Harry Stebbings@HarryStebbings
Adam Foroughi is by far one of the best CEOs I have ever interviewed.
Candidly he is insanely stern and cold but also obsessive, focused and utterly brilliant.
With Adam there is zero fluff, like none. He says what he means and means what he says.
Applovin does $10M EBITDA per head.
They have 80%+ margins.
They do $5.48BN in revenue.
No business on the planet has numbers like Applovin.
Following the discussion, I wrote up my biggest lessons from sitting down with him and summarised them below:
1. Are People Ready for the AI Future That Is Within Every Company?
True AI integration requires a massive "leveling up" of talent. Companies must be honest about the path forward: keeping employees who fail to adopt AI creates a "blockade" to reaching a truly AI-native state. Consequently, we should expect continued tech layoffs as organizations prioritize efficiency over legacy headcount.
2. Biggest Advice on Token Budgeting and Token Maxing?
Treating tokens as a simple budget or leaderboard is "flawed logic". If you incentivize raw usage, teams will simply create high-volume "crap" that burns capital without driving revenue. Instead, optimize for specific KPIs where token consumption aligns directly with business growth; when revenue is on the other side, the "budget" mindset disappears.
3. Can You Have a Team Full of Only A Players?
An organization cannot thrive if A players are surrounded by B, C, or D players. AppLovin slimmed its HR department from 80 people to 15 by retaining only "doers" who don't get bogged down in the process. The goal is a lean culture of individual contributors who want to make a difference without needing heavy management layers.
4. Do the Majority of Company Teams Need to Be Rebuilt for the Technology We Have Today?
If a role is likely to be automated, or if a department is too slow to adopt AI, it is time to rebuild that organization from the ground up. Foroughi cut staff by 40-50% in most departments during a year of triple-digit growth to force the organization into an automated, efficient state.
5. Why Investors Need to Give Ceos Better Comp Packages
Founders take massive risks to build something out of nothing, and they need continued upside to stay mentally motivated. If a CEO is expected to work without performance-based incentives, they may drift toward new ventures rather than staying committed to the "lonely, stressful" task of scaling a public company.
6. Why This $160 Billion Company Does Not Have Any Learning and Development
Structured L&D is often disconnected from the reality of high-performance work. The best employees are curious enough to figure things out on their own. By documenting all communication in transcripts and chats, new hires can use AI models to summarize tribal knowledge and develop themselves more effectively than any formal training program.
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