GOAT: Jani Torppa aka Fashion FRIDAY

Hello everyone. We are at another goat gamin on air today series. Happy to have you. So today our guest is as most of you know from fashion Fridays. Yani Torpa. I can pronounce his name I think correctly because Turkish uh pronunciation is similar there. He's the co-founder of Geeklap but that's not the main reason he's here. He's really good at fashion Fridays and we will learn the magic behind it, how it goes and uh what makes him happy in this life as well as mobile gaming industry. Welcome buddy. Thank you so much. That was a great maybe the best intro that I have heard that you're highlighting the fashion Friday on top of the gig lab. So I love to be here and also the pronunciation was on point. So great job. So love to be here enjoying time with you. So everything is great. So we met over uh PJC Helsinki last year and basically

that that event was really cool because I met like I don't know more than 100 like local industry people, Finnish people and yeah like it was uh pretty nice chat and we just you know kept good relation vibes and yeah I think uh you also really had a nice support on Gamijen content wise even like word of mouth I I really appreciate it. So yeah, that's I just told before we started today that that's something that it's something new and fresh that I like to see. I'm pretty easygoing guide. I'm not good with my attention panned. So you are doing exactly what I'm looking for and probably that's why we clicked during the pocket gamer health sync and now I'm always telling people to read your article at our office and now that's probably the reason I'm easygoing man. And when easygoing man is writing the articles, I'm able to read those. Yeah. I think like we we should just

keep the fun that is that is like number one priority. And I think like this year and last year like this hot CPI topic has been like so boring. We don't want to hear it anymore. you know, like so many news, okay, layoff, okay, crisis, okay, like like, okay, that we already know this and like we we literally need to have a comeback with the cool stuff because I think I really believe our industry is by far the number one in the world. Like basically in other podcasts we also discussing the industry like with Jakob psychology like Felix worked in food industry for example and finance you know and in the end come on look at how sweet our industry is. Yeah, the industry is like I'm not also originally from gaming industry. So seeing something else more from the corporate side of the world industry is great. People are

sharing knowledge, people are much more easygoing and as you mentioned there is a lots of tough things right now being specifically last year like layoffs and those are not nice and obviously people need to hear those things but when you have a lots of bad news in a row then your mindset start to go specifically towards that side of it like okay only seeing the layoffs and only seeing that people are killing the games studios are going down and nobody's getting investments. So you start to also see those much more the same thing that when you're buying a new car then you start to see that everybody's having the same car than you because you're focusing on those specific cars. So that's why I think we also need to have so much fun stuff and the good stuff so we are not focusing too much on the bad side. So actually let's let's chat about that like you are one of the uh few people who really focus on the fun cool side of

LinkedIn posts basically it's it's it's same for like mate for example like whenever I see his post okay like something weird something fun something cool should be coming their newsletter post like for example he published um post today and basically on the cover image it was like him with Bible Like that was another cool one like how how do you feel about this tempo connected to industry and actually also LinkedIn like we should also chat about LinkedIn I guess. Yeah. Uh that's a good topic for sure. Yeah. Mate is we also have a great relationship with him probably because we like same kind of stuff. The difference between me and Mate is that Mate really knows something. I don't know anything. So he can mix things up pretty nicely and get the attention but he also knows many thing and the whole two and a half gamer people they know a lots of things and insights which is great but they are combining the fun

stuff and also I appreciate them to like I being in a podcast uh as a guest and they have like uh they are able to invite people who are not let's say like me. I'm the fun guy and obviously I know many things because of Giglab and working with all the biggest companies in the world as a clients but still I'm not specific guy that I know lots of about the UA or something specific but they still want to invite and have a nice uh atmosphere. So I like that. But about the linkading and the fashion Fridays, it's pretty uh not funny story, but I'm not huge fan of linkadin because linkadin is like a old people Facebook kind of on my point of view. People are now updating everything there and everything is related to B2B sales or whatever that you learn. So last year basically a little bit before that we started the fashion

Friday thing because I wanted to do something that it's based on fun that are not related to basically our job but I want to still put those like quotes that are a little bit related what we are doing and then I try to match the photo to that and that's the fun part. We started that with our head of marketing like a little bit over one year ago and now people love it and the only focus is to find funny pictures of me and then try to combine that to something that it's related to super little bit about our industry. So now it's working super nicely. So I like linking. It's great way to reach people and we are getting basically half of our clients that we are getting we are getting through the link in on my point of view basically we built the whole company with the link in

