While Shoham Lachkar has spent the last 15 years leading ASO, SEO, and performance marketing initiatives for some of the world’s top competitive brands, she didn’t enter her position as a Mobile Growth Expert at the height of the industry’s success. Instead, Lachkar ventured into the field when app marketing barely existed, and when the psychology behind what made people click, install, and stay was nonexistent.
This psychology, which combines data, creativity, and behavior, quickly caught Lachkar’s attention, and over time, she has built and led growth functions for startups, major publishers, and agencies.
Challenges in Becoming a Leader in Mobile Growth
Lachkar has held key leadership positions throughout her career, including as the Director of App Store Optimization at Zynga, where she led ASO strategy across a global portfolio with 100+ million users. However, she hasn’t always been in this position, nor has she always had the platform to step into it.
“One of my earliest challenges was entering a highly competitive global industry without the traditional Silicon Valley background or network,” the expert shares. “I overcame this by becoming an early specialist in ASO at a time when very few believed in it or even understood it.”
This challenge would involve leading growth in organizations undergoing acquisitions, restructurings, and rapid change, which Lachkar overcame through a data-first, cross-functional approach. During that time, she built relationships across product, creative, and analytics. Her persistence and results enabled her to transform ASO from a “nice-to-have” to a core marketing channel for the companies she has worked with.
Turning Skepticism Into Proof
While she was rising in the world of ASO, Lachkar began promoting the concept within large organizations, during which time many executives saw organic growth as “optional.”
“I spent months running controlled experiments, gathering data, and presenting measurable wins to entire product and marketing departments,” Lachkar says.
Her work would inspire a skeptical executive to invest in ASO, thereby solidifying her role as someone who not only executes growth strategies but also educates and influences organizations.
Empowering Women in the Field
Lachkar navigated her high-pressure career while raising four children, which taught her not just resilience and discipline, but also the ability to stay focused under pressure.
“Managing both worlds pushed me to build efficient systems, lead with empathy, and prioritize what truly matters,” Lachkar adds. “These qualities have become core strengths in guiding teams, scaling global products, and driving long-term organic growth.”
These experiences have allowed her to see the connections, triumphs, and struggles that women face in the field, enabling Lachkar to help create opportunities for women to grow, be recognized, and find their voices in environments where they are still underrepresented.
Long-Term Visions for ASO
Shoham Lachkar’s long-term vision is to make ASO as accessible, affordable, and understandable for everyone, not just for large publishers with extensive budgets. Her dream, however, is to remove the barriers that hold smaller teams back, all while redefining what’s possible for the next generation of mobile creators.
“I aspire to be a leading voice shaping the future of ASO, fostering innovation, supporting emerging talent, and building a global ecosystem where high-quality products can thrive based on merit, not marketing spend,” Lachkar concludes.