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AdTechGod Pod
Ep. 71 Connecting the Dots: Heather Macaulay on AdTech, MadTech & Making It Work
00:22:45
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- [00:01]
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- [00:30]
AdTech God
Welcome to the AdTech Godpod, your window into the world of advertising technology and the people behind it. I'm your host, AdTech God welcome to the AdTech God Pod, your go to for conversations with leaders in the adtech consulting industry. Today I'm thrilled to welcome Heather McCauley, president of MadTech to the pod. With experience at companies like PCH, PubMatic and Velty, Heather brings a wealth of industry knowledge. I've had the pleasure of working with her on three different events and she's been incredible every time. I'm excited to dive into her journey and hear her insights on where the industry is heading. Heather, welcome to the EdTech Godpod.
- [01:12]
Heather McCauley
Thank you so much for having me atg. I'm excited to be a guest and not just planning an event with you.
- [01:17]
AdTech God
I know, sorry I'm so annoying for those events. I know like I message at all times of the day and night so I apologize that I do that but I get a little intense when we're planning this stuff.
- [01:27]
Heather McCauley
Whenever God wants to talk, I'm here. You know, let's.
- [01:30]
AdTech God
Amazing. Yeah, it's been fun and like the, the Madison event's great in the Miami event coming up. I'm really excited about that one.
- [01:37]
Heather McCauley
I am too for sure.
- [01:38]
AdTech God
Heather. I start the pod the same way every time. I want to get a better understanding of of you know, where you come from and how you got into the industry and how you reached where you're at today with with MadTech.
- [01:48]
Heather McCauley
So I started in this industry shortly after college at a mobile marketing and advertising startup that was acquired by Nokia, if you remember that name. I focused on project management account management adopts helping deliver mobile marketing solutions to big brands. Now this is pre iPhone until really getting the sales bug. I moved to New York and joined a mobile ad network Jumptap in a pretty dire economic climate in New York. It was 2008 which was hard but really leaned on the educational aspect of selling. If you're going to have a meeting with someone you want to leave something behind of value. And if I could help any prospect better understand an emerging form of media, that's my leave behind and they'll see the value of that and hopefully reward me eventually. During this time I also became an adjunct instructor at New York nyu, teaching a very antiquated title, Mobile Marketing Reaching the third Screen, but really helped fulfill my love of teaching. So I continued on selling mobile media solutions to agencies and brands until Programmatic started to make its way into so many of the conversations. I knew that I needed to make a move into an organization where I could really immerse myself in learning as much as possible about Programmatic. I knew the mobile side well and at the time, Bob Walzack had just joined Pubmatic as the GM of mobile and brought me into lead sales and go to market as part of that department. PubMatic knew it needed to build a business inside of business globally. I made the case that we needed to build our own team in order to act as subject matter experts to the current teams in place as well as really nurture and grow our accounts that were quote unquote mobile only. And when Bob became Chief Product officer, I led the emerging media department overseeing mobile, video ad serving and whatever came next. Bob and I had a lot of success there together. I received definitely a world class education within the Programmatic category at the time, but more importantly was able to learn from some incredible leaders like Kirk MacDonald on how to build the right team, how to make the right hires, how to build a team from the ground up globally that would yes, hit and exceed numbers, but also create a really special culture within the organization. And after some years at Pubmatic, I made a change to the publisher side to run revenue for Publishers Clearinghouse. I was very much attracted to their deterministic first party accurate data set that they had access through to this incredible value exchange they built around chance to win. PCH has always been an underdog as I see it, not well understood, especially when a lot of us joined. But we were really able to build out the PCH media department from a small part of the organization which was almost an afterthought to be a very focal point of the business. And all of this leads me to MadTech. I kept in touch with Bob over the years. We knew we worked really well together in the sense that he had an incredible product background, I was more sales and go to market focused. We had different skill sets but we shared the same passion for the ad tech industry. MadTech was a small startup at this point made up of Bob and a couple of others and some engineering resources. In fact, MadTech was brought into PCH while I was there to be an extension of our product development teams. I had recommended Bob into other organizations as well. And then he approached me and he kept calling and calling and said, I want you to build MadTech with me and make this a real organization. And so I joined and here I am.
- [05:15]
AdTech God
That's amazing that you guys had worked together previously and then he worked with your employer at PCH and now you're part of the company. What do you think attracted you to working with Bob again? Because that's a, that's a huge motivation for people, right, to work with people that they've liked before. But what is it about Bob's working style and his management style and his vision that makes you want to be part of this and build this with him?
