In this episode of the iGaming Leader Podcast, Leo sits down with Savvas Fellas, founder and CEO of MrQ, the bootstrap challenger brand that decided the UK gambling industry's nonsense had gone on long enough. Growing up on a council estate in Birmingham, Savvas built his way into iGaming through SEO, affiliates, and white-label operations before a simple question changed everything: why is the player experience still so bad? In 2018, he launched MrQ with no external funding, no wagering requirements, no smoke and mirrors, just a product built on the belief that players deserve better. The conversation covers how he scaled to 200 people, why building the right C-suite nearly broke him, how MrQ responded to the UK's 40% gambling tax shock, and why he believes the next frontier of real money entertainment is shared, synchronous, and nothing like a slot machine. Guest Bio Savvas Fellas is the founder and CEO of MrQ and Lindar Media. Starting out in digital marketing and affiliate SEO in London, he identified the gaps in the player experience from both sides of the fence before deciding to build his own platform from scratch. MrQ launched in 2018 as a fully bootstrapped, UK-focused online casino built around fairness and transparency: no fees, no wagering requirements, no complexity. Under Savvas's leadership, MrQ has grown into one of the UK's fastest-rising gaming brands, backed by partnerships with Watford FC, the World Snooker Tour, UFC, and boxing with Queensbury and DAZN. Key Topics Discussed 00:00 – "How hard can it be?" The frustration that started MrQ.05:00 – Running both sides of the fence as advertiser and affiliate publisher.09:00 – MrQ's six core values and how they shape every interview.11:00 – The secret sauce: mission, vision, and values as a decision-making framework.13:00 – Shiny objects and one-way door decisions: staying focused when everything is calling.18:00 – The C-suite problem: why building the right leadership team took eight years.24:00 – "What got you here won't get you there": managing the human cost of restructuring.27:00 – The tech vs. product realisation: the mistake that cost MrQ years of momentum.32:00 – The 40% tax shock: MrQ's response and why Savvas thinks the government is reckless.35:00 – Creating a common enemy: how the tax change rallied the whole team.38:00 – Shifting the paradigm: why real money entertainment doesn't have to mean slots.42:00 – What Savvas would tell his earlier self about building the C-suite faster. Memorable Quotes "The frustration started to brew. I couldn't get anything over the line. Eventually I was like, 'Do you know what? F**k this. How hard can it be?'" "Have a very clear mission and clear vision and values that underpin your behaviours and your collective personality. The first principles in which you make your day-to-day decisions should be your value framework. That's the secret sauce." "I don't wanna tell you that you can't do the job when I don't even know what the job is. I'll run you through this programme and they'll benchmark you. And I said: if I don't benchmark either, I'll also step aside." "This government does not have an idea of how business works. They've never been in business. How can you be okay with £500,000 going into the black market knowing that people are going to be put in front of risk?" "We sell entertainment. Can we shift the paradigm of what real money entertainment is? That's the headline." "The genius with a thousand helpers are the good companies. But you take them out and the thing should still perform as good if not better." Key Takeaways First Principles Over Pattern Matching: The best founders don't ask "this worked over there, will it work here?" They break the problem down to bare bones, challenge every assumption, and build back up. MrQ's entire product philosophy, from no wagering requirements to synchronous entertainment, is first principles thinking applied consistently. Values as a Decision-Making Framework: MrQ's six values (We Own It, We Challenge Everything, We Win as One, We Care by Design, We Play Smart Long Games, We Get Shit Done) are not a wall poster. They are the filter through which every hire, every decision, and every strategic debate runs. That's the difference between a culture and a slogan. The Tech vs. Product Mistake: Savvas spent years solving a technology problem that had already become a product problem. More engineers without product ownership produces nothing. Recognising when the nature of the bottleneck has fundamentally changed is one of the most important and most missed leadership calls in a scaling business. Management Debt Is Exponential: Every hard decision deferred compounds. Savvas learned this when he reversed a C-suite appointment in front of his entire leadership team. The earlier you reverse a wrong call, the less it costs. Waiting does not make it easier; it makes it more expensive. The Common Enemy Playbook: When the UK's 40% gambling tax landed, MrQ reframed it immediately. The threat was not internal. It was the black market. That reframe turned a business crisis into a team rallying point and a brand differentiator. Founder Mode vs. CEO Mode: Great companies transcend their founders. Good ones collapse when the founder leaves. The distinction is whether the leader has built an organisation that runs on mission and values or one that runs on their own energy and oversight. Savvas's goal is the former. Important Links Follow Savvas Fellas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/savvas-fellas/Follow Leo Judkins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-judkins/Subscribe to the iGaming Leader newsletter: https://www.igamingleader.com/signupJoin the iGaming Leader Mastermind: https://www.igamingleader.com/ This episode is sponsored by Sumsub, the leading identity verification provider for iGaming operators. Learn more at https://sumsub.link/8gu
