Herald Chen, AppLovin
Living untethered
Herald Chen is AppLovin’s President and CFO. AppLovin enables developers to grow their businesses with a robust set of industry-leading solutions. Before this role, he was head of KKR’s TMT investing, CEO of ACMI Corporation, and Co-founder and COO of Jamcracker.
Here are the main takeaways from our dinner with Herald:
There’s the right timing for everything - and the state of the time gives you an understanding of your optimal role. Over his career, Herald was COO, CEO, CFO, and Investor. For each time - he had the best fit for each position, and he suggests avoiding anchoring who you’re and making this notion more flexible and conditional to the momentum.
Herald was rejected several times from Goldman Sachs - ultimately got it, Stanford MBA - ultimately got it. KKR - ultimately got it twice. Even though he was upset initially, he realized that what he was left with wasn’t bad at all. So he could enjoy what was happening without overstressing what he wasn’t getting. That’s the actual up-energy state of mind where you think only about possibilities without regrets about what you can’t control. Every time he was asking himself, “Did I do my best to get it?” Why should he regret if the answer was “Yes”? How can he regret something that is out of his influence? Just because we expect something - it doesn’t mean it should happen.
What he was looking for in AppLovin was the excellence of execution - and that’s why Applovin is one of the best in the world. Once they have the target, they don’t waste time at all - it takes weeks to execute the biggest deals because of the company's lean approach and mindset.
Herald spent a lot of time being an investor and loved his work. Though to any lucrative job, he suggests keeping eyes open to new opportunities and following the path that will excite you. That’s what happened when the Applovin opportunity showed up.
He suggests picking the founder you’re most excited about working with for career pivoters. Because this is the main factor of your growth, and that’s what you should optimize for you you choose a career.