Alberto Jurado Villanueva

Question: How did you get into the performance marketing industry?

Answer: I started my career working for a games & apps developer, helping them to monetize their audiences and to distribute the apps in the stores, with a focus on the Asian market. Then I landed in the performance marketing industry when I joined an app network in Berlin in 2013. My main goal ever since has been to help Advertisers to reach users and help them meet their ROI goals and KPIs.

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

A: I started in this industry as a Business Developer, and then I continued developing my career with a hybrid position as BD & AM. Apparently, I was good at both! I loved what I did and took my job as an entertaining challenge, almost a pastime by connecting the dots between Advertisers and Publishers. Today, I hold the position of a Performance Director at Tappx and I am a proud mentor of 11 collaborators that manage a portfolio of +60 Advertisers and +50 Publishers. And growing.

Q: Could you list some tips to become a good Acount Manager or Growth Manager? What are the essential skills needed in your job?

A: It’s an ongoing job. I continue learning every day, not only from our Partners but also from my Team. The key is to always be open to new ideas, feel the market, and more, and utmost to listen to your Team’s feedback. They are the ones at the frontline of what’s really cooking in the industry.

As skills, I’d name resilience, active listening, humility (not sure it’s a “skill” but it’s certainly needed), and a mix of persistence and agility… and run fast! This industry is a race. Quite literally.

Q: Tell us about a recent reliable client relationship, success story, or goal you’re proud of.

A: I have had the privilege to set up a business unit from scratch for the third time in my career, this time at Tappx. I have been very lucky to have the freedom to make decisions and set my own goals. And here I learned an important lesson: when setting up projects based on growth, you need to work with collaborators who are accountable for what they do by working with autonomy and being self-driven. It’s worth mentioning the fact that I have been lucky enough to surround myself with the right people that help to continue scaling up the business day after day and with more solid foundations.

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

A: First of all, I check my calendar meetings for the day, and based on this I plan my day accordingly. Meetings aside, in the morning I usually try to carry out those tasks that require a fresh state of mind, like calls with new prospects, writing difficult emails, or dealing with challenging situations. Then after lunch I usually do more mechanic work or deep focus tasks like data analysis, going through contracts, hiring, or finance.

Unfortunately, sometimes (most times?) the day-to-day operations and urgent issues might carry me away from the actual focus, but one has to be flexible and adapt oneself to such a dynamic and fast-paced environment.

Q: What do you expect from the future of the industry? What needs to be improved?

A: Companies will start consolidating. There is still a fair market fragmentation of many small companies fighting for a slice of the pie. Only the companies taking the right move or developing state-of-the-art technology will thrive. And most of all, it is essential to find your edge in the industry.

The areas of improvement I’d highlight are the ones we are trying to make ourselves known for: being transparent, honest, and lean. Basically, no BS Advertising.

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

A: I’m a guy who works with facts and data, and according to Gmail today it’s been 12 sent emails. It felt like more, though! I guess it’s more about the quality rather than the quantity of the emails you send, as some emails might take longer to be drafted when some prior preparation might be needed, for example with ad-hoc presentations, past data analysis, and future estimations, just to name a few examples.

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

A: At a personal level it is no doubt Instagram. It’s become one of my first go-to sources for either checking friends (and even clients!) updates when I have time to wind down from work, or simply checking companies or entities I am interested in.

At a professional level, I’d say it is Slack and Skype. Slack for internal communications and Skype for communicating with partners that may need faster feedback than via email.

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

A: Love this question, particularly when we work from home 80% of the time! 😊 It’s challenging when you work from home in a small apartment in downtown Barcelona, as I personally find it hard to switch off from work mode when at home. So, in order to disconnect I go for a walk with my dog or simply hit the gym or the streets for a run.

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

A: First of all, I’d pay off my mortgage, and then I would invest in companies and projects I’m fond of. Oh, and I’d also buy a nice house by the seaside in Menorca!