The Aperiam Podcast

Matt Spiegel, Head of TrueAudience Growth Strategy at TransUnion, joins Corey and Joe to discuss what nearly nine years at the intersection of credit data and marketing technology has taught him about identity, measurement, and the limits of AI. Matt traces TransUnion's evolution from a credit bureau into a full-stack marketing data platform — covering the Neustar acquisition, the build-out of identity resolution, audience discovery, and marketing performance analytics — and explains why having all three capabilities sitting on a common dataset is what makes the offering different. The conversation tackles the cookie deprecation reality check, the ongoing challenge marketers face in demonstrating C-suite credibility through measurement, and why AI will transform the speed and economics of mixed media modeling long before it removes humans from the loop. Matt also offers a frank read on AI adoption.

George Popstefanov, founder and CEO of PMG, (also Koddi, Further, and the Momentum Group), joins Corey and Joe to discuss how he's built and managed a portfolio of independent, technology-first companies across advertising, commerce, and data. George walks through the three pillars that define every business he builds  and how those principles drive everything from product development to acquisition strategy. The conversation covers how PMG's Ali operating system and Alli Marketplace are becoming central infrastructure for Fortune 500 brands navigating the shift to agentic marketing. George also addresses the AI cost reality check hitting enterprise organizations, the gap between AI usage and AI impact, and why he believes education at the C-suite level — not technology deployment — is the single most important first step for companies trying to transform. 

Corey Ferengul and Joe Zawadzki sit down to cover five major trends based on what they are seeing cross their desks: the declining health of the open web and what publishers can do to survive, the rapid maturation of influencer marketing and why its infrastructure still lags its ambitions, the early-innings race to monetize through generative engine optimization (GEO/AEO), a surprising surge in out-of-home advertising driven by cheaper screens and easier programmatic delivery, and the growing wave of contextual targeting innovation in CTV. Corey and Joe don't just diagnose the trends — they debate what's noise, what's durable, and where the real opportunity lies.

Corey Ferengul and Joe Zawadzki are joined by Shane Shevlin, co-founder of Bedrock Platform and a veteran of IPONWeb and the early days of programmatic, to discuss what it looks like to build a next-generation media buying platform from the ground up in the agentic era. Shane walks through Bedrock's core mission — making deal-based trading work more effectively at lower cost — and how a multi-agent system called Pathfinder is creating a compounding intelligence loop that learns from every trader decision. The conversation covers how AI development has collapsed what used to be multi-month builds into days, why sell-side decisioning is reshaping the relationship between buyers and publishers, and how an agent surfacing unexpected auction clearing price data by state actually rewrote Bedrock's own product roadmap. Shane also shares his thinking on YouTube as broadcast-quality inventory, the challenges of entering the US market as a European company, and why the natural language command line may soon make the traditional DSP interface obsolete. 

Corey Ferengul and Joe Zawadzki sit down with Terry Kawaja, founder of LUMA Partners and one of ad tech's most respected dealmakers and prognosticators, and discuss where the market stands in early 2026. They break down the M&A landscape — from the post-tariff chill to why late 2025 started to show signs of life — and explains why valuations are split sharply between high-growth capability plays and legacy open web businesses. They hit on what European ad tech companies get wrong about entering the US market, why the SaaS obsession in ad tech was largely misguided, and how the agentic era could either save the open web or consolidate it into a handful of massive platforms. Terence also shares his long-held CTV predictions, why FAST adoption genuinely surprised him, and why 2026 is the year the industry needs to stop talking about AI and start showing results. 

Corey Ferengul and Joe Zawadzki are joined by Filippo Gramigna, co-CEO of OneTag — one of the only globally scaled programmatic companies founded in Europe. Filippo walks through OneTag's decade-long evolution, from its origins as a DSP to building a bespoke SSP for Procter & Gamble, pioneering traffic shaping before the term existed, and repositioning multiple times as the market evolved around curation. He explains the company's recent acquisition, Aryel, and how they see a unique fit. The conversation also covers how OneTag is approaching AI pragmatically, why blurring DSP/SSP lines might be inevitable, and what Filippo wishes more brands and agencies understood about cutting through the noise in a crowded market. 

