# 345. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of UA Financing

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/deconstructor-of-fun-223878/345-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-ua-financing
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/deconstructor-of-fun-223878/345-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-ua-financing.md
Podcast: [Deconstructor of Fun](https://stenobird.com/podcast/deconstructor-of-fun-223878)
Published: 2026-08-26T16:35:05+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/deconstructoroffun/episodes/345--The-Good--The-Bad-and-The-Ugly-of-UA-Financing-e3nu4nr
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/500026c/podcast/play/124768443/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-7-26%2F430590088-44100-2-5d2924ed10d76.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/deconstructor-of-fun-223878/episodes/345-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-ua-financing
Duration seconds: 4422

## Resource

Everyone's telling you cohort financing is free money to scale. It's not, and the contract fine print is where that story falls apart.Josh Chandley (President & COO, Wildcard Games) sits down with Phil Mohr (CEO & Co-founder, Metica) and Martin Macmillan (Founder, Pollen Capital) to break down what cohort financing actually costs, who really takes the risk, and how founders keep getting burned by deals they don't fully understand. Martin lent almost $1B through Pollen VC with zero credit defaults over a decade. Phil looked at 40-50 games before Metica stopped writing new cohort deals altogether. Between them, they unpack the math the sales guys don't want you to run.Topics Covered:• UA financing vs cohort financing• Why receivables lending scaled down• The 80/20 mechanics of a cohort deal• Who actually takes the risk on a cohort• Cross-collateralization and disguised liens• What makes a good candidate for financing• Breakeven windows and LTV curve shape• The real annualized cost of cohort financing• How financing cost raises your effective CPI• Why finance and UA teams don't align• Getting free debt from your ad networks• Red flags in cohort financing contracts• What happens when a cohort underperforms• Debt plus equity hybrid dealsCHAPTERS: 00:00 Cohort Financing Hype00:36 Meet the Experts02:20 UA Financing Explained03:45 Receivables vs Cohorts05:20 How Cohort Deals Work09:04 Hidden Risks and Recourse11:06 Contract Traps to Watch15:39 Who Qualifies for Funding17:49 Payback Windows Sweet Spot18:54 LTV Curve and Game Types22:45 True Cost and IRR Math29:19 Financing Cost in UA Bids32:15 Data Truth and Real-Time Stops36:09 Cohort Risk And Timing37:01 Free Credit From Ad Networks38:40 Why Credit Lines Aren’t Enough43:42 VC Versus Lender Mindset47:05 Questions For C…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/deconstructor-of-fun-223878/episodes/345-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-ua-financing/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/deconstructor-of-fun-223878/345-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-ua-financing.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.