Show and guest
David Senra of Founders interviews AppLovin founding team member Rafael Vivas; the entire episode consists of their conversation. Original English title: High School Dropout to Multi-Billionaire: The Relentless Drive of Rafael Vivas.
Key points
- Vivas recalls AppLovin’s beginnings: he worked in performance marketing at age 14, built his own mobile advertising platform at 17, and was later recruited as the first business employee. 7:40
- AppLovin has stuck with a small team: its team has always been small, winning through technology rather than sheer headcount. 22:31
- He founded Lion Studios to beat one of AppLovin’s own partners; the business generated more than 250 million dollars in revenue within two years. 32:55
- He chose to return when the stock price crashed after the IPO, and discusses how the experience tested the team and its conviction. 44:58
- His mentor taught him that every detail matters, and Vivas sees that exacting approach as central to AppLovin’s culture. 54:30
Background and notes
This article compiles Vivas’s full interview. The episode runs 1 hours, 06 minutes and 56 seconds; this article covers the main body of the interview. All views are paraphrased from the original episode subtitles.