Podcasts about applovin

After years of saying not yet, Sensor Tower finally estimated mobile ad revenue, and the number is $12 billion for 2025.Sam, their lead gaming insights analyst, walks through how the estimates were built and why $12 billion is a conservative floor. We get into why puzzle pulls more than half of all gaming ad revenue, how AppLovin keeps eating share while smaller networks shrink, the non-gaming advertisers like Temu, Shein and finance apps flooding into gaming inventory, and why AP-focused hybrids out-earn ad-first hybrids by 4x.CHAPTERS: 00:00 Why Ads Were Opaque01:07 How Sensor Tower Models Ads02:31 The 12 Billion Headline04:00 Coverage Countries Networks06:07 Ads Versus IAP D2C08:52 Non Gaming Demand Surge12:55 Network Share Winners15:15 AppLovin Take Rate Debate19:04 Puzzle Dominates Ad Revenue26:17 Hybrid Casual Economics30:25 Studio Strategy And Wrap

Here's a first: we reviewed the copy, not the original. Colony Flow is an ant-themed "destroy the picture" puzzler that's doing an estimated $150K/day — and it's currently being sued over. The crew digs into the game, the monetization trick underneath it, and what the lawsuit might mean for the entire copycat economy.We break down Colony Flow (by OneSoft/ABI Games) — a sort puzzler in the "destroy the picture" genre where a colony of ants slowly carries colored cubes off a picture into your bench. The standout is the monetization: the ants are deliberately slow, which creates constant friction that the game resolves with a rewarded-video (or premium-currency) speed-up. We cover the standard sort-puzzler feature set , the numbers (~100K downloads/day rising to ~200K in July, ~$150K/day IAP with likely 40-50%+ on top from ads), and the UA (~600 creatives, ~90% AppLovin and Mintegral, zero Facebook — because blended campaigns just don't work there). The through-line: the copy is outscaling debate, the friction mechanic is genuinely smart, and this lawsuit could set a precedent for the whole clone economy.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 We're reviewing the copy — the lawsuit setup02:40 The game — ants destroying the picture04:00 Why the ant pathfinding points to Pixel Flow06:10 Slow on purpose — the friction-into-rewarded-ad mechanic09:00 Blockers, fake "daily rewards," and the feature set13:00 The numbers — $150K/day and the Famfinity lawsuit20:00 The creatives — 600 ads, AppLovin & Mintegral, no Facebook29:30 What the lawsuit means for the copycat economyThis episode is brought to you by Kinoa — the AI operating system for mobile game operations: flows, live segments, in-app messages, push notifications, and A/B testing in one place, run by the operators who own the numbers. Carry1st saw +43% ARPDAU; PlayStudios saw +31% revenue on Tetris Block Party. Learn more at Kinoa.http://www.kinoa.ai?utm_source=MatejPodcast&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=Matej+Podcast&utm_id=100--------------------------------------PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.- Scale fast- Keep your shares- Drawdown only as needed- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investors---------------------------------------For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.Our sponsor FastSpring:Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 yearsThey power top mobile publishers around the worldLaunch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultant⁠https://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultant⁠https://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultant⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiarPlease share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

The EU just fined Google €890M for making it hard to steer users to cheaper web stores — another crack in the 30% wall, and genuinely good news for every developer. That's the lead of a quieter, summer-holiday news week, with Felix flying solo while Matej and Jakub are at ChinaJoy.Felix Braberg walks two stories and a charts tour. First, the European Commission fined Google €890M (split €460M + €430M) under the Digital Markets Act for antitrust practices — preventing developers from freely informing users about cheaper offers and steering them to web stores or third-party channels. Google has 60 days to comply or face periodic penalties of up to 5% of worldwide turnover (~$403B), and it's another blow in the slow unwinding of the 30% app-store tax that companies like FastSpring exist to route around. Second, a Seeking Alpha analysis argues the market keeps underestimating AppLovin: the stock came under pressure in 2026 (swept up in the "SaaS apocalypse" sell-off after the CloudX agentic-buying launch), but the fundamentals are strong, the gaming runway is bigger than assumed, and as the dominant mediation player (AppLovin Max), it holds a structural advantage. Then the US charts: Smash Fest (Flow Games, Turkey) is now #1 in free downloads — beating Roblox — followed by Meow Doku and Vita Mahjong (same studio), with the standout story being that a copycat of Smash Fest (Royal Smash by Cypher Games) has itself cracked the top six out of ~70 clones. Plus Level Devil sold and scaling under new ownership, EA Sports FC still strong post-World Cup, and Turkey vs China duking it out for chart dominance.The through-line of a quiet week: the 30% tax keeps cracking, AppLovin keeps winning, and the copycat economy is faster and more brutal than ever.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 Solo news week — Matej and Jakub at ChinaJoy00:40 Google fined €890M under the Digital Markets Act04:00 Why it's another crack in the 30% wall05:00 AppLovin: why the market keeps underestimating it07:30 US charts — Smash Fest beats Roblox08:30 The copycat that cracked the top six10:00 Level Devil sold, EA Sports FC, and Turkey vs China---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultant⁠https://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultant⁠https://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultant⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me---------------------------------------If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej LancaricDo you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej AI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai

Raymond Plank founded Apache Corporation with just $250,000 in 1954. 50 years later his company was worth $50 billion. This episode examines the life and entrepreneurial philosophy of Raymond Plank through his memoir A Small Difference Rather than presenting a conventional history of Apache, this episode focuses on the lessons, maxims, and beliefs Plank accumulated over seven decades in business. Written when he was nearly 90, the memoir reads like a lifelong diary of how to think about opportunity, courage, cost control, resourcefulness, and adaptation. Lots of wild stories in this one. Made possible by: Ramp: ⁠⁠⁠https://ramp.com⁠⁠⁠ Applovin: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.applovin.com⁠ Vanta: ⁠⁠⁠https://vanta.com/founders⁠ ⁠Add your email here⁠ and I will send you my top 10 quotes from every episode: https://davidsenra.substack.com

