Marketecture Podcast: Tercept – Data Infrastructure Specialist for Ad Tech

Episode Details:

• Title: Tercept: Data Infrastructure Specialist for Ad Tech
• Host: Ari Paparo, Marketecture Media, Inc.
• Guest: Gaurav Chindler, Founder and CEO of Tercept
• Release Date: January 6, 2025
• Podcast Description: Hosted by industry experts Ari Paparo and Eric Franchi, the Marketecture Podcast delivers in-depth interviews with leading thinkers in advertising and marketing, alongside the week’s most significant news and vendor insights.

1. Introduction to Tercept

The episode kicks off with Ari Paparo introducing Gaurav Chindler, the Founder and CEO of Tercept, a company specializing in data infrastructure for ad tech and media firms. Gaurav provides an insightful overview of Tercept, positioning it as a crucial player in enhancing data infrastructure and business intelligence (BI) capabilities for companies grappling with substandard data systems.

Notable Quote:

Gaurav Chindler [00:30]: "Tercept is a data infrastructure provider for ad tech and media companies. We've seen that far too many really good ad tech media companies struggle with substandard data infrastructure and we believe Tercept can do a good job supporting them with building out their data infrastructure and BI."

2. Company Background and Evolution

Gaurav delves into the origins of Tercept, headquartered in Delaware with a dedicated team spread across the US and India. He shares his extensive experience in the ad tech space, spanning over 15 years, including his previous venture, Wizuri. Wizuri was a pioneering company in Asia, notably the first to integrate with Google Ad Exchange and Facebook Exchange (FBX), which laid the groundwork for Tercept's mission.

Notable Quotes:

Gaurav Chindler [01:16]: "I've been in the ad tech space for over 15 years now."

Gaurav Chindler [01:22]: "Before Tercept, I was running another company called Wizuri... We were the first company in Asia to integrate with Google Ad Exchange and the erstwhile Facebook Exchange."

He explains that the significant resources dedicated to building data infrastructure at Wizuri highlighted a pervasive industry challenge, inspiring the creation of Tercept to address these inefficiencies across the ad tech ecosystem.

3. Understanding Data Infrastructure with Tercept

Ari probes deeper into the concept of data infrastructure. Gaurav clarifies that Tercept provides the comprehensive technology and tools necessary to collect, process, and visualize monetization and marketing-related data. This includes handling vast amounts of log-level data from various sources like ad servers and third-party platforms.

Notable Quote:

Gaurav Chindler [03:00]: "When I say data infrastructure, what I mean is that all the tech and tools required to collect, process and visualize data, specifically here we're talking about monetization and marketing related data."

He emphasizes that Tercept’s value proposition lies in transforming raw data from sources like S3 buckets into actionable insights and visualizations within days, significantly reducing the time and resources companies typically invest in building and optimizing their data pipelines.

4. Technical Capabilities and Flexibility

Ari seeks clarification on whether Tercept hosts the data or integrates with clients' existing data warehouses. Gaurav explains that Tercept offers flexibility, allowing data to be directed to Tercept’s warehouse or the client's own infrastructure, such as Snowflake or Redshift. Their modular offerings cater to varying client needs, whether it's API data integration or full-stack solutions.

Notable Quote:

Gaurav Chindler [04:46]: "It can go to your data warehouse if you subscribe for the full stack solution if you want. So our offering can be broken down into various modules."

Furthermore, Tercept boasts over 400 API integrations with major ad tech and martech platforms, facilitating seamless data aggregation and normalization from diverse sources.

5. Handling Data Complexity and Customization

Ari inquires about the technological lift required from clients. Gaurav distinguishes between companies seeking a fully managed solution and those with sophisticated BI teams aiming to optimize their data infrastructure. Tercept supports both by managing the heavy lifting of data processing while allowing clients to customize data transformations and aggregations as needed.

Notable Quote:

Gaurav Chindler [05:58]: "Our customers can set a bunch of rules of how the data needs to be processed before it needs to be."

Tercept ensures robust error handling with built-in alerts, exponential retries, and clear protocols for issue resolution, highlighting their commitment to maintaining data integrity and uptime.

6. Real-World Use Case: Transforming a Major News Publisher

Gaurav shares a compelling use case involving a top five US-based news publisher. Prior to Tercept, the publisher relied on manual Excel sheets and faced persistent issues with data studio dashboards breaking. Tercept streamlined their data operations by integrating data from over 50 sources, including GAM logs and various SSPs, within a month to a month and a half.

