We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alex Berner, Chase Harris, Jason Kovalski a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Alex Berner, Chase Harris, Jason Kovalski, thanks for joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?
Answered by Alex Berner – CEO & Main Composer, Founder
Success means different things to different people, so the first step is defining what success looks like for you. Is it a balanced life doing what you love with the people you care about? Is it financial freedom by 40, followed by wild adventures that lead to enlightenment? Whatever it is, take the time to understand yourself and be honest about your goals. Success should be yours, not someone else’s idea that you’ve unconsciously adopted. And if you know you’ve set the bar high, don’t shy away from acknowledging it—that clarity will be your compass.
Once you’ve defined success, it’s time to embrace the reality: achieving it often involves pain. That pain could be stress, rejection, failure, or the grueling grind of doing hard things for years, with little reward. Your ability to endure this depends on your ‘why.’ If your purpose is strong enough, it becomes the fuel that gets you through the rough patches. Without it, the tough days might break you. Think of it like Lord of the Rings: how much of that journey was fun for Frodo? Not much! But he had a purpose that kept him going, and he had a team to support him. The same is true for you—success isn’t a solo mission. You need allies, even if some of them turn out to be a bit of a Boromir.
That said, it’s not just about persistence or passion—it’s also about strategy. As Roger Martin explains in Where to Play, How to Win, strategic success is rooted in making hard choices about where to focus your efforts and where not to. You need to define your playing field (where to play) and your approach to winning within it (how to win).
For us at Pocket Bard, our where to play was clear: we identified game masters as an underserved audience—people looking for a simple audio solution for their games that genuinely saves them time and attention, rather than demanding more of it. Our how to win is by focusing exclusively on making our product simple, adaptive, and intuitive. This design philosophy is the cornerstone of everything we build, and it guides our decisions every step of the way. It also means rejecting ideas—even exciting or highly requested ones—that fall outside this philosophy. While it can be tempting to chase after flashy features or implement every suggestion, staying true to our focus ensures that we deliver a cohesive and impactful experience.
Graham Weaver’s advice has always stuck with me: “Do hard things. Do your thing. Do it for decades. Write your story.” Your success is on the other side of “worse first.” If you’re aiming for success, you have to be willing to do things others won’t. That usually means pain, suffering, discouragement, and risk. But here’s the question to ask yourself: If you fail, will you still be grateful you tried? If the answer is yes, you’re on the right track.
Finally, I think it’s important to touch on what success looks like from a business perspective. At its core, it’s about solving a real problem that people genuinely need help with. The severity of the problem, the urgency of the need, and the scale of the audience all determine the value of your solution. At Pocket Bard, we found our niche by offering something new in a world where most people are asking for your attention—we’re giving you savings on it. That’s not easy—it’s the result of thoughtful strategy, perseverance, and constantly learning from experience.
Here’s what I’ve learned about what it takes to be successful:
Build something of real value. Focus on creating something meaningful and useful, not just trendy.
Develop grit. Learn what ‘hard’ feels like and build your tolerance for it. Success isn’t easy.
Think strategically. Make hard choices about what you will and won’t do. Focus on where to play and how to win.
Listen selectively. Not all advice is good advice. Learn to trust your instincts.
Be authentic. Pretending takes energy that’s better spent on building something real.
Commit long-term. Avoid shiny objects and stay the course. Hard things take time, sometimes years.
Ultimately, success isn’t guaranteed. But if you are honest with yourself and others, stay true to your goals, and embrace the challenges of the journey, you’ll have written a story worth telling—and that, in itself, is a kind of success.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
*Chase & Alex both have backgrounds in video game audio, which might be important context for this answer.
Answered by Chase Harris – Chief Audio Officer & Developer, Founder
We’re Pocket Bard, and we build the simplest and easiest-to-use immersive audio app for Tabletop Role-Playing Games. It all started back in 2019 when I (Chase) was first introduced to Dungeons & Dragons. I was immediately hooked by the immersive storytelling and the cooperative gameplay. My Dungeon Master was great — he did voices for the different characters, had miniatures and terrains to play on, and even put on music and lowered the lights to sell the mood of the story. But there was a problem: when the action in the game changed, changing the music to match was a headache. Our DM had to move over to his laptop, find the right playlist, and skip to the next song. If it wasn’t quite right, he might have to tweak it, and in the meantime, the momentum of the moment would be lost.
However, I saw an opportunity and immediately took it to Alex, our now-CEO. What if we could build an app that took everything we knew about interactive music and sound for video games and made it work for D&D? What if all that fussing with playlists and sound effects could be reduced to a few simple controls that let the DM focus on the game? Thus, the first idea was born. For the first few years, we worked on the idea on and off. We brought in Jason, our CTO, and eventually formed an LLC. The rest is history, and we’ve been improving and learning ever since.
We’re a small company with big ideas and a specific vision: immersive audio for tabletop gaming should be simple.
