Lauren Murphy has been with Adludio since its inception and has contributed to its successful growth to date, earning her recognition from Acquisition International’s Global CFO Excellence Awards. As a result, we take a closer look at Lauren and Adludio’s accomplishments.
Adludio, situated at Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Detroit and Chicago, is a VC-backed, multi-award-winning international mobile advertising firm with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London and Singapore. Working with some of the world’s largest media agencies and having advertised for some of the world’s most renowned brands across various verticals, such as Jaguar, Microsoft, HSBC, Nike, Netflix, L’Oréal, Red Bull, Etihad Airlines, and many more, it creates engaging, interactive, sensory ad units that create a 10x more memorable brand experience
Below are highlights of the interview:
Describe your background and what did you do before you joined Adludio?
I started my career as a trainee accountant at a small audit firm in South Africa. While training, I was seconded to a manufacturing firm where I gained a solid set of technical skills. After training, I moved to financial services and worked as a financial controller for Africa’s largest mortgage originator. In this role, I managed a team of eight women, which enriched and developed my leadership skills. I am truly passionate about empowering women in finance, so I found training my team and watching women gain confidence to progress in their own careers an incredibly rewarding experience.
In 2008, I moved to the United Kingdom to gain international experience and secured a position as a financial planning and analysis accountant for a manufacturing firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange. This role required me to provide accurate reports and financial analysis that could help guide leaders to make timely, data-based business decisions.
Following this job, I worked in a similar role for a fashion brand based in London and Germany.
I was later drawn to London’s emerging and vibrant start-up scene and, in 2012, joined the founding team of Adludio. My journey at Adludio has been an exciting and challenging one where I have learned about many aspects of business, including some that were outside of my wheelhouse. In 2017, I relocated to New York to help setup our offices and expand internationally.
Tell us more about Adludio.
Adludio believes the best mobile experience requires active user involvement. Its innovative advertisements encourage consumers to interact with the brand by mimicking natural human interface behaviors such as swiping, dragging, and tapping the screen. Our data lead insights thelp to deliver the best creative experience. This is all enabled through Artificial Intelligence and produces the highest brand engagement rates in the industry.
Who is your target audience? How do you create services that align with what they’re looking for?
Brand and agencies, which are looking for more performance from their mobile campaigns. Combining data-driven creativity, proprietary technology and automation with pioneering engagement metrics, we deliver privacy-compliant mobile campaigns with engagement at its heart.
Mobile users are our target audience. Mobile users constantly interact with their devices and our ad units appeal to the senses, creating the best user experience and brand memorability.
What gets you up in the morning? What are your responsibilities as the CFO of the company?
What gets me up in the morning is the notion that every day can be a brand new start to something better. It’s an opportunity to work harder, do better, and to help others.
The role of a CFO in a startup becoming a scaleup can be very hair-raising. It’s an extremely big responsibility to manage the limited financial resources under the demands of high growth expectations. Here is what I have to grapple with daily.
Financial planning and reporting
Accurate financial planning and regular reporting on performance are critical to survival.
In my experience, it is critical to be prudent in my planning in order to be nimble in ever-changing times.
Financial analysis
Understand what the numbers are telling you about revenue growth as well as your gross and net profit margins. The revenue growth needs to be on a trajectory that will exceed the increased costs associated with growth. This is your only path to profitability.
Resource allocation
Invest your money where it matters. Assign resources to what will deliver a return and drive the business forward.
Metrics
Know the metrics that are particularly important to startups, such as cash burn rate and cash runway. Cash is king & no investor wants a nasty surprise that the cash is going to run dry as it is about to run dry.
Technology & Services
Having the right set of technological tools helps to improve efficiency. It is amazing how far we have advanced compared to when I began my career (I’m not giving my age away).
Kindly describe how you will specifically know what success looks like for you.
Success, to me, is about a journey and not necessarily an end goal. It is about continuously learning and improving as a professional, a leader and as a person. It is about finding a good life balance by partnering with colleagues, friends, and family who all support each other. Being confident is also a very important aspect of success, and building my own confidence has been difficult because it is not easy to overcome every challenge that crosses my path. Hopefully, my journey to success will take me to a place where I have unfettered freedom.
What advice would you give to the next generation of leaders?
I’d tell the next generation of leaders that success is a mindset and that with a positive mindset you can achieve more because you will have the confidence to set yourself greater goals. I’d tell them to be humble but laser focused on the goals they set for themselves and to find a talented mentor. We don’t become successful by ourselves; we become successful with those who are around us.
What are your future plans to sustain your and the company’s success?
The future for me is about transformation, equanimity and acquiring new skills. Being enthusiastic about my work, even during difficult phases, so that I can deliver better outputs for the company.
Website: www.adludio.com
