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...

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...

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”...

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’v...

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...

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...

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 comm...

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 loo...

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...

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 2...

If You’re Not Using AI in Dev, You’re Already Behind AI 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 produc...

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 wher...

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...

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  ✅...

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...

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...

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 term...

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...

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 li...

  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 rollups How agentic AI disrupts the programmatic model The rise of modular, API-first ad stacks Wh...

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 rema...

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 Googl...

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 stack Why Canada is the ideal test market for global media innovation The evo...

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.