the couple first years because that's a great place to reach out but obviously a lots of people are reaching out so that's I understand that when you are another side of the table so you are in the studio founder you don't want that every single Hey, some vendor like me or our partnerships are reaching out. So, I like link in because of the opportunities, but it's pretty packed now and I don't know how to do. But then fashion Fridays are something that I want to share because they are not related to work. I'm not promoting anything usually. I'm just putting fun pictures of me and then trying to combine and people love it. And that's weird part because my idea was just to post those but then I'm not able to stop because every time I go to events at least couple people comes to me that hey amazing I love the fashion Fridays and I'm always like why you like the fashion Fridays you're not learning anything and they're like I'm laughing those pictures

that's the fun part so I love it that's big contribution like you literally give people a reason to enjoy enjoy LinkedIn with those posts. I think it's a thing. You know, there's actually a saying like if everybody cleans like nearby their house, the world would be super clean. We wouldn't need like any other people to clean it or anything. It's kind of like similar, you know, if everyone takes moments to enjoy not just like life overall, but also work, LinkedIn, etc., we would all just be enjoying while working. So I appreciate it man. I think we definitely need many more people to just chill sometimes and yeah and then business point of view it's also usually because I go in many events all the time and my job is obviously because I'm an evil vendor so I'm selling the things that we are providing to people. So I try to meet

new people and old people and create the connections. Fashion Friday it's being last one basically the best icebreaker because if people are knowing me from fashion Fridays the conversation will start like a super honest and humble place it's not related to work too much and then we can have a chat about the fashion or the fashion Friday post or whatever basically and then that's like realistic way to start the conversation. It's like original. So it's there is no tension or there is no idea behind why we are start starting the conversation and that's being super nice because then you can really create that relationship with that person and obviously in the end that might end up in a partnership or something like that we are having here. So, and that's why it's ice breaking very very cool intro ice breaking some binding over there as you mentioned

maybe you will catch from uh some interesting topic like jumping uh bouncing there that's that's really nice stuff man because like I also worked on the sales side and I know how how annoying you could be uh for them if you like don't know the hacks basically you really need to be yourself first don't go like, hey, like, buy my product. It's it's literally so so bad. Yeah, it's it's it's hard part and now it's a little bit maybe more easy to have a chat with me maybe. So, it's been a great choice on my point of view to do the fashion Friday. The only thing is now that I need to have a lots of pictures of myself and we've been going through old pictures. So I still have it for this year but I need to also take a new funny pictures. All of us is having a great good pictures but having a funny pictures it's not that easy to find. So

that's going to be my problem. But I'm still having a lots of inner storage. So things are coming. It's in one of your day-to-day job responsibilities I think. Right. To like uh buy many clothes. Yeah. take photos. Yeah, nowadays it's I need to do that even more because of the fashion Friday. But also that's one thing that I just love. I love uh fashion and the fun fact that maybe some of the people in the industry knows that I used to own a clothing company here in the Finland with Yeses. We found that's the first company that we founded 2017. So, uh, we used to own a clothing brand here in a Finland, which grew pretty nicely, and that was my full-time job many years before Geeklab and even during the Geek Lab at the same time. But then the Geek Lab took all the time and that's why we closed the company. But that's my passion overall, the

fashion stuff and buying the clothes. So then it's easy to match your hobby and now your current work and bringing something new. And also it's been super nice to see that other people are starting. I don't say that I've been starting some kind of movement. There's been always funny guys in this industry and I've only been in this industry like six years. So I'm just a rookie. But there's been fun guys like Mate and John Wright and uh many other people that are doing the original stuff. But now it's nice to see that people are focusing more and more like what kind of things they are wearing in events because I like to see something crazy. So yeah, it's been super nice to see that people started to focus on those kind of things and uh combining hobby and also having a great chats with the people that are also interested in because with me and John right one of the first things that we started to discuss outside of the business was shoes and I learned that he's a sho huge shoe guy and so why am I

so that's why we started to click like okay this is the thing that we can have a chat and then ended up working relationship actually like what you mentioned about you matched your hobby in like mobile gaming industry. I think that's that's pretty important thing because not every industry lets you have it. So wherever you come from like we were chatting about you know psychology, finance, clothing, I for example studied English language teaching and using basically education and even like you know proof reading, editing, playing with English those type of things are unique for uh the industry as well. So imagine like you are you were maybe professional sportsman and you join industry you will use them like don't worry it can be team events uh or in industry shows you can basically chat with uh people about

that that's really lovely and actually I would like to like take your uh thoughts about how do you feel about the mobile gaming industry in Finland specifically how do you see it that's a good question and we are Now on my point of view a little bit in a new age era because uh we have a great reputation for being the one and only basically with the Robio and then after that with the Supercell and even before Robio like Digital Chocolate and those kind of old school who really made the difference in the mobile gaming industry having Angry Birds and those kind of things and having a big amount of great companies. Supercell, Robio, Metacore, Nitro Games, Small Giant. So many many great gaming companies are here, but now it's being not quiet, but

a little bit more quiet for some time. And uh now there's being like a little bit new companies like Meta Core and then little bit even smaller companies that are having huge potential but there was like a quiet time last couple years on my point of view that we had those old big companies and then we didn't have anything else and uh obviously when you're founding a company here like a mobile gaming company here there is a pressure because you know that Okay, people expect like a supercell stuff and we know that supercell is something extraordinary in a gaming field but people expect those kind of things and yeah that's why I think we are now in a new era. So now it's been long enough that we can start a new era of having a new studios. Lots of great people are founding the companies who have been working in the Robio,

