Meet The Crew: Ekaterina, Business Developer

Dec 29, 2021

Meet the Crew is a series of interviews directly coming from the TapNation team!

The floor is given to our team members, from the devs to the managers, from the young talents to the experienced experts, everyone has their say. You will discover who they are, their career, their inspirations, their thoughts on the industry and beyond. Hopefully you will be able to learn more about our company and about the hypercasual market overall. You could even join our crew if this gets you thrilled!

Who are you Ekaterina, and how did you land at TapNation?

I am many things but one of them is I am a game enthusiast. Moreover, I have been always passionate about gaming industry, but did not believe I could get a job without a proper experience in this field. However, I decided to give it a try and applied for a BD role at TapNation… Now it has been almost 10 months for me since I joined TN team, and I couldn’t be more excited about it 🙂

How has your journey from a different background to the gaming industry been so far?

Indeed, at the beginning of my career, I worked as a translator. Now when I look back, I realize that I learned a lot about business along the way, which has helped me deliver my successful duties as a business developer at TapNation.

As we all know, gaming is a fast-paced industry, especially the hyper- casual market, and my experience has made me strong and sharp enough to make business decisions.

Could you please explain what you do at TapNation in detail?

I joined TapNation as a Business Development Manager. I collaborate on a daily basis with gaming studios all over the world for game testing, acquisition, and publishing.

What challenges do you face on a daily basis at work?

Finding HIT Games and rising CPI rates are major challenges, and as a business developer, I must maintain studio spirits up and motivate them.

I work not only for European studios, but also for studios all over the world, therefore I have to keep myself familiar with varied regional requirements.

But I like being challenged and I believe in the quote “challenges make us grow”.

What are some of the hard and soft skills you employ on a regular basis?

Clear communication with gaming studios, being flexible with working hours, creativity also plays a major role, as well as being able to work in a team and handling solo projects. All of this is pretty much required in my job.

What are your thoughts on the gaming industry for women? What is your advice for females who want to work in gaming?

Women are underrepresented in the gaming industry, but this is changing as more women are becoming interested in gaming.

There aren’t enough role models for women to look up to. I would encourage other women to work in the gaming industry because it is so innovative, fast-paced and, most importantly, really fun!

Could you give additional advice to people who want to become Business Development Managers just like you?

My advice is do your constant research about the industry and connect with people that have the same interest as you to learn more about the business, share your insight, and finally do apply for a position that you desire (an intern, for example, if you are new in the business) and take you chance! So do your research, connect, apply and act 😉

Thank you, Ekaterina. 🙂