Somewhat Mobile

This episode we invited on Rockford Yapp, the VP of Acquisition at Public.com, an investing app where you can invest in "everything." Still, most people use it for trading stocks which are on a downward trajectory right now, making user acquisition a challenge. Rockford says while there are headwinds and "doom and gloom" seem to be everywhere, it's presented him the opportunity to shift strategies and the audiences he's targeting. Find out more, AND if Adam was able to stump Rockford in a game of Two Apps And A Lie (24:58). 

"This is a different start to a podcast than I've ever experienced," said this week's guest, Cynthia Kleinbaum Milner, Chief Customer Officer at MoneyLion. MoneyLion is an all encompassing personal finance app where Cynthia leads the marketing team's efforts. We talk about the changing economic conditions and what that means for marketing a personal finance app: "From a marketing perspective, we're keeping an eye on pay back period of customer acquisition investments. We used to be much more focused on CAC and right now CACs are getting lower because there's so many people applying for our lending programs. But the lifetime value of those customers is different because cohorts are behaving differently." We go deeper into her mobile marketing strategy and chat about how she benefits from competitive intelligence.

Apptopia CEO Jonathan Kay joins the podcast for the first time in a long time (despite his many attempts at getting booked) because in today's economic climate, data is the hero we need in order to make smarter and more efficient decisions. Jonathan believes pairing first-party data with third-party data is crucial to answering brands' biggest questions. He lends his expertise on how to start attacking these questions so the data doesn't become overwhelming, and we get into which industries we think have the most opportunity for market share shake ups.

Turns out, everything in Vipul Govil's life has been leading him here to this moment with me on the Somewhat Mobile podcast. Vipul is the VP of Product Management at Sam's Club so naturally we talked about the features and functionality of the Sam's Club app (think Scan & Go), why those mobile app investments were made and how they're working out for the company. We then chat about the role the app plays in customer loyalty and the difference in customers who use the app versus those who don't. Fast forward to 19:55 to find out if I was able to stump Vipul in a game of Two Apps And a Lie.

This week, Birk Cooper, CMO of Fetch Rewards joins me for some full funnel fun. With 40% of Fetch's households retaining through a year, the app team has to be doing something right. Birk walks me through how he thinks about Fetch's best users and where he finds more of them. We touch on app store search, iterating on creatives and pivoting quickly once Apple's Tracking Transparency policies went into place. Fast forward to 22:13 if you're solely interested in hearing our favorite gameshow, Two Apps And a Lie.

This one's for the fans. This week I'm joined by Paula Segal, Head of Consumer Product at SeatGeek, a leading event ticketing and live experience app. Paula walks me through the role the mobile app plays in the customer's journey and how different widgets/SDKs improve the user experience leading up to and on the day of the event. We talk a little 13th century medieval history (obviously) and smoothly transition into how user acquisition and gathering user feedback work at SeatGeek. Fast forward to 26:41 if you're solely interested in hearing our favorite gameshow, Two Apps And a Lie.

The ecommerce legend Matt Hudson is back again, turning into Somewhat Mobile's first return guest. Hudson recently launched his company, BILDIT, a native ecommerce platform for for mobile app development. We talk about the differences between PWAs (progressive web apps) and full-throated mobile apps, common pitfalls of ecommerce apps today, why loyalty & rewards go hand-in-hand with apps, and more. Does learning from the best bore you? Then fast forward to 18:35 to see if I can stump Matt in a game of Two Apps and a Lie.

This week I'm sitting down with Maura Welch, VP of Marketing at Together Labs. Maura helps me figure out exactly what the metaverse is and explains why there's no winner take all scenario for the companies catering to those interested in virtual worlds. Together Labs publishes IMVU, a 100% creator led virtual community (with real people behind it all) where you can ride jet skis in a nightclub... or just relax with friends. Does learning from the best bore you? Then fast forward to 26:51 to see if I can stump Maura in a game of Two Apps and a Lie.

This week I'm sitting down with Makoto Rheault-Kihara, Head of User Acquisition at Hopper. Makoto shares why social is such a strong acquisition channel for the company compared with its competitors. We also talk about the impact Apple's app tracking transparency policies have had on his efforts, and how he's viewing the opportunity of more ad placements within the App Store. Does learning from the best bore you? Then fast forward to 24:00 to see if I can stump Makoto in a game of Two Apps and a Lie. And Edris Elba, if you're reading this, be expecting a call...

We usually only hear about an app after it's reached the top of the App Store. But what comes before that? To learn more about launching and marketing an app, we spoke with Till Financial Co-founder, Taylor Burton, to get his first-hand experience. Taylor shares Till's approach to revenue generation, marketing, benchmarking, and his dislike for a certain type of pizza.