How To Make Freemium Work: Niccolo de Masi, CEO of Glu Mobile (Part 7)

Sramana: What are some of your key lessons learned from Glu and the other companies you have led? Niccolo de Masi: Over the years I have learned that it is important to be adaptable, that actions speak louder than words and that sometimes you just have to try things out. We are quick to try

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How To Make Freemium Work: Niccolo de Masi, CEO of Glu Mobile (Part 6)

Sramana: Let’s discuss your P&L. In general, I believe freemium is a capital-intensive strategy. The only way that strategy is viable is by raising a lot of capital. What are your thoughts? Niccolo de Masi: I think our industry has unique aspects. Our games monetize the day they are launched. Most of our users start

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How To Make Freemium Work: Niccolo de Masi, CEO of Glu Mobile (Part 5)

Sramana: It seems like your core markets would be North America, Western Europe and Japan. Is that where most of your revenue comes from? Niccolo de Masi: We do generate a lot of revenue there as well, especially for the smart phones. We also do very well in China. We have a strong presence there

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How To Make Freemium Work: Niccolo de Masi, CEO of Glu Mobile (Part 4)

Sramana: Would you talk about some of the smartphone games you have brought to the market and the business dynamics behind those games? Niccolo de Masi: When I started with Glu, I was cognizant of hardware and gaming preferences. Both tend to trend upward rapidly. Consumers demand higher quality content that shows off their new

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How To Make Freemium Work: Niccolo de Masi, CEO of Glu Mobile (Part 3)

Sramana: What is the business model of Glu? Niccolo de Masi: Glu used to be a company where 100% of our revenues came from carrier billed stores. Today a majority of our model is coming from the Android Marketplace or from the Apple app marketplace. That is largely credit card billings, not carrier billing. In

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How To Make Freemium Work: Niccolo de Masi, CEO of Glu Mobile (Part 2)

Sramana: You are saying that you identified a macro trend at the very beginning of that trend, correct? Niccolo de Masi: Yes, and I feel like I have been riding that macro trend for the past eight years. I believe it will only accelerate for the next eight years. We are going to start calling

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How To Make Freemium Work: Niccolo de Masi, CEO of Glu Mobile (Part 1)

Niccolo de Masi is the president and chief executive officer of Glu a 3-D mobile social gaming company. Prior to joining Glu, Niccolo was the chief executive officer and president of Hands-On Mobile, a mobile technology company and developer and publisher of mobile entertainment. Niccolo was previously the chief executive officer of the London-listed mobile

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Domain Knowledge Wins: Larry Goldenhersh, CEO of Enviance (Part 7)

Sramana: How big do you think the market is? Larry Goldenhersh: We did a bottom up analysis and we arrived at 1.4 billion dollars. From a top down look other companies have arrive at numbers ranging from 1 to 2 billion dollars.