When BidCore was in its infancy, my role wasn’t just as a Senior Product Manager overseeing platform development—I was on the frontlines. The challenge wasn’t just building a customizable Demand-Side Platform (DSP) for programmatic advertising, but also onboarding new clients, bridging gaps between the platform’s capabilities and their unique business needs, and guiding them through the adoption process.

Our earliest clients were innovators in their fields—companies like Egami.TV—and they needed a platform that went beyond the standard DSP offerings. They wanted a system that could optimize specific metrics, like video completion rates, and integrate their own data and algorithms into the bidding process. My mission was to ensure that BidCore met these clients’ unique requirements while maintaining performance and scalability.

In those early days, my role was much broader than product oversight. I became the face of BidCore for new clients. This involved:

• Pre-sale support: Working closely with the sales team, I helped pitch BidCore’s capabilities to potential clients, explaining how the platform could be tailored to meet their specific needs.

• Onboarding: After securing a sale, I was the main point of contact for our early adopters, ensuring their transition to BidCore was smooth and that the platform delivered on its promise.

• Bridging the gap: As the intermediary between the engineering team and our clients, I worked to ensure that client feedback was translated into technical requirements. I also helped clients understand the platform’s technical limitations while working with our team to build custom solutions to meet their goals.

While the technical development of BidCore focused on flexibility and customizability, my client-facing role centered on deep collaboration and understanding. I knew that to ensure adoption, we needed to do more than just hand over a platform—we needed to build relationships and adapt the platform in real-time.

• Client-Specific Use Cases: Each client brought their own challenges, from Egami.TV’s need to boost video completions to Speakable’s desire to programmatically place interactive ad units. I worked with each client to customize their BidCore experience.

• Long Hours of Debugging: In those early days, I spent long nights debugging, investigating, and solving issues unique to these early adopters. It wasn’t uncommon to be knee-deep in code or troubleshooting integration problems late into the night. My goal was to ensure every client felt supported and confident in BidCore’s ability to meet their needs.

Working closely with each client, we implemented solutions that allowed them to tailor the platform to their needs:

• For Egami.TV, we developed a system that optimized video completion rates, improving their campaign performance by 45%. I collaborated with our engineering team to create custom reporting metrics that fed directly into their optimization strategies.

• Speakable needed to expand its reach while keeping tight control over engagement metrics. By integrating with over 50 SSPs (Supply-Side Platforms), we gave them the ability to programmatically place interactive ads while maintaining real-time reporting on audience engagement.

As with any innovative product, there were challenges—especially in managing client expectations. The platform was robust, but it wasn’t always a perfect match for every client’s unique use case right out of the box. I had to carefully manage these expectations while pushing the team to develop custom solutions.

There were also technical challenges. Early in the product’s life, we encountered bugs and integration issues that required quick fixes. Late-night debugging sessions became the norm, and it was my job to ensure that every problem was resolved to the client’s satisfaction, no matter how long it took.

The results of this hands-on, client-centric approach were tangible:

• Egami.TV saw a dramatic 45% improvement in video completion rates, and Speakable expanded its ad reach across 120 direct-to-publisher integrations and 50 SSPs, giving them unparalleled control over their campaign performance.

• We didn’t just build a platform—we built relationships that lasted. Our early adopters became brand advocates, driving new business and showcasing the power of BidCore’s flexibility.

Looking back, the most important lesson I learned was the value of relationship-building in product management. When launching a new platform like BidCore, it’s not just about the technology—it’s about the people who use it. Through long hours of collaboration, troubleshooting, and customization, I built trust with our clients and ensured the platform’s success.