GOAT: Matej Lancaric on Mobile Gaming, UA, and Fun | Full Interview

hello hello today we have the second episode of our goat gagin on air today with mate lerich let me intro here so actually all of you already know so we don't need intro like so he is the guy from to off Gamers which is the more people more common no [ __ ] podcast so we will be diving head first into like M's life not only gaming UA but also like you know his literally own life so aoy welcome a thank you very much for having me this is a nice change of me being on the other side of the barricade so I don't need to host it it's good love it thank you now we we ask the questions here yes exactly so now it's the fun starts good thank you so actually um the questions are totally from what we are curious about so first question is why do you have this big

love for unicorn you have it everywhere like why I don't think it's uh it's it was on purpose when I was when I had this uh idea for newsletter in my mind for for years I wanted to build like few segments or sections into the into the newsletter and then I was thinking about what's the most absurd thing that you can imagine and then I wanted to name that section after this so I was like okay wait a second unicorns okay why about what about dancing unicorns you don't see that often oh well let's try let's try that and then I started kind of playing around with mid Journey because if you remember first six I won't say episodes but issues of the newsletter it was basically meme picture of me as a thumbnail but then I started doing this mid Journey experimentation like a wait a second let's let's actually try the the unicorns right oh

my God how well it went was really good so I sticked with that since the I think like issue number six or seven and it's definitely not going anywhere I love it of course unicorns who doesn't like unicorns that's true that's that's guarantee and actually I feel like you already have uh like the next 100 cover images of the newsletter right yeah I kind of it's always about the mood I am in and also about what I talk in the Diary of a dancing unicorn because it's I mean all of those stories they actually happened to me so it's all real life sometimes it's quite sad but it's it's the truth and then I kind of dedicated I think one or two hours to write the newsletter on Sunday evening or like during the the Monday just before it it actually comes out and either I have already like few images or I just do it last minute so you never know depends depends that's that's

really cool actually I really love how you connect it to real life and actually thank you it's really connected to my second question especially in person but also like over um your even newsletter sometimes you mention about how much the family means to you and of course it's like so heartwarming so you know I would actually like to hear about your not just how much you love but but also like work family balance so curious about your thoughts yeah look so I I'm recording the podcast from my daughter's room so they're also like uh you know it's it's the bed and sheets and everything and obviously my my table so it's room versus office so I actually work in her room so that's the part of the the daily daily routine but honestly look it's like what's the most important part like family that's like nothing else so I could just spend time working

and then after 10 15 years say oh look so I finished work now let's let's actually spend more time together but in 15 years she wouldn't wouldn't even care about like who the [ __ ] are you like why why do you want to spend me time with me I'm 15 I don't want I don't care and they grow so fast so I want to spend and enjoy the times uh with family with my daughter like that's the the main thing like what's the other purpose of life right so you can all you can change works and companies bu yeah you can just build startups whatever else but family is just it's it's the only one and I want to enjoy the the most of my my time with them that's it's very simple as that mhm and it is the highest priority well let's talk about two and a half Gamers a little so we want to know the funniest or more unexpected moment while recording to and a half Gamers

podcast you I think it was I think it's very early on when when we started recording first I the first episode of of our podcast is not even on the YouTube because it's so [ __ ] bad it's terrible but I remember the the moments when when Felix was really really nervous so he wrote the whole script we tried first and I mean we were all terrible we were all terrible yakob had his classes on it was more a comedy rather than a podcast but still and I I don't really know how we ended up in in here because I was watching the first few episodes it was really bad so thank you very much to everybody who actually stayed with us but yeah that was quite quite yeah actually that was even funnier moment when I was rewatching those EP and I I felt really bad but no like honestly yeah like us all three together just [ __ ] at each other

like making fun but at the same time talking about really interesting and useful stuff for for n she was definitely very very funny like watching the podcast right now and everyone's just so chill and doing whatever they want now it's it's way different it's way different we came a long way because it it yeah the preparations for those episodes as Le like the first let's say 50 or 100 it was a lot of hours and now we can you know like we call each like hey can you record in two hours yeah let's do it if it's if it's not the game obviously if it's if it's a game then we need some time to to play at least the yakop needs some time to play I mean I play as well but depends if it's Forex I don't really like that much but if it's a casual game or anything uh related to to puzzles then I definitely I like to play so yeah now the the the preparation time is way way short

