Mathew Ratty is the CEO & Co-Founder at Adveritas & TrafficGuard, a triple layered ad fraud detection and protection software for brands, agencies and ad networks.
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To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
I’m the CEO and Co-Founder of Adveritas which is listed on the ASX. Adveritas offers its main solution, TrafficGuard (an anti-fraud SaaS platform) for commercialisation. I have been in digital ad tech for over 7 years and started this company back in 2018. Prior to this I co-founded a venture capital firm operating in domestic and international equity markets – I held the role of head of investment. Education wise I hold a first class honours degree in finance from Curtin University.
What does a day in your life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
The days are always hectic because there is so much going on within the company – but that is the nature of a growing company. Starting the day at 4:45am and an espresso in hand by 5am, I am reviewing all the emails that have come in overnight from all parts of the world.
I look at our metrics dashboard which tells me all the key leading indicators such as meetings booked, amount of trials going on, amount of contracts sent out and our forecasted revenue for the quarter – same thing with costs.
By 8am I’ve completed all the emails from last night and responded to all the requests, kissed the kids and wife goodbye. 8:30am I am in our headquartered office in Perth.
From there I am constantly in communications with all my c level execs – COO, CMO, CPO, CFO throughout the day – discussing any issues arising and how we can resource or enable people to fix any issues.
I spent around about an hour of my day reading about our industry in general, anything from competition, to underlying digital advertising trends to insights from marketers.
At around 1pm I turn to any legal work that needs to be done – contracting with large multinational corps there is always legal pushback so I will spend some time with our lawyers negotiating the legal aspects of some of these contracts.
At 4pm I then connect with our people over in Europe as they are just starting their day.
At 5pm – gym time – I do 45 mins everyday – this is a non negotiable.
7-8:30 – Family time – I usually cook because it takes my mind off of work and I find it therapeutic. I then eat with the kids and discuss our days.
At 8pm I touch base with our Latam leader as that is 9am their time.
10pm – Bed.
What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
I find this notion of work-life balance a weird one – especially in my position as a CEO – it doesn’t stop, and I don’t want it to stop yet – we are just at this inflexion point where I can see the massive growth about to occur and everyone in the company is so excited that all their hard work is paying off and meaning something.
But I do realise that all work and no play is a dangerous path. I will say I am blessed with amazing staff members who are on this journey with me and having fun with the people you work with really helps balance out the stress.
To counter work, my family time and exercise is the key to me performing at my best and that’s why it’s always a non-negotiable. At the end of the day, if you cannot enjoy your life because of your work, it’s time to rethink your position – I am extremely lucky that I enjoy every day within TrafficGuard and it comes down to the fact that we have awesome people that are committed to solving a $127b problem a year.
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In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?
I tried to stop checking my phone in bed – but I failed dramatically. I will give it another go shortly. I used to have 4 espressos a day, I have now cut that back to two – I think 4 was getting me a little too wired.
I tried to go back to eating breakfast because my wife likes eating breakfast with me but I just couldn’t do it – I fast for 18 hours a day so my last calorie is at 9pm and I don’t eat until 3pm the next day so I think I will continue to stick with that successful formula.
Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?
See You at the Top by Zig Ziglar – hands down the best book I have ever read.
If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?
Jeff Bezos – that man has the ability to see years into the future even when running a company that adapts every day. I would love to know truly how he trains/selects his staff so that he can have his work life balance.
Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
Find a mission you want to be a part of, make sure they have great people behind the leadership team and ensure you partner with the business to achieve the goals – if you do this, it’s not just work.
If you have a family, spend time with them and more importantly update them about your work – if it’s exciting work and you love it, they will likely want to follow the journey because you’re excited.
Lastly, don’t underestimate the power of quality time – that connection that you have with your family needs you to be present, so switch work off when you are with them. Also, don’t be lazy, get to the gym!
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