TechBytes with Katherine Strieder, VP of Product Management at PubMatic

Tell us about your role and journey into Technology. What inspired you to start working at PubMatic?

I moved into the ad tech space 20 years ago as it was blossoming in New York and other major cities. I found that product was an immediate fit for my skillset and personality—haven’t left the space since! Over the years, I have worked at tech stacks across the spectrum and spent time at Viacom as a publisher in order to learn about tech stacks from another standpoint. At heart though, I am an ad tech product nerd. I came to PubMatic because the company is strategic in its investments and decisions in the market. It has positioned itself to be a strong performer which can experiment with where the market is going. It is very rare to be nimble enough to experiment and solid enough to have staying power.

What is PubMatic and how does it make programmatic advertising smarter?

PubMatic is a digital advertising technology company which drives better monetization for premium content creators and better performance on investment for buyers. The PubMatic platform empowers independent app developers and publishers to control and maximize their digital advertising businesses. PubMatic’s approach also enables advertisers to maximize ROI by reaching and engaging their target audiences in brand-safe, premium environments across ad formats and devices.

How do you focus at bringing independent app developers, publishers and data analytics together at PubMatic? What are the core technologies driving your product?

The core technology is still the programmatic auction platform, but that has grown into meaning many things as the industry has evolved. It used to be all about display and connecting mediation layers. Now it is about truly understanding how consumers behave in-app and on the web, how we measure viewability and conversions across formats, and how that data moves from publisher to buy-side. Our scope of responsibility is end-to-end, from the publisher to the brand.

Which industries and regions have been the fastest to adopt and transform with Programmatic capabilities?

We have coverage in NTAM, EMEA and APAC and are seeing growth across all three regions. One of the things I find, generally, is that EMEA and APAC are more likely to experiment because they are more nimble and less tied to big companies for decision making. They also want to differentiate from the Google-mandate. Our transformative experiments are often in those regions. However, NTAM is the largest market. Whatever we do there moves the needle. In terms of industries, I’ve done some interesting things within finance and store-front brands that have the capability to do the end-to-end experience. They are often considered “old school” but because of their relationships with consumers, they have been really innovative (if they have the right thought-leaders in-house).

What are your predictions on the most impactful disruptions in AI and Data Management technology for 2019-2020?

In-app data is nascent and is going to become dominant in our industry. We at PubMatic are looking to drive the evolution of its definition. We want to determine how in-app viewability and performance is at the very beginning and we want to revolutionize it.

What startups in the technology industry are you watching keenly right now?

I’m watching genres of tech including eCommerce in-app analytics and other eCommerce platforms, OTT and Connected TV advertising platforms, and audience platforms that look beyond the cookie.

How do you prepare for an AI-centric world as a Business Leader?

Every ad tech company should have a sophisticated machine learning team, which we do. We also invest in training up internal engineering and product teams to think from an AI perspective. When ideating on product, we also assume AI-centric components for learning as an inherent part of the design.

How do you inspire your people to work with technology?

My goal is to inspire my people to be themselves and to support them in what they are good at. Technology is just a part of that. My belief is that if my team looks good, it’s good for me and for the company too, so it is my job to put them front-and-center.

One word that best describes how you work.

Collaborative and analytical. These are the yin and yang of my work philosophy.

What apps/software/tools can’t you live without?

My phone, Slack, Outlook, Yelp, Guardian, NPR and Bored Panda. In my work life, Confluence, JIRA, OneDrive, Excel (I do EVERYTHING in Excel first).

What’s your smartest work-related shortcut or productivity hack?

Prioritization.

What are you currently reading? (What do you read, and how do you consume information?)

Michael Pollan’s book “Omnivore’s Dilemma” which changed the way I eat and shop for my family. I also like actual books, not e-books.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

I don’t stack rank advice but return pretty frequently to reminding myself to prioritize and focus on what matters. But first, know what actually matters!

Something you do better than others – the secret of your success?

I can communicate with a lot of different kinds of people. This helps in all situations!

Tag the one person (or more) in the industry whose answers to these questions you would love to read:

Arlan Hamilton.