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Unlocking Telegram’s Gaming Potential with Daniil Shcherbakov from TonTon Games
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Unlocking Telegram’s Gaming Potential with Daniil Shcherbakov from TonTon Games

I am thrilled to have Daniil Shcherbakov, CEO of TonTon Games, a Telegram gaming publisher welcomed into Binance Labs' incubation program. Daniil holds a MBA from Cambridge Business School

In this episode, Daniil Shcherbakov, co-founder and CEO of TonTon Games, shares his journey from studying computer science to launching TonTon Games within Telegram's ecosystem. He delves into TonTon Games' unique strategy for long-term growth, the blue ocean opportunities within Telegram, and the company's commitment to genuine gaming experiences. Daniil offers valuable insights into user acquisition, sustainable monetization, and balancing creativity with data-driven decisions in gaming, and much more!

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Learn

  • How does Daniil approach monetization in your games while maintaining a positive user experience?

  • What are the single biggest mistakes companies make with content today?

  • What trends does Daniil see emerging in the casual mobile gaming market?

  • What is your favourite business book? –Atomic Habits

  • What is your favourite online tool? –Use Bubbles

  • If you could go back to when you started working, what is the one thing you would have focused on? – Start company earlier

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction to Daniil, CEO of TonTon Games.

1:30 - Daniil shares his background, his shift from a family of doctors to pursuing computer science, and discovering his passion for tech.

5:45 - His experience of joining Fibrum, an early startup where he created the company’s name.

10:45 - Daniil describes the camaraderie he built with classmates and the benefits of Cambridge's smaller, diverse class.

13:00 - Founding of TonTon Games and the blend of his passion for gaming and startups.

14:45 - TonTon Games’ focus on Telegram as a gaming platform and the “blue ocean” opportunity in this space.

16:30 - Overview of how Telegram's ecosystem for games is similar to WeChat's in China.

18:15 - Daniil explains TonTon Games’ strategy of avoiding “pump and dump” schemes and instead focusing on long-term incentives.

20:45 - Discussion on acquiring users, including their approach to organic growth through influencers.

23:00 - Success of their flagship game, DFT, which reached top 10 grossing apps on Telegram.

24:30 - Daniil explains why they are not creating their own token and instead focus on sustainable mechanics.

27:00 - How they evaluate and collaborate with development teams before entering formal agreements.

28:30 - Explanation of the iterative approach to user acquisition and maintaining platform stability.

31:00 - Strategy for monetizing games while respecting user experience.

33:00 - Importance of data analysis in game development and Daniil’s insights on balancing gut feeling and metrics.

35:00 - Daniil’s thoughts on the future of mobile gaming, especially in emerging markets.

39:00 - Advice for budding game developers about the future of gaming demographics.

45:00 - Daniil’s perspective on AI, highlighting that it’s a helpful tool rather than a replacement.

Daniil’s Links 

LDN– https://www.linkedin.com/in/shcherbakovds/

Website - https://tonton.games/

My Links 

Podcast: https://lifeselfmastery.com/itunes

YouTube:  youtube.com/lifeselfmastery

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rohitmal

5-day email course: www.enterprisesalesexpertise.com

Discussion about this podcast

Partner Growth Newsletter
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
Life Self Mastery Podcast is an interview based show where I interview online entrepreneurs who started their businesses and scaled up their businesses to improve their lifestyles.
Previous guests include Guy Kawasaki, Brad Feld, James Clear, Shu Nyatta, Ida Tin, Elizabeth Yin, Polina Pompliano, Evgenia Plotnikova, Anna Khan, Minnie Ingersoll, Sridhar Ramaswamy, Mac Conwell, Danielle Strachman, Jake Gibson, Wes Kao, Brian Requarth, Vivek Sodera, Eric Siu, Amit Garg, Nischal Shetty, Pranav Pai, Nir Eyal, Paul Shapiro, Nick Huber, Rob Walling, Andrew Dsouza, Fabrice Grinda, and 300+ incredible guests.