From Apps to Ventures: Inside Gismart’s Growth Model
Mykola Tymkiv is the CEO of Gismart, a mobile app developer and publisher that creates products in the Health & Wellness, Utilities, and Music app markets. The company has surpassed 1 billion downloads across its portfolio of apps and games.
Tymkiv has directed strategic development and execution across Wellness, Entertainment, and Utility verticals at the organization. He’s built and nurtured a high-performing, growth-driven culture focused on excellence and measurable impact and established a full-cycle infrastructure to accelerate scalable growth and develop lovemark products trusted by millions.
Mykola Tymkiv talked to Amrop's Nataliia Ivoniak about Gismart's strategic initiatives, the organization’s transition to a co-founding venture-building model, the integration of AI technologies. He touched also on the importance of cultivating talent and culture amidst rapid organizational changes.
Q: Given Gismart's rapid growth and competitive landscape within wellness, entertainment, and utility verticals, what strategic initiatives do you believe are crucial to elevate the company's position and scale sustainably?
A: I joined Gismart four years ago. It was a company that had a bit of gaming, a bit of music, and some utilities, looking to extend the wellness space. We started seeing some really good early signs of traction and grew multiple times year over year. Just a year ago, we began our global corporate transition. We’re shifting from a model with a single management team to a co-founding venture-building organization. This means we are launching all the new products with a general manager or CEO, and we often hire new people or promote someone from within the company into these general manager roles.
Q: What are the benefits of such a strategic model?
A: Strategically, this gives us the ability to grow more predictably. Therefore, we have built a corporate core that handles finance, legal, HR, recruitment, business intelligence, and a couple of centers of excellence. Each of the product start-ups within the ecosystem can come to these centers for help and support, but ultimately, each company operates independently. This evolution represents a major strategic shift in our current history, as it enables us to launch and invest in more projects each year and grow even faster.
Q: What other directions is the company currently taking?
A: We are still heavily invested in wellness, but we are also opening what I would call edutainment. Some people refer to it as educational tech, but edutainment better describes the mix of education and entertainment - a bite-sized learning experience that includes various personality and IQ tasks. Users spend time doing something useful, which also provides enjoyment, making it much better than mindlessly scrolling on social media. Additionally, we have recently hired a general manager for our music unit because we firmly believe there is a future for reinventing music apps, particularly given the rapid growth of AI, which is improving and influencing all aspects of business - from content marketing to product engineering. This gives us the ability to move faster and test cheaper, and therefore, we have decided to reinvent music apps as well. We are growing and, I could say, more aggressively than ever because we have built a proper infrastructure from the standpoint of core functions, supported by a truly great team. In 2026, we will launch the Gismart Academy, which will serve as an entry-level opportunity for people in marketing, creative marketing, user acquisition, design, development, and product management to start their careers with Gismart. We will offer an extended two-month training program with real practical use cases and mentorship from skilled professionals. We will also invite speakers from other large ecosystem players like Meta, TikTok, and Google to provide business context. Ultimately, Gismart Academy will serve as a foundation for more sustainable and higher-paced growth going forward.
Q: Is the plan to hire those who’ve successfully completed courses at the Gismart Academy?
A: Once it’s officially launched, it will be a great initiative for the entire market. Even though we might not be able to hire 100% of the people who go through the Academy, we will be providing more individuals with the opportunity to transition into the IT product business. Who knows - opportunities can arise unexpectedly, and they might feel grateful and come back to us when we have open positions. Ultimately, the plan is to source a lot of young, energetic talent and broaden the overall pool of individuals capable of working in the industry.
Q: Great, that’s a very interesting project! Thinking of the trend of moving towards centralized operations that alleviate the operational burden on entrepreneurs while maintaining an entrepreneurial mindset within the company: do you see this as a growing trend as well? It seems that while it might not be entirely new, more companies are adopting this approach.
A: I think that most of the largest players in the EMEA region are either actively using or trying to adopt a venture-building or incubator-type model. For me, the key aspect is that we've never been a mono-product company. When you have a single product, you don't need to launch new ventures within one brand - you need to build one large, strong team that does everything, and you have to keep it moving. When I joined Gismart, it had more products than it does now. One of the first things I did was stop the development of numerous products, because results require focus, and that’s what made us successful at that point. You need people to own the results, make decisions, and handle hiring, so it’s essential to have someone leading the product with power and decision-making authority to make things happen. This organically happened with us; one of the launches was Fit Me, which took place in 2024. We gave our current product manager the ability to launch and gain all the support and mentorship she needed, and we worked with her to build it. From the start, she knew she had to focus on starting a new startup.
Q: So you’ve launch several new products this way?
A: Yes, by 2025, we had already launched four new products under this model. All of them are in the early stages, but they have been successful. That was the point when I realized we were in a hybrid situation because all the new products already have general managers, while our older portfolio is managed slightly differently. We have hired and promoted general managers for the majority of our older portfolio, and those that don’t currently have a general manager will have one by the end of Q1, completing the transition.
Q: But you’re also keeping the core infrastructure.
A: Yes, to address the operational challenges. The larger the product becomes, the more everything falls under the control of the general manager. In the beginning, when you are launching, especially in a competitive field with many heavy challenges, if there’s an opportunity to take some things off your plate, like admin tasks, some hiring, finance, and legal - that will definitely help, and that’s the whole concept we’ve adopted. As we progress, all general managers will transition into the role of CEOs at the beginning of next year. Initially, when we started this idea, it was structured more like an R&D initiative, so we didn’t want to make too big of a splash; we wanted to take it slow and see how it worked out. It turned out perfectly. People are genuinely owning the results, outcomes, teams, vision, and culture. All of them are acting as co-CEOs, so we will make that shift and communicate it publicly as well. This market trend is clearly happening and makes perfect sense, because it simply works. From a compensation and incentive standpoint, we have a success-sharing initiative in place with each general manager. When they create something from zero, they gain a part of it, which I think is really important to make this whole structure work.
