Mass Appeal

BlueThrone acquires great apps and takes them to the next level. Josh Peleg is the Head of the Business Development and Mergers & Acquisitions department responsible for building relationships with app developers and overseeing the acquisition of apps to their portfolio. In this episode, you’ll learn what app metrics are most interesting to venture capitalists and app acquirers,  macro trends in the app M&A market, and how to present your app for a successful exit. 

Questions Josh answered in this Episode:

What’s more common for BlueThrone, partnerships or acquisitions?How and where do you draw the line of distinguishing which niche apps have even potential to grow?When are you considering M&As, are you looking at the metrics of an app or are you looking at the macro trends of the verticals they’re in?How do app developers present their apps to potential acquirers such as BlueThrone?What app metrics are venture capitalists and acquirers more interested in?What metrics matter most for the gaming vertical?How important is the experience level of app developers to you?What’s an app or vertical that surprised you in its ability to produce fantastic results for you all?

Timestamp:

1:34 Josh’s background4:50 What makes an app interesting to acquirers7:00 How are app ratings used as a signal?9:00 Pros and cons of niche apps10:48 Where the dating app market is growing17:14 Consideration of macro trends for M&As20:27 Presenting your app for an exit23:09 What metrics matter26:28 Gaming industry: what’s most important31:20 Why experience level matters33:13 Virality: what works

Mentioned in this Episode:

Josh Peleg’s LinkedInEmail: josh.p@bluethrone.ioBlueThrone

What do mobile jigsaw puzzles have to do with tugging on human heartstrings? In this episode, Anastasia Zaiceva, the Chief Communications Officer at ZiMad, a reputable mobile game developer and publisher, reveals how branding can be used as a tool to evoke emotions and build relationships around mobile games. 

Questions Anastasia answered in this Episode:

Why has ZiMad put a big emphasis on communications?Where do you put most of your energy? Is there a particular initiative you’ve been focused on over the last year in communications?With something like a jigsaw puzzle, how do you approach the idea of emotion? And how do you separate it from entertainment?

Timestamp:

6:21 Anastasia’s background in mobile gaming13:50 About ZiMad15:58 Communications vs user acquisition17:50 Building community around games21:48 Puzzle packs & love stories28:30 In-game features that connect people

Mentioned in this Episode:

Anastasia Zaiceva’s LinkedInZiMad

In this episode, Tommy interviews  Diego Kafie, the Co-Founder and CEO of Playbite, an arcade app where players can win real prizes or earn money by creating games. They discuss taking the leap of launching a startup, monetization strategies, and the three-way relationship between app developers, players, and users who can learn how to make games through Playbite’s creator platform. 

Questions Diego answered in this Episode:

Was leaving your job and jumping into venture funding for Playbite scary for you? What was the learning curve like?What is Playbite and how did you get backers to believe in Playbite?What models do you use to monetize Playbite?How do you overcome the obstacle of teaching aspiring creators how to code games?

Timestamp:

4:54 Diego’s background & origin of Playbite11:17 Launching Playbite12:54 Chuck E Cheese to Playbite17:53 Creator platform: a symbiotic relationship25:00 Monetization models30:30 Coaching aspiring game creators

Mentioned in this Episode:

Diego Kafie’s LinkedInPlaybite

Learn the story of Akshay Krishnaiah, the founder and CEO of Beem, an app harnessing the power of AI to improve the financial wellbeing of the world’s working population. Unlike most fintech apps focused on markets that will produce a profit, Beem intentionally serves people regardless of income, immigration status, or credit score. Five million downloads later, find out how Beem has grown organically, thanks in part to their pressroom that cranks 400 to 500 pieces of content every week. 

Before founding Beem, Akshay was the Global Product Head of Research Labs at PayPal, where he led a team of innovators and filed 75 consumer fintech patent publications in areas such as digital wallets, identity platforms, and hybrid tokens. He is based in San Francisco. 

Questions Akshay answered in this Episode:

What drives you to be an entrepreneur?What were some of the transformative experiences you had on your way to founding Beem?How do you go about educating people about your product?How is AI exemplified in your product?How did you get 5 million downloads organically?