In this episode, Corey and Joe sit down with Jake Vachal, Managing Director at Raine — a leading banker with a practice focused on Adtech. Jake discusses what's really driving M&A activity right now: a more deal-friendly regulatory environment, PE firms pushing hard for liquidity, and boards grappling with existential questions about their equity story in a world being rapidly reshaped by agentic AI. He shares what he actually looks for when deciding to represent a company, why profitable growth now trumps revenue multiples, why private markets currently offer better outcomes than an IPO, and how AI compressed a typical two-to-three-year market cycle into just three months in 2025. 

In this episode of the Aperiam Podcast, Corey and Joe are joined by Todd Sawicki, founder and CEO of Gumshoe.ai, to explore one of the most consequential and least understood shifts in marketing today: how AI search is changing the way brands are discovered, recommended, and perceived. Todd breaks down why the concept of "ranking" is obsolete in an LLM world, what it actually means for an AI to have brand preferences, and why the brands that win will be the ones that treat AI like a digital sales rep they need to train. He also explains why growth marketers — not search teams — are the ones best positioned to capitalize on this, and why your customer personas are probably outdated the moment they're printed. 

Corey and Joe sit down with Raghu Kodige, CEO and co-founder of Anoki, to explore how AI is transforming the way brands advertise on connected TV. Raghu breaks down why CTV has historically been bought with the same blunt tools as traditional linear TV — and how Anoki is changing that.  Drawing on his background building Alfonso (now LG Ads), Raghu shares how the "seeing is believing" philosophy drives Anoki's approach to AI transparency, why news inventory is massively undervalued, and how generative AI is collapsing the product development timeline in ways that give startups a serious edge. 

In this episode of The Aperiam Podcast, Corey and Joe sit down with Andrew Covato, founder of Growth by Science, to tackle one of marketing's most persistent challenges: measurement. With over 15 years of experience at Google, Meta, Netflix, and Snap, Andrew breaks down why so many brands are still wasting ad dollars on outdated attribution methods, why simply "throwing AI at it" won't fix broken measurement foundations, and what a smarter approach actually looks like — starting with the fundamental question: what would happen to your business if you turned off your ads? Whether you're a scrappy DTC brand or a multinational with nine-figure budgets, this conversation delivers a practical, no-nonsense framework for building a measurement program rooted in science, not vanity metrics.

On this episode of the Aperiam Podcast, Corey Ferengul and Joe Zawadzki sit down with Michael Richardson, VP of Product at Index Exchange to break down ARTF — the Agentic Real-Time Framework.Michael walks through what ARTF actually is, why ad tech needed a new interoperability standard beyond OpenRTB, and how containerization is enabling companies to run custom logic directly inside publisher infrastructure at scale. Also, how ARTF fits alongside emerging standards like AdCP, why agencies should be paying attention right now.If you're building in ad tech, running a curation business, or just trying to understand where the open web goes from here — this one is essential listening.

Hosts Corey Ferengul and Joe Zawadzki are joined by Joe Hirsch, founder and CEO of Swivel, to explore AdCP—the Ad Context Protocol.  AdCP represents a new standard for agentic ad buying in the advertising industry, drawing inspiration from the Model Context Protocol (MCP). As AI agents become more prevalent in advertising operations, the need for standardized protocols has never been more critical.In this episode, the Joes dive into the technical foundations and practical implications of this emerging standard, discussing how AdCP aims to streamline and standardize the way AI agents interact with advertising platforms and execute media buys.

Ravi Patel, founder of SWYM, joins the pod to discuss why programmatic wastes money, how supply control fixes broken auctions, and what disciplined, capital-efficient ad tech building really looks like. 

Gareth Glaser, CEO and founder of Gamera, joins Corey and Joe fresh off announcing his fundraise. Gareth—former chair of Prebid.js and founder of RTK—explains Gamera's mission: creating a shared inventory identifier so buyers actually know what placements their ads run on. They discuss why the sell side has been "the Wild West," how the MFA crackdown proved transparency works, and why his "Gareth Hates Ad Tech" blog built trust before he hired salespeople. The goal? Make the open web work as efficiently as walled gardens—without taking sides.

Fresh from the show floor, Joe Z and Erica Chriss join Corey Ferengul to break down CES 2026. This year felt different—less hype, more real momentum behind AI transformation. From seamless home habitats to ad tech innovations with actual case studies, the team explores why this CES marked a turning point. They discuss the collapse of the "tale of two shows," agencies finally leaning forward on transformation, and why human connection matters more than ever as we navigate historic change. Plus: Why is there so much smoke at CES? And who's still booking bands for 50-year-olds?