The crew breaks down Sensor Tower's big H1 2026 report, digs into why downloads keep falling while nobody seems to want new games, and asks whether ad revenue was ever going to save anyone. Plus a Warframe live service masterclass and the arrow craze that Kress would very much like everyone to stop talking about.Topics Covered:• Disney Solitaire cannibalizing Solitaire Grand Harvest • Where the diligence went on the SuperPlay deal and who is left • Washington State suing Playtika and Aristocrat over social casino• Sensor Tower H1 2026 with downloads down 12% • The 4X surge stalling out while puzzle keeps compounding• The D2C debate and whether the market ishealthier than it looks• AppLovin and AdMob running two-thirds of gaming ad revenue and what that consolidation does to CPIs• Why the top ad revenue games are smaller than anyone expected• Warframe as the live service masterclass Destiny never pulled offCHAPTERS:00:00 – Intro & welcome (Jen, Kress, Phil, Mishka)01:00 – Mishka's Greece trip & DoF event updates (Seattle Roundtables, Gamescom, Grand Slam, Supper Club)08:00 – Playtika update: Solitaire Grand Harvest cannibalized by Disney Solitaire12:00 – M&A Masterclass callback (Chris Petrarca) & licensing math on Disney deal14:00 – Washington State's gambling lawsuit vs. Playtika — social casino legal risk17:00 – Sensor Tower H1 2026 report: overview & app discovery is "broken"20:00 – Direct-to-consumer (D2C) web shops: how big is the impact really?23:00 – D2C by genre: 4X, social casino, Marvel Strike Force example25:00 – Genre trends: strategy down, puzzle up, Block Blast highlight26:00 – The "Arrow" hyper-casual craze — Block Blast install decline29:00 – UA costs spiking: ad spend up, downloads down30:00 – AppLovin & AdMob's growing duopoly over UA33:00 – Social casino's steepest genre decline & D2C revenue shift36:00 – Top publishers by ad revenue (King, Easy Brain, Huuuge)39:00 – Sensor Tower report wrap-up & praise42:00 – Warframe/Digital Extremes: Destiny comparison & live-service execution44:00 – Warframe monetization model breakdown45:00 – Digital Extremes' mobile SKU built with Finland's Nitro Games46:00 – Warframe mobile growth numbers (PC halo effect)48:00 – Squad RPG/gacha mechanics critique — mobile "solved this years ago"50:00 – Why no Western studio has cracked mobile shooters (Fortnite, Roblox Rivals)51:00 – Warframe's marketing-driven themed content drops52:00 – Shoutout: Christopher Dring's podcast52:00 – Outro & next week preview (Castle Clashers, Capcom)

Ben Edelman, independent consultant and longtime ad fraud investigator, joins Ari Paparo and Eric Franchi to discuss the Phia affiliate controversy, the evolution of ad fraud, AppLovin's install practices, and what marketers should know about trust and attribution. They also cover Meta and Microsoft earnings, Google's Buyer Direct, creator marketing trends, FreeWheel's latest CTV update, and more. Takeaways: - Ben Edelman explains how affiliate fraud has evolved and why it remains a major issue. - A deep dive into the Phia browser extension controversy and affiliate attribution. - Lessons from the Blinkx adware scandal and AppLovin's forced install investigation. - Ari and Eric discuss Meta and Microsoft earnings, Google's Buyer Direct, and the future of creator marketing. - The latest updates from FreeWheel, Amazon, X, and the broader ad tech industry. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 01:12 Podcast updates and industry news preview 02:19 Meet Ben Edelman 03:20 The Blinkx adware investigation 10:04 How Ben investigates ad fraud 13:28 The Phia affiliate controversy explained 19:02 Can affiliate marketing be trusted? 23:50 AppLovin's install practices 27:37 Where to follow Ben Edelman 27:51 Meta and Microsoft earnings 33:37 Amazon becomes the largest Fortune 500 company 36:06 Google's Buyer Direct and antitrust concerns 40:14 The rise of micro and nano creators 42:44 AI-generated content in programmatic advertising 43:59 FreeWheel's new CTV reporting capabilities 45:08 X and the WFA legal settlement 46:25 Final thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We ended up selling twenty-two thousand units that day.” How did two founders build a multi-million-dollar brush brand without outside investors?Lisa Jauregui and Paul Jauregui, Co-Founders of BK Beauty, join Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case and Lomi) and Katy Mimiari (CEO, Caden Lane) to break down the affiliate marketing strategy that took a makeup brush brand from a living room operation to millions in sales. No outside funding. No paid influencer deals. Lisa built a beauty audience on YouTube for five years before BK Beauty launched. A brand focused entirely on brushes for years before expanding into new categories. That focus led the brand to handle twenty two thousand orders in a single day, all fulfilled in house. The conversation covers creator tiers inside TikTok Shop, and why margin matters more than almost anything else in ecommerce. Operators Titans is brought to you by AppLovin and Fulfil. Fulfil: The ERP built specifically for DTC and ecommerce brands, integrated with over 400 3PLs so your inventory, purchasing, and financials never fall out of sync. Ridge runs its entire operation on it. See why here: https://9ops.co/fulfil AppLovin: Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits here: https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth. Or launch your ads today with our exclusive link: https://applovin.com/9operators. 

(0:00) Intro: Humanoids, Robots, & AI+ (0:57) ANYbotics' Dr. Péter Fankhauser: Why ANYbotics Bet the Company on Four-Legged Robot Dogs, Not Humanoids (13:18) Dr. Péter Fankhauser: China's Armed Robot Dogs Are "Stupid and Risky" — Inside the Terminator Debate (15:01) NEO's Bernt Børnich: Neo Ships in 2026 and Becomes an Open Robot Platform (22:18) Bernt Børnich: Robots Building Robots in Just 3 Years — "Hard Takeoff" (33:45) Boston Dynamics' Amanda McMaster: Spot Is Now the Most Deployed Robot on Earth — Atlas is the Most Capable (42:36) Amanda McMaster: Chinese Robotics Security Risks (47:14) Agility Robotics' Jonathan Hurst: Why "This Time Is Different" for Humanoids After 100 Years of False Starts (58:45) Jonathan Hurst: When Do Robots Outnumber Humans on the Factory Floor? Thanks to our partners for making this possible! AppLovin Ads is AppLovin's AI advertising platform reaching over a billion daily active users across mobile games. Full-screen video ads with a 35-second median watch time. Advertisers are profitably spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a day. AppLovin Ads is now open to all advertisers. Sign up at https://applovin.com/ALLIN  If your work depends on conversations — meetings, deal flow, interviews, customer calls — Plaud helps you capture and organize everything with highly accurate AI-generated notes that are not just simple summaries, but also highlight pain points, key decisions, next steps, and customizable summary templates.  Check out Plaud at https://www.plaud.ai/allin and use code ALLIN for up to 10% off! Which is also available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/43URLff (Code: ALLIN10X) Follow the besties: https://x.com/chamath https://x.com/Jason https://x.com/DavidSacks https://x.com/friedberg Follow on X: https://x.com/theallinpod Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theallinpod Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@allin  Follow on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/allinpod Intro Music Credit: https://rb.gy/tppkzl https://x.com/yung_spielburg Intro Video Credit: https://x.com/TheZachEffect

Obsession is the engine of Nolan's career. This episode examines Christopher Nolan's life, working methods, and philosophy through The Nolan Variations by Tom Shone. Made possible by: Ramp: ⁠⁠⁠https://ramp.com⁠⁠⁠ Applovin: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.applovin.com⁠ Vanta: ⁠⁠⁠https://vanta.com/founders⁠ ⁠Add your email here⁠ and I will send you my top 10 quotes from every episode: https://davidsenra.substack.com

