You will never hear anyone say that POKKT founder and CEO, Rohit Sharma, isn’t a fighter. After 18 years in the corporate world, followed by a failed startup and a pair of pivots with his current venture, Sharma has settled in nicely and found his groove.
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Sharma, who has a Masters in Physics along with an MBA from the University of Lancaster, has expanded his five-year-old firm’s platform to markets across India & Southeast Asia and more recently in the US and the UK, by helping developers monetize their users through targeted video ads within their apps.
Branding in Asia recently spoke with him at his office in Mumbai about how things are going at POKKT, industry trends, and his transition from corporate head to leading his own startup.
What have you been up to lately?
Lately, I have been traveling almost three weeks a month across APAC trying to scale up our existing business and opening new markets. Also setting up our offices in the US and the UK.
Before settling in with a mobile video advertising platform, you pivoted twice. What were those experiences like as an entrepreneur and what would you have done differently?
The most important thing is to be “AT IT”. You need to be perseverant and paranoid, so as not to let failure deter you from striving for success. I guess it takes a few failures and pivots for start-ups to find their calling.
For brands, we are today positioned as the biggest platform for advertising within mobile games.
The last four years have been full of ups and downs and tremendous learning. One big lesson is to build the right team and align their focus on meeting the objectives despite all the bottlenecks.
How are things going with POKKT?
POKKT has today emerged as the leading mobile Video Ad platform in India & SEA for Mobile Games. We have recently opened up offices in the US & the UK. We are a team of 70 people in nine countries. We are seeing more than 100 percent YOY growth and we have broken even.
Who are your biggest competitors and what differentiates the POKKT brand from others in the field?
In the Ad Tech Space, all of us compete with Google and Facebook on some level, as they still get the lion’s share of marketing Dollars.
In most markets, our direct competition are players like Inmobi & Ad Colony. However, our big strength is that POKKT has the most comprehensive reach and supply when it comes to Mobile Games Apps inventory in the region.
The last four years have been full of ups and downs and tremendous learning. One big lesson is to build the right team and align their focus on meeting the objectives despite all the bottlenecks.
On top of this, we have also built a very strong Data Layer and we have an abundance of data and insights about mobile games and gamers in all the markets. Therefore, for brands, we are today positioned as the biggest platform for advertising within mobile games.
What are some current trends in the ad world that are affecting your business model and how are you addressing them?
The growth of smartphones has been a big disruptor in the Ad-tech space. There are two key trends that are affecting the overall business landscape. One is the rise of programmatic with growth creating more transparency and making it easier for advertisers to buy audiences with better KPIs.
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The other is increased measurability and KPIs. The last few quarters have seen advertisers being stringent about key metrics such as viewability, completion rates, in-targeting, brand safety etc. With third-party tools such as MOAT, Nielsen DAR, IAS, Grapeshot etc.
Today, all of our supply is programmatically ready and we work very closely with either all the major ATDs (Agency Trading Desks) or Exchanges, and deliver programmatic campaigns successfully. POKKT is also certified with all the key third-party tools and is successfully delivering across all key metrics
You’ve previously said you “lost 18 years of my life working in a corporate environment.” Tell us about that and how it figures into your current entrepreneurial journey?
Entrepreneurship has taught me so many things in a short span of four years. From managing failures to building teams when you are a nobody, raising capital, being frugal and, most importantly, being driven towards a clear vision and objective, in spite of so many lows and bottlenecks.
It is not that there are no learnings in the corporate world. But personally, I love the startup life.