Timestamp:

2:50 Akshay’s background and first hustle10:20 Akshay’s path to founding Beem15:18 Beem’s origin story22:18 Beem’s approach to financial empowerment27:35 Finding Beem’s market31:07 Bringing good intention to AI36:10 Growing Beem’s millions organically

Mentioned in this Episode:

Akshay Krishnaiah’s LinkedInBeem

Do you understand your customer’s needs and how to satisfy them, at the right time? Alex Saul, an expert and consultant with 25 years of experience in customer loyalty, joins the podcast to talk about loyalty. He distills the essence of any effective loyalty program – hint: it centers around the customer – as well as ways that loyalty programs can help brands meet their strategic objectives, including monetization. You’ll learn how variable rewards can increase user engagement, how retail media can generate revenue, and how loyalty programs can help change user behavior, track omnichannel traffic, and bring valuable customer insights.

Questions Alex Answered in this Episode:

What experience was most important to your career?How do you go about understanding what a customer’s needs are?How have you seen the way loyalty brands view monetization change?What are variable rewards?What monetization strategies do you see work well in addition to variable rewards?

Timestamp:

2:00 Alex’s background5:43 Challenges in the loyalty industry7:55 Learning the true meaning of loyalty10:05 Understanding the customer12:00 The science behind loyalty14:30 How loyalty can support monetization18:00 Variable rewards23:35 What is retail media?25:23 How loyalty can help brands track omnichannel traffic28:37 Responsible retail media31:45 Consumer insights help monetization

Mentioned in this Episode:

Alejandro “Alex” Gonzalez Saul’s LinkedIn

In this episode Tommy chats with Bruno Rodrigues, the Regional Digital Marketing Lead at FREENOW, to learn about the European transportation super app’s approach to re-engaging users and measuring the incremental uplift of their campaigns in one of the mobile app industry’s most competitive verticals. 

Questions Bruno Answered in this Episode:

How do you approach engagement and what importance does your business put on engagement as a strategy?How do you develop your audience clusters?How do you communicate with customers to re-engage them with your app?How do you measure incremental uplift? What challenges do you have working with different platforms that have different methodologies for measuring incrementality?

Timestamp:

2:14 Bruno’s background8:10 Bruno’s approach to engagement 9:45 Developing audience clusters11:38 Re-engagement communication tactics13:30 How FREENOW approaches incrementality19:07 Extensive creative testing is key

Mentioned in this Episode:

Bruno Romão Rodrigues’s LinkedInFREENOW

In this episode, Tommy interviews Kevin Nemeth, the Chief Digital Officer for Authentic Restaurant Brands, about the evolving landscape of digital loyalty programs for quick-service and casual dining restaurants. You'll learn how Kevin’s team differentiates their loyalty programs by offering value to their customers through special offers, ease of sign-up, and personalized experiences -- without disrupting the established brand's identity. Don’t miss this deep dive into leveraging first-party data to drive customer engagement and create compelling digital strategies for restaurant brands that keep customers coming back.

Questions Kevin Answered in this Episode:

What staying power did Covid’s effects on restaurants have?Is there a cost benefit to bringing customers to your website or app?How do you translate in-person restaurant experiences into a digital environment that’s useful for customers?How do you drive adoption to your loyalty program?

Timestamp:

2:58 Covid’s lasting impact: ordering food through apps6:00 Economics of driving customers to first-party platforms10:10 Overview of Authentic Restaurant Brands12:20 Regional Fortress Brands strategy16:33 Translating in-restaurant experiences to digital21:51 Importance of differentiation in loyalty programs22:02 Overcoming barriers to loyalty program sign-ups22:35 The success of PJ Whelihan's loyalty program25:20 The value exchange in modern loyalty programs27:27 Customer data is currency30:59 Gamification and brand recall strategies37:10 Building digital capabilities for restaurant brands40:17 What's ahead

Mentioned in this Episode:

Kevin Nemeth’s LinkedInAuthentic Restaurant Brands

Tobi Lüder is the Head of CRM at Delivery Hero, a food and grocery delivery app operating in over 70 countries. In this episode, Tommy and Tobi talk about how to keep customers engaged with your app and converted into subscribers. You’ll learn how to win the loyalty of your customers, the difference between heavy users and loyal users, how to measure the incremental lift of your marketing efforts, and more!

Questions Tobi Answered in this Episode:

Does CRM strategy change significantly from one country to another?How do you keep customers engaged with the Delivery Hero brand?What is the process for identifying your heavy users that require less incentives?How are you measuring the incremental lift of your marketing efforts?Are your customers actively engaged in your loyalty program? Is that an important tool for them?How do you determine who to heavily market your subscription to and articulate the value proposition?Is frequency the most important metric when segmenting your audiences?

