David SenraHigh School Dropout to Multi-Billionaire: The Relentless Drive of Rafael Vivas
Episode Details
EPISODE INFO
- Released
- November 1, 2026
- Duration
- 1h 6m
- Channel
- David Senra
- Watch on YouTube
- ▶ Open ↗
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
Rafael “Raf” Vivas is a founding team member of AppLovin, the digital advertising and marketing company led by Adam Foroughi, where he has worked since 2011 in roles spanning business development, eCommerce and growth marketing, and co-founded the game publisher Lion Studios. He started in performance marketing at 14 working for his older brother, dropped out of high school, and at 17 built his own mobile ad platform, where Adam was one of his customers. When Adam decided to build a competing ad network, he recruited Raf as his first business hire in 2011, and Raf's one condition was that he live in the office. Raf explains how a small, unfunded team beat VC-backed rivals by going all in on technology, why he started Lion Studios to beat one of AppLovin's own partners and grew it to over $250 million in revenue in two years, and why he walked away at 28 and came back after the IPO as the stock collapsed. He also shares why AppLovin is against delegation and keeps its team small, how his mentor Mark Rosner taught him that every detail matters, and the best advice he ever received. Show notes: https://www.davidsenra.com/episode/rafael-vivas Made possible by Ramp: https://ramp.com Deel: https://deel.com/senra AppLovin: https://applovin.com/senra David Senra X: https://x.com/davidsenra Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidsenra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidsenra Facebook: https://www.linkedin.com/company/senrashow Threads: https://www.threads.com/@davidsenra Spotify: https://spti.fi/TVrr557 Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4msoZtb Website: https://www.davidsenra.com Rafael Vivas X: https://x.com/rfvivas LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafaelvivas Chapters 00:00:00 Kicked out of his house at 16 00:06:42 Starting his own ad platform at 17 00:09:58 “Don't be mad, but I'm going to compete with you” 00:11:06 His one condition: living in the office 00:15:40 Turned down by VCs while already profitable 00:21:00 Why he's against delegation 00:24:15 Two years of persistence to land one customer 00:30:42 Lion Studios: built to kill a Cheetah 00:38:41 Walking away from AppLovin at 28 00:44:13 The IPO that brought him back 00:45:44 The stock buyback that made $50 billion 01:01:01 The mentor who redlined the NDA 01:03:54 “Do you want to be Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods?” 01:05:46 The best advice he ever received: stay in the game
SPEAKERS
David Senra
hostHost of the podcast Founders, known for interviewing entrepreneurs and drawing lessons from biographies of business builders.
Rafael Vivas
guestEntrepreneur and AppLovin operator associated with building its performance marketing and publishing efforts (including Lion Studios).
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of David Senra, featuring David Senra and Rafael Vivas, High School Dropout to Multi-Billionaire: The Relentless Drive of Rafael Vivas explores rafael Vivas on obsession, performance culture, and staying in the game Rafael Vivas recounts dropping out of high school after discovering performance marketing and getting kicked out of his house at 16, then pursuing internet advertising with an obsessive focus on value creation.
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