Your app's growth therapist.

Most app teams don't need more tactics. They need someone to figure out why they're stuck. I diagnose the growth problem, fix the signal layer, build creative systems, and run the channels hands-on.

Subscription apps and mobile games.

4.98 on GrowthMentor, 63 reviews1,000+ newsletter subscribers100+ games and apps13 years in mobile growth
Samet Durgun
Samet DurgunFractional Head of UA · LinkedIn
Companies I’ve worked with
WoogaZalandoDeutsche TelekomBCG XViessmannShopBackCustomlyticsInflow
How I diagnose

Three places the damage usually hides.

When I open an account, I check these first. Most of what holds an app back sits in one of the three.

Budget

Where the money lands

Meta optimizes per ad set, not per campaign. Spend pools in a few ad sets while the rest go hungry. The split is usually wrong before anyone looks at the creative.

Signal

What tracking sends back

After ATT, Meta sees a slice of what happens. Trial starts come back. Renewals and cancellations do not. You end up optimizing on half the data.

Creative

How creative gets made

Most teams ship a lot and test nothing. Spend is the metric that tells the truth. IPM and CPI stay busy and miss the winners.

Four services, one operator.

No hand-offs between a media buyer, a tracking specialist, and a creative strategist. One partner who connects signal engineering, creative, and paid channels end to end.

Paid UA

I find the cohorts that pay back and kill the ones that don't. I run the campaigns myself.

MetaGoogleTikTokApple Search AdsAppLovinDSPs

Signal Engineering

The measurement layer that tells the ad platforms who your best users are. I build it hands-on, and it moves the numbers more than any creative swap.

SKAN 4AdAttributionKitCAPIAEMpLTVValue Optimizationevent mapping

Creative Systems

I build testing loops that keep producing winners past the first month. I work with creators and coordinate production.

UGC2DAIGCnews concepthook testingrapid iterationapps & games

Growth Audits

A clear read on what is broken, what to fix first, and whether paid can work for your app.

paid funnelproduct funneldiscrepanciespaid UAcreative strategy

You talk to me directly, and I iterate daily.

The person studying your data is the same person running your campaigns and setting up your attribution. Frequent updates, not monthly slide decks.

01

Diagnose

Audit your numbers, attribution, creative, and funnel. I set the CPA ceiling from your unit economics first.

02

Fix signals

Get the measurement layer clean. Event mapping, attribution setup, conversion tracking. No point scaling on broken data.

03

Test

Launch campaigns, test creatives, find the cohorts that pay back. Cut what doesn't work fast.

04

Scale

Increase spend on what works. Keep testing new creative. Iterate daily.

Apps I've grown.

Clients who let me share the numbers.

Subscription
Videa AI & Cleaner Pure
The work
Predicted-LTV Value Optimization on Meta. Conversions API, delayed-signal webhook, EMQ targets, 21-day lift study.
Six figures / month
Profitable spend and revenue, reached within three months.
Health & Fitness
EatBetter
The work
Scaled influencer content into paid acquisition on Meta. Creator-to-paid pipeline with paywall optimization.
$10K $180KMRR
Blended ROAS went from 70% to 230% in two months.
Gaming
Horse Racing Solitaire
The work
Built the full measurement layer. Singular and Adjust event mapping to Meta, AEM and SKAN install-to-purchase, value-optimization webhooks.
IPM 15in the US
App Store conversion up 30%, soft launch to global.
Other consulting clients include Blue Ox / Moxie (D1 retention 30% → 50%), Subcap (IPM 0.2 → 15), Inflow ($170K MRR), ShopBack, and Viessmann, plus 30+ other gaming and subscription apps.
4.98average from 63 reviews on GrowthMentor, plus a 5.0 on Clutch

Samet stepped in and gave us the confidence boost we needed. It was a turnkey solution: an assessment call, access to our tools, and he handled the rest. Within a short time, and very little ad spend, we had several experiments completed and a solid read on our starting CPI.

DDave CrossCEO, Crosshatch Games · LinkedIn

Samet helped us find UA cohorts that hit 100% ROAS by D28 in our key market, the US. He spotted indicators in our data that let us push to Tier 1 markets faster and saved us significant spend. The creatives he ran resonated perfectly with our audience.

AAlasdair McMasterCo-Founder, Honig Games · LinkedIn

His expertise in performance marketing and content optimization was invaluable. A structured approach, deep technical knowledge, and actionable results delivered fast. What impressed us most was the speed at which he delivered.

