Quantcast joined global tech leaders and high-potential startups at Collision Conference 2021, “the Olympics of tech.” Over 38,000 people attended this year’s virtual conference to hear from leaders tackling the biggest challenges facing tech and business.

In addition to his “A Rallying Cry for an Open Internet” presentation, Quantcast CEO and co-founder Konrad Feldman hosted a leadership mentor hour with seven start-ups–ranging from companies that connect and inspire their communities to those that provide media management and fashion curation services. 

Like these start-up businesses, Quantcast started with a great idea. As Konrad explained, being an entrepreneur means solving for a problem, and in his case, he wanted to address the poor advertising experience that existed on the open internet in comparison to search advertising: “I discovered the problem was that there was no standardized way of understanding audiences across the open internet, and without understanding, it’s impossible to create relevant advertising experiences.” He solved that problem by “applying machine learning and AI to media consumption data” to make advertising better for everyone–advertisers, publishers, and consumers. Today, the Quantcast Platform is a model for the future of advertising in a free and open internet. 

The session’s business entrepreneurs were eager to learn from Konrad how to build a strong brand, source great talent, and contribute towards diversity, equity, and inclusion. He offered this advice:

  1. Clarity helps build a strong brand: Creating a brand, Konrad explained, “starts with having real clarity about what you stand for and why.” To build that brand, you must showcase what your business is trying to achieve and determine how best to engage your prospective customers. He used Quantcast Measure as an example: “When we launched an audience measurement service that was free, we needed to get website owners to know it existed and that it offered a groundbreaking approach to understanding their audiences. Knowing that website owners pay close attention to their own search visibility, we invested heavily in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to create the initial awareness for our product.” Establishing your purpose, refining your messaging, and reaching your target audience are key ways to build your brand.  
  2. Hire passionate talent, experiment with your tactics, and pursue referrals: Quantcast has more than 600 employees around the world with offices in Europe, APAC, and North America. Building a talent pool that is passionate about your mission is crucial to building your business. Konrad acknowledged it can be challenging to find the best talent, and so he encouraged out-of-the-box thinking. By placing quirky ads, as Quantcast once did for a “hiring czar,” you can grab people’s attention. The most “powerful” way to find talent is through referrals so “use your network and seek their recommendations.” 
  3. Prioritize DEI within your organization and reach out to the greater community: Quantcast is a leader in the DEI space: we have a more than 50% female executive leadership team (in most of tech, it is ~10%) and a team committed to creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment. To that end, we focus on four pillars: education and awareness, development and retention, talent representation, and community investments. Konrad stressed the importance of starting with internal education and development. Quantcast requires annual unconscious bias training, brings in external educators, has multiple active global employee resource groups, partners with Afro-Tech and Lesbians Who Tech, and participates in community foundations that give back to the communities where we do business. Konrad also outlined how Quantast works extensively with Year Up, a program dedicated to providing on-the-job training and internships to underprivileged young adults and supporting them as they build lifelong careers. Many of these individuals have become full-time Quantcast team members. 

We were thrilled to be able to participate in this session, offering leadership mentoring and learning more about some of the unique businesses on the rise. For an introduction to a couple of these innovative start-ups, check out their featured spotlights below. 

Start-up Spotlights

Michelle Li, founder of clever carbon

Our goal at clever carbon is to raise carbon footprint literacy in a hip and fun way. By understanding and quantifying our impact through carbon footprint data, consumers can make informed decisions. Our 2-minute carbon footprint quiz helps people understand where their impact comes from, and helps them get started on their journey towards #clevercarbondecisions. 

Josh Bromber, founder and CEO of Munch 

Munch is on a mission to connect people with great food and revolutionize the dining experience, starting with restaurant discovery. It is an app that lets people see restaurant reviews from their friends, instead of strangers. Users can see where their friends are eating, discover great restaurants, and share their experiences with others.

Interested in Learning More?

At the Collision Conference, Konrad presented “A Rallying Cry for an Open Internet” and Quantcast VP of Product Management, Somer Simpson, offered a Masterclass on “Content or Clickbait? Brand Integrity and Accountability in a Free and Open Internet.”