 Corey Ferengul and Joe Zawadzki wrap up the year by breaking down the biggest shifts in advertising and marketing technology—and what they signal for 2026. They discuss the TVScientific–Pinterest acquisition, trends in ad-tech investing, the rise of AI and agents across the ad stack, growing bot traffic, and mounting pressure on legacy platforms. The episode closes with predictions on LLM ad models, creative disruption, and an expected wave of M&A 

Joe and Corey speak with Heather Macaulay, co-founder of MADConnect and Audience Choice winner at the Marketecture Startup Challenge.There is a problem that doesn’t get nearly enough attention: integration debt. Every audience sync, conversion pull, and cross-platform workflow depends on APIs that are expensive to build, harder to maintain, and constantly breaking. That hidden “connectivity tax” is quietly draining engineering time across AdTech and MarTech.When the plumbing underneath isn’t solid, everything above it stalls.  Learn more about what is needed from the underlying infrastructure to enable data to really work for a company.

AI is reshaping every corner of the advertising ecosystem—faster than most organizations can absorb. Joe  and Corey dig into what they're seeing on the ground: agencies rethinking their operating models, brands finally experimenting with AI in planning and measurement, and programmatic moving toward a more automated, decision-driven future.The through-line: this isn’t about replacing people overnight. It’s about rebuilding workflows, challenging long-held assumptions, and getting comfortable experimenting with tools that didn’t exist a year ago.If you’re not testing, learning, and pushing your teams to understand what AI can unlock, you’re already behind. The companies leaning in now will define what the next era of marketing looks like.

Joe and Corey sit down with Jenna Griffith for a conversation about what leadership really looks like when a company is going through change. The consistent theme: clarity wins. If you don’t communicate clearly and often, people fill in the gaps on their own—and usually incorrectly.They discuss how to handle internal agendas, why you start with customers when you’re trying to understand what's actually happening, and how AI is forcing every organization to rethink roles, expectations, and pace. The next generation is already adapting; the question is whether leaders are listening closely enough to keep up.Whether you're leading a team or a large organization there is something to get from this episode of the Aperiam podcast.

A conversation with Oz Etzioni, CEO of Clinch, to talk about something a lot of brands and agencies are wrestling with right now: the widening gap between media and creative — and how AI is rapidly changing what’s possible in that space.Clinch has been focused for years on the connective layer between creative and media. The idea is simple to say, but hard to execute: unify the creative strategy with the media plan so that the right message can be delivered to the right audience in real time, across every channel. And now, with the acceleration of AI, that “missing middle” is becoming the most important part of the stack.Major market shifts are happening such as creative is no longer a static asset — it’s dynamic, personalized, and constantly adapting and media buying is automating faster than most organizations are structurally prepared for.A great discussion of where the industry is heading. Not someday. Now.

Joe and Corey are joined by Erica Chriss and we dug into a question that’s coming up everywhere: what happens to the open web as more consumer activity moves into AI-driven interfaces?There’s no doubt the landscape is shifting — from checkout happening inside chat to new tools that shape how brands appear in LLM environments. But that doesn’t mean the open web is disappearing. It means publishers, advertisers, agencies, and platforms have to rethink how they show up. The advantage will go to those who adapt their business models, not just their tech stacks. Flexibility and experimentation matter more right now than certainty or scale.The open web isn’t dead — it’s evolving, and there’s a lot of opportunity for those willing to move with it. Full episode coming soon. 

In this episode of the Aperiam Podcast, Joe Zawadzki and Corey Ferengul talked about the hardest step — turning a great idea into a repeatable business. You can’t outsource that early work. The founder (and early team) have to be with customers, hearing what works, what doesn’t, and adjusting without losing sight of the bigger vision.The mistake we see most often? Hiring a senior “head of sales” too early. The better move is to find a player-coach — someone who can sell alongside the founder and start building process without losing momentum.Whether you’re a startup or a big company launching a new line of business, the same lesson applies: stay close to your customers, keep learning, and scale only when the pattern is real.