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAppLovin just opened to everyone, and most DTC operators still do not know how it actually works. Jacob runs Meta at Pilothouse, which has spent on AppLovin for nearly two years, back when it was invite only.He breaks down what he sees in real client accounts: the product price points that work, the creative volume it takes to scale, and the end card, a full-screen animated step between the ad and the product page that has no equivalent on Meta.What you get:The $50 rule. Why products in the $30 to $150 range win, why below $20 gets tough on margin, and why $1,000 products are a bad fit for someone mid-game.The end card. What it is, why it acts like a second landing page, and the basketball-into-the-hoop trick for matching the ad to the app.Creative volume. Start with about 10 videos, add 10 to 20 a week, and what the ramp looks like at $50k/day.First-hour buying. Around 80% of purchases land in the first hour, and the other 20% almost always convert on a different video.The learning phase. Why you confirm tracking, then leave it alone for a week, sometimes two.Who this is for: DTC operators and media buyers weighing AppLovin as a third channel next to Meta and Google.What to steal: the creative-volume cadence, the end-card structure, and the measurement discipline to prove new-customer CPA instead of trusting platform ROAS.Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:00 AppLovin vs Meta Performance05:20 Best Products & Creative Strategy11:10 Measuring Incrementality & New Customers17:10 Scaling with Creative Volume23:00 Halo Effect & Campaign Best PracticesSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF631Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Ari Paparo and Eric Franchi welcome Olivia Kory, Chief Marketing Strategy Officer at Haus, to unpack one of advertising's biggest questions: do ads actually work? Olivia explains the critical difference between attribution and incrementality, shares why AppLovin has become a standout performance channel. She discusses the future of media measurement, AI-driven optimization, and agentic media buying. The episode also covers Google's latest earnings, AI search trends, OpenAI's advertising ambitions, and the challenges of measuring podcast advertising. Takeaways: Olivia explains why incrementality measures causation while attribution measures correlation. AppLovin delivers strong short-term performance, particularly for lower-cost, impulse purchases. Incrementality testing is becoming essential for validating ad platform performance. AI is reshaping media measurement, budget allocation, and campaign optimization. The hosts discuss Google's AI investments, OpenAI's potential ad network, and why podcast measurement still needs major improvements. Chapters:00:00 Introduction & Olivia Kory Returns05:47 Attribution vs. Incrementality Explained07:48 Do AppLovin Ads Really Work?10:53 Which Products Perform Best on AppLovin?12:30 Affiliate Marketing & Incrementality Challenges16:04 CAPI vs. Pixels: The Future of Measurement20:13 AppsFlyer, Attribution & Daily Optimization23:30 AI-Powered Budget Allocation & Agentic Media Buying28:48 Google's Earnings & AI Growth32:36 AI Search and Google's Changing SERP34:30 Is OpenAI Building an Ad Network?41:51 Business Insider's FAST Channel Launch43:50 Why Podcast Measurement Is Still Broken49:16 Should Olivia Start Her Own Podcast?50:19 Closing Remarks Guests: Ari Paparo, Eric Franchi, Olivia Kory Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hexa Away did something genuinely clever — it took the arrows/sort mechanic everyone's chasing and rebuilt it on a hexagonal 3D grid, which turns out to be a better fit than flat arrows ever were. Then it scaled hard on AppLovin, hit a wall, and downscaled almost completely. It's a great game and a UA cautionary tale in one.We break down Hexa Away - a hexagonal-grid sort puzzler from the CyberAgent/GooDroid studio (yes, the Uma Musume people). They cover why the hexagonal grid is a genuinely better canvas for the arrows mechanic (escape routes, tangible blockers, room for more mechanics), the standard-but-solid IAP puzzler feature set, and the numbers that make it significant: it's now the sixth-biggest sort puzzler by revenue (behind Pixel Flow, Magic Sort, Yarn Loop, Marble Sort, and Block Out), doing ~$90K/day IAP plus ~$42K/day in ads at peak, with 500K+ DAU on pristine US-heavy traffic. But the real lesson is the UA story: they went ~90% AppLovin, scaled to 800K DAU in April, then crashed back — because a ~4% day-30 retention simply can't support that level of scale, and once you burn through the AppLovin audience, the ROAS doesn't come back.The takeaway: a great core and a clever mechanic aren't enough. Concentration risk on one channel plus weak retention is how you overshoot your UA and torch your cash.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 Why Hexa Away is significant — the 6th-biggest sort puzzler03:40 Arrows on a hexagonal grid — "hexagons are the bestagons"07:40 The blocker framework and monetizing on difficulty11:20 The numbers — $90K/day, 500K DAU, pristine US traffic12:20 The ad-revenue breakdown — ~$42K/day, 36% of total13:30 Four new creatives, ~200 total, and the banner problem15:00 The AppLovin over-scale — 800K DAU then the crash18:30 The 4% day-30 retention that explains everythingPotensus is a premium ad network built by people who've actually been on both sides of this industry - game publishers, agencies, and successful exits. They get it.Here's the thing - Potensus has direct deals with Amazon, Apple, Coca-Cola, Vodafone. Not programmatic. Direct. Those budgets land in your game at premium CPMs, no middleman tax.And they handle everything with their in-house team. PLUS they're partnered with PlayableMaker WINK WINK - so they'll take a brand's YouTube video or a static banner and actually turn it into a playable ad or rewarded video. Proper interactive format, built for gaming inventory. Brands getting a gaming-native creative, publishers getting higher CPMs. Everyone wins.Head to potensus.com to get started or check their creative portfolio here https://vimeo.com/showcase/12093300?fl=so&fe=fs---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultant⁠https://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultant⁠https://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultant⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

