Zack Dugow, an entrepreneur and visionary is redefining what engagement means in the world of AdTech as he leads his company and expands his reach by leveraging business opportunities and acquisitions.
Dugow, who grew up in a family of entrepreneurs decided at a young age that independence and self-sufficiency were his motivation, creating a lasting impact was his goal, and providing value while promoting its importance was the path to get there.
Right out of college, he partnered with a colleague to incorporate his first business Affinity, regardless of opposing opinions that he was not mature enough or ready. “I had to prove them wrong,” says Dugow, “I just had this determination to be successful”. Through perseverance, Affinity grew and became Red Rush which later presented the opportunity to sell at the end of 2012. It was during that time the idea for Insticator was born.
The initial concept for Insticator was to develop a community platform where conversations generated rewards. After facing some challenges to increase engagement, but steadfast to the success of his visualization, the direction shifted along with the technology. “Most people don’t realize this but most successful technology companies have to adjust to what the marketplace tells them. The teams that win are the ones that pivot fast enough and adjust the marketplace to build a successful product and business,” says Dugow.
So, Insticator evolved and pivoted their technology and security to embedded experiences. Specifically, embeds that could drive engagement and increase time on-site for an endless number of communities, not just one platform. Eventually, one became 10, then increased to 50, which later increased to 200, and so on and so forth.
“That was the key,” says Dugow, “that’s where we found success.”
And with that success, the business went from $3,000/yr in 2014 to 1.3 million/yr in 2016, which later tripled to now become a thriving 8 figure business serving tier-one enterprise customers such as Empire Media.
As the market of AdTech continues to change, Insticator continues to lead by utilizing first-party data to not only drive higher engagement for their clients but support their monetization strategies with vital information about their audiences. Decreasing bounce rates, increasing time on-site per session, and creating a community experience while doubling revenue from their engagement solutions, Insticator has positioned themselves as the “go-to” multi-faceted solutions provider.
Some tools to mention are their content engagement units (CEUs) consisting of customized trivia and polling, along with their commenting product aimed to empower both audiences and publishers. A product geared to building communities directly on the client’s site instead of in the “Walled Gardens” of social media platforms. “I think the future of social media is distributed,” says Dugow “I think distributed publishers can be the future of social media and community. That’s why we built Insticator…to build these communities where people are going to have honest discussions.”
As Insticator continues to grow and revolutionize the industry, CEO and founder Zack Dugow plans to expand by investing and acquiring businesses with the same “die-hard” mentality and perseverance that got him to his destination which he mapped out years ago. “If you asked 100 entrepreneurs what led them to success, you’d get a lot of different answers,” says Dugow “but I do believe that what it really comes down to at the root of all of those things is to never quit.”
To learn more about CEO and founder Zack Dugow, start a conversation with him on LinkedIn and let him know you found him through this article.
Written by Jenni A. Silva-Dunne (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennialeciasilvadunne/), Head of Content & Project Operations at Insticator.