On this episode, we spoke with Max Snow and Frank Portman, the founders of Yobi.Yobi started in 2019 as a research lab with roots in Princeton’s behavioral science program. From day one, they focused on predicting consumer behavior ethically and with privacy at the forefront—being “born post-GDPR” gave them an early framework to build responsibly.What stood out in our conversation is how they’ve turned that foundation into one of the most powerful data estates in the market—investing over $100M to partner with enterprises like retailers and banks to assemble unique first- and second-party data. That dataset powers their AI models to rival the walled gardens, particularly in programmatic and CTV, and they’ve built deep partnerships with Microsoft Azure to scale securely and profitably.Yobi shows what the next generation of ad tech looks like: transparent, data-rich, and aligned with business outcomes, not just media metrics.

In our latest Aperiam Podcast, Joe and Corey dug into the ongoing tug-of-war every CMO faces: what to keep in-house and what to outsource.This isn’t a new debate. Marketing has always lived on a continuum—search once started outsourced, then became core. Social was brought in-house, then pushed out again. Creative has cycled between internal teams and outside agencies. And now AI is adding a new twist, with vendors pitching both sides of the argument: “AI makes it simple enough to run internally” vs. “AI lets us scale your marketing more cost-effectively.”See where we think the pendulum will go next.

On this week’s Aperiam Podcast, Joe and I were joined by Ari Paparo to talk about his new book.For years, Ari’s been both a builder and a commentator in our industry. From helping shape the foundations of programmatic to calling it like it is on his blog, he’s influenced how many of us understand ad tech. His book takes that further—capturing the history of programmatic, the personalities behind it, and the lessons learned along the way.What I appreciate is that Ari doesn’t write like an outsider looking in. He’s lived the ups and downs, and that perspective makes the book more than just a history—it’s a candid reflection on what worked, what didn’t, and why.In our conversation, we talked about why he felt the timing was right to publish, the themes he wanted to highlight, and what he hopes readers—operators, investors, or just curious observers—take away.If you care about how digital advertising evolved, how programmatic became the backbone of the industry, or just want an insider’s view told with humor and honesty, this is an episode worth listening to—and a book worth reading.

Audience fragmentation isn’t just about where people spend time—it’s about who they trust.In this episode of the Aperiam Podcast, Joe Zawadzki and Corey dive into how the splintering of media channels has reshaped trust itself. We discuss:Why traditional anchors of credibility—publishers, institutions, even brands—no longer carry the same weight.How trust is migrating to influencers, niche communities, and peer networks.What this means for advertisers trying to build durable connections with their audiences.The conversation highlights a critical point: in today’s environment, earning attention isn’t enough. You also have to earn trust—and fragmentation makes that both harder and more important than ever.

In this episode of The Aperiam Podcast, Joe, Erica, and Corey dig nto a topic that has come back in force: ad networks.For years, “ad network” was a dirty word in our industry. They were seen as opaque, arbitrage-driven, and destined to disappear as programmatic brought transparency. But here we are—everywhere we look, the network model is back.A few themes from our discussion:- Everything looks like an ad network again. Retail media, CTV, mobile gaming, even agencies—if you’re aggregating supply, demand, and data, you’re operating with network characteristics.- Managed service is resurging. Now supported by AI and agentic workflows, it’s more transparent and cost-effective than ever.- The middleman never left. The difference today is value—better data, better automation, and more ways to simplify complexity for buyers and sellers.They walk through how the Ad Network concept is alive and well!

On the latest episode of The Aperiam Podcast, Joe and I sat down with Victoria Milo from Monks to talk about how AI is reshaping the way brands, agencies, and platforms work together.One of the most striking takeaways: the real shift isn’t just AI itself—it’s the ways of working. Media and creative teams can no longer operate in silos. Platforms are building their own creative studios. CFOs are getting as involved in measurement as CMOs. And AI is the driver behind this convergence.AI is forcing collaboration, breaking down walls between creative, media, and finance, and rewarding the companies that move fast.  We discuss!

Consumer behavior is shifting fast—and marketers need to catch up.In this episode of the Aperiam Podcast, Joe and Corey cover two trends reshaping digital advertising:Audience fragmentation: consumers live across Roblox, Twitch, TikTok, Discord, podcasts, and more. The challenge is stitching a story across all of them.Live stream shopping: TikTok alone drove $26B in GMV in the first half of 2025. For many brands, the ad is now the storefront.These shifts dramatically impact how you reach your audience and not giving them attention means missing your consumer.

