2013 Top Company winner: SpotXchange Inc.

Gigi Sukin //November 19, 2013//

2013 Top Company winner: SpotXchange Inc.

Gigi Sukin //November 19, 2013//

TECHNOLOGY

SPOTXCHANGE INC.

No longer do we live in the glamorous 1960s Mad Men era of advertising. Thanks to the digital age, consumer attention has decreased, choice has increased and user-created content has become a reality. Moreover, the Internet has taken a piece of the pie from other traditional media.

With more than 400 million auctions each day, SpotXchange is ambitiously embracing the altering landscape and repurposing ad buys, as the largest global marketplace of video ad inventory, reaching roughly 200 million unique visitors in more than 50 countries monthly. The company connects thousands of publishers with advertisers, agencies, trading desks, DSPs and ad networks.

With a “rocky” start in 2001 that included multiple mortgages, a used Lamborghini and capital efficiencies, founders COO/CFO Steve Swoboda and CEO Mike Shehan were “scrappy.” More than a decade later, the culture and company have remained optimistic and embraced the 21st century Colorado spirit of work-life balance. 

“We trust our team,” Swoboda said, in response to questions about the unlimited vacation policy. “Individuals are responsible for getting their work done. If you coordinate and are accountable, then you don’t need a lot of oversight and micro-management. If they feel like they’re working in a respectful environment, we’ve found it’s a win-win for productivity.”

Similarly, client relationships are met with the same partnership mentality. “It just results in good karma,” Swoboda says.

Recently SpotXchange introduced SkipIt, a service that allows Web surfers to control their online video experience with the option to avoid Web ads. Though it may seem to be a counterintuitive solution – given that SpotXChange facilitates the buying and selling of online video ads – the company was eager to address high-abandonment rates online and thus attempted to strike a balance between publishers, advertisers and consumers.