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Interview with Artem Kirillov – CEO at BROFIST
AffPapa recently interviewed Artem Kirillov, CEO at BROFIST, about career path to iGaming, diverse portfolio of casino brands, biggest milestones, and upcoming major shifts in the industry.
Yeva: Artem, your career path has been dynamic and varied, leading up to your role as CEO at BROFIST. Can you describe the key moments and decisions that shaped your professional journey and what ultimately inspired you to enter the world of iGaming and affiliate marketing?
First 7 years of career worked in non-product companies, mostly large enterprises in retail, production, and state companies. Started as a backend developer and system administrator, moved to CIO.
A pivotal moment for my career took place in 2012. I was a bit tired of a corporate job, and in search of something new – and one of my friends invited me to join a company that did crypto, and I started my journey in product companies. I wore a lot of hats as CPO/CTO/COO/CEO in multiple VC-backed startups, mostly in the fintech and crypto fields.
BROFIST – it was an exciting experiment, and a big challenge – a completely new industry I had zero knowledge of. Guys were specifically looking for a management professional with a clear-sighted vision. We share the same values, so I decided to give this industry a try. Going a bit upfront – It is completely different compared to my initial expectations.
Yeva: Before founding or joining BROFIST, what was one professional challenge or failure that taught you the most, and how has that lesson influenced the way you lead today?
During my tenure at Guarda crypto wallet as COO, I struggled with payments, accounting and reporting, as we were using 50+ payout wallets in 5 chains, and bank accounts in usd/eur/gbp/rub – so I founded Smplr, crypto payments, accounting and tax platform for crypto SMBs. Got VC pre-seed funding, hired a small team of top crypto talents to build a product.. and failed. Even having all my experience, I made a very common mistake – fell in love with the product, not the solution or client.
So my main take from this – focus on the main thing. One north star to guide us.
And second – do one thing at a time! If you’re trying to do everything at once – you’ll get lots of new processes or product tweaks fast, but no instruments to track outcome. that will lead to mediocre or zero results everywhere, because you have no idea what is working and what is not.
Yeva: As the CEO of BROFIST, you oversee a diverse portfolio of casino brands, including Dazard, Billy Billion, and Dazardbet. What distinguishes each of these brands in terms of player experience and market positioning? Additionally, which markets are currently performing strongest, and what key factors are contributing to that success?
Еvery brand tells a different story.
Dazard = adventure, gamification, daily action.
Billy Billion = VIP flair, sleek experience, faster cashouts.
Dazardbet = the ultimate casino + sportsbook combo.
Our brands stand out through distinct visual identities and tailored communication strategies. Each brand is customized for specific GEOs — we have a deep understanding of our audiences, including their age, gender, preferred visuals, tone of voice, and even the days and times they’re most active. We continuously adapt our marketing activities based on these insights to maximize engagement. We regularly conduct in-depth research into player preferences — from game types and providers to tournaments — ensuring that the latest trending games are always available to our audience.
Currently, our strongest markets are Switzerland (CH), Germany (DE), Austria (AT), Australia (AU), the Czech Republic (CZ), and Poland (PL). We’re also expanding actively into Italy (IT), Hungary (HU), Spain (ES), France (FR), and Greece (GR), where we see promising early results.
Yeva: BROFIST has a distinct identity in the highly competitive affiliate landscape. What was the company’s original vision, and how has that vision transformed as the business has grown?
The original vision was flesh and bone from the industry specific – we’re chill guys who deliver results. Nice traffic, Bro, high five! We intuitively thought something was the right thing to do, and we just did it.
Now we’re “grown” chill guys – with expertise, mature processes, and seasoned core team. We’re still having fun doing what we love, but effectiveness is a cornerstone of the company, so with the growth of the company we now have the opportunity to test lots of new things and we’re trying to test as many hypotheses as we can – in traffic and data analysis, product, retention, media buying etc. And all successful approaches end up in updated operational processes.
Yeva: Can you share some of the biggest milestones for BROFIST so far, whether it’s a successful campaign, a team achievement, or a turning point in growth?
Our pride is the team we’ve managed to put together. We were able to attract top talent in our affiliate, product, and marketing departments with fantastic market experience. Last year, we started an analytics, CRM, and media buying department, so now we’re able to cover user acquisition and retention at every step of the funnel.
Financial results in 2023/2024 doubled, so we’re on the right track here as well.
Yeva: From your point as CEO, having a hand in both the big-picture strategy and day-to-day operations, what would you say has been the most underrated or underappreciated campaign BROFIST has run?
Hard to say, I cannot highlight a specific campaign. I’d say we’re experiencing issues finding new partners for CH traffic in general, even though we were in the TOP3 in CH among all SS brands, and our brands are well-known there. This geo is really tricky and expensive to work with, but the Sharpe ratio is high and the risk is totally worth it – so we’d love to see an increase in interest among affiliates for it.
Yeva: Affiliate marketing in iGaming is increasingly shaped by data, personalization, and compliance. What major trends or shifts do you believe will define the next 2–3 years of the industry, and how is BROFIST preparing to navigate, or even lead, those changes?
AI. It won’t be a set of small steps with cosmetic tweaks, but a huge leap that will change the way we do business, and it’s already happening NOW. Though we have a full ETL process built at BROFIST, we’re still lacking some data infrastructure, our data density is not there yet, and we have lots of “blind spots”. But even now, we are already working on AI implementation in our day-to-day ops like content creation and traffic performance analysis. In 1-2 years, it’s going to be a must across all verticals, especially on a business-critical revenue generation path – hyper personalized user acquisition, game suggestions, and retention mechanics.
As for other market trends, I think we have to prepare for tougher competition – the amount of new brands is insane, AI moderation in google/fb will make harder campaigns launch, inflation might slow market growth. All that will result in traffic price, lower margins, and higher requirements for operators.
Last but not least – crypto. Crypto infrastructure (both legal and tech) is getting better, but it is not there yet for mass adoption. With wider crypto adoption % of crypto players will skyrocket.
Yeva: Lastly, Artem, outside of your professional responsibilities, is there a particular habit, activity, or interest that helps you recharge or approach challenges with a fresh perspective?
I’m not gonna be original – quality time with family.
As for hobbies, I enjoy cooking, powerlifting, and traveling – 32 countries and counting.
Company: BROFIST
Interviewee: Artem Kirillov
Date: 08.05.2025
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