“Everybody looks at acquisition costs, but then the LTV (Life Time Value) is also really important,” Momchil Kyurkchiev explains during Casual Connect Asia 2014. “And how do you make the most out of the users that you have already acquired? Well, you need to make sure you have the most ideal user experience in your mobile game. That’s really the art behind A/B testing.”
Momchil Kyurkchiev, Co-Founder and CEO of Leanplum, claims the proudest moment of his career was when they were selected for Techstars in Seattle. The support and networking opportunities the program created have been invaluable to Kyurkchiev and Leanplum in reaching the success they are experiencing today.
Building The Team
Kyurkchiev and Andrew First, Co-Founder and CTO of Leanplum, worked extremely hard to be chosen from a pool of thousands and gain acceptance by this elite incubator. Techstars provided them with access to great mentors, and allowed them to build an exciting initial product and to secure funding. Shortly after, with a compelling vision and a team focused on enabling mobile developers, PMs and marketers to optimize content and messaging within their apps, they launched their product into the market.
Kyurkchiev and First met when they were both lead techs for the ad team for Youtube at Google. While there, they gained valuable experience in understanding how to approach A/B testing, all the while thinking about features that would help end users. They were inspired by the Lean Startup methodology around their iterative development and feedback cycles, so their intent is to have Leanplum reflect, live, and evangelize that data-driven philosophy.
Doing What You Know
The inspiration for Leanplum evolved as they discovered the Lean Startup model breaks on mobile as companies are struggling to iterate quickly. When they realized there was no good way to do A/B testing on mobile, they turned their passion for A/B testing into a company that offers a platform for optimizing mission critical metrics specifically for apps.
Leanplum customers have told them that they need more use-case driven dashboards and recipes, so the company is now focusing on making sure these customers get exactly what they need. They have published a cookbook of A/B testing recipes for game developers, and they are also working to bake the use cases directly into their dashboard.
Trends For The Future?
Kyurkchiev believes the next big trend coming to the games industry will be the shift to wearables and VR. He says, “As devices shrink, developers are going to have to think about how to create compelling experiences on any device. Those that can keep up will be richly rewarded.” And he feels this applies equally to middleware companies such as Leanplum.
When not working, Kyurkchiev, enjoys relaxing, exercising and spending time with his wife. His interest in gaming has him currently playing Assassin’s Creed on Xbox, saying, “It’s one of the most immersive experiences out there.”
He also tells us he loves free-to-play, since games have become a service that can change and evolve with their players. Unfortunately, free-to-play also includes some irritating upsell mechanics.
At Casual Connect Asia, Kyurkchiev announced Leanplum’s launch of behavioral push notifications and in-app messaging into public beta. The new feature comes fully integrated with A/B testing, and will enable mobile app developers, product managers, and marketers to A/B test and trigger messaging based off in-app behaviors in order to create more personalized and relevant player communications.
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