Timestamp:

2:40 Tobi’s background5:16 Changes to CRM strategies in different countries6:40 About Delivery Hero9:38 How to win the loyalty of your cusomters14:40 Heavy users vs loyal users18:12 Measuring results with control groups20:48 Attracting customers to our loyalty program15:25 Acquiring subscribers in the app28:09 Importance of frequency as a metric

Mentioned in this Episode:

Tobi Lüder’s LinkedInDelivery Hero

Janos Perei is the Head of Growth at SYBO Games, the makers of Subway Surfers, one of the most downloaded mobile games in the world. Janos and his team have been working on migrating users across the various games in SYBO’s portfolio in a meaningful way, which he calls “cross-promotion.” He discusses the merits of this growth strategy, the experience of cross-promotion for the user, and the challenges. 

Questions Janos answered in this Episode:

Are you a gamer?Outside of Subway Surfers, are there any mobile games in the marketplace that impress you in terms of growth?Why has Subway Surfers been so successful?How do you define “cross-promotion”?How does the experience of cross-promotion manifest for your users?Do more active users get different in-app messaging?What stops game studios from trying to do this? What are the challenges of trying to build a cross-promotion mechanism?

Timestamp:

1:25 Janos Perei’s background and role at SYBO5:34 Mobile games moving the needle7:24 The secret behind Subway Surfers success10:00 What is cross-promotion?12:32 SYBO’s pillars of privacy controls15:38 The user experience of cross-promotion17:45 Mitigating “cannibalization” within game portfolios22:00 Segmenting cross-promotions23:00 Can smaller game studios do cross-promotion?25:50 The challenges of cross-promotion

Mentioned in this Episode:

Janos Perei’s LinkedInSYBO Games

Why do app users spend more time on Temu’s app than Walmart’s or Amazon’s? In short: gamification. In this episode, Tara Kirkpatrick, the Director of App Marketing at Apptopia, explains why apps using gamification are crushing their categories. 

Apptopia is a platform providing brands with mobile app performance data and mobile usage insights. Prior to Apptopia, Tara was the manager of product content and communications at Insight Timer.

Questions Tara Answered in this Episode:

What attracted you to Apptopia when you joined?What is Apptopia’s core focus in the market?Why does Temu see higher engagement in the app than Amazon?Why is Duolingo a leader in its category?

Timestamp:

5:19 Tara’s background7:58 Measuring scalable impacts for B2C10:45 What does Apptopia do?14:00 Why does Temu see higher engagement than Amazon?18:00 Why Duolingo kills the app monetization game23:07 Gaming runs upstream of all consumer tech25:41 Community as a driver for app engagement31:14 Diverging app monetization strategies

Mentioned in this Episode:

Tara Kirkpatrick’s LinkedInApptopia

Marc Bearman, the General Manager of Fetch Play, chats with Tommy about the potential of rewarded experiences in gaming, particularly at the intersection of reward platforms like Fetch and game studios, and how it can lead to innovations and new opportunities for engagement, loyalty, partnerships, and revenue streams. They cover the evolution of rewarded video as a monetization strategy, how gaming studios might benefit from designing games with rewarded experiences in mind, and what the future holds for this exciting new intersection. 

Questions Marc Answered in this Episode:

Tell us about your background and what you're doing today at Fetch.What do you think makes Fetch special?Why do you think it makes sense for Fetch to integrate gaming into its rewards platform?What about the Fetch audience makes them attracted to games?What’s got you stoked about 2024?

Timestamp:

1:27 Marc’s role at Fetch and background in ad tech5:04 The evolution of rewarded video7:51 Integrating gaming into a rewards program12:31 Navigating user feedback and the importance of data-driven decisions16:24 Fetch’s unique position as a rewards and loyalty app22:23 Exploring user engagement and data accuracy23:54 The Fetch Play Initiative26:15 Win-win-win: Fetch-game studios-consumers34:47 How fetch appeals to gamers and non-gamers39:46 Looking ahead: the future of gaming and rewards with Fetch

Mentioned in this Episode:

Marc Bearman’s LinkedInFetch

How do we translate the pains of our consumers into a product that benefits their life? Join Tommy as he chats with Nico Ritschel, the Director of Engineering at ATM, about how he helps the rewards app develop features that empathize with the needs of their users.  

ATM helps people monetize their personal data. Users can earn rewards, make money, and invest it by taking surveys, playing games, and more. Prior to ATM, Nico worked as a software engineer at Acorns and Netflix. 

