ROQ.AD and the Ad-Tech Industry

By August 2015, Berlin-based advertising technology venture Roq.ad had grown from a chance encounter between its two co-founders to become a revenue generating operation with 18 full-time employees in Germany and Poland -- in just 10 months. Their goal was to develop new cross-device, user-recognition technology that would enable advertisers to accurately target consumers across a range of devices such as personal computers and peripheral devices. Roq.ad’s co-founders had decided from the beginning not to seek out venture capital and instead to retain tight control of their business. Given the lead time needed to develop technology, they had also decided to use an industry-standard agency model for generating revenues that would be used to fund the development of technology and the eventual launch of the program. As Roq.ad approached the end of its first year in business, the co-founders faced an important strategic challenge: How could they successfully transform the company from its initial mobile-advertising agency model to become Europe’s number one provider of cross-device, user-recognition technology?

This case is ideal for courses in entrepreneurship and strategy in both undergraduate and MBA-Level classes. The case can also be used in courses on international entrepreneurship and international strategy. After completion of this case, students should be able to:</ul><li>Form a strategy for transforming an entrepreneurial venture’s core business model.</li><li>Provide insights into competition and entrepreneurial venturing in the ad-tech industry.</li><li>Assess how an international strategy can be used to grow a small business in the ad-tech industry.

• Ad-tech
• new venture
• near shoring
• business models
• Poland
• Germany