No company decides to fail. It drifts there one comfortable lie at a time. Kaz Nejatian took over Opendoor when it was just months away from bankruptcy and set out to rebuild it from the ground up. What happened next shocked everyone. Most turnaround stories are told years later, by the winner, after the ending is already known. That's why they always sound clean and polished. This one doesn't have an ending yet, and it's anything but clean and polished. Kaz takes us inside while it's still happening. We discuss why great companies drift away from reality, why truth has to matter more than feelings, and how competent people who don't believe in the mission quietly destroy an organization. He shares the principles behind rebuilding culture, eliminating bureaucracy, making faster decisions, using AI to flatten management, and creating teams that move with speed and ownership. One of the key things I learned in this conversation is that the comfortable lies that sink a company are the same ones that sink a career. ------ Chapters: (0:00) How Opendoor Came Back from the Dead (1:32) How Mismanagement Causes Atrophy (4:28) The Blueprint that Changed Opendoor (5:33) Rewriting the Book on Company Turnarounds (5:57) The People You Hire Is the Company You Build (6:31) Be a Nuclear Bomb of Truth (7:52) How to Change a Losing Company Culture (8:07) Commit to Truth Over Feelings (8:33) The Most Dangerous Kind of Employee (9:13) Key Principles to Turning Around a Company (11:59) Meetings Are a Bug in the System (12:30) Why It's Rude to Not Disagree (13:05) Say the Thing Culture (15:04) How AI Is Supercharging Opendoor (18:16) Most Powerful Mental Models (22:50) Why Remote Workplaces Don't Succeed (24:56) How Opendoor Killed Distractions (26:09) The Key to Being a Market Maker (35:20) How Companies Fall Off Course Over Time (37:24) The Power of Speaking Simply (43:27) Turnaround Lessons for Life (51:10) Excellence Is Capacity to Take Pain ------ Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it's completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------ Follow Shane Parrish: X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠ Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠ ------ Follow Kaz Nejatian: X: https://x.com/nejatian ------ Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: +Applovin: Launch your first AppLovin campaign and grow your business: https://applovin.com/shane +Matic: the robot vacuum that does it all—grab yourself a year of free bags here. ⁠http://maticrobots.com/shaneparrish⁠ +HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/ +LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: https://DrinkLMNT.com/TKP ------ Note: ‍Shane and guests may hold positions in assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing in this conversation should be considered investment advice, financial guidance, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always do your own due diligence or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dans cette nouvelle édition du Top Ganne, Vincent fait la mise à jour habituelle de l'analyse technique du marché actions. Il attire aussi votre attention sur 5 actions qui sont intéressantes selon lui sur le long terme. Attention, ce ne sont pas des conseils en investissement, faite vos propres recherches de votre coté.

This episode discusses Joseph Wechsberg's 1966 book, The Merchant Bankers. Rather than recounting the histories of families like the Rothschilds, Barings, Hambros, Warburgs, and Lehman Brothers, I wanted to extract the principles they shared. Merchant banking is fascinating. It's a very distinctive form of entrepreneurship. There is an old-school way of doing business that appeals to me. The merchant bankers' profiled in this book have a combination of: personal honor speed of action clear thinking independent judgment seamless webs of deserved trust discretion and willingness to make unconventional decisions. The founder of every merchant banking dynasty was a merchant before he was merchant banker. Once they discovered financing transactions was more profitable than physically trading goods, their real products became credit, judgment, information, advice, access, and—above all—trust. Their greatest asset was not money. Their greatest asset was their reputation. Made possible by: Ramp: ⁠⁠https://ramp.com⁠⁠  Applovin: ⁠⁠https://www.applovin.com Vanta: ⁠⁠https://vanta.com/founders Add your email here and I will send you my top 10 quotes from every episode.

Founders ✓ Claim : Read the notes at at podcastnotes.org. Don't forget to subscribe for free to our newsletter, the top 10 ideas of the week, every Monday --------- What I learned from reading Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters (for the 3rd or 4th time) Made possible by: Ramp: ⁠https://ramp.com⁠ Applovin: ⁠https://www.applovin.com/⁠ Vanta: ⁠https://vanta.com/founders

Founders ✓ Claim Intro Check out the episode pageRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgWhat I learned from reading Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters (for the 3rd or 4th time) Made possible by:  Ramp: ⁠https://ramp.com⁠  Applovin: ⁠https://www.applovin.com/⁠  Vanta: ⁠https://vanta.com/founders

Pokémon Go removed the paywall from its biggest event of the year and made more money than any paid version in half a decade. That's the monetization masterclass of the week — and it's just one of five stories that matter.Matej Lančarič flies solo for the news segment, and it's a heavy week. Pokémon Go hit its 10th anniversary with over $9B in lifetime revenue, then ran GoFest 2026 as its first-ever free, no-ticket event — triggering a $15.1M single day, the game's highest in five years, and a 17-position leap to #2 in monthly revenue. Love and Deepspace is unfolding into the most instructive disaster of the year, with a cancelled love interest, a 230,000-signature petition, funeral flowers and cow dung sent to the studio, and a pulled Bilibili World appearance. Microsoft cut 4,800 jobs with Xbox facing roughly 3,200 over the next year — about 20% of the division — with King in the blast radius and a memo admitting the business "is not healthy" at ~3% margin. AppLovin opened Axon to global self-serve and the stock ripped from the mid-$440s to $564 in two weeks. And Meta shipped Muse image plus new AI-ad labeling that puts a visible tag right next to "Sponsored" if your creative features a photorealistic AI person.Five stories, one theme: the old assumptions about paywalls, scale, and trust are all breaking at once.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 Cold open 00:30 Pokémon Go's free GoFest monetization masterclass02:30 The Love and Deepspace catastrophe05:00 Xbox cuts 3,200 — King in the blast radius07:00 AppLovin opens Axon to self-serve08:30 Meta's Muse image and the new AI ad labels10:00 Quick hits — UK job losses, Netmarble takes 40% of WeMade━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“I feel this is bigger than dot com.” How does a $450 million publicly traded jewelry brand build a live shopping empire that predates TikTok by nearly two decades? Sunil Agrawal (Founder, ShopLC & VGL Group) sits down with Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case and Lomi) and Katy Mimari (CEO, Caden Lane) to pull back the curtain on 46 years of building one of the most vertically integrated businesses in the world. He started as a gemstone lapidary and grew six retail brands without ever once considering an exit. Sunil runs a live shopping operation most DTC operators have never seen. He launches 100 new products every day. His top customers generate $20,000 in lifetime value. He fired his robots when the ROI math didn't hold. He moved four brands to Shopify in five months because AI did most of the coding. And he still measures the business not in dollars but in meals delivered. Operators Titans is brought to you by AppLovin and Fulfil. Fulfil: The ERP built specifically for DTC and ecommerce brands, integrated with over 400 3PLs so your inventory, purchasing, and financials never fall out of sync. Ridge runs its entire operation on it. See why here: https://9ops.co/fulfil AppLovin: Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits here: https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth. Or skip the waitlist and launch your ads today with our Operators-exclusive link: http://applovin.com/9operators.

