AppLovin automates and removes work before hiring

Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

1. 48:16

   So it was less about frugality, but like the return wasn't there for it. What is this relentless focus you guys have on the amount of employees you have in the business? Yeah, so the thing for us is like— our same situation like we can hit this much revenue with half that it's like a almost like a demonstration of like an actual skill set of an entrepreneur it's like i can do twice as more with half exactly right because it's a distraction right you're you're managing c players that are just wasting your time or you're focused on things that don't matter at all right and so it's actually great when you have less people it forces you to be very focused is this like something that's like talked about inside the company or it just happens naturally is this This happens naturally, just who we are.

2. 48:55

   Because this goes back to your insane performance culture. Yeah. I would say Amazon was maybe one of these companies where they really focused on being frugal. But for us, and also because the company is founder-led, we spend the money like it's ours. We're also very data-driven, very analytical. We look at everything that we do. When you look at it, from a spreadsheet perspective, it's just very obvious the things that make sense to double down on and other things that don't.

3. 49:19

   So is there not like lots of, you mentioned earlier, like we can do, we can do every single job in the company. We can do the campaign. We can make the, they're creative. Like there's not many layers of management inside of it then? No, not really. I mean, obviously the algorithms, we obviously can't do that. And luckily we have like an incredible team that's able to like build those systems that Adam and I and others can't.

4. 49:42

   Like for us, like this goes to like the controls of our company, like there's not much red tape, right? Like our belief is like, we're hiring smart people, right? They understand the value of a dollar and we let them go out there and do what we feel like is best with the company. It's not like there's these layers of approval to go get things done. But is there anything else that that you think is rare or unique in the approach, the way you guys run your company that you don't see outside the company and other businesses?

5. 50:08

   We try to give people as much ownership and as much work as possible versus like, you know, a lot of companies, oh, you're overworked? Like, we're going to go hire a bunch more people. Our approach from it is like, okay, what can we build to like automate like your work at certain parts of your work to make it a lot more efficient? What things like are not important that like you're wasting time on that we just shouldn't be doing at all?

6. 50:29

   There's no, like, peer managers in Apple. Like, everyone is a doer. Like, even our CTO is pushing code himself, right? And he manages, like, 100% engineering work. Really just, like, being relentless on my prioritizing what we work on and then also being very hands-on, or really the two, like, difference makers. There is no special magic, David. It's, like, fucking work on the things that matter and do it over a long period of time.

7. 50:52

   Success will come. You and I were talking about the Luca Ferrari episode that I just did. a lot of what you just said is very similar to, like, Luca. He has this idea. He's like, hey, I don't really give a shit