- [05:42]
Heather McCauley
What's the difference between a leader and a manager? And Bob is an incredible leader. You just naturally want to work really hard for him. And I see that not just with myself, but everyone we brought into MadTech as well. He has a lot of integrity, he's very fair. But he expects you to work hard and he shares the same vision as I do, especially for the MadTech organization and the MadConnect platform we're building. So when he called me, know, and the fact that I did want to, at that point in my career, want to not just build business inside of business, but actually build an organization, there was no one in my mind that I'd want to do that outside of Bob. So we're a good team.
- [06:19]
AdTech God
I've worked with a few people from, from Mattech, so I've, I've obviously interacted with Bob for preparing for these events. I've, I've worked with Nicole, I've, I've worked with Megan. How do you feel the culture has really driven MadTech to the next level. Being able to hire people with such good work ethic and they're so driven and there seems to be like a really strong friendship and relationship happening within the company. Why do you think that that's so important with delivering your end result to your clients that you work with?
- [06:47]
Heather McCauley
Well, I love that and thank you for identifying that about our culture because I believe that is very much true. And for those of you who don't know, which I think will help answer your question, but you know, MadTech is a product and data focused consultancy specializing within the ad tech and martech category. So we work with all different parts of the ecosystem, brands, publishers, platforms and agenc as an extension of their team. On the product development side, the difference between Madtech and other consultancies is that we're bringing together strategy with the hands on development. So bringing together really smart product managers, really smart data scientists, engineers. Laura McElhenney, our chief data officer, joined us from Horizon and 25 years of agency experience. We are solving really hard problems in the ad tech and martech category. And that's exemplified a lot of the work we do within data strategy and data readiness, data infrastructure, all of that. And you know, we brought together a lot of smart people who are collaborative, who don't have egos, which I think is an important part of that culture.
- [07:50]
AdTech God
So sitting where you sit because you, you deal with a, with a multitude of clients and, and partners that you consult for and you advise on, where do you think the industry is heading? We talk about inventory quality, we talk about measurement, we talk about mmm, we talk about cookie loss, signal loss, AI. But where are you seeing the trend from where you sit in the space?
- [08:13]
Heather McCauley
So I agree with everything that you're saying. I would say that at MadTech when I started we were ad tech specialists, but that's started to become even more Martech. And I see the two worlds converging more than ever before for a variety of reasons, right? For the, for the need and the desire for more first party data, for the clouds that are able to unify data and just for ultimately the consumer experience and needing not caring if you're using an ad tech platform or martech platform to reach them. What I'm seeing though, and agree with everything around brand safety and suitability and transparency and quality is this notion of intentional investment. So brands and publishers and their organizations I believe are moving from this buying for the sake of buying to really investing testing with intent. I believe we've been in this checkbox error for so long that, you know, organizations like brands and publishers, they've been licensing technology just for the sake of licensing technology. Sometimes like checking a box and spending millions of dollars a year, but only utilizing maybe 20% of these platforms for a variety of reasons. And what we're seeing now is maybe a correction of that, right? So it's not just, hey, I need a CDP to check the box, I need a clean room to check the box. I'm seeing clients say now okay, what are the problems we need to solve? For what is the overarching strategy? And then what are the tools I need to license to bring that to life? So moving beyond that checkbox era and saying, okay, let's Think about the capabilities we need and then back into those end products. So I think we're going to start seeing this overhaul of Martech stacks with ad tech being a part of it, that a lot of new CMOs are going to come in who are much more tech focused and saying, why are we spending all this money on all of these different platforms? Let's take a breather, let's slow down, let's figure out the problems we want to solve for and then work backwards from there.
- [10:04]
AdTech God
So it's funny you say that I spoke to Sam Bloom at PMG who's, you know, works at an agency, right. And that their goal is to, to service these clients. And he said very similar. He said, even though I don't necessarily work at an ad tech company, my goal is to analyze what we need, analyze what our clients need and help select the right partners to work with. And the importance of doing that comes with what is really our priority for this client, what do we really need and why do we need it. And so it's nice to hear that you're doing this as well with your clients, which I've seen this, I've seen like we need this solution because everybody is using this solution or we need to pay for this service because everybody is using this service, but they don't necessarily understand or evaluate the return of investment on that service. Like, is it worth us spending this money and signing this contract or is it just checking a box so that our clients are happy? And the truth is that we should be trying to deliver what the clients want and that's how you pick your vendors.
- [11:05]
Heather McCauley
That's right. I could not agree more.
- [11:08]
AdTech God
When we talk about the shift of the industry and we talk about growth, it's always changing. And people's opinions are very strong. In ad tech, we find perspectives vary depending on where you sit in the ecosystem, whether you're supply or demand, whether your technology platform or your brand. But what, what do you think most people in the industry would disagree on? And why is your perspective of that different?
