Our ‘Profile: A Day in the Life of’ feature takes a look at some of the global professionals working across performance marketing. It aims to shed light on the varying roles and companies across the flourishing industry.
Name:
Mendel Senf
Job title and company:
CEO and Co-founder, YD
In one sentence, how would you describe what the company does?
YD is a programmatic marketing technology company working with industry leaders in travel and telecoms to optimise their integrated marketing campaigns.
What are the company’s unique selling points?
YD specialises in integrating customer and inventory management data into a programmatic marketing strategy, with customised offerings for the travel and telecommunications industries. Our team has strong experience in working with e-commerce teams to integrate software solutions to drive ROI and real business results.
Within the last year, what stands out as the company’s major milestones?
The major news from a business perspective came when we secured €4.6 million worth of funding in September 2013. The capital investment provided an incredible boost for our company when it came to driving our efforts both in continental Europe and the UK, and we now intend to accelerate growth worldwide to further consolidate our position as a disruptive force within programmatic advertising – the most rapidly growing part of the digital advertising industry. Towards the end of last year, we also released our in-app retargeting product, which we’ve been developing in conjunction with our travel and airlines client base.
Duration in current role:
Six years.
Where are you based?
YD’s company headquarters are in Amsterdam, where I lived until the end of last year. Myself and my family are now based in Berlin.
Previous performance marketing-related Co’s you have worked at:
I started my career in early 2001, focusing on online lead generation and market research, and gained my professional experience within performance-based online marketing and sales at Lastminute.com and performance media network zanox. I’ve realised over the years that I have a specific talent for developing specific specialisations that have developed to be programmatic online and mobile media buying strategies, as well as performance display and RTB technology.
What are your main job responsibilities?
I’m the CEO, so when it comes down to it, everything is my responsibility! I think when you work in a team that is growing so rapidly, you need to work at being able to be both a generalist and a specialist in your field. A CEO’s main challenge is being able to switch quickly from one task to the next, and to turn your hand to anything that needs to get done to move the business forward and stay on track of our strategy. I hire people on the basis that they can get stuck into problem-solving and revolutionising our clients’ campaigns, however that may manifest itself.
Take us through what you get up to on a typical working Monday:
The working morning starts with an analysis of the developments made in the accounts in the past week. At 11am, we get together for a management meeting and from then on I move forward into implementing actions discussed with my staff. For the rest of the day, I’ll be steering the sales pipeline with a strong focus on performance delivery for our clients. When I get home in the evening, I have three daughters whose main job seems to keep me as busy as possible whenever I’m around!
What top three websites can you be found browsing during your lunch hour?
LinkedIN, Google Docs and Financial Times.
What are your top three tips for someone looking to get their hands on a job like yours?
Only do what you want to do in life, and then follow it through with passion. Always always ask yourself if you can do better.
Career-wise, where do you see yourself in three years time?
Still on top of YD, with the business having grown five to tenfold the size it is today.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
It’s said that the Dutch are some of the most open-minded people in Europe, so it follows that I tend to be as open as possible with my team. It’s the Dutch way!