“If someone can do the same revenue in 12 hours, basically out of nowhere, it does lower the value of brands.” What does the collapse of traditional brand equity mean for founders still building toward an exit? Roman Khan (Co-Founder & President, Peak21) joins Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge) and Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case and Lomi) to make one uncomfortable argument: the playbook for building and buying ecommerce brands is broken, and most founders haven't figured that out yet. After three years acquiring DTC businesses, Roman stopped. The reason cuts to the heart of where dropshipping, ecommerce logistics, and brand valuation are all heading. His Hong Kong summit surfaced the shift in real time: Meta partnership ads back at the top of the stack, Applovin minting operators spending six figures a day, and TikTok-first brands doing $12M months on skeleton crews. The conversation covers why dropshipping from China is nowhere near dead, how Quince is building the AWS of ecommerce logistics, and the one thing Roman tells every founder under $100M in revenue: take out dividends, stop waiting for a buyer, and get honest about what your company is worth. Powered By Fulfil https://9ops.co/fulfil Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Northbeam https://www.northbeam.io/ Saras Analytics https://bit.ly/4a3gzVv Postscript https://9ops.co/postscript Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/ 

What happens when TV advertising becomes as easy to buy as search and social? James Borow, GM of Universal Ads at Comcast, joins Joe Zappa and Eric Franchi to discuss performance TV, incrementality, AI creative and Comcast's ambition to build the “AppLovin of TV.” James also explains why ChatGPT ads could become a monster business and why the next major adtech company may be built by four people and a check from Aperiam.

RO KHANNA OR RO COMMIE? THIS IS WHO'S RUNNING IN 2028 This morning we follow the money and the lies straight from Beijing to the West Bank to Jefferson City, and we ask why a communist's family, a congressman's campaign trip, and a tax overhaul all landed on the same weekend. We break down the new reporting on China, Russia, and Iran weaponizing America's data center backlash, then we roll the tape on Ro Khanna's West Bank stunt and let Tom Pappert help us separate what happened from what Khanna wants you to believe. Then Camellia sits down to walk you through the two Missouri amendments on your August ballot before you ever pick up the pen.

Charles Schwab's Ben Watson examines key technical levels across the market, noting the S&P 500 (SPX) remains above an important support zone. He highlights AppLovin's (APP) struggle to hold support ahead of earnings, while Starbucks (SBUX) continues to benefit from AI-driven optimism and bullish options activity as it approaches a key resistance level.======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day.Options involve risks and are not suitable for all investors. Before trading, read the Options Disclosure Document. http://bit.ly/2v9tH6DSubscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

What I learned from reading Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters (for the 3rd or 4th time) Made possible by:  Ramp: ⁠https://ramp.com⁠  Applovin: ⁠https://www.applovin.com/⁠  Vanta: ⁠https://vanta.com/founders

My guest today is Kris Johns, founder and CEO of AdGood, and somebody whose career sits right at the intersection of innovation, media, and impact. Kris has spent more than 15 years helping shape the streaming and ad tech world, building platforms and businesses that transformed how audiences discover content and how companies create growth. He helped scale AdPool into one of the world's largest CTV marketplaces, played a major role at World before its acquisition by AppLovin, and was part of the growth story at Maker Studios before Disney came calling. But what really grabbed my attention was what Kris decided to do next. After helping build businesses and scale technology, he looked at something most people barely noticed: unused advertising inventory and saw something entirely different. He saw potential, he saw opportunity, and he saw a way to turn empty ad space into something that could actually help change lives. Today, through AdGood, Kris is helping nonprofits across the power of connected TV and giving organizations that normally wouldn't have a seat at the table a much bigger voice.

Alex Kantrowitz, Founder of Big Technology, joins Ari Paparo and Eric Franchi to discuss how OpenAI, Google, Meta, Anthropic, Amazon, and other tech leaders are transforming digital advertising. They also dive into AI-powered media buying, agentic commerce, Criteo acquisition rumors, Cloudflare's monetization strategy, and the future of ad tech. Takeaways:- Why OpenAI is rapidly building an advertising business.- How Meta, Google, and Anthropic are approaching AI differently.- The future of AI-powered advertising and agentic commerce.- Why Criteo could become an attractive acquisition target.- How Cloudflare is changing publisher monetization with AI payments. Chapters:00:00 Introduction & Marketecture Live Chicago01:55 Meet Alex Kantrowitz05:20 OpenAI's Advertising Strategy12:07 Why Anthropic Is Avoiding Ads14:45 Meta's AI and Advertising Future17:45 Snap's Business Challenges18:55 Pinterest's Advertising Opportunity21:54 Amazon's Sports & AI Strategy24:15 AppLovin's Rise in Mobile Advertising25:15 Criteo Acquisition Rumors30:57 AI Negotiating Media Deals (ADCP)33:05 Cloudflare's AI Monetization Gateway36:40 Warner Bros. Discovery's AI Ad Tech38:40 WPP's AI Consulting Expansion42:25 Leadership Changes at IAS44:20 Final Thoughts Guests: Ari Paparo, Eric Franchi, Alex Kantrowitz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Cohen and Jack Nicklaus shared the same performance coach. For the next hour, he's yours too. Dr. Gio Valiante is the world's leading performance psychologist. We discuss why most people never reach their potential, how confidence and fear shape performance, and what separates those who consistently excel from those who stay stuck. He shares practical strategies for building better habits, overcoming self-imposed limits, staying focused under pressure, and creating the conditions for long-term success. If you've ever felt capable of more, this episode will help you understand what's holding you back and what to do about it. ------ Chapters: (0:00) Why most people underperform and the central governor hypothesis. (4:46) Why lasting change starts with behavior rather than thinking. (7:52) The difference between mastery motivation and ego-driven motivation. (11:24) Flow states, presence, and learning to enjoy the everyday work of excellence. (14:28) Practical techniques for developing presence and reducing distraction. (18:16) Why environment and systems have a greater impact on performance than goals alone. (26:33) What interview questions reveal about confidence, motivation, and character. (31:47) Why overcoming adversity often reveals a person's greatest strengths. (32:46) Rebuilding confidence by focusing on small wins instead of chasing big recoveries. (38:55) The psychology of confidence and the four sources of self-efficacy. (47:14) How self-talk shapes beliefs, behavior, and long-term performance. (50:04) Why fear of rejection and the need to belong influence our decisions. (53:35) Identity, self-discovery, and the importance of moving beyond childhood conditioning. (1:03:20) Definition of success and the experiences that bring lasting fulfillment. ------ Follow Dr. Gio Valiante X: https://x.com/GioValiante ------ Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: +Applovin: Launch your first AppLovin campaign and grow your business: https://applovin.com/shane +HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/ +Matic: the robot vacuum that does it all—grab yourself a year of free bags here. http://maticrobots.com/shaneparrish +LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: https://DrinkLMNT.com/TKP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The roll-up model works beautifully on the way up and gets ugly in a hurry on the way down — and this week Stillfront showed exactly what the down looks like. That's one of four stories worth your attention this week.Felix Braberg flies solo for the Friday news segment. Stillfront CEO Alexis Bonte is stepping down after leading the company's strategic review and restructure — against a backdrop of declining downloads and revenue since the COVID peak, a share price well off its highs, and three board members replaced back in March. AdColony — the AppLovin of its 2014-2018 heyday — is getting a second life as Indian DSP company Aationa (AFL) buys the brand, SDK, and integrations from Digital Turbine for a reported sub-$5M, a smart backdoor into ~80,000 apps' worth of inventory. The World Cup is driving COVID-style download growth across mobile football (eFootball +60%, and the shock winner Soccer Superstar +62%). And Meow Doku, from the studio formerly known as Oakever, has gone from 15K to 1.7M DAU since mid-May by fusing cats, Sudoku, and brain-training into one low-CPI package — likely earning $70-120K/day on ads alone.Four stories, one theme: the models and the winners are shifting fast.---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultant⁠https://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultant⁠https://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultant⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me---------------------------------------If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej LancaricDo you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej AI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai

“You are not trying if you're not getting sued.” How did IQBAR go from a $90k Kickstarter to a nine-figure retail, DTC, and Amazon giant? Will Nitze (Founder & CEO) and Jessica Greenwood (CMO) join Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern). This is the product launch strategy and CPG marketing playbook they wish existed when they started. Will and Jessica detail their early tactics and walk through every funding round: from $625K at a $4M valuation to $5.5M at $50M. They doubled revenue every year for eight years, kept the team at 15 people, and never dropped below 50% ownership. Mike and Matt close on what killed dozens of competing bar brands in 2022 and why IQ BAR survived.  Operators Titans is brought to you by AppLovin. Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits here: https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth. Or launch your ads today with our exclusive link: http://applovin.com/9operators.

Just days before Supergirl hit theaters—and as Ulta Beauty launched its ambitious partnership with Warner Bros. to bring the film to life through an immersive, 360-degree campaign—Kelly Mahoney sat down with Jim Stengel to discuss one of the biggest transformations happening in marketing today.Kelly is the Chief Marketing Officer of Ulta Beauty, the nation's largest beauty retailer, with more than 1,400 stores, over $11 billion in annual revenue, and a loyalty program serving more than 47 million members. After more than a decade helping build Ulta's growth strategy and industry-leading loyalty ecosystem, she's now leading the brand into its next chapter.In this conversation, Kelly shares how Ulta is creating deeper emotional connections with consumers through purpose, creativity, AI-powered personalization, and culture-defining partnerships. She also discusses her unconventional path to the CMO role, what she learned from the late Shelley Haus, how she's building a high-performing marketing culture, and why the future of beauty is rooted in trust, wellness, and human connection.Recorded during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, this conversation took place aboard a yacht in the sunny South of France, thanks to our partners at Beanstalk and AppLovin.—Episode brought to you by Infillion.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What I learned from reading Honda: The Man and His Machines by Sol Sanders. Made possible by: Ramp: ⁠https://ramp.com⁠  Applovin: ⁠https://www.applovin.com/⁠  Vanta: ⁠https://vanta.com/founders

Founders ✓ Claim : Read the notes at at podcastnotes.org. Don't forget to subscribe for free to our newsletter, the top 10 ideas of the week, every Monday --------- What I learned from reading Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power by James McGrath Morris. Made possible by: Ramp: ⁠https://ramp.com⁠ Applovin: ⁠https://www.applovin.com/⁠ Vanta: ⁠https://vanta.com/founders

AppLovin stock posted 59% revenue growth and a 70% free cash flow margin in Q1 2026—numbers that look more like cheat codes than a real business. We break down what makes the Axon 2.0 machine learning ad engine so efficient, why AppLovin can scale without a traditional sales force, and how targeted digital advertising has become the clearest ROI story in AI so far.We also walk through management's 10-year growth roadmap—from mobile gaming to consumer, e-commerce, and connected TV—and what has to be true for AppLovin to reach $70 billion in annual revenue. Then we run both a five-year and ten-year reverse DCF to show exactly what growth rate is already baked into the current stock price, and whether buying the dip today makes sense for long-term investors. Plus, how they're deploying $1.3 billion in quarterly free cash flow, including nearly $1 billion in share buybacks in Q1 alone.Want real-time portfolio access and deeper coverage on high-growth software and semiconductor stocks? Join Semi Insider at chipstockinvestor.com.Run your own AppLovin research with AI-powered financial tools at fiscal.ai/csi — 15% off any paid plan.Content in this video is for general information or entertainment only and is not specific or individual investment advice. Forecasts and information presented may not develop as predicted and there is no guarantee any strategies presented will be successful. All investing involves risk, and you could lose some or all of your principal.CSI owns shares of AppLovin.

The World Cup is here, and three football games are quietly printing money — but in completely different ways. eFootball is doing $45M a month after nearly a decade of straight-line growth, and almost nobody in the industry is talking about it.Matej Lančarič, Jakub Remiar, and Felix Braberg break down the three realistic football giants — Dream League Soccer, Konami's eFootball, and EA Sports FC Mobile (the game formerly known as FIFA Mobile). They get into the wildly different country mixes (Dream League at 25% US revenue, eFootball at 43% from Japan, EA FC pulling 20% from China and 16% from Korea), the radically different ad strategies (eFootball at just 0.65% ad revenue, EA FC around 15-25%, Dream League a remarkable 68% ad-driven), the gacha and card-collection monetization, the FIFA licensing divorce that freed EA from a reported nine-figure annual fee, and the UA reality: all-real-gameplay creatives, great CPIs for the genre, and the curious fact that none of them are on AppLovin despite Dream League being a perfect blended-ROAS candidate.The throughline: same sport, same core gameplay, three completely different businesses underneath.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 The numbers — eFootball at $45M/month01:30 Three games, big structural nuances05:30 Ad revenue split — 0.65% vs 15% vs 68%06:50 The country mix that changes everything11:00 Inside the games — gameplay and gacha17:30 The FIFA license divorce and EA's escape26:30 The ad stacks and what they get wrong35:30 UA reality — real gameplay, cheap CPIs, no AppLovin--------------------------------------PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.- Scale fast- Keep your shares- Drawdown only as needed- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investors---------------------------------------For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.Our sponsor FastSpring:Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 yearsThey power top mobile publishers around the worldLaunch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠Podcast: Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SAChapters---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultant⁠https://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultant⁠https://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultant⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me---------------------------------------If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

What I learned from reading Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power by James McGrath Morris. Made possible by: Ramp: ⁠https://ramp.com⁠ Applovin: ⁠https://www.applovin.com/⁠ Vanta: ⁠https://vanta.com/founders

Operators Titans is brought to you by AppLovin. Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits here: https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth Or, skip the waitlist and launch your AppLovin ads today with our Operators-exclusive link: https://applovin.com/9operators “We built our iPhone before we built our Apple.” How do you scale a hardware brand from $7M to $1.5B without chasing cheap CPMs?  Jacob Zuppke (CEO, Whisker) joins Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) to break down how a self-cleaning litter box company became a $1.5B brand through US manufacturing, big creative swings, and a deliberate omnichannel strategy. Jacob breaks down the marketing that fueled a decade of growth, including how TV outperformed Meta for years, and why Whisker held off Amazon until branded search volume made the case impossible to ignore. He also gets into the Whisker app, which logs 4.7 million cat weigh-ins per day, and why that software layer is where the brand's omnichannel strategy gets its deepest competitive teeth.

