PIN-UP Global’s Marina Ilina on the importance of high expertise in all areas

Marina Ilina, the CEO of PIN-UP Global explains the unique concept behind the ecosystem as well as its products, services and plans for the future. Among other things, she also reveals more about the PIN-UP’s experience of doing business in Cyprus and her own, personal approach to running a successful business.

PIN-UP Global is an ecosystem of independent entertainment product companies. Can you tell us more about how this unique concept came about?

In 2016, at the beginning of our journey, I personally described the technical specifications of what a platform that would meet all the needs of both users and operators should look like. Since then, we have rapidly begun to expand services and build solutions that have allowed us to scale into a full-service ecosystem in 2022 with proprietary products and services for the gaming industry, including software development, customer service, management, marketing, legal and financial support, and more. Today, PIN-UP is a key player in the gambling market with offices in six countries (Ukraine, Poland, Kazakhstan, Cyprus, Armenia, Peru), and the number of professionals has already exceeded 2,400 people.

We offer a wide range of services to independent gambling operators who operate under the PIN-UP brand in their countries. Our main advantage is high expertise in all areas. Thus, entering the market, the partner does not need to worry about the risks he may face or to think over his own strategy. We will provide online and offline promotion, customer support, legal support, access to software and other unique developments. Using our expert vision, ecosystem clients achieve high results much faster compared to competitors, as well as significantly optimise resources: team, time, budget and more. It is important for us to provide our partners with customised end-to-end solutions that enable them to successfully operate in the ever-changing and dynamic gambling industry.

The ecosystem is divided into a number of profile-related sections. Can you tell us more about them and their areas of specialisation?

Yes, that's right. As of recently, the ecosystem consists of eight segments, each of which is absolutely unique and created to provide services according to its profile. Nevertheless, they all have one common business goal - to achieve stable revenue, continuous development and efficient scaling. PIN-UP.TECH develops software for the entertainment industry and provides PIN-UP Global companies with infrastructure support. PIN-UP.BUSINESS is focused on outsourcing and quality execution of business processes. PIN-UP.CRM builds a quality level of service and marketing for all participants of the ecosystem. PIN-UP.TRAFFIC provides customers' products and services in the markets of presence with high-quality, payback traffic. PIN-UP.PLAY represents independent companies that have decided to operate under the PIN-UP brand in their countries. They use the software platform and other technological solutions of ecosystem members. PIN-UP.CARE is a direction of work with organisations that declare the principles of social responsibility. This is the direction of our charitable foundation PIN-UP Foundation, which I founded after the beginning of the war in Ukraine. PIN-UP.TEAM is a direction focused on taking care of ecosystem specialists. And our new segment - PIN-UP.INVESTMENTS. Now within the ecosystem we will invest in projects and products in gambling, traffic, software development, AI, customer service, payment systems, advertising platforms, arbitrage teams through the resources and activities of the ecosystem. We created this new direction to encourage the development of technologies and products for the gambling market and related industries, both for independent growth and entry into new markets, and for integration into our ecosystem.

What are some of the ways PIN-UP Global stays on top of developments in your incredibly competitive and fast-moving sector?

As you have pointed out, ours is one of the fastest growing and most competitive sectors, and we are always on the pulse - reacting quickly and making bold decisions. In addition, we are constantly learning, researching the market and modernising our business models. One of our values is - Be the first to lead. That is, we are constantly moving forward and setting trends. We offer the best solutions for both partners and employees thanks to our drive, engagement, courage to realise our ideas and propose changes. This is the only way to stay relevant and competitive.

What do you consider to be some of the ecosystem’s main achievements so far?

There are a lot of really cool projects and products in our portfolio. So it is difficult to single out the one I am most proud of. I can tell you about one of the latest - a unique anti-fraud tool. It features an approach that combines traditional fraud recognition mechanics and machine learning to provide high accuracy in fraud prevention. Now we can literally in a few clicks assess the connections between any objects in the system, be it users, partners, payment methods, promo codes and more. There are plans to extend the tool beyond the ecosystem as well.

Can you reveal more about your upcoming plans?

PIN-UP never stands still. The plan is to increase our teams even more, grow our existing product and launch a new one, automate business processes with AI, customisation, support, expand our VIP service, and enter new markets.

Our distinctive feature remains the rapid growth of products and services without loss in quality, maintaining this momentum remains a priority for me personally for the next year.

And of course, next year we will pay a lot of attention to our new investment area. It requires a lot of effort and time, because the process of collecting applications, studying proposals and selection is quite long and complicated, but the most interesting will begin later - already in the practical part. We believe in bold solutions and new technologies that can be effective.

Can you tell us more about your experience of doing business in Cyprus?

In Cyprus, we have our head office and almost the entire C-level ecosystem. Being in geographical proximity to each other allows us to make decisions and manage the team much faster. With offices in six countries, Cyprus allows us to be virtually equidistant from all of them. In addition, it is convenient to travel from Cyprus for business meetings, specialised conferences and much more.

By the way, I would like to mention that the PIN-UP Global ecosystem has already begun to implement its plans to participate in local projects. Operating a business here, I realise how important it is to be part of the social community, so we have big plans for next year. For example, within the framework of PIN-UP.INVESTMENTS, which I told you about earlier, we will gladly support young startups who want to develop and strengthen the country's economy.

As a CEO, what it your personal and professional approach to running a business such as PIN-UP Global? For example, how do you inspire your employees to consistently do their best?

Not long ago, we updated our values through communication with the team. In this way we were able to make sure that all PIN-UP Global specialists have a similar mindset in terms of achieving goals and attitude to work. Therefore, everyone understands what is expected of them. As an employer, we help them to achieve these goals with pleasure, providing excellent conditions in the form of competitive pay, comfortable office, psychologist services, continuous training, growth opportunities and much more.

Speaking of my approach to managing a team, it's always dialogue, opportunity for growth and results. I believe that when setting tasks it is necessary to explain the causes and consequences - why we do it this way and not the other way. It is necessary to properly communicate to the team how the business works and how one change can affect other departments. I want to note that I always know what I want - so if I realise that the team is not achieving the goals by independent decisions - I will direct them in the right direction. The result is a common cause.