Antonio Hervás Vílchez

CTO (Chief Technology Officer)

Interview

This is the other mind that, together with Daniel Reina, created Tappx in 2013. From the initial cross promotion solution until the current leading AdTech company with different especialized firms, things have changed and grown incredibly. To the point that we are now almost a hundred employees at Techsoulogy. Let’s talk about all this with Tony (as we call him here in the office).

Question: How did you get into the programmatic industry?

Answer: My first experience with the programmatic industry was at Tappx, a year after creating the company since at the beginning we only moved in a collaborative advertising environment (cross promotion). Soon, we saw that people wanted not only to promote their apps but also to make money with them.

Q: What is the best part of being a CTO?

A: I would say that being able to see all the products and services in a global way. I also like seeing how they interact with each other, as well as looking for the best technologies and proposing new algorithms for the improvement of services.

Q: Could you list some tips to become a good CTO? What are the essential skills needed in your job apart from being an absolute programming geek?

A: I believe that we must be able to articulate all the parts involved on a day-to-day basis, in addition to always thinking about the future. On the other hand, communication and coordination between all the teams are a must.

Q: How do you organize your day? What tools do you use and which of them are your favorite ones?

A: Well, my day-to-day life moves between Slack, Google Meet, and e-mail. In addition to private tools for monitoring our services to always try to squeeze the most out of our systems.

Q: What do you expect from the future of the industry? What needs to be improved and what technological development would you like your team to launch?

A: I would like to see a more automated and upgraded industry. Currently, most players in the ecosystem are still using very old technology or standards and are not taking advantage of the benefits of new technologies and/or automations. These are often the biggest players in the ecosystem, so better optimization is more complicated for those who do want to do it.

Q: Do you have any idea how many emails you send per day?

A: Few, mostly I receive emails.

Q: What is the app you use the most in your daily life?

A: Twitter, Slack, and WhatsApp.

Q: What is the first thing you do when you get home and disconnect from work?

A: See the news of the day.

Q: What would you do if you won the lottery?

A: Reverse it and keep working. Stopping is not an option, I have seen people who stop decline very quickly.