Krátký-Katz: The 2015–2018 cohort of ad-block circumvention startups mostly failed
Marty Krátký-Katz · Marty Krátký-Katz, Founder of Blockthrough (Bootstrapped to ~$100M exit) | How Never Giving Up Le... · PMF Show · Mar 8, 2024 · at 17:35
Marty Krátký-Katz, co-founder of Blockthrough, discusses the fate of competitor ad-blocking circumvention startups from the 2015 to 2018 era.
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“There was actually a whole like generation of ad block Circumvention solutions like ours that, that started in that 2015 to 2018 period and like either flamed out, failed, you know, sold for pennies on the dollar or ended up, you know, pivoting away.”
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More from Marty Krátký-Katz
Krátký-Katz: Outsider status helped Blockthrough spot ad-block recovery opportunity
“The people who are most skeptical about the space were ad tech people. I would talk to them and they would say, well, like, oh, ad block users don't want to see ads. That's why they're blocking them. And that, that sounded intuitive to them, but You know, to u…”
Krátký-Katz: Most ad block users hate obnoxious formats, not all ads
“The vast majority of us ad block users are not militant ad haters. We just, you know, are really annoyed by a handful of obnoxious experiences, like, you know, pre-roll ads on YouTube.”
Krátký-Katz: Blockthrough revenue jumped from $100 to $96K in six months
“We go a hundred dollars in revenue the first month, a thousand dollars the second month. 10,000 the third month, 20,000 the fourth month, 48,096 thousand, like.”
Krátký-Katz: eyeo acquired Blockthrough in late 2023
“And so they ended up acquiring us late last year.”
Krátký-Katz: Blockthrough returned an average of 8.5X to investors, first investor 25X
“I think our average investor return was like eight and a half X. Our very first investor did like 25 X, you know, a friend from high school.”
Krátký-Katz: Blockthrough acquired an early competitor to win the ad-blocking market
“Ironically, we ended up buying one of them. So acquiring one of those companies and then the other one pivoted So many times that they don't do ad blocking anymore. So we actually ended up being the sort of the winner in the space.”