Notable Quote:

Gaurav Chindler [07:52]: "They went from there to a smooth setup where they have data coming in from about 50 different sources... and now have dashboards for their editorial teams, ad ops team, and leadership that are automatically updated."

This transformation enabled the publisher to access granular, real-time dashboards tailored to different teams, significantly enhancing decision-making and operational efficiency.

7. Customer Profile and Access Control

Ari explores the types of professionals interacting with Tercept’s solutions. Gaurav identifies ad operations specialists, product managers, and leadership teams as primary users. Additionally, Tercept’s role-based access control allows for tailored data views and permissions, enabling various departments like sales to access relevant data without compromising security or data integrity.

Notable Quote:

Gaurav Chindler [09:13]: "You can drill down to every individual metric or dimension or what level of data exposure that you want on this particular login."

8. Commercial Model and Pricing Strategy

When discussing the commercial model, Gaurav explains that Tercept charges based on data ingestion volume and the number of API connectors. For log-level data, pricing is tied to the volume of records ingested, while API integrations are priced based on the number of data connectors, starting with a minimum of 10.

Notable Quote:

Gaurav Chindler [09:58]: "We charge a flat monthly fee linked to the volume of records that we ingest... For the API integration side, we charge a flat monthly fee for the number of data connectors."

Tercept also emphasizes multi-year contracts that encompass setup, consulting, maintenance, and support, ensuring clients receive comprehensive service and ongoing assistance.

9. Competitive Landscape and Differentiation

Ari probes into Tercept’s competition. Gaurav notes that 80% of new customers typically transition from in-house setups to Tercept’s solutions. While Tercept does compete with specialized vendors like Rhyldata for log-level data and companies like Stack and Adjuster in API integrations, their broad use case support and customization capabilities set them apart.

Notable Quote:

Gaurav Chindler [11:56]: "Our number one competitive advantage is a combination of the number of use cases that we support... because of a lot of customization and the way we can support our customers."

10. Lightning Round: Insights in a Nutshell

A. Number One Competitive Advantage:

Gaurav Chindler [11:56]: "Our number one competitive advantage is a combination of the number of use cases that we support... and a lot of customization."

B. Biggest Challenge:

Gaurav Chindler [12:29]: "The biggest challenge right now is getting word out in the market... We are relatively new in the US Market compared to some of the competitors."

C. Competing with Giants like Amazon and Google: Gaurav articulates that Amazon and Google are unlikely to target the fragmented ad tech ecosystem that Tercept serves. Their services cater to thousands of ad tech companies with diverse needs, far beyond the scope of what Amazon or Google would manage.

Gaurav Chindler [12:57]: "Fragmentation is only increasing... Amazon and Google are never going to consolidate all of this."

D. Tercept as an Animal:

Gaurav Chindler [13:41]: "An octopus. An octopus being able to gather all of this data from various flexible tentacles and becoming the source of truth."

11. Conclusion

Ari wraps up the interview by thanking Gaurav for sharing Tercept’s journey and solutions. The episode highlights Tercept’s pivotal role in streamlining data infrastructure for ad tech and media companies, offering scalable, customizable, and comprehensive solutions that empower businesses to harness their data effectively.

Notable Quote:

Ari Paparo [14:03]: "That's a great answer. Well, Gaurav, thank you so much for being here and telling us about Tercept."

Listeners are encouraged to subscribe to Marketecture for more insightful interviews and updates in the advertising and marketing technology landscape.

Key Takeaways:

• Tercept specializes in data infrastructure for ad tech and media companies, alleviating the burden of data collection, processing, and visualization.
• Gaurav Chindler’s extensive experience in the ad tech industry informs Tercept’s mission to streamline data operations.
• Flexible and customizable solutions cater to both fully managed services and sophisticated BI teams seeking optimized data infrastructures.
• Robust use cases, like transforming data operations for major news publishers, demonstrate Tercept’s effectiveness and scalability.
• Competitive advantage lies in extensive use case support and customization, differentiating Tercept from specialized vendors and larger tech giants.
• Role-based access control and comprehensive commercial models ensure secure and scalable data management for diverse client needs.

For more detailed insights and updates, visit Marketecture.tv and subscribe to the Marketecture Podcast on your preferred platform.