Evolving financial leadership in gaming

During App Promotion Summit London 2024, Peggy Anne Salz met with leading app professionals to discuss the most recent advancements, trends, and innovations in the industry. In this episode of App Talk, Peggy and Martin Macmillan from Pollen VC discuss insights into the transformative shifts within gaming finance.

Over the past decade, the gaming and app industries have seen significant shifts, especially in how companies approach financial management. As Martin explains, the industry, which once operated with more emotion and less data-driven decision-making, now demands a highly analytical approach. The focus today is on understanding complex financial models and optimizing user acquisition strategies to drive success.

One of the persistent challenges, Martin says, is educating founders who often manage finances without much prior experience or formal expertise. As companies scale, the need for specialized financial knowledge becomes crucial, leading to the eventual hiring of experienced CFOs. However, these CFOs, though skilled in traditional finance, often find themselves in a “very lonely place” as they adapt to the specific needs and jargon of the gaming and app sectors.

Evolving financial leadership in gaming with Martin Macmillan, Founder at Pollen VC

Source: App Promotion Summit via YouTube

To address this gap, Martin launched the Mobile Finance Collective, a community designed specifically for finance professionals in the gaming and app industries. The Mobile Finance Collective provides a platform for CFOs and finance leaders in the gaming sector to share best practices, solve common challenges, and gain insights into the unique financial dynamics of their field.

The community offers tailored resources and peer support, allowing members to benefit from the experiences of others who have faced similar issues.

Looking ahead, Martin says there’s a need for more advanced financial modeling tools that go beyond the limitations of traditional spreadsheets. These tools would offer CFOs deeper insights and better predictive capabilities, enabling them to model financial outcomes with greater precision.