When it comes to funding a young app venture, folks often seek out angel investors, venture capital, or equity investors. But in this episode, we sit down with Martin Macmillan, CEO of Pollen VC, to talk about a totally new way to finance an app business. It's called "revolving line of credit" funding and it's fast, flexible, and data-driven.
Tune in to hear Martin share insights on
- How this financing method works
- How Pollen VC’s funding model differs from the others
- Who can benefit from it
- How "Clean Room Accounting" strategy can help apps better manage their finances
- Financial forecasting for subscription apps: Pollen's calculator
Join us for a fresh perspective on app financing with Martin Macmillan.
For noteworthy quotes and key takeaways from the episode, read the article - A guide to financing your user acquisition with Martin Macmillan (Pollen VC)
Episode Topics at a Glance
- Fixed-income trading
- Funding options for startups
- How Pollen VC invests in the UA stage
- The ideal investee profile for Pollen VC
- How do you work and compete with your contenders?
- Clean room accounting for UA/monetization
- Why Pollen VC is moving toward subscription apps
- Pollen’s online calculator: ROAS, LTV, and cash flow
More about Martin
Martin Macmillan is Founder and CEO of Pollen VC. He has 20 years of experience in launching and building technology businesses in financial services and media sectors and a prior career as an investment banker.
Having directly experienced the growth challenges facing tech start-ups and the lack of debt financing options open to early-stage technology businesses, he saw the opportunity to marry his traditional financial markets and technology experience to create a new financing model for the app and gaming economy.
Prior to founding Pollen VC, Martin was CEO at Soniqplay, CEO at Level Four (acquired by clear2pay), and a Director of UBS in London and New York, where he ran the Eurocommercial paper (ECP) trading group and conceived and delivered UBS’ first client-facing electronic debt trading platform.
Pollen VC’s Links
- Subscription app calculator
- The Definitive Guide to Selecting a UA Financing Partner
- Clean Room Accounting for UA/Monetization blog post
- RIP Mobile Games Publishing blog post
Timestamps
00:00 Welcome to the Subscription League
00:20 What is fixed-income trading?
01:20 Martin's journey to founding Pollen VC
02:28 Ways a founder can fund their start-up
04:48 How Pollen VC pushes user acquisition later into the cycle
09:05 When should start-up founders get a revolving line of credit?
10:13 How do you work and compete with your contenders?
13:35 Clean room accounting for UA/monetization
15:58 Why are you moving towards subscription apps?
18:12 Where to learn more
22:49 Wrap Up
23:06 Thank you for listening!
Transcript
Episode production by Mobdesign: https://podcasts.mobdesignapps.fr