If You’re Not Using AI in Dev, You’re Already BehindAI is now a standard part of software development—at least for Aperiam’s portfolio. Every single company we surveyed is already using it. But only 9% have formal policies in place.In our latest Aperiam Podcast, Joe Zawadzki and Corey Ferengul dive into what that tells us—and what it doesn’t. They cover:The real impact of AI on developer productivityWhy vibe coding is more than a trendHow tools like Cursor are reshaping prototypingThe rise of agents as business infrastructureAnd why some execs are treating AI like 100 enthusiastic ninth gradersThey also dig into what’s next: the governance gap, the changing role of the executive, and whether 2025-born companies are structurally advantaged in an AI-native world.Listen and let us know: How are you rolling out AI in your company? Are you a player-coach or still watching from the sideline?

On the latest episode of the Aperiam Podcast, Corey Ferengul and Joe Zawadzki are joined by Erica Chriss to unpack why “attention” is more than a buzzword—it's continuing to become the new currency of advertising.They cover: What attention metrics really mean Why omni-channel chaos demands a normalized metric How attention bridges brand, performance, and publisher value Where AI helps (and where it doesn’t—yet)If you care about outcomes, creative quality, or modern measurement, this episode is worth your full attention.

What do agencies, AI, and Domino’s pizza have in common?In our latest episode of the Aperiam Podcast, we sit down with Jay Friedman—former CEO of Goodway Group—for a wide-ranging, unfiltered conversation about the future of marketing, agency reinvention, and what bold leadership really looks like.From offshoring and AI-driven disruption to the broken brand/agency model and why most boards ignore $1.75B marketing budgets while obsessing over $50M factory build, lots to discuss!

What really goes into building a custom algorithm? Tylynn Pettrey, VP of Data Science at Chalice, joins us to unpack how marketers are shifting from out-of-the-box algos to precision-built decision engines.We cover: ✅ The path to becoming a VP of Data Science (spoiler: it's rarely linear) ✅ How Chalice builds reusable AI microservices ✅ When to use platform algorithms vs. custom models ✅ The rise of containerized RTB and sell-side decisioning ✅ Why inclusion/exclusion lists might be killing your scale ✅ And yes... a horror story involving hallucinated LLM sales personas

How do brands really think—and what do startups get wrong when selling to them?In this episode of The Aperiam Podcast, Joe and Corey sit down with our partner Danilo Toro, who brings a rare perspective as a marketer-turned-technologist with experience at P&G, Amazon, and Uber.The team discusses:What’s actually top of mind for CMOs in 2025 (spoiler: it’s not just AI)Why the “job to be done” always trumps the tech specsHow brands make decisions about switching vendors (hint: your pitch probably isn’t as unique as you think)The massive opportunities around media and creative supply chain integrationWhy startups must position themselves as part of a broader ecosystem—not just a point solution

If you had a blank slate—what kind of AdTech company would you build?On this episode of the Aperiam Podcast, Joe and Corey kick around startup concepts, inspired by a little help from ChatGPT. From closed-loop attribution in Canada to influencer infrastructure, orchestration platforms, and agentic media buying—we cover the real whitespace in today’s adtech landscape.We talk:What LLM-native ad formats might look likeWhy influencer tech is underbuilt—and underestimatedWhy orchestration and AI middleware are must-build categoriesWhat it takes to reassemble a fractured media ecosystem

Joe and Corey give their thoughts on this year's Cannes Lion conference and unpack the many retail media announcements.  From Amazon’s partnerships with Roku and Disney to the rise of verticalized commerce stacks, it’s clear: retail media is no longer a niche—it’s the connective tissue of modern advertising.We explore:Was AI the only theme in Cannes?Whether "retail media" is still a useful termThe role of AI in empowering indie agenciesHow marketers should rethink audience, measurement, and branding in an outcomes-driven worldWhy every company is becoming an ad businessIf you’re trying to make sense of the chaos, this one's for you.

On the latest episode of The Aperiam Podcast, Corey Ferengul moderates…sort of a debate…between Joe Zawadzki and Erica Chriss on whether cookie deprecation was a crisis or a catalyst.Was identity always essential—or have retail media and curation shown us a better path?Smart, fast-paced, and full of insights for CMOs, investors, and adtech insiders.