Nintendo's stock is getting hammered without a new Mario, Monopoly GO is going all-in on The Simpsons, and Liftoff is back on the public markets. Meanwhile, Xbox finally seems to be doing what it should have done years ago.In this episode, we break down:● Liftoff's IPO and the AppLovin challenge● Monopoly GO's Simpsons mega-event● How Scopely uses IP for reactivation● Apple's crackdown on low-quality apps● Xbox's biggest Summer Showcase in years● Why Xbox is bringing exclusives back● Fable, Gears, Persona 6, and Minecraft Dungeons 2● Nintendo Direct's biggest announcements● The growing mystery of missing Mario● Why Nintendo investors are getting nervous● Paramount's new gaming division● TMNT, Star Trek, Avatar, and Marvel projects● Why Hollywood struggles to make games● The missing mobile strategy at Paramount● Apple IDFA rumors and what they mean for UA● The future of AppLovin, Meta, and Google adsCHAPTERS:01:36 Minecraft Summer Parenting03:22 Quick Correction Bond Sales05:18 Liftoff IPO Breakdown06:41 UA Ecosystem and AppLovin08:37 Private Equity Red Flags10:41 Simpsons Takes Monopoly Go11:53 Why the Crossover Works15:20 UA Reactivation and Celebs19:12 Apple's App Store Purge21:54 Xbox Showcase and Strategy25:57 Xbox Margin Unlock26:38 Platform Strategy Risks27:29 Minecraft Sales Reality28:30 Nintendo Direct Highlights30:42 Where Is 3D Mario36:12 Paramount Games Revealed38:17 Execution Over Press41:48 Mobile Missing Piece43:19 IDFA Rumor Rant46:20 If IDFA Returned48:10 Rumor Season Noise50:24 Closing The Episode

What I learned from reading Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products by  Leander Kahney. Made possible by: Ramp: https://ramp.com Axon by Applovin: https://axon.ai/founders Vanta: https://vanta.com/founders

What I learned from reading Steve Jobs in Exile: The Untold Story of NeXT and the Remaking of an American Visionary by Geoffrey Cain. Made possible by: Ramp: https://ramp.com Axon by Applovin: https://axon.ai/founders Vanta: https://vanta.com/founders

Operators Titans is brought to you by AppLovin. Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits here: https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth Or, skip the waitlist and launch your AppLovin ads today with our Operators-exclusive link: https://axon.ai/en/9operators “We've never had anyone do four deals in 60 days.” How do you build two nine-figure brands with no outside investors and a Facebook ads background as your only real edge? Zach Stuck, founder of Easy Street Brands and co-founder of Hollow and Mars Men, joins Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) and Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge) to break down how he turned an agency into an eight-figure exit and cold-started two nine-figure brands in opposite categories.  Closing four deals in 60 days and an L Catterton round, Zach's brand building decisions are laid on the table. He walks through nearly losing Homestead keeping Hollow alive, and lays out the ecommerce strategy for building from zero. He closes on what the holdco model requires to work and why most operators get it wrong.

This episode is a rebroadcast of Auren's appearance on the GTMnow podcast ---------------------------------------------------Auren Hoffman (Flex Capital) joins the GTMnow podcast to share some of the most contrarian takes in tech today, from why AI moats are gone, to why your next VC meeting will be with a bot, to why AI is secretly going to trigger a baby boom.In this episode:Why Auren runs 500+ AI agents to source deals, and what that means for founders raising capitalThe "agent-to-agent" meeting prediction: by end of 2026, first VC conversations will be fully automatedWhy every software moat has been "blown up" and what Salesforce, LinkedIn & DocuSign need to do to surviveThe OpenAI x The Hustle acquisition breakdown: why it's the smartest (and cheapest) distribution play in AIWhy missing a great deal is 10x more painful than making a bad one, Auren's honest VC mistake frameworkThe baby boom thesis: why AI, IVF, self-driving cars & cheaper energy could reverse the fertility declineWhy companies won't sign yearly SaaS contracts anymore, and what that means for every B2B founderAuren Hoffman is the founder of NQB8, Flex Capital, SafeGraph, and LiveRamp. He's an early backer of Replit, Perplexity, Rippling, Vercel, Coinbase, Chime, and AppLovin.Max's socials: https://x.com/hackitmaxhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/maxaltschuler/Auren's socials:https://x.com/aurenhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/auren/https://auren.substack.com/GTMnow: https://gtmnow.com

Founders ✓ Claim : Read the notes at at podcastnotes.org. Don't forget to subscribe for free to our newsletter, the top 10 ideas of the week, every Monday --------- Kelly Johnson's “14 Points” read like a SpaceX operations manual — 60 years before SpaceX was founded. Kelly Johnson created Skunk Works, which he defined as: “A concentration of a few good people solving problems far in advance—and at a fraction of the cost—of other groups by applying the simplest, most straightforward methods possible to develop and produce new projects. All it is really is the application of common sense to some pretty tough problems.” Kelly Johnson was a great engineer and system builder with genius for organizational design. His autobiography which he wrote when he was 75 years old is full of hard-earned wisdom from his 44 year career. This episode is what I learned from reading Kelly: More Than My Share of it All by Kelly Johnson. Made possible by: Ramp: https://ramp.com Axon by Applovin: https://axon.ai/founders Vanta: ⁠https://vanta.com/founders⁠

Sponsored by Chargebee, subscription and revenue management → check out their startup offer: https://www.chargebee.com/startups Mike Choi, Founder of Koah Labs https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikejschoi/ - Koah Labs, founded by Mike Choi, is an AI-native ad network that helps AI applications monetize through sponsored experiences, focusing on tasteful ad integration for end users. - The company was initially bootstrapped, pivoted to the AI ads idea after strong market pull, and quickly built and launched its first product in early 2025. - Koah Labs has raised approximately $22–$25.5 million, with a seed round led by Forerunner and a Series A led by Theory Ventures; other investors include South Park Commons and AppLovin co-founder Andrew Karam. - The company operates with a squad model, prioritizing end user experience as its North Star, while balancing the needs of publishers and advertisers. - Mike Choi emphasizes the importance of founder well-being, rapid learning, and building trust with investors, which contributed to their successful fundraising and company culture.

