Christian Facey is the co-founder & CEO at AudioMob, the first non-intrusive audio ad solution that enables the monetization of mobile gamers.
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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
I am currently the CEO and co-founder of AudioMob, the world’s first non-interrupting gaming advertising solution that allows game developers to monetize their audience via audio advertising.
AudioMob, is a VC backed company and we recently closed $14m in funding at a $110M valuation, with Investors such as LightSpeed Ventures, Makers Fund, Google, Supernode Global and Atomico’s / Sequoia’s angel fund.
We are tackling an $18bn dollar opportunity. AudioMob’s work and achievements have been featured in Billboard, Techcrunch, Forbes and Business Insider. In 2021 Wiflrid, my Co-founder, and I got onto the Forbes 30 Under 30 2021 list
Before founding AudioMob in Q1 2020 I was a strategist at Google managing up to $100m in advertising spend. At Facebook, I was a marketing science partner, using cutting edge solutions to measure the true value of advertising.
I haven’t always been considered a high flyer. After failing the majority of my A-Levels and attending Kingston University through clearing, I rigorously studied methods to increase my aptitude, training the mind to overcome mental barriers that hinder success.
As a result of Wiflrid’s and my achievements, we also run a mentoring scheme alongside AudioMob to pass learning over to the younger generation.
2) What does a day in your life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
It involves a bit of everything. Managing and progressing complex deals worth over $10M, onboarding new seniors hires, thinking about the company’s next big move, the next fund raise, managing finances, etc.
I’m still in the weeds of the other departments I’m hiring directors for. Most work days are like this and touch upon each of these areas.
3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?
My role, and roles within the company, allow for flexible and remote working. If it didn’t, we wouldn’t be able to adapt as well to COVID and the company would be less attractive to prospective employees.
The idea behind flexible working is you can build meetings, work time and interactions around your life at home. We are adopting a semi work from home policy: In the office once a week in Q4 2021, and 2-3 times from Q1 2022. It’s optional, and we’ve found some teams such as sales, want more face to face interaction then engineering.
We allow flexibility across multiple parts of the business. For my personal life / routine, I work every second. I’m not chilling out so the flexibility helps!
4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
My favourite saying is from Ruth Porat Google CFO, there is no work life balance, work is a way of life. Most successful entrepreneurs I’ve met adopt this lifestyle.
For now, work is a way of life. I take a half day a week off, sometimes a full Saturday or Sunday if needed. I aim to have more of a normal balance by the end of H1 2022 once my directors are hired and I no longer need to be the COO, CFO, head of marketing etc
5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?
If there is something I don’t have experience in, or little experience. I assume nothing and approach figuring out the right thing to do without ego. A very, very important thing I started doing as a result of having to change how I thought about scaling a company when the pandemic started. I started therapy to learn how to prevent stress, it’s been great!
6) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?
- Ego Is the Enemy
- The Obstacle Is the Way
- Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing, and Advertising
7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?
- Gmail
- Slack
- Pipedrive CRM
8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?
9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
Most successful founders have had to adjust their perspective on what a good work life balance is. Most of the time, it means working more hours than most people you know / people around you.
This isn’t a bad thing as it’s common at the beginning of a company to make this sacrifice. However, always keep in mind that you need to test what your personal true work life balance limit is for the first couple of years starting up your company.
For me, it’s half a day off a week, for a founder friend of mine, it’s taking every Sunday off to completely switch off. For others, it might be to go on a 2 – 4 week holiday each year. Measure your work life balance to you specifically!
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