Founder Story: Slava Mudrykh – GammaTime
Betting on Premium: How Slava Mudrykh Is Building GammaTime Between Tel Aviv and Hollywood
Slava Mudrykh spent years in gaming at Google before coming across a category that barely had a name yet. Vertical shorts combine the hook of social video, the storytelling of a TV series and the cliffhangers of a game into short, mobile-first episodes. The category exploded in 2024 and is now entering its next phase. Slava has picked his lane: premium content, in a sector crowded with copycats chasing quick wins.
Let’s start at the beginning. Where did the idea for GammaTime come from?
I was at Google before this, in gaming, and I loved it. I still do. But after looking at so many startups and so much innovation in that sector, it started to feel saturated to me, a little repetitive. So I kept exploring other corners of the mobile and apps ecosystem.
Around early 2025, I came across this category. It goes by a few names: short drama, micro drama, vertical shorts, which is the one I prefer. It was mind blowing, because I had never seen anything like it. I saw gaming in it. I saw social media in it. I saw Netflix in it. I fell in love with the category, and through what I can only call chance or fate, I connected with an amazing partner who is Bill Block. From there, things took off.
What’s the opportunity you saw then, and still see now?
It’s aligned with how people consume content today. People often assume this is a Gen Z thing, because the content is short, fragmented, and to the point. You watch one or two minutes instead of a 40-minute episode. But it isn’t just Gen Z. It’s everyone. My mom watches far more Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube than she watches TV. That’s how our brains work now.
The format also travels well on social media and funnels neatly into an app built entirely around it. When you open vertical shorts, you know what you’re getting. It’s different from TikTok, because these are scripted stories. It’s different from Netflix, because it’s much shorter. And you get some of the gaming experience without the gaming: hooks, cliffhangers, resolutions that arrive fast.
When did Pitango come into the picture, and why did Gad feel like the right partner?
Like everything, it started with something personal and grew from there. Friends at Google and across the ecosystem kept telling me I had to meet Gad. From his side, he told me people were talking about me. So there was mutual respect before we ever discussed a deal.
That felt like a far more natural way to begin than walking in and asking for 30 minutes to pitch an idea. Better to have the first conversation over coffee, and then have another one, and another one. Gad and I had seven or eight of them. Each one was scheduled for 30 minutes and ran 90. That builds something. At a certain point he understood the business as well as I did, and it was clear he had to be part of it.
I already knew Pitango, of course. The brand in Israel is strong and you can’t miss it if you work in tech, but the start had to be personal. Once I knew the people, and knew the partner working with me was the right one, everything fell into place. The connection clicked because Gad understood both the market and what set us apart: we were building the premium version of the category, not simply copying what was already working. That approach was a natural fit for Pitango.
A lot of founders are trying to raise from international VCs rather than Israeli ones. What’s your take?
Everyone tries to reach out to international VCs for credibility, and an American VC does give you something: you’re not only a local company. But Israeli VCs give you knowledge, attention to detail, and real involvement in the business you’re building.
I’m careful not to preach here, because our way isn’t the only way. What we did is the combination. We’re a US company with an Israeli subsidiary, and in the seed round half the money came from the US and half from Israeli VCs. That gives you the best of both worlds, and we see it in practice. The Israeli VCs are much more involved in the details. The US VCs are more strategically focused, oriented around partnerships and the global picture. Operational help on one side, strategic reach on the other.
On a personal level, the Israeli side gives me someone to talk to, not only to report to. GammaTime is a B2C business. One day you’re up, one day you’re down. It’s a roller coaster. I feel comfortable reaching out on down days when I need some support. On the up days it’s amazing. “Let’s share it”, “let’s have a beer”. When everyone’s in Tel Aviv, that matters.
Beyond the investment, what has Pitango’s role looked like in practice?
The best example is our biweekly updates. I get two things out of them. Preparing them forces me to articulate what’s actually happening in the business. And then I hear the feedback, which keeps me sharp. It’s always a deep conversation, and it shows me that Gad and the team know the details.
We’re not going board to board, quarter to quarter. It’s every other week, and honestly more than that, because there are phone calls in between: ‘Are you sure this is the way? I trust you if it is, but let’s think it through.’ That continuous feedback loop, including both criticism and encouragement, makes them feel more like part of the company than an investment group. Reporting itself is an accounting exercise. Everything around it is where the value is.
Is there a specific moment where that support made a real difference?
The Series A.
As every company learns, you raise the seed and then the Series A becomes the hard part. A lot of companies get stuck right there. That stage is far more intense, and it involved a lot of phone calls, Zoom meetings, and coffees. During the seed round, I was pitching Pitango and trying to bring them on as investors. By the time we reached the Series A, they were already our partners, and we approached the round together.
A lot of the structural questions were outside my experience. How to structure the round, what to look for in the contract, what to watch out for. None of it is trivial, and I used every bit of the help available. Founders want to move quickly, but experience helps ensure that critical decisions are fully thought through.
What have you learned building at the intersection of Hollywood and technology?
It’s a hard intersection. Running a startup in Tel Aviv and running one in Hollywood are two different worlds, and the gap doubles when one side comes from gaming, performance marketing and the other comes from real Hollywood.
But I learn things there I would never learn in tech. The approach is very different and very smart. Go big or go home. Everything is ambitious and aspirational. Coming from tech, you tend to be more cautious, more confined to what you already know. In the US, and especially in Hollywood, you see a different scale of success, and you take from it and become braver. Every dream grows. That’s good for a startup, because you need to dream big.
The talent is different too. It’s enormously creative. So you end up with a combination of “tech creative” people and “creative creative” people. We have a million decisions to make, and each one can go either way. Sometimes it’s the Hollywood answer, sometimes the tech one. In most cases, it’s a blend.
You’re building with Bill Block and other well-known names around you. How does an Israeli founder who came from Google approach Hollywood?
A lot of it comes down to connections and timing. Our connection was made by a close friend of mine. It’s not a story about showing up in Los Angeles with five dollars and a dream.
What I’d point to instead is building a name in your own domain, so that your reputation travels. Call it a personal brand. Then the opportunities come, sometimes from inside your industry, sometimes from outside it, sometimes from another country entirely. Eventually someone hears about who you are, and the connection happens.I wanted to build something, someone on the other side of the world wanted to build something, and we complemented each other in an obvious way. The fact that he’s someone I admire is a significant bonus.
What would you tell founders trying to enter a category that’s still taking shape?
Experience it first. It isn’t about noticing that something works and deciding to do it too. It’s about understanding why it works and how it works, by being a customer for an extended period and learning the ropes. Only then do you have a real chance of succeeding.
Then ask whether you have the tools to win there. I understood the business, but I knew I didn’t have everything it would take on my own. I could do part of it, not all of it. Which makes finding the right partner step two.
Any lessons for founders building across very different industries or cultures?
Be brave. There are plenty of challenges and fears, and the job is to move through them. During the fundraising, the operation, the next fundraising, the bigger operation, the downside when it’s really down, and the upside. Just go, and be brave.
Was there a moment where an idea had to be shut down?
We learn constantly about what works and what doesn’t, and in content that happens day to day. Ideas get cut all the time, and not because they were bad ones. You think you have something great, then something similar comes out and doesn’t land, so you adjust until you find your way. It never really stops.
Our boldest idea is still in development, so whether it survives is an open question. And that’s how we should end, on a cliffhanger. If it comes to fruition, you’ll hear about it.