and we already know like what what to do and how to how to interact with each other so yeah it's now it's it's kind of yeah it's it's way more chill what about if you could have anyone in the world on the podcast who would be the top three guests on the podcast I don't like to categorize L like this honestly MH because if in in this moment we can get pretty much a lot of people from the industry on the podcast it's about how much value they can get we wanted to have a lot of people that their games we actually review but they couldn't they could come but they couldn't share anything so we said you know like just [ __ ] this it's just it's it doesn't make sense so honestly I would like to have anyone from a company that they can share numbers and I don't care if it's top one top two anyone who can share the numbers because that's that's interesting and important for the the industry no names unfortunately Ely because I don't have that list but

anyone who can who can share valuable insights and numbers of course when we talk about no [ __ ] and real data that's that that makes sense yeah it needs to be like that it's unfortunately like we we also we get a lot of um messages about sponsors and and whatever else and we usually say no because it's not really in line with I don't want to call it values but like how we do stuff it's just like if if someone comes in and say you can't tell anything about our competition like it's like that's exactly the opposite of no [ __ ] so unfortunately we say no yeah but that's the quality right if you say yes to everyone then where's the yeah yeah exactly like if you could be remembered for one like one major thing in the industry how or what would you want it to be would you keep it as no [ __ ] guy or like the UA wizard like

just curious about your feelings it's the the no [ __ ] and that's why the the newsletter is called brutally honest because like there is no other way you need to be very honest and very transparent which sometimes I feel like the industry relax and there's so much [ __ ] and around and you can see it on different conferences where people just stand on the stage and don't don't say anything I mean come on like you could not be here and it would be fine because you say hello this is my name this is what we do thank you very much but like where is the value so that's why I think the no [ __ ] policy and uh brutal Al honesty is something that I want to be remembered for looks like it's working that's the side that we are heading as well so good good to be I I know that's what that's why we're talking about it which is good so uh you mentioned about conference uh side actually next question is from your

perspective most memorable or funniest moments from a conference you attended I think it was either last year PGC or the PGC before in London where we I think the official party ended uh it was Monday I think 11 p.m. and we started we started thinking about where to go next and I was like I you know like let's go here to the next bar which is called floripa and suddenly after the official after party there was unofficial after party which was led by me and the other guys that that went there so instead of like 10 people we ended up like 100 or 120 people in the bar and it was it was insane everybody had absolutely amazing time until 4:00 a.m. so like that's exactly how how it should be that's that's cool stuff that's the real M main party actually yes we are curious about your starting

point I think everyone is curious about your starting point so how did you first start your career and how do you maintain your well it's I ended up in gaming industry I I can't say coincidence because I don't believe coincidence happen I was when I was younger I was playing Counter Strike as I guess everybody and I was playing it semi-professionally with some of the guys here in Slovakia and then after 5 years just my old teammate became actually a CMO of pixel Federation he called like Hey we're looking for a UA person you want to come for a coffee sure why not so I ended up in their office drinking coffee with my future boss and I didn't even know about uh didn't even know about it and then suddenly he's like hey you know what like if you can if you want then you should definitely join us I like yeah absolutely yes I love games I love marketing so sounds like a good fit never left that was 11 years ago that was 11 years

ago and then the long story came out uh I like look I I I love games and I like the the mobile marketing and the the UA all and everything in combination with games just makes me happy so we we always talk about the industry games UA Etc but like what I'm curious about is before everything you know if exclude all these three what is something about you like people don't know and like you know just just leave all of them out and who who are you I'm a simple man come on I I like sports I like sports I like fun and comedy and I like tattoos as well I do enjoy running and just basically anything related to sports I played football before when I was younger I'm old enough to play now oh no I know of course not I can but I don't

