Meet the Founders — Andris and Martins
There’s no lack of articles debating the value of being friends first when starting a company. The opinions vary greatly on whether sharing a few drinks or a game with your pals can lead to tremendous business success. But pool that friendly fun with a proven track record in the boardroom, and you come up with a powerful combination.
“Founders should share a prehistory before they start a company together — otherwise they’re just rolling dice. When I consider investing in a startup, I study the founding teams. Technical abilities and complementary skill sets matter, but how well the founders know each other and how well they work together matter just as much.” — Peter Thiel, co-founder and former CEO of PayPal and first outside investor in Facebook
Dedicated founders with Software development and Merch expertise
Andris and Martins became fast friends when working together for three years at a merchandising company. During this time, they witnessed the industry’s vast inefficiencies and knew they could be improved — particularly for the gaming community.
After talking with multiple people in merchandising and gaming to validate the problems, better understand how different companies approached various aspects, and share their vision — they knew they were onto something big. Soon after, each quit his job and went full speed ahead. They moved from Latvia to the U.S. to start the business closer to the game developers, where Monetizr engine would soon after take shape.
Their combined experience in merchandising and app development brings a unique perspective to gaming. Before co-founding Monetizr, Andris worked at Omnicom and helped build and grow nine startups. And today, they work closely together creating a platform to truly modernize in-game merchandising and the gaming experience. Of course, as they say, “All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy.” So you also can find the guys enjoying time outside the office, going for a run and (notably) playing video games!
We’d love to talk with you more about it — and hear your story. Feel free to connect with Andris and Martins directly on LinkedIn.
Learn More About Monetizr
Monetizr is a game reward engine that rewards gamers with physical rewards for their time and skill. Monetizr helps to drive revenue and increase engagement for game developers and enables marketers to target specific gamer demographics and interact with them right inside the game or app.