Questions Nico Answered in this Episode:

What can ATM app users do with their rewards?Since its start, how has the company decided what features to add?Are “daily questions” different from surveys?How do you determine what is a pervasive sentiment among your users?What are you looking forward to in 2024?

Timestamp:

4:07 Nico’s industry background5:55 What is ATM?10:40 Developing ATM’s features13:58 Daily questions16:43 Making product decisions20:00 A perspective outside data21:24 An engineer’s role27:00 What’s ahead

Mentioned in this Episode:

Nico Ritschel’s LinkedInATM.com

Yves Benchimol is the CEO and co-founder of WeWard, an app on a mission to make walking a more rewarding part of people’s lives. In this episode, Yves and Tommy discuss the three pillars of motivation that WeWard uses to inspire people to get outside and take a walk: gaming, social, and rewards. You’ll hear the strategies behind their success in helping 20 million users increase their number of steps on average by 25 percent.

WeWard is a free mobile app that converts steps into digital currency, which can be redeemed for offers, coupons, products, or cash. Yves has a master's in engineering and entrepreneurship and lives in New York with his family. 

Questions Yves Answered in this Episode:

How did you become the CEO and co-founder of WeWard?What’s one business you find inspiring?Why did you start WeWard?How does your app motivate people to walk more?Of the three pillars, which impacts your consumers the most?Do you have any examples of features that didn’t work that you thought would?How did you decide when it was time to expand into other countries? And how did you decide what countries to expand to first?Does the U.S. present unique challenges or rewards to WeWard’s expansion?What approach did you take to amplify your rewards system, and why was that important for WeWard?What’s your favorite walk of the day?

Timestamp:

3:06 Yves’s background7:14 WeWard’s origin story & the beauty of walking11:11 The 3 motivational pillars13:38 What motivates people the most?18:58 Deciding when to kill a feature22:35 How we decided to expand to other countries31:05 Amplifying our reward strategy with games36:04 The BEST walk

Mentioned in this Episode:

Yves Benchimol’s LinkedInWeWard

Discover how PAYBACK revolutionizes app monetization by engaging users through rewarding actions. Sergio Palau, PAYBACK’s App Performance Marketing Specialist, shares insights into their approach, educating users, tradeoffs, and rewards. Join PAYBACK, the German-based loyalty rewards program, and earn discounts from your favorite brands.

Timestamp:

1:03 Sergio’s background5:25 What is PAYBACK?9:54 Gamifying PAYBACK to drive engagement15:50 The trust and value exchange of consumer data17:12 Educating users on our app’s offer wall25:25 Providing a rewarding gaming experience

Mentioned in this Episode:

Sergio Palau’s LinkedInPAYBACKOn Instagram @payback_group

It’s hard to be profitable as a Free to Play mobile game. With a 97% failure rate, it’s not uncommon for games to see that the Lifetime Value (LTV) of their users is below their Cost Per Install (CPI). In this episode, Matt Emery, the founder and lead product manager at Turbine Games Consulting, talks to Tommy about how he helps F2P games improve their monetization, retention, KPI performance, and CPI with as little effort on the client’s part as possible. 

Matt has worked with over 80 gaming companies on more than 100 games as a product manager over the last 15 years. He founded Turbine Games Consulting in 2016, and for the last five years, Turbine Games Consulting has been perfecting the art of split testing to refine their product recommendations over time. 

Questions Matt Answered in this Episode:

Is the rate at which game developers launch new games part of the reason such a small percentage of mobile games make it?When did you found Turbine Games?What was the problem you were trying to solve for your clients, or the service you were trying to provide?What’s the most common need you see?How do you design your split tests? How do you prove the efficacy of an effort within a game in a split test environment?Is reskinning a store worth it?Tell us about one of your success stories.What are you excited about in 2024 for Free to Mobile Games?

Timestamp:

3:00 Matt’s background7:14 Mobile game survival rate and the development process11:20 The birth of Turbine Games Consulting15:49 Split testing to help games improve performance21:48 When clients don’t have enough user volume for split tests25:45 Even top-grossing companies miss low hanging fruit29:54 What initiatives create the greatest lift?31:33 A 9x ROAS success story36:00 Helping Free to Play games with pre-code product validation

Mentioned in this Episode:

Matt Emery’s LinkedInTurbine Games Consulting

Tommy speaks to a connoisseur of scaling early stage startups and growing apps of emerging categories into multi-billion dollar products. Sami Khan is the CEO and Co-Founder of ATLAS Reality, a mobile gaming company with the leading real estate app on the metaverse. In this episode, Sami discusses how ATLAS Reality is bridging the virtual and physical worlds with their approach to monetization. 