have anyone else here in bra who I can play with that's the pro that's the problem but yeah like I that's pretty much it honestly I like my family so I like to spend time when and where it makes the most sense and it's it's actually valuable for me so look I would rather say no to a company that I can work with which doesn't make sense and spend the time with the family or just to anything else which is more valuable for me love it love it that's that's uh really cool and actually for the profession side if you weren't in the gaming UA side do you have any profession you have in mind like just like maybe you would say I actually was in love with football or you know something like that I was but my father was professional footballer so I guess I I could see myself doing that but I was I was too lazy when I was younger to actually make a little bit worth it more

than it was I really enjoyed it but I was like I don't think this is this is it I can play but still I was actually thinking about being a lawyer before or a programmer but then I was like [ __ ] this I really need to learn all of this laws and everything I don't think that's that's that's good for me so I was kind of trying to find like what would I do and marketing was basically the choice that I I really liked if I wasn't working at games I would be definitely working in some other like agency with like any other brands but it would be definitely marketing mhm mhm you were born for this absolutely absolutely that's the thing I don't really like to have any plan BS because then it it kind of forces you to rely on some others like oh well if this doesn't work well then I will do something else but no this is this is going to work well period how about your the story of a solopreneur well look I worked with different companies before and uh I think I

kind of do better job now when I work as as a single person or let's call it solopreneur I still like to work with people but I like to work with campaigns more I I kind of I don't want to say I don't like people but I do I still but when I don't need to talk like on five calls a day and be there that's that's that's way better so I don't want to start an agency because I just yeah I don't think that's that's exactly what I want to do and I love it because of the freedom I can do whatever from wherever obviously it's very harder because I still need to to find the companies to work with but it's absolutely worth everything everything so I would say people should try at least because it gives you a different perspective of work life everything because it's hard don't get me wrong

it's hard it's really hard but it's also very fun rewarding and flexible and you can do whatever you want if you if you want to say no yeah you can say no if you want to say yes to 10 companies and then burn out well you can do it I mean it's not really a good thing to do but you still you still can do it so yeah I would like I would still um advise a lot of people just to try this it's obviously it's not for everyone it's just by but it's a it's very good experience I think as you mentioned probably many more people will try Consulting path yes of course like now everybody is a consultant these days it's going to be quite hard for companies to actually hire internally it looks like it looks like it's going to be a problem because people see of course there is a quite an interesting upside obviously because you can earn more money while work with different companies and more companies at the same time but there's also the

the other part of the coin that if you you know if you don't have those companies then you have zero which people don't realize well you talked about the sexiest creatives and how is it now it doesn't really changed unfortunately really the sexist creatives are just yeah it's it's a cancer of the industry and unfortunately as soon as people will click and download through those those ads it's not going to go anywhere I don't see any platform policing this that well or well at all they don't do anything because people just make money and they make money on top of it unfortunately I mean we still need to raise awareness and do everything we can to say like it's it's bad and it's terrible but unless companies start like stop using Those ads it's just a long long long battle to move anywhere yeah what is the biggest mistake you see in UA campaigns

these days and what makes you cringe the most I think well except the the sexist ads and the freezing families in creatives I think the biggest issue is or the problem not even in the campaigns themselves but in the UA managers like they don't really play games that they manage game plays for that's the biggest problem I mean how can you how can you even understand like who you are targeting when you don't play the game it's and it's obviously it's time time consuming but it's the part of the job you need really need to play the game and people don't do it they just don't yeah and also I some companies that looking for like UA partners and stuff they just say like you should just know the game but don't really you know get into it because like they think it's not your job but it's actually your job to it is it is of course it is of course if you if you have if you work with 20 companies and you play 20 games then you either spend a lot of time on the toilet or you don't really have time to to

actually do the work so it's it's double-edge sword obviously but still you still need to know at least what's what's happening in the game and because that can help you in creative process in the targeting in basically everything that that's definitely very clear so I'm here with um time traveling question so oo looking back back um in this uh 11 years Journey for you and even before what would be the one piece of advice that you would give to younger mate like just you know starting out with maybe Bachelor or maybe just graduated like you know I wouldn't say anything I wouldn't say anything also it's it's it's a terrible question over because the time time traveling to see younger yourself and giving the advice you will change the future of that person and I'm I'm very very glad to be where I am at the moment so I wouldn't change a single [ __ ] thing because if I say something

