Kicked Out at 16, He Moved Into the Office to Outwork Rivals
Rafael Vivas traded school for online ads, talked his best friend's mother into taking him in, and later slept on an Ikea bunk bed to give his startup an edge.
David Senra · High School Dropout to Multi-Billionaire: The Relentless Drive of Rafael VivasThe day after his father told him to leave, Rafael Vivas arrived at his best friend's house with his belongings. He was about 16 years old.
He greeted his friend's mother, asked if he could live there, and made her a pitch. He would employ her son as an intern in his online ad business, and help clean the house.
It was a strange deal for a teenager to offer, but Vivas was already living like a worker, not a student. He had stopped going to classes, was skipping school, and was working around the clock on internet advertising.
School had never held him. He has described himself as a poor student with horrible grades who could not pay attention and did not care what teachers were saying. Advertising on the internet, buying online ads meant to drive sales, was the first thing that grabbed him.
He had started that work at about 14. By 16, his father had seen enough, telling him that if he thought he was such a big shot making money online, he should move out.
Vivas took him literally. He packed up the next day, and he later said going back to his parents' house was never really an option.
As a high school dropout, he felt he was unhirable on paper. He felt going back to work for his brother's company would be an equal failure, since his brother had given him his start.
Later, when he agreed to join Adam Foroughi, an advertising veteran, to build a mobile ad startup called AppLovin, that pressure was still with him. The company had a goofy name and no venture funding.
Vivas asked for half the company. He was told people in his role usually received a quarter of a percent, and he ended up with somewhat more. He also had one condition.
He would live inside the office. With no money advantage, he argued, the only way a five-foot-eight, chubby kid could win business from game developers and advertisers was to out-hustle everyone else.
Foroughi agreed. He and a colleague went to Ikea and assembled bunk beds for Vivas and another engineer Vivas had recruited to move in.
The engineer took one look at the bunks and refused to stay. Vivas looked at the same bed and said it felt like home, and time to get started.
Questions people ask
What does AppLovin actually do?
AppLovin is a mobile advertising technology company that helps app makers, especially game developers, find users and earn money from ads. It places ads inside apps and uses software to predict which ad is most likely to produce a download or purchase.
What is performance advertising?
Performance advertising means the advertiser pays for a result, such as an app download or a sale, rather than just for showing an ad. The middlemen who place those ads make money when their campaigns produce profitable customers for advertisers.
Did he ever finish high school?
No. He left high school to work full time in online advertising and never returned. He has said that decision left him feeling unhirable in a conventional job, which pushed him to succeed on his own.