In my estimation, our biggest strength is what we’ve referred to as Product Focus. Every decision we make gets filtered through our vision and our core promises for our users: make it simple, adaptive, and seamless. Sometimes that’s hard because it means choosing between focusing on our vision and broadening our audience. As a technology company, we often think, “Oh, what if we add a feature that did *this*?” and we get lots of feedback like that, too. Extra features are awesome! However, as tempting as those ideas are (because they’re often legitimately good ideas), we pass them through our Product First filter all the same. Ideas that don’t pass muster don’t make it into the app. In practice, that often means we build a more deeply satisfying experience for a slightly smaller slice of the market. That’s okay! We would rather have a solid audience that’s deeply satisfied than a larger audience that just thinks we’re mediocre.
So, what does that look like when the rubber meets the road? Let’s take a look at our flagship feature, the Intensity Slider. A simple slider allows flexible control over the arrangement of the music in real time. As the adventure changes different situations might call for music that’s more or less “intense”. Pocket Bard’s Intensity Slider lets users change the arrangement of the music in real time with a single control – different instruments will come in and out, and the music might play different parts, all depending on the position of that slider. This allows our users to very quickly dial in settings that work for their game, then focus their attention back on their story, all with seamless transitions.
This all solves a core problem for TTRPG players — since there is no technology inherent to playing the game, and it mostly takes place in the imaginations of the players, the action is unpredictable. So, matching the soundscapes to the story requires a lot of flexibility. That’s what we provide, and that’s what makes Pocket Bard special.
One of the things we’re most proud of isn’t just the app itself, but the innovation behind how we create its music. We’ve always strived for quality, not just in the product but in the user experience. Every sound in Pocket Bard was crafted with care and attention, including some music made with live studio recordings designed specifically for interactive playback. For example, when creating the Tavern music, we collaborated with two incredible songwriters, Josie Palmer and Tom Maroon, and faced the unique challenge of recording music that could dynamically adapt to gameplay. Pushing the boundaries of live music for an interactive platform has been both thrilling and demanding, but the results speak for themselves. We celebrated this achievement with a launch event that brought our community together, a reminder that every innovation is in service of the people who use Pocket Bard.
The support of the community has been one of the most rewarding parts of this journey. Every year, we go to PAX Unplugged, a tabletop gaming industry convention. This past year, our third time going, our hearts were filled by the number of times people came up to the booth or recognized us in the hallways and said, “Hey! Pocket Bard! We love you guys and we use you in our games now!” Hearing those words never gets old, and it reminds us why we’re here.
Pocket Bard is built on the belief that immersive audio should respect your attention and enhance your time with friends, not take away from it. Dungeon Masters already have a lot to juggle—storytelling, rule arbitration, managing player actions—so we set out to solve a problem that goes beyond just getting the music and sound right for D&D. It’s about making sure the story shines while we handle the rest. From the beginning, we’ve aimed to keep things simple and seamless, and I think that’s why the community has been so warm, understanding, and supportive.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
Answered by Jason Kovalski – Chief Technology Officer & Developer, Founder
In my experience, the key to managing a team and maintaining high morale lies in empowerment, empathy, and creating a positive work environment. Every individual is unique, so it’s important to take the time to understand each team member’s needs, goals, and personality. By recognizing their strengths and providing the tools, opportunities, and trust they need to succeed, you enable them to bring their best selves to their work.
Empathy is equally crucial. Ensuring team members feel supported, valued, and understood fosters a sense of belonging and trust. Regular, transparent communication and meaningful connections go a long way in creating a culture where people feel safe to contribute and grow.
A great manager builds an environment where performance and well-being coexist. High morale naturally emerges from a team that feels purpose-driven, aligned, and connected. When people feel empowered, supported, and trusted, they are motivated to excel—not because they have to, but because they want to.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Answered by Jason Kovalski – Chief Technology Officer & Developer, Founder
We’ve experienced our fair share of pivots at Pocket Bard, and we’re currently navigating a significant one. The development of our product began with game engines like Unity and later Godot before transitioning to .NET MAUI for cross-platform development, which we believed would be our third and final rewrite. After nearly two years with .NET MAUI—grappling with platform instability and slow ecosystem growth—we faced a familiar yet difficult decision: continue working around its limitations or rebuild the app with a completely new tech stack. The idea of another rewrite was daunting, but the longer we pushed forward, the clearer it became that a pivot was necessary.
After thoroughly evaluating our business and product strategy, we decided to invest in a new set of technologies to power the next generation of Pocket Bard. Over the coming months, we’ll be working hard to navigate this transition and deliver a significantly improved product built on a stronger foundation.
While pivots aren’t easy, they are often necessary for long-term growth and success. They require courage, careful evaluation, and a willingness to embrace change when the path forward demands it. By staying focused on the bigger picture, we’ve been able to view this pivot not as a setback, but as an opportunity to build something better.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pocketbard.app
- Instagram: @pocket_bard
- Facebook: Pocket Bard
- Linkedin: Pocket Bard
- Youtube: @pocketbard
- Other: BlueSky @pocketbard.bsky.social
*Our digital media kit with our brand assets is located in the FAQ section of our website.
