Dennis “TaKe” Gehlen is a legend within the esports community. An RTS player with a talent for entrepreneurship, TaKe turned to streaming when his Warcraft III talents failed to translate well into StarCraft II. He soon created a brand for his stream, TaKeTV, and started pumping out content. TaKe and his channel quickly became synonymous with entertaining, high-quality—and sometimes controversial—esports programming.

It wasn’t long before TaKeTV grew into an esports mainstay, most-recognized for his personal tournament, the HomeStory Cup, which featured top StarCraft 2 players hanging out in his apartment and competing. It grew notorious for having some of the most risque content in esports—including players getting lapdances on stream—but also had some of the most entertaining SC2 matches around.

We sat down with TaKe to learn how exactly he became so popular, what he thinks of today’s esports industry, and what he hopes to accomplish in the future.

What exactly is TaKeTV? What does it look like today, and what are your biggest events, like the HomeStory Cup?

Dennis Gehlen: TaKeTV is a gaming and esports TV channel that I founded in 2010, and now exists as four different channels that feature different eSports titles. We aim to cast the best matches in the world, in German and English, from our very own studio that we built. It’s almost 2000m² large and includes the TaKeTV Bar, along with a lot of nice areas like a cinema that shows top gaming events, couches where you can just chill, and gaming areas where people can play table-soccer, arcade machines and much more.

The HomeStory Cup is one of our own tournaments, and it typically includes 32 players from all over the world facing each other in StarCraft II. It’s more or less where everything started with TaKeTV. We host these events from our studio and invite “friends and family,” so not only the players, but also any fans, even international ones, that want to come to watch awesome games and just have fun. These days, we also have tournaments for Counter-Strike and Hearthstone, and we might have it for Heroes of the Storm, too.

What are your daily tasks at TaKeTV? What is running a studio/bar like?

DG: As a guy who likes to have an eye on everything, I have to be everywhere at all times. It’s a lot of work! My main tasks are actually handling active partners and sponsorships, but I still cast games from time to time, which I used to do way more in the past. I also handle human resources for a staff of around 20 people, and have to keep an eye on our finances. Finally, I have to push all the different projects that we have, create contracts for new projects and offers, visit partners, along with always being on the lookout for new ideas.

Running a bar is actually a lot of work, too, and you have to be passionate to make it nice and successful. It’s nice to have interaction with fans, especially when I get to have a beer with them, but I also have to stay up late more often. I live directly above the bar, but it’s still sometimes a pain! Really though, it’s a hobby come true.

What did you do before TaKeTV? Tell us how your esports career started.

I used to be a pro-gamer for team OCRANA, and later moved to SK Gaming and played Warcraft III. I actually won some stuff and represented Germany at events like ESWC. I won a Smart Roadstart back then, which was worth like €20,000, a really big deal at the time!

I won some titles and had the chance to travel to a lot of countries. It was a great experience. I started kinda early to be a guest on GIGA TV, and also ESL TV, and was recruited in 2006 to GIGA where I started my career as a host, commentator and editor. Later on, I moved to ESL TV where I hosted events like IEM & EPS and casted a lot of different games. I mainly casted strategy games, and started to organize my first online and offline leagues and tournaments.

So in total, I played professionally five years, did casting for ESL and GIGA for another five years, and now another five years self-employed. That makes 15 years of esports!

Do you have any advice for graduates and others looking to enter the esports industry?

You need to be a “try hard,” and put in both, a lot of effort but also a lot of time to have the chance to get a cool job in esports. The good thing is, that there’s still a lot of space for jobs and good people in the industry. It’s not easy to make money out of it, or “good money,” at least in the beginning, but it starts to be worth it for people who have been in the industry for a long time and who do a good job. Make sure you know what you want to do, and I’m sure you can a job that suits you, whether you want to be a caster or even just a technical guy behind a camera.

You offer apprenticeships at TaKeTV. What are your training programs about?

The goal of the apprenticeship program is to give people various experiences to help them understand what they want to do. So we give those people the opportunity to work in multiple areas in our company. Mainly, that’s going to be production of shows and events, but there’s also project work with partners, video editing, and editorial work.

What kind of careers are needed most in esports in general?

People with strong technical skills are always a must-have, especially people who know the new broadcast techniques most of the events use (like ATEM, etc.). There’s also a need for people with a lot of contacts deep into the esports industry that can help create new business relationships and do sales and marketing.

Where do you see yourself and where the industry five years from now?

I actually have no clue where I will be in five years. Time in esports runs so fast, even five years ago I never thought I would be running a studio like this. I just hope that I continue to have a role in esports, and to help it grow step-by-step. I think and hope that we continue to be one of the bigger content creators in Germany, and that we remain known for providing different and unique content. But in general, I think it will be way more mainstream in the future, and will keep filling more big halls and stadiums. I think esports will be on TV much more often, and will have even bigger viewership numbers online.

Last but not least: What’s the best way to enjoy TaKeTV?

You can always find us on www.TaKeTV.net for our online streams, and if you ever have the chance to visit Krefeld, you should come visit us in person! We open every day at 5 PM and you might even get to meet me in person. I’m usually around every day around until midnight.