On this episode of The Aperiam Podcast, Corey Ferengul and Joe Zawadzki go deep on what really drives investment decisions and even surface some disagreements.  From exit potential and market understanding to founder grit and AI integration, what factors into the thinking.No checklists. Just real talk on how VCs actually evaluate opportunities—and why trust, logic, and the route to market matter more than you think.Whether you’re a founder, investor, or just curious how the venture sausage gets made, this one’s for you.

M&A in AdTech: Dead or Just Sleeping?In this week's Aperiam Podcast, Corey and Joe dive into what’s really happening in the M&A market, why being “ready” matters even when you're not for sale, and how founders should think about story, data, and the art of the soft pitch.  Get an indepth view on how Corey and Joe think about running an M&A process.Plus, an Easter egg offer for our listeners…

 Is Microsoft’s DSP shutdown a bold AI bet or a quiet surrender? In this episode, Joe Zawadzki and Corey Ferengul unpack Microsoft's decision to wind down Xandr by 2026 — and what it signals about the future of DSPs in an agentic, AI-driven world. 🚫📈🤖 We talk: Why big companies fail at ad tech rollupsHow agentic AI disrupts the programmatic modelThe rise of modular, API-first ad stacksWhether we’re heading toward 3 mega-DSPs or 3,000 micro-platformsWhy Microsoft might be doing with ads what Harvard once did with linguistics (yes, really)If you care about the future of ad tech, automation, or why sometimes blowing things up is the right move — this one’s for you. #AperiamPodcast #AdTech #AI #DSP #Programmatic #Azure #Microsoft #Advertising #MediaBuying #Innovation #AgenticAI 

In this spirited edition of The Aperiam Podcast, Corey Ferengul moderates a dynamic debate between Joe Zawadzki and Erica Chriss on one of ad tech's most pressing questions: Is the future of programmatic driven by curated SSPs or discovery-oriented DSPs?Framed around the buzzword “curation,” the trio unpacks whether the power in ad tech is shifting toward pre-packaged inventory strategies or remains in the hands of data-driven, algorithmic buying. From vertical ad stacks to AI agents, the discussion spans tactical considerations and broader philosophical implications—including who should own performance and how both sides can (and must) evolve.Whether you're a brand, publisher, or tech platform, this episode offers insight into the evolving balance of power in digital advertising—and why a hybrid approach may define the next era.

Fresh off the beach and deep in conversation, Joe Zawadzki and Corey Ferengul break down everything they saw and heard at Possible 2025 in Miami—from the undercurrent of AI innovation to the silence around macroeconomics.They discuss:Why AI was everywhere—but not just as a buzzword.The conspicuous absence of macroeconomic discussion—and why politics might be the reason.The impact of the Google verdict on the market..Hiring freezes, AI-native companies, and the rise of lean startups.

In this episode of The Aperiam Podcast, Corey Ferengul and Joe Zawadzki are joined by Ana Milicevic—ad tech pioneer, board member at ID5, and co-founder of Sparrow Advisers—for a deep dive into the intersection of telco, identity, and innovation.The trio unpacks:How Bell Canada is building a future-facing retail media stackWhy Canada is the ideal test market for global media innovationThe evolution of retail media networks beyond traditional retailLessons from past failures in telco-ad tech marriages, and what’s different nowWhat it takes to build resilient, anti-fragile companies in uncertain timesWhy AI investment is mission-critical—especially during downturnsFrom shoppable TV and CTV sequencing to data strategy and go-to-market design, this episode is a masterclass in how legacy companies can embrace agility, leverage data, and reimagine their role in the media ecosystem.

Joe and Corey discuss a different take on the federal ruling that Google is a monopoly.  They focus on what's next for marketeers, publishers and start ups.

Media companies are bouncing between open and closed ecosystems for their CTV inventory.  Joe and guest Erica Chriss debate the both sides - should a media provider have an open garden or an closed one?

Joe and Corey discuss the state of creative tech in the market and where it's going.

Joe and Corey discuss the current Connected TV landscape and business models for the technology players.

Joe and Corey discuss the AI impact the advertising world, now and in the future. Also, updates on Aperiam Ventures.