You’ve heard from most of our team — now it’s time to hear from our founders! First up is Neil, one of our founders based in Chorley, UK and the CEO of PPC Protect.
What is your name?:
Neil
One quote that defines you as a person:
“I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious.”
Your favourite picture of you:
When did you found PPC Protect, and what do you do here?
I founded PPC Protect in mid 2016 with the rest of the founding team. Currently I’m the CEO and in charge of overall company operations across sales, finance and recruitment.
How did PPC Protect come to be?
I used to run a performance marketing agency with one of my co-founders, Alex. We had a client with serious click fraud issues, and tested every solution out there — but nothing worked. So we talked with the client and their developer about building our own, as they both had experience in the cybersecurity sector. That client and their developer ended up being my other two co-founders, Segev and Matthew.
Initially it grew very organically from there, before we split PPC Protect off in to its own company in 2016, then spent 12 months re-building it from the ground up using some of the brightest minds in cybersecurity & military intelligence, and re-launched as a standalone platform in 2017.
What is your favourite thing about working at PPC Protect?
It’s hard to pick just one. If I had to narrow it down I’d pick two — the people and the ability to really make a difference in the world.
We’re fortunate to have built an excellent team of people who share the same goals, passion and culture as we do. We’re also extremely fortunate to be able to make a truly positive impact on the world, through initiatives like our reforestation campaign which helps us do our bit in combating climate change, as well as providing jobs to some of the poorest communities in the world.
What do you do in your average day at PPC Protect?
Since we’re a fast-scaling startup, I do a little bit of everything at the moment — but my role is becoming much more defined as time goes on!
Sometimes you’ll see me jumping in with the sales team to discuss the latest feature updates we’re pushing, or you might see me catching up with marketing & design about our new brand image. In between that I can be hiring for our open positions, updating our roadmaps and growth projections or anything else you can imagine!
What educational background do you have?
I studied Geography & Geology at the University of Manchester. Before that I did one year of Computer Science at the University of Lancaster, but dropped out as I really didn’t enjoy it. It turns out it really is hard to take a hobby and make it enjoyable as a job or study course!
Outside of academia I’ve been involved in paid search, performance marketing and SEO since I was barely a teenager. I created my first website at 13, had a whole network of gaming-related sites by 15 and by 16 was fortunate enough to be generating enough revenue from advertising on these sites to pay for all my future university tuition & expenses.
What work did you do before founding PPC Protect?
I previously ran a performance marketing agency with Alex, one of my co-founders here at PPC Protect.
Before that, I was an acquisition analyst at AO.com (a fancy title for someone who finds out how much revenue our paid search campaigns made).
Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?
Still here at PPC Protect, growing our team and taking the company to new heights. Oh, and with a bit more grey hair!
What do you want to achieve at PPC Protect?
It’s cliché, but I want to genuinely make a difference. I’m a big believer in a free, open, privacy-centric and fair internet, and ad fraud is at its core a real threat to that.
I want to use the platform PPC Protect gives me to not only improve the internet as a whole, but to go beyond with things like our reforestation scheme to help combat climate change, or our commitment to promoting diversity & inclusion within the tech community.
What advice do you have for prospective candidates applying to PPC Protect?
Stand out! We currently have 5 open roles here and over the past two weeks we’ve received 275 applications for them. That’s a lot of applications to go through.
If you really stand out, you’ll massively increase your chances of success. If you are looking to apply, I’ll give you a hint — my email address is neil@ppcprotect.com. Use that to make yourself stand out.
Describe your working culture in three words?
Driven, inclusive, ambitious.
One random fact about you?
I once got told to piss off by Michael Owen when asking for his autograph on a flight back from France. I was 7 years old. I’ve hated Liverpool FC ever since.
What’s the best holiday you’ve ever been on?
Tough one — I think visiting Iceland’s amazing glaciers and waterfalls just takes the #1 spot, but exploring Jerusalem’s historic city & markets would be a close second!
How do you define success?
To be happy, and to have made a positive difference in others lives whilst getting there.
What is one thing you can’t live without?
Formula 1! I live for race weekends.
Who would play you in a movie about your life?
Probably Jesse Eisenberg. Fast talking, to the point and says it like it is.
Recommend something to do in Chorley?
Go for a walk in the beautiful Lancashire countryside! Some of the best hiking trails and views in all of England are right on our doorstep.
If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?
To be fully fluent in a second language. I’ve picked up bits of French, German, Hebrew, Russian and Swedish over the years but never managed to become fully conversational!