John Wright and Vincent join Josh Chandley for the monthly deep-dive into what's actually moving the needle in mobile user acquisition.Questions we answer in this episode:● Is Sensor Tower now a monopoly, and should you be worried about pricing?● Why did Google reinstate Freecash but Apple still won't?● Is there one person at Apple secretly controlling which apps live and die?● Is Misplay buying its way to relevance, or is this a smart strategic pivot?● Does Misplay have a window to capitalize on Freecash's iOS ban?● AppLovin added more revenue this quarter than all of Unity's ad networks combined, so why are we still comparing them?● Can anything, or anyone, actually stop AppLovin at this point?

Kelly Johnson's “14 Points” read like a SpaceX operations manual — 60 years before SpaceX was founded. Kelly Johnson created Skunk Works, which he defined as: “A concentration of a few good people solving problems far in advance—and at a fraction of the cost—of other groups by applying the simplest, most straightforward methods possible to develop and produce new projects. All it is really is the application of common sense to some pretty tough problems.” Kelly Johnson was a great engineer and system builder with genius for organizational design. His autobiography which he wrote when he was 75 years old is full of hard-earned wisdom from his 44 year career. This episode is what I learned from reading Kelly: More Than My Share of it All by Kelly Johnson. Made possible by: Ramp: https://ramp.com Axon by Applovin: https://axon.ai/founders Vanta: ⁠https://vanta.com/founders⁠

At RBC Capital Markets' Private Tech Conference, Dan Nathan interviews RBC analysts Brad Erickson, Rishi Jaluria, Matt Swanson, and Matt Hedberg on Q1 earnings and AI's impact across internet and software. Erickson says demand is solid, hyperscalers are raising CapEx as cloud ROI improves, and explains why Meta's higher spend hurt the stock versus Google/Amazon's accelerating cloud revenue and margins; he ranks Amazon over Google over Meta and discusses Uber's AV positioning versus Waymo. Jaluria is bullish on Microsoft's broad AI opportunities, notes Copilot's growing paid users, and discusses multimodel strategy, small/medium models, and Oracle's controversial OpenAI-linked data center build and financing. Swanson covers ad/martech, highlighting Adobe's “orchestration” narrative, Trade Desk's holding-company tensions, and AppLovin's ROAS-driven model. Hedberg argues cyber and infrastructure need “more, not less” security post-Anthropic's Mythos, cites capitulation in software sentiment, favors consolidators like CrowdStrike, Palo Alto, Snowflake, Datadog, and ServiceNow, and notes AI-driven efficiency and layoffs as potential catalysts amid continued volatility. —FOLLOW USYouTube: @RiskReversalMediaInstagram: @riskreversalmediaTwitter: @RiskReversalLinkedIn: RiskReversal Media

(0:00) David Friedberg welcomes Charles & Chase Koch (1:04) Koch Inc. Overview: Scale, Business Lines & History (2:21) Building the Business: Early Days & Charles Koch Joins (1961) (11:31) Failures, Creative Destruction & Learning from Mistakes (19:22) Culture & Principle-Based Management (33:53) Georgia-Pacific Acquisition & Culture Transformation (56:17) Stand Together: Education Reform & Social Change (1:12:37) AI, Economic Challenges & the Future of Capitalism Thanks to our partner Axon.ai for making this possible. Axon.ai — AppLovin's AI advertising platform reaches over a billion daily active users across mobile games. Full-screen video ads with a 35-second median watch time. Advertisers are profitably spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a day and advertiser access is still in closed beta. The window is open at https://axon.ai/allin Follow the besties: https://x.com/chamath https://x.com/Jason https://x.com/DavidSacks https://x.com/friedberg Follow on X: https://x.com/theallinpod Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theallinpod Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theallinpod Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/allinpod Intro Music Credit: https://rb.gy/tppkzl https://x.com/yung_spielburg Intro Video Credit: https://x.com/TheZachEffect

(0:00) Spencer Pratt vs. the Machine (3:01) Inside the Palisades Fire: Drained Reservoirs, No Sirens & Watching His House Burn on His Phone (14:03) Why He's Running for Mayor: FireAid's $100M Scandal & the NGO Corruption Nobody Talks About (28:10) Karen Bass at 20% & the Real State of Los Angeles: Crime, Homelessness & a City in Free Fall (38:23) Spencer's Plan to Fix LA: Enforcing Laws, Auditing Everyone & the Billionaires Ready to Rebuild (52:22) Hollywood, LAUSD & Small Business: What It Actually Takes to Make LA #1 Again (56:25) The Permitting Nightmare Killing Small Business & How AI Fixes It Overnight (1:04:22) His 8-Year Vision Thanks to our partner Axon.ai for making this possible. Axon.ai — AppLovin's AI advertising platform reaches over a billion daily active users across mobile games. Full-screen video ads with a 35-second median watch time. Advertisers are profitably spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a day and advertiser access is still in closed beta. The window is open at https://axon.ai/allin Follow Spencer: https://x.com/spencerpratt Follow the besties: https://x.com/chamath https://x.com/Jason https://x.com/DavidSacks https://x.com/friedberg Follow on X: https://x.com/theallinpod Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theallinpod Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theallinpod Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/allinpod Intro Music Credit: https://rb.gy/tppkzl https://x.com/yung_spielburg Intro Video Credit: https://x.com/TheZachEffect Referenced in the show: https://x.com/spencerpratt/status/2049497051793412557?s=20

What I learned from rereading Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike for the 3rd or 4th time. Made possible by: Ramp:⁠ https://ramp.com⁠ Axon by Applovin: ⁠https://axon.ai/founders⁠ Vanta: ⁠https://vanta.com/founders

(0:00) Friedberg Intros Palantir's Shyam Sankar and Anduril's Trae Stephens (0:56) Palantir Origins: CIA Analyst Joins 20-Person Startup (2:54) War, Deterrence & Silicon Valley's Defense Tech Taboo (8:39) US vs China: Drone Gap, Shipbuilding & 2027 Taiwan Threat (12:27) Anduril's Arsenal-1 Factory & Fixing US Munitions Supply Chain (41:48) Autonomous Weapons, AI Decision-Making & Future of War (47:15) Anthropic vs Pentagon: Ethics of AI in Combat (50:39) Palantir Surveillance State Claims (55:57) Anti-Defense Culture Origins: Vietnam, Snowden & Foreign Influence Axon.ai — AppLovin's AI advertising platform reaches over a billion daily active users across mobile games. Full-screen video ads with a 35-second median watch time. Advertisers are profitably spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a day and advertiser access is still in closed beta. The window is open at https://axon.ai/allin. Follow Trae: https://x.com/traestephens Follow Shyam: https://x.com/ssankar Follow the besties: https://x.com/chamath https://x.com/Jason https://x.com/DavidSacks https://x.com/friedberg Follow on X: https://x.com/theallinpod Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theallinpod Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theallinpod Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/allinpod Intro Music Credit: https://rb.gy/tppkzl https://x.com/yung_spielburg Intro Video Credit: https://x.com/TheZachEffect