- [11:36]
Heather McCauley
I would say I think a lot of people are disagreeing around maybe perhaps the, the amount of first party data they need, data strategy. I mean, everything that touches data, you know, how many platforms that you do need to license. I mean, I think the problem is, is that everything is. Well, it's a good and bad.
- [11:54]
AdTech God
Right.
- [11:55]
Heather McCauley
Everything is changing so fast and I think there's a lot of disagreements around AI and are we excited about it? Are we scared? Should we be more prepared than we are? Yes. What I'm seeing too is efficiency, a lot of efficiency coming into play. And that could be a good thing. And you could take that as a positive or you could take it as maybe not so much of a positive. So we're seeing our customers intentionally become more efficient as well. And whether you want to say that's a good or bad, I don't know.
- [12:22]
AdTech God
But would you say we're in the efficiency era?
- [12:25]
Heather McCauley
I do. And I think I see that yes. You can talk about AI being efficient. We created a platform, this is really the heart of MadTech, to make companies more efficient because we heard a pattern in the market around a question I always ask ATG is what can I take off your product roadmap to make you a more efficient. And when I started at MadTech, I had, you know, I think the best part of being a consultancy is you can ask these types of questions and you kind of act as a therapist. And when you start to hear a pattern in the market, and especially with connectivity between platforms, that chief product officers would say to me, oh, you know, the one thing I wish someone would solve for is all these integrations. I have to call these engineers off the soccer field at night because, you know, a connector from this CDP to this DSP broke and we have to update the API. There must be a more efficient way to deal with this. And we created a product to answer that very challenge, which is MadConnect, which is a connectivity platform that solves for platform to platform integrations at scale. And I bring that up because that was a cry for efficiency. Like teams do not want to spend time on this. They want to focus on innovation and other revenue generating activities.
- [13:35]
AdTech God
So you, you mentioned a few things. The, the connectivity piece, the efficiency piece, I think is, is really important. And having seen bandwidth restraints because of just the, the sheer roadmap that people have, sometimes it's difficult to even roll out products because they're, they're spending so much time with these connectivity solutions and issues that they have to, to solve. Do you think that the space will continue to see more types of, I guess, connectivity solutions in the market? How has that played a role in streamlining your process and your speed to market for that product?
- [14:14]
Heather McCauley
I mean, I definitely and I think the best way to kind of think about AI is again back to what problems we need to solve for and can AI help us get there faster? And the answer is yes, especially with, with MadConnect. So I do think we'll continue to see more solutions that focus on efficiency. I think we are actually redefining the connectivity category that totally needed a makeover because there's a lot of legacy connectivity platforms and or platforms that are supplying connectivity, but only for within their own ecosystem, versus a solution that's neutral, that's not trying to be everything to everybody. It's the pipes that transfer and normalize data at scale and really comprehensive connectors. So I think that we do it this the right way. I'm sure there'll be some fast followers behind us because it's a major problem that every single platform needs to solve for no platform can stand alone or should they? They have to be connected to other platforms. That's what makes ad tech and Martech work.
- [15:14]
AdTech God
So I'm going to pivot a little bit now into something a little bit more personal. The industry is, is known for a lot of our relationships and our friendships. And because it's a big industry, yet it's such a small industry, you find that, you know, your former colleagues, your former bosses, your former direct reports move around and it's built this very healthy network of people you work with. But what is it from your perspective that keeps you in the space, having moved from, you know, a technology platform to a publisher and now to a consulting industry? But what keeps you in ad tech now?
- [15:51]
Heather McCauley
I love that question because the people of ad tech are what makes this industry what it is. I'm a walking case study. I married someone in the industry. My brother's an ad tech, my dad sings at our ad tech parties. So, you know, we're a family of ad tech. But this industry is made up of such smart, hardworking problem solvers. And of course there's always going to be some bad actors. But I believe your network will define your success. I always say to anybody who's a newcomer in the industry to kind of over invest in your career if you're at a point in time when you can, if you have that luxury of having limited obligations outside of work, like I recommend moving to a city or closer to a city where you can engage with more people in person, whether in the office or a different industry event or just casual coffee catch ups. Because when I started my office, coworkers were my family. It was, let's go into the office, it's a Tuesday, what are we doing for dinner? And you miss those days. As you, as you get more, you know, you get older, you have more obligations, maybe you move away from the city. And so you've seen this too, atg. So many people leaving ad tech and then coming Back. I always ask the question, what brought you back? And the answer is always, it's not like, hey, I missed identity Resolution, right? It's about, that's never the reason, never the reason. It's, God, I, I didn't realize, you know, all those relationships I invested in, all those people I met, I missed them, I missed this. And I think that rings true time.
