Life in Adtech: Leveraging Client Feedback For Product Development

In our blog series “Life in Adtech” we’re showcasing the different ways in which StackAdapters are driving innovation in adtech, and creating a progressive tech culture. From using modeling and data to create advanced algorithms to building stylish and robust user interfaces, everyone at StackAdapt is contributing to evolving the StackAdapt platform and providing the best product and service to our clients.

This month features Vijay Sridharan, Senior Director of Product Management at StackAdapt. Vijay shares his journey into adtech, what his role entails, and how the Product team at StackAdapt supports the success of StackAdapt users.

Can you share a bit about your journey into working in adtech?

After earning a Masters in Business (MBA) I wanted to get into an industry that is dynamic, challenging, fast growing and involves cutting edge tech. Adtech was a perfect fit. Shortly after a stint working as a product manager in the education industry, I got an opportunity to work at StackAdapt. 

I’m so glad I joined StackAdapt when I did, and I have not looked back! There was a lot to learn in the beginning, and I continue to learn a lot today. The adtech industry is constantly evolving, which is what makes it both challenging and rewarding. I’ve had a great experience so far and I am excited to continue my adtech journey

What is the main focus of the Product team at StackAdapt, and how do you support the team?

The main focus of the Product team at StackAdapt is to align company strategy with user needs, and ultimately bring maximum value to our users. To deliver this value, the Product team works with multiple stakeholders across the entire product process that includes our users, as well as the Sales, Engineering, Data Science and Marketing teams.

My role at StackAdapt is to support the Product team at every stage of this process. I help to identify and remove any operational or domain-related roadblocks that might come up, which helps ensure maximum efficiency across the Product and Development teams.

How does your team go about developing new products across our suite of programmatic advertising features?

We don’t jump into finding solutions. First, we spend a lot of time trying to understand and validate the problems that StackAdapt users might be facing. We do a lot of qualitative and quantitative research to identify user pain points. 

Then, the team works closely with designers and engineers to come up with the best solution to the problem by iterating and validating all of the proposed solutions with our stakeholders. We take a very rigorous approach to product development because this ensures we’re putting the time and effort toward building the features that will most benefit StackAdapt users. 

Why is client feedback so critical for product development and user experience?

Client feedback is critical to what my team does because we truly can’t build better features without talking to the people who use StackAdapt. Because StackAdapt clients are interacting with our platform day in and day out, we have to deeply understand what challenges they might be encountering that we could solve. 

How does collaboration factor into your team’s work, and who do you collaborate with?

Product management is an intersection of business, technology and design. This makes collaboration an important part of the product development process. On a daily business, we work with various stakeholders. We get to build relationships with StackAdapt users, collaborating with them as well as with internal teams.

This collaboration helps us gather the feedback that’s so critical to our work. We host client calls and client surveys, and we also collaborate with StackAdapt teams who work closely with our users, like Account Managers, to hear their input. 

What have you found is most rewarding about working on the Product at StackAdapt?

It’s exciting to work on the Product team because you have the opportunity to work closely with some of the friendliest and smartest minds in adtech. And, it’s really rewarding to see the impact of our work. It feels so great to hear that clients are happy with a feature that we worked on, and how it’s impacting their work in a positive way.

Interested in joining StackAdapt? See our open roles and apply here.

I each new addition, we will be highlighting our teams and team members in our “Life In Adtech” series—stay tuned for more!