Sramana Mitra: Where did you go after Mentor Graphics? Raghu Raghavan: By 1999 the company had become quite large, so I left and joined the Wyatt Company,which was a HR consulting company. They wanted to build large HR systems on PCs. I could not get Mentor Graphics shifted over to PCs because they thought they
Raghu Raghavan is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Act-On Software, which provides a cloud-based integrated marketing platform. Prior he was the co-founder and CTO of Responsys, Inc., a market leader in on-demand email and life cycle marketing solutions for high-end retailers. Raghu holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Minnesota
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
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
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
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
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
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