On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2021. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Marty ↗
In their words
the vast majority of us are not militant ad haters, we're just regular old users who are really fed up with a handful of obnoxious experiences on the web
we changed our approach from trying to circumvent the ad blockers to instead trying to build a relationship with them and solving the problem collaboratively
we had something like 29 days of cash left in the bank, so this was the hail mary pass, the last stand
Around the web ×2
Quick answers
Who is Marty Kratky-Katz?
Founder of Blockthrough, the Toronto ad-tech company acquired by eyeo — the German maker of Adblock Plus — in November 2022. He led it as CEO through the sale, and describes Blockthrough as his third startup after two that did not work.
What did he say on the TechTO stage?
On TechTO's Founders & Funding series in December 2021, alongside investor and board member Roy Pereira, he described two failed years building ad-block circumvention software, the pivot to Acceptable Ads with 29 days of cash left, and going from zero to $1 million in annual revenue in under seven months after the March 2018 relaunch.
How big did Blockthrough get?
In the December 2021 talk he said the company was at a run rate above $10 million net a year with 42 people, raised on about $2 million total, mostly from angels, and had recently been named the eleventh fastest-growing company in Canada by The Globe and Mail.