Interviewed By Sara Waqar Khan
TinTash is a casual mobile game development company where highly creative, energetic and dynamic team has been brought together by Stanford University graduates. The company also has a presence in Silicon Valley.
This week we bring to you Murad Akhtar, CEO TinTash, who has over seven years of experience behind him in the international IT arena. Prior to TinTash he was a part of Apple and Microsoft, where he played a major role in various teams working on product management and software development. He holds a BS and MS degree in computer science from Stanford.
TinTash in accordance with Murad Akhtar, is a team effort which came together in 2007. The talented creative team includes Mannan Amin, as the CMO, M. Abdoolcarim as the co-founder and Jazib Zahir as the COO. Their remarkable team effort allowed the company to build a presence in the world market of casual games and application development in 2008.
Fishing Frenzy On iPad
CodeWeek: How did you come up with the name TinTash?
Murad Akhtar: The name TinTash evolves out of Tintin. And it sounds quirky, casual and fun: exactly the traits embedded within our culture as we aim to provide the world with amusing, beneficial and aesthetically pleasing products.
CodeWeek: Which was your first Application to be submitted on the Apps Store?
Murad Akhtar: Our first application on Apps store was Wordlist. It took us almost a month to be published on the Apps Store. With 2000 downloads till the very next day turned out to be very encouraging.
We had about 40,000 downloads the first month. Since that positive response we were greatly encouraged and we knew that we can actually launch our products with success. Since then we have been focusing both on our own products and on products for renowned publishers based in US as well.
CodeWeek: What is the key to success in application and game development arena?
Murad Akhtar: In order to succeed in the apps and game development arena you have to be more than just software services provider.
There are software development companies who are not able to produce good products. The main factor is that they lack creative art work due to which their design may not be that good and the product may not be culturally relevant. In order to succeed in this game you need to have a dedicated creative team with competent artists who can work on design and art work.
Also, there is a need of good game producers vs. project managers. As a game producer you have to be very active in keeping a track on almost every aspect of the project, which you learn through continuous hard work and experience. Thus, design, language and cultural relevancy are the key elements for success.
Companies based in US bring that combination together. In order to produce good quality you have to have certain knowledge of
- Apps Store
- How to market your product
- Knowing how to get your content in front of people
- Innovative marketing strategies
CodeWeek: How do you monetize your product?
Murad Akhtar: Business Models are essential for any kind of business. Those who are able to diversify their streams of revenue are the most successful for sure, because this is the area which allows you to make money through
- Advertising
- Downloads
- App purchases
- Virtual currencies
- Branding your content
In order to do really well you need have to a strategy for each revenue stream.
CodeWeek: With quite a number of startups in the market, do you face any form of competition?
Murad Akhtar: Working here on startups was very challenging as you have to perform almost every task. The number of emerging companies is meager at the moment. On the other hand, if you look at the global landscape in the application development market then companies which are based in US have the most chances of success because the largest consumer base is in the US. When you have the knowledge and understanding of the culture of these areas only then there are chances of great success.
CodeWeek: What do we expect next from TinTash?
Murad Akhtar: Tintash is currently working on many products this year. We are also working on other platforms now. Last year our main focus was iPhone development, this year the focus has been completely on Android, Facebook games and iPhone application. We are currently moving more towards social Mobile and social casual space.
We are a self funded entity and our main work currently focuses more towards product development.
Every time we submit some application at the apps store we are always flooded with anticipation. The plan is not just one launch or one product. We are hoping to build apps which would last for a while in the market.
CodeWeek: Applications which have turned out to be major hits?
Murad Akhtar: Tintash had three major hits last year. One was our own product Fishing Frenzy. While the others were developed for publishing companies who were working with us.
Fishing Frenzy was in the top ten categories for a couple of weeks on the Apps store. We are still working on the game and are constantly updating it to develop it into different levels.
A game known as super slider also came in top 100 applications.
Flubby physics launched in February
A lot more products, games, social elements and games which are a lot of fun
CodeWeek: How do you move from an idea to the final product?
Murad Akhtar: In order to see a product in front of you, it requires a lot of team effort. It requires
- Sharing of various ideas. A lot of brainstorming sessions,
- Analysis of what has already been successful in that particular domain.
- We establish a case. Test it we plan first label version, where we capture the users experience of an average user.
- Engineering challenge and concept art work go hand in hand.
- We go through a series of developing, testing, taking feedback and then redesigning in accordance with the acquired feedback.
CodeWeek: Any iphone apps you wish to compete with?
Murad Akhtar: Any top ten application. There are companies which have 100 of apps. The challenge now for us is to combine the entire team and produce something amazing.
CodeWeek: Any Message at the end for those who wish to enter this field
Murad Akhtar: In order to be successful in this domain you need to have fun doing this work. Every individual in the company should be treated as a joint venture. Management in various companies need to work on developing a team and a friendly environment.
As long as you can produce good quality work you will always be able to move forward.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Brilliant interview and really helpful. I would like to ask Mr. Murad something if he could answer.
1. He mentioned Advertising Revenues? What exactly are the mode of areas where companies can market its apps to advertisers? Or put it like this, how to find advertisers for Iphone apps? (especially if I am not sitting in Silicon Valley?
AdMob, AdWord. Google them.
AdWorld
he was my instructor, a great man, but he did not gave me my kit kats for writing the fastest code::@