
Growth Masterminds: mobile growth podcast
Growth Masterminds is smart user acquisition and mobile growth pros sharing their best insights on UA, retention, mobile measurement, privacy, mobile marketing data, and much more.
Hosted by John Koetsier, we chat with brands like IMVU, DraftKings, and Mixtiles. We interrogate ad networks like Fyber, Kidoz, AppLike, Vungle, Bluestacks, and more. And we feature global experts like Eric Seufert and Jayne Peressini. Along the way, we hit topics like pLTV, creative optimization, incrementality, granularity, fraud, privacy, success in China ... and much, much more.
Latest episodes

May 16, 2023 • 27min
Privacy Sandbox on Android: 'we will do everything for the UA managers'
Privacy Sandbox is by all accounts more complicated than SKAdNetwork ... even SKAN 4. But Singular says "we will do everything for the UA managers."
The bad news is that to make Privacy Sandbox work, you need to set sources, register triggers, get big aggregated reports from upper funnel activities and much smaller lower funnel reports. You need an aggregation server and the ability to decrypt encrypted data. You need to accept the fact that Google will be adding noise to the data to increase privacy. And much more.
But the good news is that Singular -- and the adtech ecosystem at large -- will handle almost all of this complexity for you.
ALMOST all.
In this Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with Singular chief architect Yuval Carmel and architect Ron Shub. They all dive into Privacy Sandbox on Android and get you the information you need to start thinking about how you'll handle Privacy Sandbox when it gets fully implemented and deployed.

May 5, 2023 • 28min
Making mobile ads suck less, with Moloco VP Francesco Renzo
Tiny X buttons. Phantom clicks. Endless countdowns before you get back to your game.
How can we make mobile ads suck less?
In this Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with Francesco Renzo, former Googler and current VP at Moloco, the AI-powered performance ad network.
They chat about:
- the mobile ad problem
- the risk factor if mobile ads suck too much
- the causes between ad networks, publishers, and advertisers
- how we fix it
- what advertisers can do
- what publishers can do
- and ... measurement in the era of privacy (and sky-high click-through rates)

May 3, 2023 • 17min
DSPs in the privacy era: what will change?
What does a DSP do? And how will it change when they no longer have IDFA or GAID to do it with?
In this Growth Masterminds host John Koetsier chats with longtime adtech and martech thought leader and current InMobi head of product marketing, Sara Camden.
They chat about:
- what DSPs even do :-)
- how DSPs work under SKAN (and Privacy Sandbox)
- the transition to SKAN 4
- and much more ...

Apr 28, 2023 • 27min
60% of app subscription cancellations happen in the first 60 minutes. Here's how to save 10% of them
60% of in-app subscription cancellations happen in the first 60 minutes ... but there's a way to 10% of them back.
In this Growth Masterminds host John Koetsier chats with Apphud cofounder Renat Kurbanov. Every app marketer wants more subscription revenue, but how do you achieve that?
In this episode, we chat about:
- the core challenges to driving subscription revenue
- typical and most successful flows to drive more subscription revenue
- optimizing free trials
- managing auto-renews properly
- ARPAS … what it is, and why it matters
- subscription fatigue in a down economy

Apr 21, 2023 • 38min
Run fewer ads, make more money says gaming OG Adam Jaffe
Can you make money by running fewer ads? Gaming OG Adam Jaffe says yes.
In this Growth Masterminds, we chat about bad ads, bad ad experiences, and how not to run ads in your games and apps. We also chat about the declining ROI of increasing numbers of ads in your app.
Adam was formerly with Jam City, was the CEO of Tenko Games, is a former CMO of an edtech company, sits on advisory boards for multiple companies including Dataset and INCRMTL ... and is now founder and CEO of Mega Studio, a gaming agency that designs, builds, analyzes, and monetizes games.

Apr 18, 2023 • 19min
SKAN 4 conversion models live: Singular releases SKAN 4 tools for clients
SKAN 4 tools are now live in the Singular dashboard. Clients who want to set up and start testing SKAdNetwork 4 compatible campaigns can now do so live in the Singular dashboard.
That means you can now set up conversion details for each postback: postbacks 1, 2, and 3. Both revenue and events models are now available; additional models and mixed conversion models will soon also be live.
And good news: this is fully backwards compatible with SKAN 3, so it won’t interfere with any ongoing live campaigns.

Apr 12, 2023 • 21min
Public data from mobile gaming companies shows true and full UA spend
What if you could take a microscope to some of the biggest and best companies in your space, peer inside, and see exactly what they spend for user acquisition and marketing? Would that be useful data?
That's exactly what Clement Favier, Chief Operating Officer at Adikteev has been doing for massive gaming companies like Netmarble, SciPlay, and Aristocrat, owner of Product Madness and Big Fish Games.
In this Growth Masterminds, we chat about UA spend, how to find it across verticals and companies you care about, and why UA cost is more than just the dollars you spend directly on app installs.

Mar 27, 2023 • 26min
User acquisition is a drug we're all hooked on: Mistplay chief growth officer Jason Heller
What does it take to win in user acquisition in 2023?
In this episode of Growth Masterminds we chat with Misplay chief growth officer Jason Heller about the new world of mobile user acquisition on iOS in 2023:
- what works
- what's changed
- how marketers should navigate these new waters
- how ad networks need to adapt as well
We also learn a little bit more about Misplay, which was a surprise strong finisher in multiple categories of the 2023 Singular ROI Index, but is still (relatively) small and (relatively) unknown.

Mar 22, 2023 • 16min
Post-identifier marketing: chatting with Adobe about 3rd-party cookies and more
Mobile marketers have largely lost the IDFA, and are going to lose the GAID. But on the web, the 3rd-party cookie -- which will also go away -- is getting more investment.
In fact, according to Adobe, 64% of marketers actually plan to increase spending on 3rd-party cookie marketing this year. In this Growth Masterminds, we chat with Ryan Fleisch, Head of Product Marketing, Real-Time CDP & Audience Manager at Adobe about privacy and marketing.
That includes 3rd-party cookies, of course, but also device identifiers on mobile.
The question we pose for him: what is the solution to the post-identifier world of advertising and marketing?

Mar 15, 2023 • 27min
Surprise: Apple Search Ads drives organic App Store optimization
Learn how Apple Search Ads significantly increase organic growth in the App Store. Discusses the significance of ASA and ASO for marketers. Explores the impact of ASA on organic App Store optimization. Highlights the power of custom product pages for app marketers. Discusses the success story of Pixar and growth challenges in 2022.