Jeff brings over 15 years of business development experience in both scaling existing businesses as well as going from 0 to 1, creating a brand presence and attracting early customers.
In his role at Mintegral, Jeff oversees all facets of the Americas’ business. Jeff was the first Mintegral hire in the United States and he has built out a team, presence, and foundation that generates the partnerships we have today. After starting from scratch six years ago, the Americas’ business now accounts for multiple nine figures a year in revenue.
Before joining Mintegral, Jeff has held business development roles at Fyber, FusePowered, and HyprMX. These businesses had great teams and leadership and were all ultimately acquired.
Jeff graduated from the University of California, Irvine and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and daughter.
In your own words, what’s your role in the app business right now?
My role in the app business right now is very similar to what it was years ago – to enable growth for our app developer partners. The difference now is that I have many more solutions to offer. Mintegral provides user acquisition, ad monetization, and creative solutions to help developers grow their businesses.
More broadly, our parent company, Mobvista, provides solutions along the developer journey, whether that be analytics, agency buying, user acquisition optimization tools, and more. In this way, we can help resolve many of the pain points starting from the inception of an app all the way through billions of downloads.
How did you end up working in apps? / get started?
I started working in apps from a video seeding company. We were looking for high completion rate video supply, and I worked with many of the rewarded video platforms, including mobile ad platforms. After understanding more about the mobile ecosystem and seeing how budgets were shifting towards mobile, I started applying to and working for mobile ad platforms at companies like Fyber, FusePowered, HyprMX, and now Mintegral.
What are you most excited about in apps right now?
I’m most excited about the intersection between AI and gaming. AI can help streamline many things and empower developers to do more with less. I also see AI allowing developers to be more agile and nimble when generating new ad creatives or managing their UA channels, ultimately driving higher conversion and more efficiency.
Beyond that, we’re excited about our expansion to non-gaming and retargeting, leveraging our existing capabilities for a different audience. We see a large potential in these areas and have given a lot more of our attention there.
Is there anyone you’d like to shout out to who has influenced your journey in the app industry?
One person who has influenced my journey in the app industry is my former coworker, Ben Chen. He was an executive at Fyber when I was just starting out in the mobile app industry. Ben always had great communication, structure, and strategy on how he operated the business. After Fyber, I also worked with Ben more directly at FusePowered. To this day, I still find his teachings helpful.
What’s in your app tech stack?
Under our parent company Mobvista we have a full suite of solutions that help app developers throughout their journey, from start to full scale. We offer everything from analytics, user acquisition, automation, a UA agency, SDK ad monetization, creative analysis, ad creative studios, and more.
What do you like most about working in apps?
I like that the app space is very dynamic with different types of apps that resonate with mobile users. Just in the past few years podcasts, exercise, health/wellness, and eCommerce have all become very popular. Along with that, there have been iterations to the types of advertisements that are used like playable ads and audio ads.
There is a constant change in which apps are ranking and which are relevant. Also, the community and people of the app industry are great. Although it may be smaller than some other industries, it’s very collaborative and dynamic.
What one thing would you change about the app industry/market? Where do you think there’s an opportunity for apps / or unmet needs?
There could be more platforms, which could meet many of the app developers’ needs under one roof. Many of the top ad platforms are moving in this direction, providing more services and cost efficiencies for app developers.
Other than that, more app-focused events in the U.S. other than the existing GDC and MAU conferences, would be greatly beneficial. It would be great to see the industry come together more often throughout the year.
If you weren’t working in apps what would you be doing?
I would say I’d be working on some other type of tech on the business development side of things. Or maybe even consider being a chef.
iOS or Android?
iOS. Although I did have a Google Pixel for a few years – I thought it was great, except for that green text bubble.
What app(s) have been most useful to you over the last year?
YouTube has always been great and I probably spend the most time on that app. A runner-up would be Perplexity, as it saves a lot of time consolidating search results with links to the sources.
What’s on your Spotify / Music party playlist?
Various artists from Kool & the Gang, Khalid, Daft Punk, J Balvin, Disclosure, Anderson Paak, and more!
Is there anything else we should know about you?
I’m always up to grab a coffee and chat! Feel free to reach out to me and my team.
Do you know someone driving change and growth in the app industry? Nominate an app leader here.
