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Jan 19, 2018 · 17m · top-founders

909 AdTech: How to Get Advertisers to Put $20m Through Your Platform While You take 5%-50%

Vitaly Pecherskiy · 8m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The Top Entrepreneurs Podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews StackAdapt CEO Vitaly Pecherskiy to break down how the native adtech platform scaled to over $20 million in transaction volume with under $3 million in capital raised. Pecherskiy details their dynamic pricing model, customer acquisition shift toward outbound sales, and disciplined unit economics.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 45.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 3.8 Guest teaching 2.5 Guest disagreement 1.0 Nathan pushing back 3.8
05100:0010:001:16–4:21 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Understanding StackAdapt's Revenue Model and Fluid Take Rate Nathan presses Vitaly to disclose specific take-rate percentages after Vitaly claims the information is private. Vitaly explains why SaaS models fail in seasonal ad tech and breaks down how performance-based arbitrage can result in zero or negative margins.4:21–8:32 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Scaling Native Advertising and Transaction Volume Growth Nathan challenges Vitaly's assertion that StackAdapt is the largest native ad buyer and probes how customers accept fluctuating variable pricing. Vitaly explains the Google AdWords analogy where ROI benchmarks outweigh margin visibility.8:35–13:19 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Sponsor Message: Acuity Scheduling for Efficient Meetings Following an ad read, Nathan aggressively parses customer acquisition costs, gross revenue crossing points, and equity splits among co-founders. Vitaly readily provides the numbers and explains the company's early cap table decisions.13:19–17:11 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Founder Education Philosophy and The Famous Five The conversation shifts into an amicable discussion on why founders share transparent numbers and closes with the rapid-fire Famous Five. Nathan jokes about fishing for compliments when asking why Vitaly agreed to be interviewed.1:16–4:21 · Guest teaching 4/10 Understanding StackAdapt's Revenue Model and Fluid Take Rate Nathan presses Vitaly to disclose specific take-rate percentages after Vitaly claims the information is private. Vitaly explains why SaaS models fail in seasonal ad tech and breaks down how performance-based arbitrage can result in zero or negative margins.4:21–8:32 · Guest teaching 3/10 Scaling Native Advertising and Transaction Volume Growth Nathan challenges Vitaly's assertion that StackAdapt is the largest native ad buyer and probes how customers accept fluctuating variable pricing. Vitaly explains the Google AdWords analogy where ROI benchmarks outweigh margin visibility.8:35–13:19 · Guest teaching 2/10 Sponsor Message: Acuity Scheduling for Efficient Meetings Following an ad read, Nathan aggressively parses customer acquisition costs, gross revenue crossing points, and equity splits among co-founders. Vitaly readily provides the numbers and explains the company's early cap table decisions.13:19–17:11 · Guest teaching 1/10 Founder Education Philosophy and The Famous Five The conversation shifts into an amicable discussion on why founders share transparent numbers and closes with the rapid-fire Famous Five. Nathan jokes about fishing for compliments when asking why Vitaly agreed to be interviewed.1:16–4:21 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Understanding StackAdapt's Revenue Model and Fluid Take Rate Nathan presses Vitaly to disclose specific take-rate percentages after Vitaly claims the information is private. Vitaly explains why SaaS models fail in seasonal ad tech and breaks down how performance-based arbitrage can result in zero or negative margins.4:21–8:32 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Scaling Native Advertising and Transaction Volume Growth Nathan challenges Vitaly's assertion that StackAdapt is the largest native ad buyer and probes how customers accept fluctuating variable pricing. Vitaly explains the Google AdWords analogy where ROI benchmarks outweigh margin visibility.8:35–13:19 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Sponsor Message: Acuity Scheduling for Efficient Meetings Following an ad read, Nathan aggressively parses customer acquisition costs, gross revenue crossing points, and equity splits among co-founders. Vitaly readily provides the numbers and explains the company's early cap table decisions.13:19–17:11 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Founder Education Philosophy and The Famous Five The conversation shifts into an amicable discussion on why founders share transparent numbers and closes with the rapid-fire Famous Five. Nathan jokes about fishing for compliments when asking why Vitaly agreed to be interviewed.1:16–4:21 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Understanding StackAdapt's Revenue Model and Fluid Take Rate Nathan presses Vitaly to disclose specific take-rate percentages after Vitaly claims the information is private. Vitaly explains why SaaS models fail in seasonal ad tech and breaks down how performance-based arbitrage can result in zero or negative margins.4:21–8:32 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Scaling Native Advertising and Transaction Volume Growth Nathan challenges Vitaly's assertion that StackAdapt is the largest native ad buyer and probes how customers accept fluctuating variable pricing. Vitaly explains the Google AdWords analogy where ROI benchmarks outweigh margin visibility.8:35–13:19 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Sponsor Message: Acuity Scheduling for Efficient Meetings Following an ad read, Nathan aggressively parses customer acquisition costs, gross revenue crossing points, and equity splits among co-founders. Vitaly readily provides the numbers and explains the company's early cap table decisions.13:19–17:11 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Founder Education Philosophy and The Famous Five The conversation shifts into an amicable discussion on why founders share transparent numbers and closes with the rapid-fire Famous Five. Nathan jokes about fishing for compliments when asking why Vitaly agreed to be interviewed.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 52.2% · guest 47.8%0:00 · Nathan 52.2% · guest 47.8%3:00 · Nathan 30.2% · guest 69.8%3:00 · Nathan 30.2% · guest 69.8%6:00 · Nathan 33.7% · guest 66.3%6:00 · Nathan 33.7% · guest 66.3%9:00 · Nathan 68.3% · guest 31.7%9:00 · Nathan 68.3% · guest 31.7%12:00 · Nathan 32.8% · guest 67.2%12:00 · Nathan 32.8% · guest 67.2%15:00 · Nathan 64.1% · guest 35.9%15:00 · Nathan 64.1% · guest 35.9%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 2:57 Vitaly refuses Nathan's 50 cent take-rate framing

