Rafael Vivas

@applovin

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

A group of underdogs. Ex-affiliates with a chip on our shoulder and a $8 domain. No one believed in us. Not investors, our family or friends.

What they didn't realize is there was a hook lodged in us that they could not see. Success was not a choice, it was the only damn option we had. We would've died before we gave up.

We built @AxonAdsManager over fourteen years, so we could help the underdogs. Those who are crazy enough to take on the impossible.

[David Senra @davidsenra]

This is the best founder you've never heard of. Adam Foroughi's company prints $5 billion in cash a year with just 400 people. When his stock price dropped by 92%, he borrowed money to buy back $6 billion in stock. That bet made the company more than $60 billion. The entire C-suite is just 4 people. To this day, Adam approves every hire. This episode has the highest insight-to-minute ratio of any conversation I've had so far.

Here’s our full conversation:

0:00 The $6B Buyback That Made $60B
2:15 Borrowing Money To Buy Back Stock At A Discount
5:02 Why VCs Passed On AppLovin In 2012
9:00 From App Discovery To Ad Platform
14:45 Beating Google's AdMob With Performance Marketing
19:30 No Board For Six Years
30:12 The China Deal That Almost Blew Up
37:45 The Convertible Note Pivot And KKR
46:30 Buying Gaming Studios To Get Data
51:45 Losing Trust With Game Developers
58:20 The 2022 Crash And How He Kept His Team
1:02:00 Building An Hyper Competent & Efficient Company
1:07:25 Why Every New Hire Needs His Approval
1:19:06 The Axon 2 Inflection Point
1:21:15 One Great Engineer Now Beats A Hundred

Includes paid partnerships.

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

@UvyatM

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

@thesirshah @AppLovin It’s been less than 24 hours. Just give the team some time.

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

@davidsenra https://t.co/f9PpJmqwNV

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

@hararidylan @TrybeUGC Once you go Trybe, you never go back.

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

@aegoncap DM me your account. I’d like to take a look myself.

[David Senra @davidsenra]

Rafael Vivas explains why the stock price volatility doesn’t matter to him:

“Our stock dropped over 90%. So, being cut by 20% or being cut by half is just like another day in the NFL for us. It doesn't phase us.”

“We don’t care about the short term.”

“If we feel like we're doing the right things for our business and growing, ultimately the stock price will reflect that.”

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

@AaronOrendorff You’re the man! Thank you for being a great friend and partner. Look forward to many more years of kicking ass together.

[David Senra @davidsenra]

.@rfvivas had one condition for joining AppLovin:

“I have to live inside of the office.”

“Think of this as like the Vietnam War. We have this goofy name called AppLovin. We have no VC funding.”

“The only way that we’re going to win is we’re going to have to outhustle everybody else, which means I have to live here.”

AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi then went to IKEA and built a bunk bed for him and another employee.

“I was like, ‘Home sweet home.’”

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

@davidsenra Thank you for having me on the show!

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

@wealthmatica ❤️

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

@chadwkeller's story is pretty incredible.

He grew up with humble beginnings. His mom waited tables and his dad cut fish. Chad sold donuts and pretzels to gas stations. He started several businesses that didn’t work out, but he kept going.

Eventually, he founded Mellow, a company focused on the sleep category. In its first year, the business generated $140M in revenue. Now, it's on pace to hit $500M in his second year of operating!

This is a man who succeeded against all odds and is on a generational run!

[AppLovin @AppLovin]

Mellow co-founder @ChadwKeller has spent his career identifying opportunities and challenging the way things have traditionally been done.

Mellow started with a simple observation: shopping for better sleep meant buying a pillow from one brand, a comforter from another, and a mattress from somewhere else.

There was an opportunity to build something different.

So Chad and co-founder Jay partnered to create Mellow, combining their strengths with a shared vision of building a brand that could redefine the sleep and comfort category.

What started with product samples arriving at Chad’s home turned into $140 million in year one, with $500 million the target for year two.

And they’re just getting started.

Helping ambitious businesses grow is what we do at AppLovin, and we’re proud to play a role in Mellow’s journey.

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

@UvyatM @AMVai7 @edwin1 @AppLovin Completely agree. Support is a work in progress. We’ll continue getting better over time.

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

@AMVai7 @edwin1 @AppLovin I think Levla is a cool idea. I saw it a couple weeks ago. Happy to help out.

Shoot me a DM and we’ll get you sorted.

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

@codyplof @usebland hands down. I use it on my Muse for all personal task.

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

@mikebeckhamsm This hits hard as a father of a one year old. Thank you for the pearl of wisdom.

[AppLovin @AppLovin]

Ten years ago, Sam Turgeon was a college dropout living in his mom’s basement.

He was tired all the time and had a hunch breakfast was to blame, so he and his co-founder started mixing powders.
Everyone, his mom included, wanted to know what he was doing with his life.

He went all in anyway. Those basement powders became HOLOS, and today it’s an eight-figure business selling across North America.

Helping businesses grow is the core of what we do, and stories like this never get old.

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

@fertfreire @AppLovin Happy to help out. Shoot me a DM with your account information.

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

Help us build a better @AppLovin.

What’s working? What’s frustrating? What do you wish we had?

No feedback is off limits.

[Rafael Vivas @rfvivas]

@Lucaecom @joe__sz @AppLovin Can’t help you overturn the ban. Best of luck with your business.