that that will completely change the path I think every mistakes and everything that I've done before let me here and I'm very happy to be where I am so I would say I wouldn't say anything because even me showing up would interfere I would just watch from the from the F like yeah you you do you will do good you'll be fine you'll be fine just keep going yeah exactly just exactly just keep going because the consistency is the that's the that's the biggest advantage sure like that's the main kind of point of success because if you have the consistency then you can you can get pretty far yeah I think it's not just for you know yourself but also I think even for everyone sometimes we should just be able to say that keep going you will be good so that's that's a good perspective it's yeah sometimes it's quite hard when you do new stuff and you don't know if this if what you do is is good or or bad or if it can lead somewhere but I think

everything happens for a reason so that's that's pretty much it even if you fail yeah well you should you should it's a very good learning experience all right so now we're going to the gaming part first one is named as speed rounds quick fire questions as you low it I know starting with working from home or working in an office home absolutely working Solo or working with a theme solo early morning hustling or late night guy changes from time to time right now it's early morning hustling but it was late time guy in the past in a purchase or edmon games enough purchase Felix no no way Facebook or Tik Tok ads Facebook Google or app ads app casual or hybrid casual games

casual play BS or rewarded videos absolutely High CPI but High LTV or low CPI low LTV High CPI High LTV you can't even ask this question come on man just checked on you I know AI creatives or human-made ones AI then mid Journey or clink AI it's different tools man but clink how about cat GPT or deep seek C GPT I worked with that first and uh top question hosting a podcast or being a guest hosting a podcast there you go 10 10 out of 10 so the next part is I'll just give you some game names and you'll pick one and we'll pick the winner game for you okay so color block Jam or block blast color block okay color block Jam or match factory

color block Jam color block Jam or Arch R 2 color block Jam okay color block Jam or Capo color block Jam Ste brawl stars or color block Jam Ste color block Jam Royal match color block Jam if you said Royal Kingdom maybe I would okay work Jam or Royal Kingdom Royal Kingdom I would say Kingdom or Monopoly go Royal Kingdom Royal Kingdom or solitary Grand Harvest Royal Kingdom Royal Kingdom or Travel Town Royal Kingdom Royal Kingdom or white out survival Royal Kingdom come on I like white out survival but come on Forex no Royal Kingdom or garden Scapes now I'm the Royal Kingdom okay Royal Kingdom or cand Crush royal king Kingdom Royal Kingdom or coin Master for all Kingdom

easy Ro Kingdom or Clash of Clans for all Kingdom okay Royal Kingdom wins for the winner game absolutely yeah I would say it's I'm more on the Casual side of things really it's I don't know why but I just my brain just turns off immediately and it's great I don't really need to think and I just play and it's uh it's amazing although Royal Kingdom was really hard from the beginning so I actually needed to turn on the brain and then then when I when I knew what I what I need to do I just okay now I can turn off it's crazy because yob chose white out survival and you just like passed right away yes it's yeah like we compliment each other with Felix as well I think the group and the vibe and everything it's really really really strong and I love it I love it I wouldn't change do do you have any game over Royal Kingdom I play a lot of stuff and I think the Royal Kingdom I played qued a lot and I still do from time to time

but now I played a lot of block blast on the plane from Maldives but it's yeah I would say roll Kingdom these days it's quite winds so it's been already half an hour and nice big pleasure thank you like I think we are not sure about the thir one upcoming but it would be fun if we like make the Felix next that would interesting why not it's also really cool for people to start covering with you so yeah I'm really bad at finalizing podcasts maybe you should do it for me since you already already experienced yes thank you very much everybody for for listening this was me mat lerich on the goat podcast so I thank you you should share the episode with your industry friends obviously after listen listening comment and subscribe and see

you next time thank you very much bye-bye