Q: Given your leadership of such a diverse ecosystem of companies, rather than just a group of correlated companies, what personal qualities and leadership styles do you consider most essential for effectively guiding this legacy?
A: I believe there is no definitive good or bad leadership style; each has its pros and cons. The key is being conscious of your strengths and weaknesses and knowing how to leverage your strengths while minimizing the risks that come from your weaknesses. Personally, I believe in leading by example. It’s as simple as that: you make decisions based on your values, which helps you hire people who share those values. If you are successful in this, everything that follows becomes easier. You want people who have a high level of ambition and energy, who are willing to push through obstacles and not take “no” for an answer, because the entrepreneurial world is challenging. If things are easy, it probably won’t last for long. You need to be ready for unexpected situations and be able to fight fires, protect your team and customers, and build a resilient business. From both a team and leadership style perspective, we have successful general managers from diverse backgrounds. In fact, we have many female general managers and only one male general manager, representing various areas such as marketing and product. The core values remain consistent among all of them.
Q: While also preserving their autonomy presumably?
A: Yes. Recently, during our strategic session discussing the challenges we face, we realized that despite working remotely, some of our teams have chosen to adopt a hybrid or full-time office model. Each team decides how they want to proceed with hiring and work arrangements. I see that, especially in light of the ongoing war in Ukraine and other challenges, it may seem absurd to be talking about launching new ventures. But we have adapted; we manage with backup systems and facilities. After a day of missile attacks, everyone starts the morning with a check-in: “How are you doing?” And then it’s, “Okay, let’s grab a coffee and get the day going,” which feels surreal. I wish we didn’t have to deal with these circumstances, but we are where we are. We strive to maintain balance, and the core values of our leaders are crucial in this situation because people need to feel cared for. As a company, we do a lot to support the defenders and armed forces on a monthly basis through donations, and we have colleagues who are serving. Having people around you with the same mindset and values fosters proper teams and helps us recruit the right people, turning work into a challenging but enjoyable experience.
Q: Given the rapid development of AI and automation tools, how do you see these technologies influencing the ways your teams collaborate, make decisions, and approach innovation? What is your approach and experience regarding AI implementation in your organization?
A: AI is an integral part of the daily work of every employee and colleague in Gismart. It’s incredible how quickly things change; every three months, you think you've achieved a lot with AI, only to realize that the landscape has shifted again. I initially expected the pace of change to slow down for at least another year, but the speed and level of innovation and integration into core functions are so rapid that the entire ecosystem is evolving. For us, AI acts as a multiplier. We are still growing in terms of headcount, but we wouldn't be able to deliver our products to as many people without the help of AI - that’s the absolute truth. The content generation aspect is a significant part of this, utilizing models like GPT-3, Sora, and other mid-core tools that enable us to orchestrate different models and create a full cycle of AI capabilities within the organization. This allows us to produce ten times more content than we could have previously.
Q: Does the use of AI differ across different departments within the company?
A: Generally speaking, some departments and teams are more advanced than others, but virtually every team is either hiring or has already hired people for the role of AI Generalist. These individuals are tasked with exploring various AI agents, models, and tools to enhance design, copywriting, development, and automation. It has been an incredibly interesting journey for us, and I truly believe this is just the beginning. In six months, I expect the level of automation and AI usage within the organization to be at least three times higher than it is now, even though we are already using it in every team. It presents a challenge, but a fun one because the unpredictability can be exciting, and the benefits are immense. I remain optimistic, because while there’s a sentiment that AI will take our jobs, I believe it may instead temper our appetite for certain tasks. We continue to invest confidently in areas like academia to attract new talent and energy, which allows us to build out a diverse range of products. AI will facilitate making this process easier and more efficient. In 5-10 years, things might resemble science fiction, but it’s important to recognize that people tend to be slow to adapt. For instance, some countries still rely heavily on cash, while services like Apple Pay have been around for a decade or more. Therefore, while we won’t see radical changes in the next couple of years, over the next decade, AI will undoubtedly have an impact akin to the Internet in the early 2000s and the evolution of mobile phones.
Q: Do you see the potential usefulness of a Chief AI Officer in your organization?
A: The role of a Chief AI Officer may make sense in the corporate world, especially where there are cost centers spending millions on various initiatives and the need to optimize operations and eliminate inefficiencies. From our standpoint, while we are a large organization, we are composed of smaller, fully self-sufficient, and efficient teams, with our core functions like finance and legal already utilizing AI effectively. For us it makes more sense to have dedicated AI specialists in marketing, engineering, product development, and other areas to ensure that teams are using state-of-the-art applications and continuously improving their processes. Our teams are super agile, engaged, and free from bureaucracy, allowing for quick decision-making and effective collaboration.
Q: Reflecting on your collaboration with Amrop during the executive search process, how did that partnership influence your integration into Gismart, and what aspects of that experience do you see as most valuable today in your journey?
A: The best part for me, of course, was that you made the match! There was a company for which you were tasked with finding someone who could fulfill specific requirements, and throughout the process, you effectively qualified potential candidates. You built the process in a way that involved sitting down and committing to a partnership with the Gismart team and founders, and I believe the results speak for themselves. The hiring process is changing dramatically with the integration of AI as well. I think the best, and often the hardest, part is matching the culture of the company with the values of the individual. Achieving this match, along with setting realistic expectations and balancing those elements, is the biggest challenge, regardless of how high the priority or security of the role is. Ultimately, making this match is the best outcome one could hope for.