SStefanie GraserGeneral Manager, ShopBack · Clutch

Incredibly helpful, professional, and to the highest knowledge in all things paid media. He helped my team thrive in creating ads and testing creatives, and on each campaign he exceeded our clients’ expectations.

CCallan Saurma-JeltschMarketing Director, Social Synergize · LinkedIn

He supported us in user acquisition with smart strategies. Reliable, proactive, and highly knowledgeable in UA. Would happily work together again.

UUgur GurkanCountry Manager · LinkedIn

Unbelievably helpful in diagnosing my Meta ads scaling issues. Went above and beyond with personalized recommendations.

RRamzy N.GrowthMentor

13 years in mobile growth.

Since 2013 in mobile growth, gaming to subscription to commerceBerlin, working with teams globally
Previous roles

Growth Therapist

Consulting · Current
Founder · Fractional Head of UA & CMO

Paid UA, signal engineering, and creative systems for subscription apps and mobile games. The named results above, plus 10+ more apps under NDA.

Deutsche Telekom

Telco
Growth Consultant

Worked with multiple Deutsche Telekom apps. Built influencer-to-paid workflows and an internal creative testing process. Trained the team to run UA independently.

Customlytics

Agency
Sr. Performance Marketing Manager

Led paid UA for subscription and commerce apps. Clients included Volkswagen, JOKR, Flink, and Congstar.

Wooga

Gaming
Mobile Marketing Manager

$1M+/month UA budgets. Pearl's Peril reached $86M+ in lifetime revenue. Jelly Splash reached $39M+. Also ran UA for Pearls of Atlantis and Match & Pop.

Zalando

E-commerce
Sr. Performance Marketing

DACH and international expansion.

Coup (Bosch / BCG X)

Mobility
Sr. App Growth Manager

Hyper-local campaigns across European cities.

Mobile Game Doctor

Gaming
Paid UA Consultant, Games

Paid UA advisory for mobile game studios.

Earlier career: Google, Intel, and Oracle.

0.02%
Admitted to Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, in the top 0.02%.
Turkey's top-ranked university. B.A. Management, from a national entrance exam more than a million people sit.
Featured writing, talks, and recognition

Three ways to work together.

Pick the level of involvement that fits where you are.

Advisory
Coach
Best for teams that already execute and need direction and a second read on the data.
  • Weekly review of your numbers
  • Strategy direction and priorities
  • A second read on your data and decisions
Book an intro call →
Most chosen
Embedded
Fractional
Best for apps ready to scale, or teams without a dedicated growth person yet.
  • I own Paid UA, creative strategy, and signal setup with you
  • Hands-on campaign management
  • Testing systems and attribution built in
Book an intro call →
Full service
Fractional + Ad Production
Best for teams that want growth run and the creative produced, end to end.
  • Everything in Fractional
  • Ad creative produced for you: UGC, 2D, video
  • A steady pipeline of new concepts to test
Book an intro call →

Questions I get a lot.

What does a fractional Head of UA actually do?

I run your paid acquisition day to day, so you get senior UA leadership without a full-time hire you may not need yet. That means owning the channels, the creative testing, and the attribution setup, and reporting to you directly. You get someone who has done this at scale, part time.

When is paid UA the wrong move?

When something upstream is broken. If your cash flow cannot cover a payback period that runs six weeks through the app stores, if retention drops off in the first few days, or if your events and attribution cannot measure revenue yet, more spend just scales the problem. I check that first. Sometimes the honest answer is that paid UA is not your bottleneck right now.

Which channels do you run?

Meta, Google App Campaigns, Apple Search Ads, TikTok, and ad networks. Most subscription and gaming budgets start on Meta, because that is where creative testing moves fastest. I open new channels once the funnel holds and the numbers are stable.

How do you know if a campaign is actually working?

I judge campaigns on revenue. A campaign can bring 10,000 cheap installs and still deliver zero paying subscribers, so I look at blended ROAS and payback against real revenue, cross-checked between the ad platform and your MMP. The two rarely agree.

What does it cost, and how do you work?

I work on a monthly retainer, scoped to how involved you need me: advisory, embedded, or embedded with creative production. The intro call is free and covers fit and scope. For earlier teams that are not ready for a retainer, I run a paid diagnostic session instead, so you leave with a clear read either way.

What kind of apps do you work with?

Subscription apps and mobile games, mostly. I have worked with apps spending their first $100 on Meta and apps spending six figures a month. Stage matters less than two things: whether the product retains, and whether the economics can carry paid growth.