When Nathan asserts that clients pay up to 50 cents on the dollar, Vitaly directly rejects the characterization, emphasizing it represents an extreme outlier rather than typical pricing.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 2:53 Nathan forces a margin ceiling estimate

After Vitaly refuses to share proprietary take rates, Nathan repeatedly pushes for definitive upper and lower boundaries until Vitaly concedes rough parameters.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:34 Vitaly details negative margin programmatic risk

Vitaly educates Nathan on the mechanics of buying ad inventory on a CPM basis while charging clients on performance outcomes, illustrating how ad tech firms take on downside risk.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 10:21 Nathan synthesizes customer volume and payback periods

Nathan demonstrates operational fluency by instantly deducing customer payback cycles from Vitaly's customer count and $20 million gross merchandise value.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Understanding StackAdapt's Revenue Model and Fluid Take Rate 4426 Nathan presses Vitaly to disclose specific take-rate percentages after Vitaly claims the information is private. Vitaly explains why SaaS models fail in seasonal ad tech and breaks down how performance-based arbitrage can result in zero or negative margins.
Scaling Native Advertising and Transaction Volume Growth 4314 Nathan challenges Vitaly's assertion that StackAdapt is the largest native ad buyer and probes how customers accept fluctuating variable pricing. Vitaly explains the Google AdWords analogy where ROI benchmarks outweigh margin visibility.
Sponsor Message: Acuity Scheduling for Efficient Meetings 5214 Following an ad read, Nathan aggressively parses customer acquisition costs, gross revenue crossing points, and equity splits among co-founders. Vitaly readily provides the numbers and explains the company's early cap table decisions.
Founder Education Philosophy and The Famous Five 2101 The conversation shifts into an amicable discussion on why founders share transparent numbers and closes with the rapid-fire Famous Five. Nathan jokes about fishing for compliments when asking why Vitaly agreed to be interviewed.

Statements from this episode (13)

Insight
Pecherskiy: SaaS pricing models fail in media due to seasonal spend
“I think every every advertising or media company has to try to figure out SAS model. It just doesn't work because the nature of advertising businesses is very seasonal. So some, sometimes advertisers just want to spend Money in the summer, just sometimes in th…”
Vitaly Pecherskiy Jan 19, 2018 ▶ 2:05
Disclosure
Pecherskiy: StackAdapt take rate is strictly below 50%
“It's definitely less than 50%.”
Vitaly Pecherskiy Jan 19, 2018 ▶ 2:58
Disclosure
Pecherskiy: StackAdapt buys on CPM and sells on performance goals
“We, for example, as a company, we always buy media on, Cost per impression basis, but sometimes we sell it on, on fixed performance based goals.”
Vitaly Pecherskiy Jan 19, 2018 ▶ 3:34
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pecherskiy: StackAdapt is the largest buyer of native advertising
“We are definitely the largest company when it comes to buying native advertising”
Vitaly Pecherskiy Jan 19, 2018 ▶ 4:46
Disclosure
Pecherskiy: StackAdapt did $8.9M in 2016 and plans $20M in 2017
“We did 8.9 and this year we're planning to do 20.”
Vitaly Pecherskiy Jan 19, 2018 ▶ 5:49
Insight
Pecherskiy: Advertisers Do Not Care About Platform Margins If CAC Beats LTV
“Nobody, nobody really cares how much Google what margin or how much money they make out of it. Because at the end of the day, if it drives sales, then like if at the end of the day, if your customer acquisition cost is lower than your LTV, then you're happy.”
Vitaly Pecherskiy Jan 19, 2018 ▶ 6:51
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pecherskiy: StackAdapt Works with Around 400 Customers
“We work right now because of that seasonality you know, some customers come and go based on the time of the year, but we work with around 400 customers.”
Vitaly Pecherskiy Jan 19, 2018 ▶ 7:32
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pecherskiy: About 90% of StackAdapt Customers Come from Direct Sales
“About 90% of them are from sales. So we are ramping up our inbound strategies but that's something we've grown up on, on inbound, but the challenge was that inbound attracts a lot of different types of customers, and it's, it became very hard to figure out whe…”
Vitaly Pecherskiy Jan 19, 2018 ▶ 7:47
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pecherskiy: StackAdapt spends under $10,000 monthly on paid search acquisition
“Under 10 K. Okay. All just on search.”
Vitaly Pecherskiy Jan 19, 2018 ▶ 10:03
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pecherskiy: StackAdapt fully weighted CAC is between $2,000 and $3,000
“It's about Two or three grand.”
Vitaly Pecherskiy Jan 19, 2018 ▶ 10:16
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pecherskiy: StackAdapt payback period is probably within a month
“It's very short. . Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. The, probably even within a month.”
Vitaly Pecherskiy Jan 19, 2018 ▶ 10:39
Disclosure
Pecherskiy: StackAdapt raised less than $3M in capital
“We raised capital. It was less than three million which basically meant that, you know, we have to always think of business fundamentals.”
Vitaly Pecherskiy Jan 19, 2018 ▶ 11:28
Disclosure
Pecherskiy: StackAdapt founders split equity equally three ways
“So when we brought our third co-founder, we recognized that the importance of being equal founders, so we just split it three ways.”
Vitaly Pecherskiy Jan 19, 2018 ▶ 12:50
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