Looking back on 2021

For Advertio, 2020 was a year of growth, not only personally for everyone on the team because of what Covid brought but also as a business. 2021, on the other hand, was the year of people and teamwork. We found the best talent out there, continued growing our partner network and bet on structuring the business to withstand even more campaigns and ads.

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12 months went by really fast

We started the year with 20 people, which was already a significant achievement. However, with more partners and more campaigns managed on our platform, we knew we needed to focus on elevating our product and increasing our capacity. For that, we needed people, but not just any people.

As a startup, Advertio always had — and continues to have — a very flat organisational structure. I conducted most managing tasks, and I’d ask for help whenever things were getting out of hand. This structure worked well for our first three years as the team was still relatively small, and I could keep track of most things.

However, when we started growing and hiring more people, it became clear that we needed to be more organised. We didn’t want hierarchies or too much bureaucracy, but we needed more people in leadership roles and better documentation.

At the same time, we knew we didn’t want to simply accept the first people we encountered. There needed to be a cultural fit, have some seniority but be comfortable working in a startup environment. So, we started looking, but business didn’t stop while we searched.

Since the first quarter of 2021, we started growing the number of campaigns we had running with our clients, we got new pilot opportunities, and we had more clients joining the platform. All this growth was incredible, but it also meant that we needed people in leadership positions and people who could get things done quickly and efficiently. So, we went looking for the best young talent in marketing and software engineering.

Fast forward to June, and we hit a trifecta: we were able to find the perfect fit for the CTO position, Head of Product and CFO. We managed to convince our preferred choices for the three positions to join us, and I couldn’t be happier with Diogo, Matt and Marco’s work.

At the same time, all our new talent was flourishing as we welcomed new people to all our departments. This meant we got new Frontend developers, Backend developers and Data Scientists, a Project Manager and several digital Marketing experts, thus strengthening all our fronts.

I would be lying if I said everything was perfect this year, though. I don’t want to be just another CEO who writes a yearly wrap-up and only mentions the successes.

There were tough days where our platform didn’t seem to want to collaborate with us, or we didn’t secure a potential big client, and our team did get tired at times, myself included. Managing a team isn’t easy; being part of a team is a big responsibility that all people at advertio feel very deeply, making it harder to accept failures.

While these bad days happened, I’m grateful that the good days surpass them by quite a lot. Our team faced all the adversities head-on, and we’re now finishing the year stronger than ever.

Getting our batteries ready for 2022

‍Now, it’s time for us to focus on the coming year. Our goals are set, and now it’s just a matter of conquering them. We’re currently a team of 32 people, from 8 nationalities, across 3 different time zones, and we’re still growing. As a matter of fact, we’re hiring. So if you want to start 2022 off on the right foot, check out our openings.

In 2022, we’ll focus our efforts on improving our product and growing our presence outside Europe.

Finally, I wish everyone a great holiday season in the company of family and friends. Let’s take these last two weeks of the year to look back, be thankful for what we achieved and recharge our batteries to make 2022 the best year to date!

Happy Holidays,

João de Sousa Aroso