Sramana Mitra: What are some examples of non-paid customer acquisition?

Timur Khabirov: Some celebrity who makes their own content. Let’s talk about viral effect. The first one was BTS. I didn’t know about this band before, but they started using Prequel. When I woke up, we were on the top. The BTS group used Prequel during the Grammys. Twitter was crazy.

Sramana Mitra: That gave you a huge lift.

Timur Khabirov: Besides user acquisition, you’re creating the brand.

Sramana Mitra: For brand marketing, influencer marketing is a very effective channel. It has always been.

Timur Khabirov: It’s community. It’s society. I like the democracy in mobile businesses. You don’t have somebody in the middle.

Sramana Mitra: How did you finance the business?

Timur Khabirov: It was self-funded.

Sramana Mitra: How far along are you in revenue?

Timur Khabirov: $3 million a month. I’d like to increase that five times next year.

Sramana Mitra: Do you need financing to do that?

Timur Khabirov: It’s something we’ll think about.

Sramana Mitra: You don’t have to if you can afford.

Timur Khabirov: Maybe we’ll need the money. Also not only because of the money but because of the strategic partnerships.

Sramana Mitra: What kind of strategic partnerships?

Timur Khabirov: For example, Sequoia. They not only have money but the experience and connections.

Sramana Mitra: Tell me more about what strategic partnerships you think can accelerate your business. What are those companies that would make sense?

Timur Khabirov: We can provide some platform. Maybe a marketplace or publishing platform. We have a lot of experience with that. We need a strategic partner with experience. We need to monetize our products not only on B2C.

Sramana Mitra: Is Prequel now only an app or do you have a web version?

Timur Khabirov: We’re working on a desktop version. We’ll call it Prequel Studio for now. We’re going to put this on the market in the beginning of next year.

Sramana Mitra: Where would you price that?

Timur Khabirov: Maybe an annual subscription. Now we have our own tools. We’re going to share our tools with the creative community.

Sramana Mitra: For users who are paying $20, what is the equivalent on the desktop?

Timur Khabirov: That’s not for the end user. We have a creative community of professional designers. The professional editor can do this on our desktop.

Sramana Mitra: What about people who want to use it on the desktop?

Timur Khabirov: The phone is the number one priority.

Sramana Mitra: But you’ve already done that.

Timur Khabirov: I wouldn’t say we’ve done that. We’re expanding our product line.

Sramana Mitra: You need a desktop version that people can use. There is a whole community who are creating videos on desktop.

Timur Khabirov: That’s for them, and the iPad version as well.

Sramana Mitra: What about team? You’re self-funded. How many people are you?

Timur Khabirov: 200 people.

Sramana Mitra: Where are they located? Are you virtual?

Timur Khabirov: I don’t like virtual.

Sramana Mitra: Are your 200 people in New York?

Timur Khabirov: We have two locations in the US. Portugal and Montenegro. I like Montenegro. It’s less expensive. I hope we’ll open more offices next year in the US. One of the main priorities is China. It’s a huge market, but it’s very local.

Sramana Mitra: Wonderful story. Thank you for your time.