- [17:17]
AdTech God
And time again because the, the industry moves so fast and because it's so intense at times. I think that's why people leave because they're just like, okay, I'm done, I'm out. And we talk about boomeranging back to your employer, but I think there's a lot of boomerang back into the industry which happens. I've seen people step away for a couple of years and come back and they're like, hey, I'm back. And everyone's like, hey, we missed you. But there's, there's also this level of intensity. Sometimes long hours, sometimes really hard solutions or really hard questions that we have that we have to solve for. And the challenges that we have in our space are very complicated at times. I think we speak about it in a very high level. You know, measurement is, is a problem or cookie loss and signal loss is a problem, but we don't really dig in that deep. And so it gets really intense sometimes. And I think that's why others burn out and sometimes people burn out and they come back in. But generally it's been an industry that I've, I've really liked for, for many, many years. But speaking of that, because it does get so intense, how do you keep that balance? Like you have a family, Happiness is really important and finding that balance is really important. What do you do to keep yourself level headed and happy and balanced in your career and your, your personal life too?
- [18:29]
Heather McCauley
Yes, it's a question we all struggle with, especially being working dad, working mom, all of that. A wise woman once told me, her name was Dina Howell, that you can't optimize all parts of your life at the same time. And I always keep that in mind. And I think of almost my life as like this circle or pie chart where the circle can never expand, it always has to stay the same size. There's only 24 hours in a day, but almost like the different pieces inside that, like the pie chart change shape every few years. So they're, you know, like right now atg what's really important to me is my children, my husband and my career. And that might mean not having so much time to socialize with my high school and college friends. And they know I'll be back someday, but I've accepted that. And I have to learn that I can't maybe do go to brunch every Sunday because that's my family time. Because during the week I don't see my family that much. And just accepting that, I think over time has made me understand I cannot optimize all this at once. I need to choose what's most important to me at this point in my life, knowing it's going to be different than five years ago. And in five years that might change again. And that's okay.
- [19:36]
AdTech God
It's funny you mentioned that. I have a friend of mine I've known since we were 12 or 13 years old and one of my closest friends, but I rarely ever see him because the priorities have shifted. He's single, so he's ready to go out and hang out every night and he's available. I'm not. I have a family, I have a company I'm building and I'm busy just with, with my children and their activity and with my wife. And so finding that balance is difficult. So you almost have to, like you said, you almost have to look at your pie and say, who am I going to allocate this time to? And it really is, you know, family, work and career. And then when I have free time, it's really the friends. And what ends up happening is this blending of your personal relationships and your professional relationships gets stronger over time. So I'm getting stronger and closer to people who work in this space and not so strong with people who don't work in this space because it's just. Is what it is. I want to talk to someone who works at a publisher and ad tech company because that's my day to day life. But I still have this network outside that I occasionally hang out with. But I'm surrounded by EdTech at this point. Like, it's pretty wild.
- [20:42]
Heather McCauley
No, I, I understand as I am as well. And I always joke that I, you know, I live in Boston, but I never see my friends in Boston, but I see my industry friends in New York all the time.
- [20:52]
AdTech God
So I see more friends when I travel than I do at home. That's. That's how I look at it. Even the ones here are like, are you looking forward to traveling? I'm like, yes, I'm really looking forward to going out to a good dinner with friends. And they're like, we never go out to dinner. And I'm like, I know we don't someday. And we'll get there. My last question for you is the audience is pretty varied with people who listen to this podcast, but if there was one real key takeaway that you want to give to them, what would it be?
- [21:18]
Heather McCauley
I think that connectivity is important not just between your adtech and martech platforms, but just in general. And I think over the next few years we're going to have some really hard problems to solve. And so I think continuing to try to solve those together and be as collaborative as possible is going to be incredibly important.
- [21:38]
AdTech God
That's incredible. Heather, thank you again for being here and thank you to MadTech for having you. It's really been a pleasure and I am so looking forward to the Miami event, let me just say that.
- [21:49]
Heather McCauley
Me too. Thank you so much, atg. Appreciate it.
- [21:52]
AdTech God
Thank you.
- [21:53]
Heather McCauley
Thank you.
- [21:54]
AdTech God
Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the AdTech Godpod, a podcast for the people about the people. Stay connected with me for more insights, trends and interviews in the realm of adtech. Don't miss out on the latest updates, so follow me on X Instagram and connect with me on LinkedIn. Don't forget, ATG Slack community has insights, networking opportunities and jobs. Keep the conversation going and stay at the forefront of adtech innovation.