Opinion

24 Hours With…. Ben Sharp, AdRoll APAC managing director

24_Hours_With_logo_yellow24 Hours With… spotlights the working day of some of the most interesting people in Mumbrella’s world. Today we speak with Ben Sharp, Managing Director, AdRoll.

ben sharp square
4.10am: I cycle 55km before work and routes go up to Warriewood on the northern beaches, hills around Mosman or a loop up McCarrs Creek to Terrey Hills.

I cycle with a group of charity riders from Tour de Cure, a charity that raises money for cancer research, prevention and treatment programmes.

6.30am: It’s a frantic rush to not only get myself ready but also push kids out of the house and get Nathan, my eldest, off to cross country training and Joey off to before school care.

7.15am: I kick the day off by revisiting my weekly and monthly plans and breaking these down into actionable activities I want to complete that day.

Today I’m working through the best teams to receive additional headcount, which I had approved overnight from the US. I’ve set up meetings with my senior management team to work through exactly where the gaps are currently and where we predict them to be over the next six months.

I do my best work in the morning – especially after having a couple of coffees. I have to cut off the coffee drinking by about 4:00pm though or I’m bouncing off the walls.

7:30am: This morning I have a number of calls with some of my San Franciscan colleges. The main one is with Shea Stringert, our head of solutions (product and sales support).

We’re planning for a big push to educate the local market on our capabilities for running campaigns on Instagram.instagram logo

We’re building out a go-to market strategy which includes everything from who in our teams should best support and drive the client engagement to which key prospects we should approach.

10.00am Today I have 1:1 meetings with two of my senior leadership team – Denise Wyer, head of strategic accounts and Josh Moses, solutions market specialist (product /training expert).

First cab off the rank is Denise, we’re having a chat about her stepping into more of a media friendly/public speaking role for the company and she asks for advice and if we will provide third party training (we do).

Next up Josh and I are meeting to discuss an upcoming five part training schedule on attribution for the whole company, to ensure everyone from HR to sales has a solid understanding of one of the most complex topics in our industry. We’re working out a way of scheduling these trainings for the team without disrupting people’s work.

1.30pm: I’ve kept some time aside to focus on specific projects and building goals and strategies for our business. Today that project is Project Leanback. An automated and strategic way of identifying new potential client segments and helping direct our sales team towards the most valuable and best potential opportunity clients.

3:00pm: I head upstairs for a quick snack, another cheeky coffee and a quick game of ping pong with the reigning office champ Manny Kambos, mid-market account manager team lead. Twice a year we have a competition, which is taken very seriously. No prize other than glory and admiration.Adroll ping pong

The top three players have their badly Photoshopped images put in a gold, silver or bronze frame which is proudly displayed in the office. He whips my butt.

Then it’s back to my desk to power through a deck I’m pulling together for a presentation I’m giving in San Francisco to the AdRoll board next week.

5:00pm: I leave the office. Both of my kids have swimming training after school and I’m in charge of the drop off, hang around until they’re done and take them home routine.

It starts as soon as they get in the car with an argument about which lollies each boy wants – I say ‘no’, they say ‘yes’.

This goes on for what seems like an eternity (but is probably only about 2 mins). I end up yelling, something along the lines of  ‘Shut up, you’re driving me nuts’, all while I’m on a call to my HR Business Partner discussing an offer we’re about to make to an outstanding marketing candidate.

Once we get to the pool, both boys strip naked in front of everyone (typical) and think it’s hilarious – they’re 6 and 10. Eventually they get their swimmers on, jump in the pool and about 3 minutes into their lesson both are out saying they need to go to the toilet – happens every bloody time!

6:20pm: After swimming, the daily game of preparing dinner, organising kids showers and bedtime is juggled between my wife and myself. Believe me, this can take hours. Firstly, dinner, which they’ll usually only half eat, is followed by my wife or I saying ‘If you don’t eat, there’s no dessert’. Complaints ensue. Then there’s the negotiation over dessert, I say ‘fruit’, they say ‘ice cream’, I say ‘no’ – pandemonium.baritone horn

7:45pm: Nathan then decides it’s time to start practising his instrument – he plays the baritone horn. It’s a disaster. Both kids are working themselves up, Vicky or I end up yelling about something, followed by “I’m still hungry” to which the reply is ‘You can have a piece of bread’. Then it’s time for teeth and stories and, before you know it, it’s 9pm, and at least one of them is still awake.

I’ve had enough by this stage, so I disappear to the other end of the house to escape for some peace and quiet – lasting all of 15 minutes before Nathan comes to find me wanting me to say good night – for the third time – and hold his hand again for another 2 minutes.

I reckon if anyone who doesn’t have kids watched a webcam of our house at the end of the day they’d be scared off having kids for years…

9:30pm: Me time! I get into bed and fire up the iPad mini. I use the Kindle App and at the moment I’m reading ‘Fromelles and Pozieres’ by Peter Fitzsimons. It’s pretty good.

2.00am: I can hear Joey rustling around in his room, just loud enough for us to hear. I pretend I’m asleep until I am.

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