Digital ad tech company Viant Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: DSP) has filled two new executive posts, as the company seeks to regain some of the excitement it created when it went public in February.
The Irvine-based company earlier this month announced the appointment of Brad Samson as vice president, investor relations, while Tom Wolfe was appointed senior vice president for business development.
Viant climbed to a nearly $4 billion market cap shortly after its public listing in February 2021, placing it among Orange County’s top dozen or so public companies, but has seen its valuation fall back to about $520 million as of last week.
The company was co-founded by Chief Executive Tim Vanderhook and his brother, Chief Operating Officer Chris Vanderhook, along with their brother Russ Vanderhook.
Viant’s Adelphic DSP enterprise software platform lets marketers and their agencies execute programmatic advertising campaigns, allowing them to buy ads anywhere electronically. Viant enables marketers and their agencies to centralize the planning, buying and measurement of their advertising investments across most channels.
The company said in March it competed “with smaller, privately held companies, with public companies such as The Trade Desk, and with divisions of large, well-established companies such as Google.”
Wall Street Resource
Samson, whose appointment was announced on Jan. 11, said his new job is an “extra resource to Wall Street when they’re trying to understand the company.”
“You have to be a good finance person, but you also really have to like talking to people because you spend an awful of your day on the phone,” investor relations executive Samson told the Business Journal on Jan. 13.
The company added 17 active customers to reach a total of 305 in the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30.
“My objective is to try and improve the valuation, but the process of doing so is really about education. You do that through a variety of means,” according to Samson.
Samson has plenty of experience in investor relations, going back 30 years. Viant is his seventh public company where he’s run investor relations.
Samson brings more than 30 years of investor relations experience at six prior public companies, including Zepp Health, Fitbit, Vocera and Trizetto, spanning a range of industrial and consumer tech including enterprise software, platforms and SAAS, apps, analytics, services and health devices.
Inadequately Understood
“The key part of this role is really about education,” he said.
“When you have gaps in valuation that come up for companies like Viant, it’s really because the market doesn’t adequately understand them, understand the business they’re in or the market.”
He lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., and expects to be spending “a good amount of time” in Irvine.
“It’s kind of a bit of a road warrior job,” he says of the need to go out and meet with people.
In this newly created role at Viant, Samson is responsible for leading Viant’s investor relations strategy, as well as overseeing Viant’s relationships with its shareholders and financial community. Samson will report to Viant’s Chief Financial Officer, Larry Madden.
The Right Stuff
In the second newly created position at Viant, Wolfe is responsible for driving strategic business partnerships to support the company’s growth and business strategy. Wolfe, whose appointment was announced on Jan. 4, reports to Viant’s Chief Marketing Officer, Jon Schulz.
Earlier in his career, Wolfe launched and led multiple businesses at industry leaders such as Roku, Tivo, YuMe, and Comcast, and has advised several companies, including Vizio, Vice Media, and more, according to the company.Â
