Tweet
Steam Boss Gabe Newell Supports More Than Just Games
Valve founder and CEO Gabe Newell has investments that expand out of the video game industry and into the culinary world, it seems. Speaking to Eater in an interview, Newell reveals how he came across online culinary school ChefSteps and came to invest in the company in 2013.
How did this investment happen? Newell had won an auction at his son's middle school, which ended up being a dinner for ten cooked by Chris Young, who is now ChefSteps' CEO, and Grant Crilly. The dinner sparked a meeting which eventually saw Newell's son develop an interest in cooking; an interest which inspired Newell to start a conversation with Young and Crilly.
Valve is not formally affiliated with ChefSteps, the latter of which is a privately funded company. Newell himself is not a shareholder in ChefSteps, nor does he hold any ownership in it. Instead, he supports ChefSteps through the form of a "low-interest loan." ChefSteps recently released a video on YouTube featuring its upcoming new sous vide contraption called Joule. Newell makes a cameo in the video at the 1:29 mark, which you can watch in the embed above.
In other Valve-related news, the company launched its line-up of Steam Machines in North America and Europe earlier this month. The PCs were designed to challenge consoles for space in the living room. In the lead-up to launch, Newell said that Steam Machines outperformed consoles at the same price point. Check out the full specifications and prices of Steam Machines from Alienware, Zotac, and Syber.
Newell is not the only one who's branched from the video game industry into the culinary world. BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk left the company in 2013 to pursue another passion, going on to create a web series about craft beer.
More...
How did this investment happen? Newell had won an auction at his son's middle school, which ended up being a dinner for ten cooked by Chris Young, who is now ChefSteps' CEO, and Grant Crilly. The dinner sparked a meeting which eventually saw Newell's son develop an interest in cooking; an interest which inspired Newell to start a conversation with Young and Crilly.
Valve is not formally affiliated with ChefSteps, the latter of which is a privately funded company. Newell himself is not a shareholder in ChefSteps, nor does he hold any ownership in it. Instead, he supports ChefSteps through the form of a "low-interest loan." ChefSteps recently released a video on YouTube featuring its upcoming new sous vide contraption called Joule. Newell makes a cameo in the video at the 1:29 mark, which you can watch in the embed above.
In other Valve-related news, the company launched its line-up of Steam Machines in North America and Europe earlier this month. The PCs were designed to challenge consoles for space in the living room. In the lead-up to launch, Newell said that Steam Machines outperformed consoles at the same price point. Check out the full specifications and prices of Steam Machines from Alienware, Zotac, and Syber.
Newell is not the only one who's branched from the video game industry into the culinary world. BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk left the company in 2013 to pursue another passion, going on to create a web series about craft beer.
More...