Justin Peress
Justin Peress

From an early age, Justin Peress always knew finance would be his path. Inspired by entrepreneurs and fascinated by the mechanics of how businesses grow, he saw finance not just as a career but as a way to support innovators. What he didn't foresee, however, was that his financial expertise would one day make him a pivotal figure in the gaming industry, an industry with extraordinary creativity but a desperate need for business acumen.

"I grew up in an entrepreneurial house. My dad was a business owner, so I was always surrounded by those kinds of conversations," Peress recalls. After studying finance at university, he began his career in a family office, where he gained exposure to virtually every investable asset class, from venture capital to non-traditional investments. "It gave me a generalist perspective on investing," he said, "but I was always drawn to the operational conversations."

That curiosity led him into private equity, where he helped acquire and integrate mission-critical vertical market software companies. From there, he moved over as the Head of Finance at a hedge fund, where he continued to hone his ability to analyze, structure, and grow businesses. But the real turning point in his career came from closer to home.

In 2021, Peress's brother-in-law had just created a Roblox game that was exploding in popularity. The game had millions of players, but little strategy around monetization or long-term growth. That's when he consulted Peress.

What Peress saw stunned him: brilliant creative work, much of it from teenagers, without the professional infrastructure to capture its true value. "These ROBLOXIANS are unbelievable creatives," he explains. "But at times, they lacked the expertise to promote themselves, structure deals, and defend the value of what they had built."

Peress quickly proved the difference a financial mind could make. Recognizing the game's massive anime-driven audience, he sought new revenue streams. He brokered a partnership with an ad tech company, making the game their first scaled Roblox game to run in-game advertising.

The success drew the attention of Gamefam, a venture-backed, professional Roblox studio. Initially, their offer to acquire the game did not reflect its full value. But once Peress stepped in, he negotiated a deal worth multiples more than the original offer. "It wasn't about anyone acting maliciously," he clarified. "It's just different when a professional is at the table. A teenager may see hundreds of thousands of dollars, and there is no doubt that it's life-changing money. But when you've transacted on dozens of deals, you know what true value actually looks like. I can appreciate that from both sides of the table,"

That experience opened Peress's eyes to the broader landscape. Roblox, one of the fastest-growing gaming ecosystems, was being built by a wave of young developers who lacked the knowledge to protect themselves. Deals were being struck without contracts or with terms that undervalued creators. The industry, he realized, didn't just need more investors; it needed professionals who could raise the standard of transactions across the board.

In early 2022, Peress joined Gamefam, leading finance and structuring brand partnerships with some of the world's most recognizable companies. But his passion remained with the creators themselves, the people building the games. When the opportunity came to join Do Big Studios, he seized it.

Founded in 2020, Do Big Studios has established itself as one of Roblox's most innovative forces. The studio not only develops chart-topping games but also invests in creators, helping them professionalize their work and scale their communities. For Peress, becoming CFO was a chance to return to the side of the business he loved most: empowering developers.

"My job is structuring deals, helping creators set up their accounting, getting lawyers to review contracts, basically making sure they're protected as this space grows more complex," says Peress.

Already, the studio has made history. The company recently surpassed 35 million peak concurrent users across the Do Big Portfolio, accounting for north of 70% of Roblox peak engagement.

For Peress, the work is about more than just numbers. It's personal. "It's super important to me because my brother-in-law was one of these developers," he said. "I saw firsthand what it was like to navigate those challenging conversations. So now, I see it as a responsibility to make sure these creators receive fair and incentive-aligned deals."

That sense of duty is transforming not just individual careers, but entire communities. By ensuring fair deals and better financial structures, Peress and Do Big Studios are helping young creators turn passion projects into sustainable businesses. "You're changing entire families' trajectories," he emphasized. "You're supporting communities."

Justin Peress may not have set out to be a gaming executive, but his unconventional journey has become a boon for the industry. By bridging the gap between creativity and capital, he has helped professionalize a space that sorely needed it.

"Some people see finance as a way to extract value," Peress reflects. "But I see it as a way to create value, by making sure creators get what they deserve, and by raising the standards for everyone in the ecosystem."