Who this is
Moritz Holländer founded Almedia at 18, straight after finishing school, six years before this recording. He started in a very specific niche: Counter-Strike players filling out online surveys to earn free skins. After a year Freeskins became Freecash, an app that rewards users for trying out new mobile games and apps. Almedia is fully bootstrapped: Moritz owns 90 percent, his CTO the other 10. Last year revenue came to 320 million, and the run rate is now above one billion. The company is based in Berlin; according to its website, more than 170 people in seven countries work for Almedia.
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FAQ
What is Almedia?
Almedia is a Berlin ad-tech company that Moritz Holländer founded at 18. Its main product is the Freecash app, which mobile games and other apps use to acquire new users. Almedia is bootstrapped, had 320 million in revenue last year and, according to Moritz, now runs at more than one billion a year. To the episode →
Would Moritz Holländer bootstrap again?
Not with a new company. He admits it's a controversial view: with a new company he would raise money, because with a good, competitive business model and smartly deployed capital you can grow faster. Almedia was lucky to be able to grow step by step, even though advertisers pay later than users and ads have to be paid for. To the episode →
Quotes
„Ich habe gemerkt, dass am Ende des Tages, wenn man sich auf eine Sache fokussiert, wird man die auch schaffen und man kommt da durch.““I realized that in the end, if you focus on one thing, you'll manage it and you'll get through.”
„… sondern ein sehr krasses Mindset von Limiting Factor. So was ist gerade das Ding, was uns limitiert?““Instead, a really strong limiting factor mindset: what is the thing holding us back right now?”
„… wenn es gerade so gut läuft und nur ein paar Prozent unseres Umsatzes auf Hiring geht, wieso nicht mehr?““If things are going this well and only a few percent of our revenue goes into hiring, why not more?”
„… meine Logik war damals immer, wir wollen überall die Besten sein. Und es ist einfach nicht possible.““Back then my logic was always that we want to be the best at everything. And that's just not possible.”
„Weil du, wenn du ein gutes Businessmodell hast und es sehr competitive ist, was meistens ja der Fall ist bei einem guten Business, kannst du einfach, wenn du schlau bist und das Geld schlau einlöst oder einsetzt, noch mehr rausholen.““Because if you have a good business model and it's very competitive, which is usually the case with a good business, you can get even more out of it if you're smart and use the money wisely.”