Sami got his start in marketing emerging app categories when he led the launch of Acorns, which quickly became the leading fintech app in the U.S. He also advised Honey, the savings extension, on growth. 

Questions Sami Answered in this Episode:

How much of your experience working with early stage startups gave you the confidence to make the jump that you did founding and starting ATLAS Reality?Can you tell our listeners about what ATLAS Reality is? And how do you educate your customers to not just drive installs but keep them engaged?How do you get people to understand what you’re doing? And how do you keep them engaged and retain users?

Timestamp:

3:04 Sami’s background11:37 The fear of being a founder15:57 Installs don’t mean sh*t19:37 What is ATLAS Reality?20:26 A vision for the Metaverse25:00 Approaches to monetization for retention19:32 The future of loyalty

Links:

Sami Khan’s LinkedInAtlas:EarthAcorns

How did  Ember Fund  get over a million users to invest in cryptocurrencies on their app? Find out as Tommy chats to Guillaume Torche, the Co-Founder and CTO of the Web3 superapp that allows users to earn, play, and invest in digital assets. You’ll learn how they made investing in crypto easy and fun for the average joe, and the outcome of their strategy.

Questions Guillaume Answered in this Episode:

What was the inspiration behind starting Ember Fund?Can you explain how you’ve taken the middleman out of investing in crypto for your app’s users?How much can users earn for referring a friend? How did you test that experience to find out the optimal payout to the user that made the referral?How else do you think about earning and how to increase consumer opportunities there?What are you excited about for what’s to come next?

Timestamp:

1:45 Guillaume’s background3:12 The birth of Ember Fund7:12 Cutting out the middleman9:00 Educating our users10:46 Our key to acquisition and scale11:35 How Ember Fund’s referral program works14:08 Tournaments for crypto portfolios21:55 Our next frontier

Mentioned in this Episode:

Guillaume Torche LinkedInEmber Fund

Monetizing an app relies on how you keep users engaged, and not just at the beginning but over a user’s lifetime. To kick off the first episode of adjoe's Mass Appeal Podcast, host Tommy Yannopoulos speaks with Alex Guerra, the Director and Head of Monetization at Baz. They discuss how economic incentive programs can drive app engagement in a profitable way. You’ll learn about the three principal monetization strategies; how to use incentives, like referral programs and gamification, to drive engagement and retention; and how to work with your data science team to build predictive marketing models with AI and machine learning to turn a profit.

After receiving his Masters from UCL in London, Alex worked at Uber for over 4 years, eventually becoming the Latin America Lead for Global Strategy. Now he directs pricing, market intelligence, and revenue growth strategies for Baz, Mexico’s first superapp. Baz is one app for payment and financial services, entertainment, e-commerce, and more.

Questions Alex Answered in this Episode:

How is Baz structured? What does it do for customers?How do you decide where to focus on engagement across all the verticals in your superapp?How do you structure your incentives program across all these different datasets?How do you identify users early on that you want to put the effort behind in terms of driving more mid- to long-term incentives programs?What are the inputs required of you in this process of working with your data science team to build a predictive marketing model?Could you share with us an offer that you brought as a result of these efforts that worked really well for your customers?What’s got you excited about this year at Baz?

Timestamp:

1:52 Intro to Alex Guerra4:52 What is monetization in the mobile app industry7:45 Baz and superapps explained11:45 Identifying engagement strategies at a superapp14:02 Economic incentives to increase engagement and retention19:38 Building machine learning models for predictive analytics and marketing22:40 Working with your data science team to build AI models26:47 Giving your AI modeling experiments time27:53 Incentives for customers who have churned31:35 What Alex is excited about for Baz

Quotes:

(14:48-14:54) “What speeds up engagement and also user acquisition or retention is giving a customer something to reward their action.”

(19:57-20:11) “You have to build AI and machine learning models that create propensity and ranking models that make sure you’re reducing the cost of engagement and the cost of acquisition but you maximize or optimize for the lifetime value.”

(26:49-27:02) “You need to be patient. I’ve seen a lot of companies drop their [AI data modeling] efforts after a few weeks. Some of these experiments need two, three, or four months–it depends on the purchase frequency that your business has.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Alex Guerra’s LinkedInBaz superapp