Supercell, uh, Next Games, those kind of companies like the old cool companies and now they are founding a new companies that are bringing the new ideas, the fresh thing and they don't feel maybe that big pressure of our history. So now we are going to right direction but still I'm waiting like who will be the next big ones. They don't need to be like a supercell but who will be the next big one in this industry and from housing. Yeah, actually you depict it very well and basically yeah like I can't imagine like next supercell like what are they doing today and how will you know the next 5 years shape up for them. It's so hard and actually all because of the last like you know two years this CPI stuff and actually it's like the scenario kind of looks similar to a bit

similar to Turkish industry because like we have the pia dreams etc. Okay, next stream games. No, it doesn't happen like this very quickly. We had also so many like studios with big investments etc. But um jumping up from small to that supercell level is is not that easy. And actually like I know that like of course just like any other country uh like Finland has also taken a a hit from this piece of crisis but overall I think it stays strong and the investment is there the studios are still uh I think relatively going up and up overall. So how do you see for uh 25 like looks pretty positive or like do you see any you know shaky or uh negative aspects? How do you feel? The last year was like a roller coaster also for us but like the whole industry and now the events that I've been now 2025 so pocket gamer

London and then White Nights and Abu Dhabi people are talking much more positively about the industry overall. So I have a high hopes for this year that this year will be a little bit easier than the last year but not going to be fully normal. episode because it takes some time but I think we're going now right direction slowly and the same thing is happening here in the Finland. Supercell is kind of leading the thing that they are also doing new stuff releasing new games and that gives also hope for the smaller companies that we can do it also. And also I want to tackle one thing that you mentioned because being visiting many times now in Turkey because you have a kind of same similar situation that there's couple big companies kind of couple years after us and then now you have a great boom of the startups being going on maybe four

or five years that new studios are coming because people saw that oh man you can make a billion dollar company with the games. But we did have that like 10 years ago and then we had the boom to find a lots of startups and gaming companies because people saw oh man you can make the money and big companies. So then people started to found own companies but then they realized that it's not that easy and then they got shut down some of them and uh some of them they're struggling some of them grow a little bit bigger ones but nothing close to supercell and then there's kind of that pause that okay nobody want to try it because they know that it's hard and now we are on that phase again that it's being so much time since uh Supercell and Robio stuff that now okay now there's a new people that they don't have felt

that founding the startup so that's why we are founding a new startup so I'm pretty confident that somebody is going to do cool stuff from Finland I'm expecting to supercell to maybe launch a new game this year then I'm having a high hopes for finger swap which is also kind of old school things but they've been doing now big big changes so I'm also hoping that they are taking things to the next level and also something small have a high hopes but things look much more positive now but I know that it's not going to be easy year yet so but those are coming for sure yeah especially I I saw uh Supercell's boat game it looks just fun and like let's see how it goes it's old school one but actually like while While you were comparing the industry in like Finland and Turkey, I just remembered like in Felix's latest newsletter, he wrote a like fun sentence. I was always saying

if you want to like make it work, hire a Finn. And now I'm saying it for hire a Turk. I need I need your comment about this. Yeah. And I think that's exactly what you should do right now because being honest honest and obviously and many can be upset about it but Turkey and the Mina region specifically on my point of view it's now the hot place we are not the hot place right now that doesn't mean that we don't have the professionals and great people here and the knowledge yes we have it and probably if you compare the size every Great people are in in Finland, but you need to stay fresh. And right now, we are not the freshest country in a gaming point of view. We have a great hits, but we don't have right now the top hits. So that's

why I would go to Turkey for sure right now because that's the fresh place to go on Turkey and even like a Pakistan and those kind of that region specifically there's a lots of talents and lots of fresh things. So yeah definitely go that side couple years then Finland for sure or if you want to have a expensive expert then you can hire people from Finland for sure. Yeah, I also wanted to mention about that like basically uh like even for junior uh salaries in like Turkey, Pakistan when it it's starting from you know uh €500 in Finland just you know uh multiply it with four five basically for game developers and basically of course like for example if you're working for dream games peak games you probably make the same amount of money that you know super salient uh make over there But basically the how to say uh fresh uh

