Hasta La Creative!

In early-December of last year, Microsoft advertising veteran turned ad-tech founder Eric Picard found himself in trouble. His startup — an open source advertising technology company called Rare Crowds — was running out of money and facing imminent shutdown.

Options limited and desperate, Mr. Picard took an unusual route to keep Rare Crowds alive: he turned to an email listserve of over 450 advertising industry veterans called the “Oldtimers List,” a group which requires ten years of interactive advertising experience and an internal sponsor to join, and asked them to save his startup.

“This is far outside my comfort zone – I hate asking friends for money” Mr. Picard wrote, adding that, in this case, he was okay with it because he wasn’t panhandling: “This is after all me offering an opportunity to bet on me and what my startup is doing,” he said. “Not me begging.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com