01 · With The iGaming Leader
Two conversations
02 · About
Who Pini is
Pini Yakuel co-founded Optimove after starting Mobius Solutions, a customer analytics consultancy, with Shachar Cohen in 2009; the software platform launched in 2012. Bootstrapped for its first four years, Optimove raised a $20 million Series A in 2016 and a $75 million growth round from Summit Partners in 2021, and has made six acquisitions, most recently Smartico in 2026. It reports that 52 percent of the EGR Power 50 2025 operators are clients.
He is the originator of Positionless Marketing, the concept behind Optimove's repositioning since 2025, which won Innovation of the Year at the European iGaming Awards in 2026. Optimove has been named a Visionary in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Multichannel Marketing Hubs two years running. He holds a BSc and MSc from Tel Aviv University and has written for Forbes, Fortune, Entrepreneur and CMSWire.
03 · Career
Where the seat was earned
04 · Recurring themes
What Pini keeps coming back to
- Positionless Marketing and AI-enabled marketers
- Retention over acquisition in iGaming
- Building an AI-first company
- Founder obsession, delegation and sustainable leadership
- Bootstrapping versus venture funding
“All marketing will eventually become Relationship Marketing.”
MarTech Cube interview
05 · On the record