power is there to invest quickly and basically the guide is also there like basically for supercell come on you cannot copy uh what they are doing exactly like but for dream games for peak games as you see very closely they try there are so many studios puzzle match three match 2 uh getting investments there are even new funds like laton And also like basically two days ago like Akin Babit started up another fund for mobile game studios. I think it will focus on Turkey mostly. It's around $100 million like those type of things are pretty fresh and basically the potential is to set skyrocketing very quickly if the success is there. I wanted to add a plus the government incentive is very important like basically for many years now you can get your advertising credits in a 60% back way which is crazy and

basically when I was chatting with like guys uh from like all these companies supercell metacore etc they were complaining like Turkish companies have the hack like how how can be competing against them basically like there is a 60% benefit and the advantages over there. So I think that's another aspect that you should mention a bit about the government support to mobile gaming ecosystem. Yeah absolutely the Turkish thing is amazing and now we are getting back to that list which is great. So hopefully in near future if you are from Turkey and you're using our tool you are government is also sponsoring that. So that's always a great but yeah that's how you can create new studios if government is helping. Finland things are a little bit more complicated because uh we are having strict rules.

Obviously, you can get money from the government, but it's not fully focused like, okay, it's for the gaming or I'm not the right person to say because I don't know too much, but you can get some benefits for sure, but because it's also pretty big as a industry here. So, it's more on that side that okay, now these guys are already able to survive by themselves. So we don't need to put any more like money to gaming industry because we already have these couple great companies and we trust that the big companies are helping the smaller companies because Supercell is investing a lots of money all around the world but specifically here in the Finland they are investing the smaller companies. So maybe we trust a little bit more that the big brothers are taking care for the smaller companies. But on my point of view uh because gaming industry is moving so

fast and uh we have our peak we are still doing super good job. Uh not saying that but we are a little bit like a dinosaurs right now and we need to get back on track and being more fresh uh to way that we think everything is super professional here. That's one thing that why we are good. We are super professional but when you are professional that also takes something to create something new because you have the way to think like everything have done like this like when we are working with the bigger clients here in the Finland like with every we work with a lots of biggest gaming companies in the world and when we start to work with them is it like ASO or constant validation or UA they usually have that we have always done it like this And as we know usually you need to change things like you mentioned we have had a many crisis right now with IDFA scan everything. So you need to change the

way that you are doing. Yeah. 10 years ago you were able to make a hit game and just put it out and then scale it up. Nowadays you need to do constant validation. You need to find the right market or right audience. Do the testing. Read the data. Do the analysis. That's unfortunate. Obviously, I would like that every single game is made by hard like this is a great game, but unfortunate you to do that. So, when you are big and professional, you always mention that we have done it. And then you're like, "Hey, we have a billion downloads, so we know what we're doing." Yes, you knew it five years ago, but now it's a little bit different. So, we need to change the way. So, now we are pretty professional, which is great, but uh would be nice to bring a little bit new blood and uh new studios and new ways to think. We will get there. I think this year, next year, we should stay positive and I think the scenario looks really in a realistic way getting better and better since we so and I think that deep was changing the

thing a lot because now things are a little bit positive and people are more open about it like okay let's try something fully different let's do something crazy let's do something that nobody have ever done and that's exactly let's stay positive and let's see the bright side of things not focusing on those bad things. So I think we are now in the right path overall in the industry and going the right direction. More crazier we are the better then we can do the change and now we are having a nice era. So era of changing so I like that. Well I I really love the last part man like basically uh we would like to convert these uh ones also to blog posts. I will keep it as a headline. Uh more crazy, more potential to change. Absolutely. How would you uh wrap up the conversation? Final words to cool industry people. It it could also be not

cool ones, don't worry. But for both of them, wrapping up that like the whole things that we've been talking about here is that the industry is one of the coolest ones for sure. Only cooler one on my point of view is being professional athlete. That's the like they are the coolest ones in the world. Mobile gaming industry is the coolest industry in the world and we need to remember that we used to be the coolest and newest and the small one. Now we are alongside with the big boys like finance or food or clothing or whatever. We are growing every single year and it's more more and more professional which is the great thing. That's the idea getting bigger. But let's not forget that we are the fun and crazy industry. So let's not go towards too much to the professional world. We can be fun and uh good way that I think is smart people know that

they are stupid and stupid people think that they are smart. So don't be afraid to ask help and share something crazy and funny. You can be funny and professional at the same time. So, let's remember that we are the funny and crazy industry and uh let's not be too professional. Cheers. Cheers. So, I will definitely share the good words with people and let's stay positive. Let's do our best. Thanks for joining, man. Like, I really love our chats and uh it was fun. It was fun. Yeah, it made my day. So now I'm happy to go back to do the boring things that we need to do. So yeah, thank you for having me.