If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— During the intro James and Daniel share a big update about Market AI and the reason for the short break between episodes. After the intro, Conor McKenna, Partner at LUMA Partners, rejoins the podcast to share what he's seeing in the M&A markets across sectors within adtech and martech, and what's driving that activity. Conor discusses the impact of the upcoming presidential election, the economy, and the potential M&A implications of the Google antitrust trial. ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Read a transcript of the full episode from Read AI: https://app.read.ai/analytics/meetings/01J486QZFQ1JVSEY6BR92K77RP David Shim is the founder and CEO of Read AI, the leader in gen AI meeting summaries. David and his co-founders started Read AI with a mission of building the future of work, where every interaction is improved with AI. Read AI has raised over $32M and is applying AI and analytics to video conferencing that analyzes, prescribes, and prevents bad meetings. Prior to founding Read AI, David was the CEO of Foursquare and before that was the founder and CEO of Placed, which was acquired by Snap for $175M in 2017. Hear David talk about his “aha” moment going all in on location measurement, the Placed acquisition story and what he wished he knew then, why meeting summaries will be most people’s first experience with AI, and what the future of AI has in store. ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Jeffrey Mayer is the Managing Director, US, and Head of Product at DanAds, which is an industry leading provider of self-serve technology. They power fully automated, and white-labeled self-serve infrastructure that enables global media owners like Roku, Spotify, Paramount, Zillow, WSJ, and more to support advertisers interested in buying ad inventory through owned tools. During our conversation Jeffrey discusses the importance of self-service tools and their growth over the years, how publishers are using AI automation to drastically reduce costs, and the impact of ad platform fragmentation. ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Gokul Rajaram has been an integral part of the digital ad ecosystem for more than 20 years. He was a product leader on Google’s AdSense, product director of ads at Facebook, and is on the boards of The Trade Desk, Pinterest, and Coinbase among others. Gokul now invests in early-stage technology startups and partners with founders to help them build enduring companies. As he puts it, he’s “an investor and company helper”. This is one of the most thought provoking episodes of Taking Inventory. Hear Gokul talk about one of the biggest mistakes founders and early stage companies make, how the role of board members is changing, similarities among the great leaders he’s worked with, and much more. ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Andrew Covato, Founder and CEO of Growth by Science and former measurement lead at Netflix, Meta, Snap, and Google, returns to the podcast to provide an update on the measurement trends that advertisers need know and what big and small companies can do to improve their measurement today. ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Brendan McCarthy is Chief Marketing Officer at Criteo. He joined Criteo in late 2020, bringing nearly 20 years of Fortune 500 strategic marketing and communications experience to the company. Under his leadership, Brendan spearheaded key transformational initiatives at Criteo, including a brand refresh and an integrated marketing campaign, “The Future is Wide Open,” which signaled the company’s new vision and commerce media strategy. Previously, Brendan was Head of Communications and Product Marketing for Nielsen Global Media, where he spent five years helping to transform the company’s reputation from a legacy television ratings provider to a leading-edge data and technology company. Brendan joins the podcast to discuss all facets of marketing including marketing during company transformation, the importance of embedding within cross-functional teams, how to build a marketing org that supports multiple stakeholders. ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Adam Greenberg is a former attorney from Skadden Arps who left big law to join Warby Parker as their second legal hire, later joined health platform Ro as their General Counsel, and most recently joining Tiger-backed Blank Street as General Counsel. He’s helped startups scale legal teams from a team of 1, working primarily with outside counsel, to full legal teams supporting all aspects of the business. During our conversation Adam shares his experience growing the legal functions at three high-growth startups and the legal framework that supported all aspects of the business. He shares stories from his time lobbying and working with politicians, his view on how legal can be set up to support teams across a company, how to turn legal into an offensive asset for company growth, and much more. ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— In this episode of Taking Inventory we welcome Gabriel Ornelas, a renowned strategist and producer in the hospitality, food and beverage, entertainment, and lifestyle industries. Gabriel works with brands to develop and produce impactful branded experiences through content, media, and strategic partnerships. His portfolio includes collaborations with industry giants like Faena Group, Sbe, Mercedes Benz, Perfect Day Foods, Citi, Perrier-Jouet Champagne, Moet Hennessy, and Valrhona. As the host, creator, and producer of "On The Pass," a Top 100 podcast in Food, Gabriel brings listeners engaging conversations with leading figures in the food and beverage, hospitality, and travel industries. In this episode, discover how Gabriel’s global experiences and innovative approach have driven growth for major brands, and get a behind-the-scenes look at how he built "On The Pass" from the ground up. Tune in for an inspiring discussion that promises to deliver valuable insights and motivation for anyone interested in the intersections of food, travel, hospitality, and culture. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from one of the industry's most dynamic figures. ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Nik Milanović is one of the leading figures in fintech as the founder of “This Week in Fintech” a global newsletter with over 100K subscribers and the General Partner at The Fintech Fund where he invests in early-stage companies. Before founding his newsletter and fund, Nik was an exec at Google Pay, Petal, and Funding Circle. Nik breaks down what’s happening in fintech, why international markets will create the next unicorns, how tech is democratizing financial products, and more. Note: This episode was recorded several weeks ago prior to several of the recent headlines involving Synapse, Evolve, etc. ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn:James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Turner Novak is a former banker turned Twitter / meme influencer with 170K followers, and has built that account into an empire with newsletter, podcast, and early stage investment fund Banana Capital. Through the fund Turner has made 50+ investments, including companies like BrowseAI, BinStar and Chaingaurd. During our conversation Turner explains the meaning behind the Banana Capital name, how a single Twitter account was the jumping off point for all of his businesses, and where he thinks we are in the investment cycle. ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Patrick Harris is the President of Americas at Snap where he’s brought his 10+ years of experience from Meta and 5+ years from Microsoft. Hear what it was like building the organization at Meta and what he’s bringing to Snap to change the culture and advertiser experience. Patrick talks about the misconceptions that the market has about Snap, how it has turned a corner on performance / DR, and how Snap continues to lead the market when it comes to consumer experiences. ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Rajan Vaish is the founder and CEO of Easel, an AI-powered app that lets you create scenes with your AI avatar to express yourself with friends in fun and imaginative ways, all directly from iMessage. Prior to founding Easel, Rajan was a senior research scientists in Snap Research's HCI Group working on projects across AR, smart glasses, and social computing. During our conversation Rajan shares his story going from academic research to Snap, how a research mentality is critical for founders, and why the next wave of social will be built alongside generative AI. Download Easel at https://easelapps.ai/ Check out Rajan's research: http://www.rajanvaish.com/index.html ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating and review. It’s the best way to help support us. And subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Mike Dupree is the Chief Revenue Officer at Teads where he oversees the commercial organization, including field sales, agency partnerships and strategic sales initiatives. Mike joined Teads after spending nearly 10 years at Twitter / X where he was leading the brand and performance advertising business across verticals including entertainment, sports, news, tech and audio. During his time at Twitter he oversaw Ads Policy development globally, directed ad product and measurement strategies, and developed new categories for the business. During our conversation we talk about Mike's experience during the Twitter-to-X transition, his POV on open web vs walled gardens, how Teads is tackling cookie deprecation, and more. ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Bryan Barletta is the founder of Sounds Profitable, a trade association for the podcast industry. As a seasoned professional with over 16 years in the advertising and technology space, Barletta played a key role in the world’s first shakeable ad in 2009 and held leadership positions at prominent podcast companies like Megaphone and Claritas. He’s an advocate for digital audio, pioneering the first-ever Podcasting at SXSW- Sound Summit in 2024, which brought big players – like ESPN, Wondery, SiriusXM and more – together with celebrities and podcast hosts, including Marsha Cooke, Nick Viall and others, to give the industry the recognition it deserves. ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Brian Quinn is the President and GM of North America at AppsFlyer. Brian has over 15 years of experience in sales leadership and business development—scaling revenue, building high performing growth teams, & executing go-to-market strategies in a variety of internet software businesses across the mobile, marketing, and data/analytics industries such as App Annie, Kenshoo and AT&T. During our conversation Brian tells us about the current state of the app economy, the rapid pace of innovation especially as consumers move from web to app, how cookie deprecation will lead to more growth in 1P data, changing consumer habits, and much more. ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Daniel Tejada is Co-founder and Chief Learning Office at Straight Up Growth, the Amazon agency that has nearly $750M in Amazon sales. Daniel was one of the first people to start advertising on Amazon and has since become a global leader in Amazon ads and sales strategy. Daniel helps make sense of Amazon’s full ad suite, why the platform is still in its infancy, and what Amazon has in store for the future (hint: non-endemic ads, more cross-channel partnerships, and AI). Check out Straight Up Growth: https://straightupgrowth.com/ ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
This episode is brought to you by Market. Use AI to chat directly with your marketing and sales channels to get the answers you need to grow your business. Sign-up for Market at https://www.withmarket.ai/. ——— Garrett Rothstein is the founder and CEO of Queue, an app that helps user keep track of all the content across streaming services and queue movies and shows to watch. Hear Garrett’s story going from Snap to Quibi, and then having the idea for Queue and linking up with famed founder and investor Spencer Rascoff. Garrett tells us the story of starting Queue, going from zero to growth, and where the company is today. Download Queue on Apple and Android ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating and review. It’s the best way to help support us. And subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Michael Cassidy is an entrepreneur who has started and exited multiple companies, including founding and serving as Undertone CEO for 14 years (acquired by Perion). Hear his journey from the early 2000’s of tech (the wild west!), to exiting, then creating a family office (August Spark) to make direct investments, including purchasing BVA, the largest Shopify Plus agency in the US (acquired by Accenture). Michael talks about his 3rd act, M3 (Make Merchants Money), where he’s helping retailers unlock new revenue streams while creating impactful opportunities for brands to reach audiences when they're most open to new ideas. Visit M3: https://www.m-three.co/ ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Alex Kantrowitz is an independent journalist that started Big Technology, which has more than 150K newsletter subscribers and is a top 10 tech podcast with more than 1M annual downloads. He jumped on the Taking Inventory podcast to discuss all things AI, from how fast everything is moving, the startup vs. big tech battle, changing corporate culture across tech, the move to self-driving, and more. Big Technology Newsletter: https://www.bigtechnology.com/ Big Technology Podcast: https://pod.link/1522960417/ ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!
If you like Taking Inventory, do us a favor and give us a 5-star rating or review. It’s the best way to help support the podcast. ——— Geoffrey Reed is the COO of Floor 84, a digital game and experience studio that that works with brands like the NBA, Disney, Mattel, Lego, and more. Geoff has a stacked background as a lawyer, McKinsey consultant, strategy at Mattel, strategy at Snap, and now COO. He helps us understand what's happening on Roblox, how brands are getting involved, and the future of new digital experiences like Roblox, Fortnite, and others. Floor 84: https://floor84studio.com/ F84's Roblox NBA Avatar Catalog: https://www.roblox.com/games/15515610365/EARN-FREE-UGC-NBA-Avatar-Catalog ——— Connect with James and Daniel! LinkedIn: James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesborow/ Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldruger/ Twitter: James: https://twitter.com/jamesborow Daniel: https://twitter.com/ddruger Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.takinginventorypod.com/ and follow Taking Inventory on LinkedIn and Twitter!