is our personal connection to our audience. It’s the same story as it was on Jan. 5, 2015. We’re not building this for you, we’re building this with you.”

Contact Lukas Eggen at leggen@reviewjournal.com or702-383-0279. Follow @lukaseggen on Twitter.