Growth mindset and grand ambition: a recipe for tech success
It has earned its reputation as a leading programmatic advertising platform, but what really sets StackAdapt apart is grand ambition, says CEO Vitaly Pecherskiy.
StackAdapt is a programmatic advertising partner for advertisers and marketers. It sets out to create technology that revolutionizes how brands reach consumers, deploying machine learning and data science.
CEO Vitaly Pecherskiy co-founded the company in 2014 with Ildar Shar and Yang Han. Today StackAdapt operates with a global team serving clients around the world. It has been recognized as one of the fastest-growing technology companies in North America, and rated the number one demand-side platform.
Expanding to solve ever more problems
The founders’ personal experience of the advertising industry drove StackAdapt’s formation and its success. Frustrated at not having access to the type of software they wanted to use, they set out to build an intelligent solution that made use of automation.
“Because we were the users of these platforms, we got traction almost immediately, because so many marketers understood exactly what we were trying to do,” says Pecherskiy.
“In all honesty, what we started with was fairly narrow. But over the years, what drove us was just really large ambition to build a product that solves many different problems for many different customers.”
Growth mindset ensures continuous progress
A decade on, that ambition is intact. Together with the company’s capacity for innovation, it has driven StackAdapt’s progress.
“We wanted to build a global technology company out of Canada, and we wanted to have very strong technological DNA,” Pecherskiy says.
‘Adopt growth mindset’ is one of the company’s key values. “It’s embracing the fact that we should never be satisfied with what we have, and continuously challenging ourselves to level up,” he explains. “Five years from now, I just want to make sure that we’re continuously pushing the way we innovate.”
Grand ambition is the differentiator
Differentiation at the level of specific features may earn short-term gain, Pecherskiy argues, but overarching ambition is what really makes StackAdapt stand out.
“Having grand ambition, in our view, is the way we’re going to build a really lasting, category-defining company,” he believes. “At a tactical level, it’s going to translate into taking leaps of faith, having the confidence and boldness to pursue new directions and take on challenging problems.”
“Having grand ambition, in our view, is the way we’re going to build a really lasting, category-defining company.”
Vitaly Pecherskiy, co-founder and CEO, StackAdapt
Canada must set its sights on the world
Pecherskiy believes Canada would do well to emulate his company’s expansive, globally-focused perspective.
“I think Canada has tremendous capacity to produce a lot of really successful companies,” he says. “In part, the important thing is to maintain the ambition and really think of how we can build a business from Canada for the world?”
“The important thing is to think of how not just to build business in Canada for Canada, but how can you build a business from Canada for the world?”
Vitaly Pecherskiy, co-founder and CEO, StackAdapt