Thought building a brand was difficult? Try promoting it! One tech firm is confident it has found a way.

There’s always potential to be leveraged from a growing industry, and rarely has a corporate sector over the past ten years expanded more than the smartphone industry, and mobile apps are the lifeblood of every modern smartphone.

Adam Foroughi noticed the untapped potential of the mobile technology sector early on and invested all his efforts and knowledge into creating AppLovin.

AppLovin is a software company that develops mobile applications and provides analytics, monetization, and marketing software solutions to mobile app developers. It provides all the tools necessary for app-based firms to grow their business and expand their customer outreach.

Today it is one of the most profitable companies of its ilk, but Adam would have miles to go and experience to gain before he would launch and build AppLovin into the tech juggernaut it is today.

The Beginning of a Journey

Adam has had a passion for technology from a young age but it would be a while before necessity and ambition set him on the right path.

Adam was born in a turbulent, post-revolution Iran in 1980, and just before the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war. His parents immigrated to California when he was a child to avoid the regime-changing upheavals and imminent war. As an Iranian expat in the U.S., Adam took some time to adjust to his new environment. But, as it turns out, Adam’s folks could not have chosen a better place for him to develop and grow his business flare potential, than the birthplace of Silicon Valley.

Adam’s very first job did not indicate he would one day make a splash in the high-tech hotspot of the world. He started off as many top businessmen do: modestly. His first job was working as a food delivery guy for a chicken restaurant during his high school days.

Adam proved himself more than an apt student and after high school, he enrolled at the prestigious University of California, Berkeley, where he would hone his business skills.

Paving the Way

Adam showed exceptional business acumen even during his college days.

Fresh out of college with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Business Administration, and a B.A. in business, Adam began work as a derivatives trader. At this point, Adam became deeply inspired by computer-powered, high-frequency trading systems. Such systems and strategies that use complex algorithms to facilitate financial trading, eventually draw Adam into the mobile and ad-tech business.

After his stint as a derivatives trader, Adam embarked on an entrepreneurial journey that would be instrumental in the development of AppLovin.

He would further demonstrate his entrepreneurial capabilities shortly after finishing college by founding two ad-tech companies: Lifestreet Media Inc. and Social Hour Inc. Apart from being a derivatives trader, Adam is an angel investor at StartUp, which he also co-founded and is the CEO of. He has also served as CEO of Style Page and is the co-founder of Game Theory. Adam has also worked as a web traffic analyst for Claria Corporation and assisted as a consultant for marketing software developing firm Keynote Systems.

But in the words of an English poet, Adam proved a man whose reach always exceeded his grasp, and he always seemed to grasp what he reached for. His next business venture – the founding of AppLovin – would prove to be his highest achievement yet.

Inconspicuous Beginnings

In March 2012, Adam joined John Krystynak and Andrew Karam to set the rotors of AppLovin in Palo Alto, California, one of the centers of Silicon Valley. For about two years, the startup would operate in “stealth mode” until finally entering the spotlight in 2014.

In its early stages, AppLovin served as a digital space providing special marketing tools for app developers to advertise, monetize and extend their applications’ discoverability. While still working in the shadows, AppLovin acquired valuable clients such as Spotify and OpenTable.

The difficulties app developers faced reaching out to mobile customers with the rise of mobile traffic in the early 2010s is what gave Adam the idea for AppLovin. In fact, the very first version of AppLovin – a mobile software for discovering other mobile apps – itself faced difficulties with retention numbers. The weekly and the monthly rate at which users use the AppLovin platform forced Adam to rethink the business model.

Though the company’s initial goal was promotion of mobile gaming software, their platform became popular among different types of app developers.

Adam thought he had created the ideal platform that would serve independent and smaller app developers as much as major brands. Adam believes that, in this regard, his company is unique, given that other companies such as his provide preferential treatment to major companies.

