Up until a few years ago, the way TV ads were bought and sold looked a lot like it did in the 1950s — there were a lot of phone calls, some complex spreadsheets and maybe a few faxes.
In 2012, local entrepreneurs Doug Hurd and Joshua Summers (pictured below) decided it was finally time for a shake up.
The duo worked together as advertising execs at PayPal and after nearly two years, they realized that some of the company’s successful advertising solutions (like automation and big data usage) could be applied elsewhere.
“We knew a lot about digital advertising evolving in the online and mobile space and thought it was a great opportunity to apply that to television,” Hurd said. “It was a big idea and exciting and scary and everything in between, but the U.S. TV advertising market is a $74 billion market.”
The pair launched Clypd, a Somerville-based startup that provides technology to TV ad sellers for managing all aspects of their sales.
Much of the startup’s technology uses the huge amount of data that goes into choosing and targeting advertising. Rather than just looking at gender and age demographics, Clypd looks at multiple data sources so advertisers can target a much more specific audience.
Clypd’s technology also brings more automation to the workflows of people selling TV ads by providing tools that help streamline and manage their sales efforts.
“It was not our approach to disrupt the model and turn it upside down and introduce new ways of transacting,” Hurd (pictured left) said. “We just made some new tools that could be introduced to augment the process and make it more efficient and drive new streams of revenue.”
Today, Clypd serves customers with some of the largest names in cable, satellite, broadcast and TV programming like Discovery, Fox, ESPN and several other national cable networks.
Hurd attributes Clypd’s success to more than just good market timing, however.
The company culture they’ve built in Boston is Clypd’s “pride and joy,” Hurd said. They focus on hiring workers from two very different backgrounds — television and digital veterans who can bring their unique skill sets to the emerging market of audience-based TV sales.
“We needed those who were very knowledgeable in digital technology from a developer and engineering perspective as well as the business development side,” Hurd said. “So we brought on really smart people on the digital side while also hiring people who are very proficient in the TV advertising space.”
Getting the diverse team to work together while having fun has been part of Clypd’s recipe for success, Hurd said.
As Clypd expands, Hurd said he and Summers plan to keep the collaborative work environment intact.
“Company culture is something we take very seriously,” Hurd said, describing their office in Davis Square as a fun, open space where people can move around, utilize standing desks or hang out in beanbag chairs.
Clypd also offers its employees amenities like three craft beers on tap, unlimited coldbrew coffee and tea and a stocked kitchen environment.
The company has raised over $30 million in funding.
Photo via social media
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