In this episode of Tales from the PROS, I chat with James Avery who is the Founder of Adzerk, which is an innovative cloud API platform for building integrated native ads and sponsored listings.

We discuss a few different topics such as digital advertising, product development, building a tech company, how to compete in a tough space, patience and planning, and much more.

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Some Questions Asked:

James, what really caught my attention before reaching out to you was firstly I saw your company on Techcrunch and how you made it to the next level with the help of Reddit. Also, I saw that you guys made it to INC Magazine's top 500 best companies list. Can you tell me a little about that?

1. James, explain to us non-tech people what is adtech and how it is impacting marketing and sales in today's generation?
2. James, what was the motive behind building AdZerk's API platform?
3. I know it's tough starting a tech company organically, that is how we did it, but i noticed you guys received a few rounds of funding, what was that process like?
4. Do you feel that the funding was needed or could you have grown it organically up until today?
5. How do you guys stay competitive in your space? For example, you got Google essentially as a competitor right? haha
6. Building a tech company and product is extremely difficult, what were some of the hardest obstacles you faced, like was it harder getting the product completed and out of beta or is it harder now competing in the space and trying to drive more revenue?
7. You obviously understand that tech is booming and evolving at a rapid rate, what technology trends do you see emerging and which ones do you see dying in the digital advertising space?
8. How is artificial intelligence effecting the digital advertising space?
9. What tips would you give to current and future tech entrepreneurs and what they need to avoid or be aware of?
10. How did planning and patience play a vital role in your success at AdZerk?
11. Do you feel that entrepreneurship is getting harder in our economy?

CLOSING:

I always ask the THREE HOW'S:

• How do you define failure?
• How do you define entrepreneurship?
• How do you define success?