AdTechGod Pod – Episode 109: Building Advertible: Priti Ohri on Reinventing Native Ads and Leading with Purpose

Guest: Priti Ohri, Co-Founder & CEO of Advertible
Host: AdTechGod
Date: November 25, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, AdTechGod sits down with Priti Ohri, co-founder and CEO of Advertible, to discuss her career journey, the vision behind Advertible, and her approach to leadership and community. The conversation dives deep into the complexities of native ad formats, the founding challenges of startup life, building support systems, and the future of programmatic advertising amid emerging technologies like AI and agentic systems. Priti also shares her motivation for building communities, emphasizing representation and support for minorities and women in ad tech.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Priti Ohri’s Career Journey: Curiosity and Data-Driven Decisions

• Early Days in Media

  • Priti started at Viacom/MTV Networks, working in accounting and later transitioning to ad sales after noticing the team’s influence and rewards ([01:49]).
  • "I handed out wads of money to producers... then realized that the ad sales teams were the ones that were getting the most money. And so I followed the dollar signs." – Priti ([01:49])

• The Move to Luxury and Realization of Data Gaps

  • Shifted to Coach and LVMH, focusing on consumer motivations and luxury branding.
  • Felt limited by a lack of data in guiding major investment decisions: "Did not have enough data to make the decisions that I was making... decided I need to go where there's data." ([03:14])

• Embracing AdTech & Programmatic

  • Entered ad tech, focusing on data-rich environments and the transformative power of programmatic advertising.
  • Key turning point at Data Zoo, moving further into data and retail media, culminating with Ericsson’s platform integrating buy/sell sides.

2. The Birth of Advertible: Reinventing Native

• From Layoff to Launch

  • "As any good startup we launched once we got laid off." ([04:42])
  • Saw an unmet need: a native ad solution easy for large players to adopt, benefiting consumers, advertisers, and publishers.

• Advertible’s Native Solution

  • Advertible delivers a plugin that allows SSPs to enable native rendering instantly for any environment.
  • "Every ad looks and feels like it belongs in the environment, on the surface and in the device that it's showing up on." – Priti ([05:20])

3. Why Native Ads Were Overlooked

• Complexity and Resource Requirements

  • Native is fundamentally different from banner or video; requires multi-team alignment (design, engineering, mobile), making deployment difficult for SSPs ([06:26]).
  • "If any one team makes a change, it could make the whole thing fail... very few players invested in actually building out that technology." – Priti ([06:29])

• Market Landscape

  • Market cornered by a few specialized players (TripleLift, Nativo, Sharethrough), leaving a "white space" due to lack of broader SSP investment, especially post-CTV boom.

• Advertible’s Unique Proposition

  • Developed a "sizeless renderer" and high flexibility — any asset composition, any container, any publisher look-and-feel ([07:28]).
  • Simplifies the complexity, creating extensibility and ease of adoption for overlooked SSPs.

4. Startup Challenges: Milestones, Uncertainty, and Survival

• Product-market Fit and Survival

  • Founders must be comfortable with uncertainty; early focus was on milestone-setting and honest co-founder conversations ([10:40]).
  • "Being a founder is a lonely place because most people don't understand your day to day." – Priti ([10:46])
  • Leaned into pitching and immediate industry feedback to iterate product-market fit.

• Getting to the First Contract

  • Relied on strong industry relationships, reputation, and years of trust ([13:28]).
  • Initial product approach had to be revised significantly based on honest partner feedback.

  "People will talk to you if they know you and trust you, even if they don't fully understand yet what you're doing." – Priti ([14:14])

• Supportive Adtech Community

  • Industry is "built on rooting for the underdog… a community of innovators at the heart of who we are." ([15:29])

5. Team-Building: Advisors as the First “Hires”

• Instead of traditional hires, Advertible prioritized handpicked advisors with:
  • Belief in the vision
  • Deep expertise (especially in native/SSP space)
  • Significant industry influence for introductions and credibility ([16:14])

6. Founder Resilience and Community

• Co-founder Dynamics

  • Close partnership and complementary strengths with CTO Alex create resilience during tough periods ([17:53]).
  • "My co-founder and I have a very, very tight relationship...our values are very tightly aligned." – Priti ([17:53])

• External Networks as Lifelines

  • Community groups—female executives, South Asian adtech, other founders—provide needed perspective and support ([18:52]).
  • Building these networks has been both personally and professionally sustaining.

7. Representation and the South Asian AdTech Community

• Visibility and Empowerment
  • Built the South Asian community in adtech to foster visibility, belonging, and mutual encouragement ([20:34]).
  • "When we can see each other, we can all perform better, even if we're not performing together in the same place." – Priti ([20:34])
  • A sense of responsibility: "Perhaps them seeing me, a woman of color in the position I'm in gives them the freedom and almost the permission to go about doing it in their way as well." ([21:07])

8. The Future: Programmatic, AI, and Agentic Systems

• Industry at an Inflection Point

  • Anticipates "massive change" as agentic systems, AI, and new programmatic standards (ADCP) prompt a rethink of the ecosystem ([22:03]).
  • Advertible already preparing for agentic AI-driven environments.
  • "If we can take the automation we've built through programmatic... and give it intelligence with Agentic, I think that would be a really exciting place to go." – Priti ([23:16])

• Uncertainty and Opportunity in Standardization

  • Both host and guest are cautiously optimistic about recent consortium efforts (e.g., ADCP).
  • "There seems to be some very influential companies and people leaning into building this out...crossing my fingers that it just creates growth for our industry overall." – AdTechGod ([24:08])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Startup Uncertainty:
  "If you are not comfortable with uncertainty, you shouldn't be a founder." – Priti Ohri ([10:56])

• On the Unique Challenge of Native Ads:
  "There’s a lot of expertise and that goes into developing and deploying native properly...it could make the whole thing fail." – Priti ([06:31])

• On Building Support Systems:
  "You have the opportunity to create the community you actually want." – Priti ([18:34])

• On Representation:
  "Knowing that I'm giving somebody else that ability to stand up and be strong in, in what they believe... that is something that I didn’t realize I was going to get from building this community." – Priti ([21:13])

• On the Underdog Spirit of Adtech:
  "We are the weirdos looking for solutions in places that no one else thought about." – Priti ([15:29])

Important Timestamps & Segments

• [01:49] – Priti’s media & ad sales origins, first lessons
• [03:14] – Transition to luxury, data limitations, pivot to ad tech
• [04:42] – Laid off at Ericsson, inspiration for Advertible
• [05:20] – What Advertible solves: native rendering plugin
• [06:26] – What makes native unique and why it’s difficult
• [10:40] – Founder challenges: uncertainty, milestones
• [13:28] – Early traction: leveraging relationships, reputation
• [16:14] – Advisors as ‘first hires’ and key criteria
• [17:53] – Co-founder dynamics and building community support
• [20:34] – South Asian community: visibility, empowerment, legacy
• [22:03] – AI/agentic future of ad tech; Advertible's readiness
• [23:25] – Standardization, optimism for industry growth

Tone & Language

The conversation is open, candid, and laced with start-up optimism and realism. Both host and guest share war stories, practical advice, and moments of industry camaraderie — with Priti bringing a sense of mission, depth, and advocacy to her leadership style.

For listeners new to Advertible, native ad tech, or the challenges of start-up life, this episode provides a candid exploration of strategic pivots, tech innovation, community building, and the ongoing fight to create more inclusive and responsive ad ecosystems.