Quo Vadis: AdTech Economic Forum Podcast Episode #9 with Sanja Partalo

Welcome to the Quo Vadis podcast series dedicated to one-to-one interviews with the speakers who took the stage at the AdTech Economic Forum.

In this pod series, we get to know what our esteemed speakers are up to touching on their career journeys and hearing their unique perspectives across the many facets shaping the AdTech scene.

Takeaways:

• WPP's Venture Strategy 💡: WPP shifted its strategy from "invest and acquire" to "invest and partner" in ad tech, focusing on early-stage investments to help companies scale and provide insights to WPP clients.  
• Importance of Industry Signal 📣: Industry interest and utilization ("religion") are crucial signals for ad tech investments.  
• Founder Expertise in AdTech 🧑‍💼: Successful ad tech founders typically have deep domain expertise and networks, often being repeat founders due to the industry's complexity and the challenge of securing enterprise-level clients.  
• AdTech Funding Trends 💰: Funding in the ad tech ecosystem increasingly favors repeat founders with established relationships and a track record of success. 
• Risk Aversion in AdTech Investing ⚠️: There's a trend of risk aversion among investors in the ad tech vertical, partly due to past setbacks.  
• The Role of AI 🤖: AI is playing an increasing role in ad tech, as seen in companies like Runway, where industry adoption is a key factor in investment decisions.