Jonas Thiemann wants to emulate acting legend Klaus Kinski and is planning to cause a stir in America. He has opened an office in Boston with his gaming start-up Applike Group and has already landed his first major customer, the financial services provider Fetch. Why should a financial company cooperate with a game developer? Thiemann talks about this and more in the interview.

Mr. Thiemann, what have you done recently?

I recently renewed my subscription to the Elbphilharmonie here in Hamburg. It includes eight concerts by the best orchestras in the world. It is also, as far as I know, the most expensive classical music subscription in Hamburg. That's why I hesitate every year. But then I treat myself.

Where does your enthusiasm for classical music come from?

When I was six years old, I listened to my cousin play the piano. It grabbed me and never let go. My mother then made it possible for me to pursue piano playing myself. She was a single parent, so of course it wasn't that easy. But with the support of my grandparents, it worked out. Later, I even considered studying piano.

Today, however, you are the co-founder and CEO of a mobile games company and not a concert pianist. How did the change of direction come about?

While preparing for my studies, I realized that as a pianist you are very much on your own. You have to practise, practise, practise. That goes on for six to eight hours a day. And I didn't want to do that for the rest of my life. So instead - relatively spontaneously - I started a dual study program with the Otto Group.

At the age of 20, you founded your first start-up, Copay, a voucher company. How did that go?

We were broke after a year. The failure was very hard for me. I had never experienced anything like it before. I had used my savings for my first start-up, which was then completely gone.

For most of them, that would probably have been the end of their start-up career.

I then joined the publishing house Gruner+Jahr as an M&A project manager. However, I continued to work with start-ups and didn't lose touch with the industry. At G+J, my co-founder Carlo and I developed the next idea and sought support from the publishing house.

That was justDice, the nucleus of the Applike Group.

That's right, it's basically a loyalty program that allows users to find and try out new games based on their preferences and be rewarded for doing so.

What exactly are casual games?

These are the simply structured mobile games that every second person now has on their cell phone, from schoolchildren to managers. It is a market with huge growth opportunities. Even people who would never describe themselves as gamers play them while waiting for the bus or between meetings. Many still see it as a kind of "guilty pleasure". But I'm sure that this is slowly changing. Which is fine - switching off from time to time and having five minutes of fun is not a bad thing.

The Applike Group now comprises five different companies that cover everything in the games sector: game development, distribution and advertising space sales. Why do you want to do everything yourself?

Because there are a lot of synergies. We can test everything we develop in terms of technology directly in our own games. And we equip the new games directly with the tried and tested technology. This also works extremely well, we have been profitable for eight years.

You also recently ventured into the USA. Is there no such thing as the Applike Group there?

Yes and no. There are also hyper-casual games producers and mobile adtech companies in the USA. But we do some things differently to the providers there. For example, our adjoe Arcade product: companies can use it to integrate mobile games into their offering and provide their users with benefits. Our first American customer is Fetch, the leading local loyalty program, which works in a similar way to Payback in Germany. Their customers can now collect points in these games in the Fetch app and receive benefits. This means more engagement in the app, higher in-app transactions and also additional revenue streams.

Are such collaborations with corporate clients the next big thing for the Applike Group?

We are definitely working on this more and more. In our newest company Tabbler, we also want to build branded games for large B2C brands in the future. For example, a car manufacturer could order a racing game from us to attract their customers. This is a completely new marketing channel that we can offer companies.

It sounds like you don't want to say goodbye as CEO so soon. Have you not even thought about an exit yet?

No. Applike is my life's work. I won't build a company like this again, I know that. And in the end, it's a great job, with so much more freedom than most people have.

So the piano stays in the cellar for now?

Oh well, I still play, at least twice a week - and in my living room. You have to have free time and distractions, as an 80-hour-a-week entrepreneur you don't have any good ideas - and good ideas are what make the Applike Group what it is.

Thank you very much for the interview.

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About the person:

Jonas Thiemann is co-founder and CEO of the Applike Group. He has continuously expanded the group of companies since 2014. He previously worked at the publishing house Gruner+Jahr and has already founded another company. Thiemann completed a dual degree in Business Administration at the Otto Group.