AppLovin deviates from this approach and allows big and small developers to be on an equal footing when advertising their apps on the platform.

The Rise of AppLovin

By 2014, AppLovin raised a modest $4 million from investment firms Streamlined Ventures and the Webb Investment Network. By 2015, the company’s business expanded considerably. In its first year, AppLovin was raking in over $1 million a month. Adam thought this was the ideal time to take steps to grow his company.

Adam skipped the venture capital and focused on attracting angel investments instead. By 2015, the company’s annual revenue stream grew to a massive $250 billion, putting AppLovin on the map, but also, in a way, threatening its existence.

The challenges persisted, and in 2016, AppLovin came close to being sold to an equity firm, Orient Hontai Capital. The Chinese firm, which operated in the technology and mobile gaming sectors, valued AppLovin at $1.4 billion. However, the buyout eventually fell through, though Orient still owns a minority stake in AppLovin.

In the years that followed the failed buyout, AppLovin continued to grow exponentially. By 2020, AppLovin’s earnings soared 46%, with an estimated market cap of more than $1.4 billion. The vast majority of its earnings came from app sales and app advertising and monetization tools. It was time to start preparing for an initial public offering (IPO).

With a $400 million investment from the private equity company KKR & Co. Inc., and aided by Morgan Stanley, in the spring of 2021, AppLovin went public. The company had expected to trade at about $85 a share. However, it closed its first day of trading down by 18.5%. AppLovin’s stock dropped more than 6%, trading at just over $65 than the expected $80-$85 a stock.

Despite falling short of expectations, Adam and his company added their names to the billionaires club. Before the IPO, when the price of shares was estimated at about $80, AppLovin was valued at nearly $30 billion. After the first day of trading closed, the company’s value dropped to just over $23 billion. The IPO also significantly increased Adam’s personal wealth, amounting to just shy of $2 billion.

What’s Next for AppLovin?

Apart from Adam’s aptitude for entrepreneurship in the tech sector, AppLovin’s growth is owed to a set of purchases. Instead of being bought itself, it was AppLovin that started doing the buying. Prior to going public in 2018, the company bought the in-app bidding software company MAX, which helps publishers (big and small) to better promote and monetize their app. Adding the in-app bidding software, AppLovin provided its users with choices for discovering more relevant applications.

AppLovin stepped up once again, and acquired SafeDK, Adjust, and made what’s probably the most lucrative venture for AppLovin ー a partnership with Facebook.

Looking forward, Adam’s AppLovin shows no sign of pumping the brakes. In late 2021, Twitter announced it would sell its app advertisement and monetization platform MoPub to AppLovin for $1.05 billion. Garnering such equity under its belt, AppLovin’s founder got a unique chance to further consolidate his company for a better user and publishing experience.

Born into political turmoil, Adam had nothing but determination, passion for business, and his family to lean on. On his way to building one of Silicon Valley’s most successful app-development and app-marketing companies, Adam pulled all the stops.

How Loved is AppLovin Today?

From a company promoting other marketers’ apps to a prolific developer of gaming apps itself, AppLovin made the cut to the big league. AppLovin today is, in terms of wealth and production, among the top Silicon Valley tech firms for promoting and developing mobile apps.

Before scoring big, AppLovin was faced with some serious competition coming from companies like UnityAds, Google Ad Manager, and Flurry, among others.

Locating its headquarters in Palo Alto, CA, AppLovin employs over 900 people, all working relentlessly towards providing the best possible app for its users.

According to its employees, AppLovin is rated with a 4.5 out of 5 stars. AppLovin must have some happy employees, right?

Currently, Adam is the CEO and co-founder of AppLovin, still leading the company up. Up to April of 2021, AppLovin’s website has had 13.4 million hits, garnering a lot of attention, and spanning fast and strong among the younger population.

Adam’s story is one about the possibilities one is capable of by following their will to create. It is a quality all people are endowed with, but one that requires a little nudge to bear fruit.