MobileFuse is a leading mobile-first advertising company focused on delivering real-time insights and results to agencies and brands. Pulse 2.0 interviewed MobileFuse founder and CEO, Ken Harlan, to learn more about the company.
Ken Harlan’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Harlan said:
“I’m Ken Harlan, Co-founder and CEO of MobileFuse, one of the largest in-app, CTV, and DOOH advertising platforms. MobileFuse serves leading brands, agencies, bidders, and app developers across a variety of verticals. The company empowers clients by reaching highly curated and receptive audiences via unique solutions combining moments-based targeting, patented location verification, custom creative, and data-driven insights across a large in-app and CTV exchange built for brand marketers and agencies.”
“Prior to MobileFuse, I co-founded ToneFuse, one of the world’s largest marketing platforms for mobile content subscriptions, which later sold to Bandsintown. Before that, I founded PrimaryAds, a leading performance and affiliate marketing company that sold to Inuvo Inc. in 2007.”
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Harlan shared:
“My co-founder, Val Katayev, made fun of me that I had a Blackberry even though the iPhone just came out. At that time, ½ of 1% of the internet was on mobile devices – but it was very clear to me that this was the future. I started MobileFuse the following week.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Harlan reflected:
“Not necessarily a memory, but having the majority of the team work here for 5 years or more has been incredible. I’m really proud of this group, and our journey to build a great company with great people.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Harlan explained:
“Our technology solves industry-wide problems relating to transparency and effectively reaching consumers on the go, across mobile, connected TV, and digital out of home screens.”
“Since 2010, our continued investment in technology and innovation has delivered solutions that meet the changing demands our partners face when engaging with consumers. Notably, we’ve been pioneering Mindset Targeting since 2013, and were the first company to introduce moments targeting for display and video. By combining our proprietary consumer mindsets with verified location and custom creative, we’re uniquely positioned to give brands an unmatched understanding of consumers – and the moments that matter most.”
“Additionally, our proprietary insight reports and attribution partnerships deliver transparency for campaigns, providing an in-depth performance analysis. Our Mindset Index includes insights from campaigns over the past 8 years that drive recommendations and optimizations to enhance the overall performance.”
“Overlaying across all these capabilities is our creative team’s chops. Our creative team considers different types of fully custom interactive functionality in order to meet client objectives. You can get a sense of the customized offerings we provide via our creative showcase page.”
Challenges Faced
Have you faced any challenges in your sector of work recently? Harlan acknowledged:
“The digital advertising industry faced significant challenges over the last few years, driven by COVID-19’s impact on consumer habits and the deprecation of third-party cookies.”
“The pandemic reshaped consumer behavior as lockdowns accelerated e-commerce adoption and increased time spent on digital platforms. As a result, many clients started focusing on ‘brandformance,’ or the ability to run campaigns that address the entire marketing funnel. Fortunately we were able to add these capabilities quickly.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Harlan noted:
“Our technology processes over 300,000 ad requests per second. More importantly, our technology evolved where parts of campaign management have become automated. This enables us to reach client KPIs more seamlessly – and KPIs can include sales, conversion, visits, brand lift, etc.”
“Additionally, our creative capabilities expanded because of our SDK, and our marketplace quality solutions led to MobileFuse being the only TAG Platinum in-app marketplace.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Harlan cited:
“MobileFuse has experienced several key and defining moments throughout our history. Some of the highlights for me include:
— Our dedication and commitment to supporting employees – Over 20% of our team has been with us for over a decade, and the majority of the team has been here 5 years. We’re thrilled to celebrate this milestone and look forward to many more years of growing and succeeding together.
— When MobileFuse achieved carbon neutral status – This was a big moment for us as a company. We made steadfast organizational, procedural and technological optimizations that led to these critical reductions. MobileFuse is helping lead our industry towards cleaner processes, and doubling down on best practices that ensure a sustainable future.
— Our track record of partnering with innovative and defining companies – We’re dedicated to providing clients with leading solutions that empower them to reach critical business objectives. We’re constantly listening to our partners, and taking active steps towards continued solution innovations.”
Wowing Clients
What’s something you’ve recognized that “wows” clients? Harlan replied:
“The number of clients that are surprised at how you can measure in-app is eye opening. Clients typically don’t realize that you can measure add-to-cart in an app, conversions to websites, brand lift, and sales with in-app supply. Further, it’s common that brands don’t realize the power of in-app data and how this data leads to better omniscreen targeting, like finding consumers across streaming television.”
Revenue
When asking about the company’s revenue details, he revealed:
“MobileFuse revenue is over $100 million and profitable with no outside funding. This has allowed us to solely focus on our service and technology, so our clients can more effectively achieve their goals.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Harlan assessed:
“This is kind of a hard one to pin down because we work across the entire funnel from brand awareness to conversions. And this work is not only with agencies, but also with retail media platforms.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Harlan affirmed:
“Simple – we’re the only platform that has all of the tech for in-app, that is built for brandformance.”
Future Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Harlan concluded:
“We will continue to innovate around expanding our performance solutions with AI.”
