No Fluff Advisory · NYC

Strategy without
the slide deck.

Operator-led advisory for growth-stage AdTech, MarTech, data, AI, and SaaS companies turning product traction into US scale.

25+ years scaling AdTech, MarTech, and data businesses across global markets. Built P&Ls, products, and teams from startup scale to 1,500+ across APAC, EMEA, LATAM, MENA, and the Americas. Three exits. Operator & Advisor.

Book a 30-min call See how I work

What I'm working on right now →

Evgeny Popov
  • 25+ Years global AdTech
  • 3 Successful exits
  • 4 Continents shipped in
  • 160+ Published bylines
  • 53+ Certifications

Builder at heart.

Global operator by experience.

Focused on product, technology, culture, and commercial growth.

Featured in
Buyer fit

Is this advisory for you?

Operator-led advisory works hardest at Series B Scaleup — where founder-led GTM has hit its ceiling and there's no fractional CMO/CRO in seat yet. Series A is fit for scoped problems. Series C selectively, on board-grade decisions.

  1. Primary fit
    Series B
    75–200 employees·$10–30M ARR·Scaleup

    Strongest fit for the full Audit → Sprint → Retainer triangle and the seven operating playbooks. Where operator-led advisory compounds the fastest.

  2. Secondary fit
    Series A
    25–75 employees·$2–10M ARR·PMF

    Fit for one specific scoped problem — US entry, first US hire mandate, partner sequencing, or data-product packaging. Audit-first is usually right.

  3. Selective surge
    Series C
    200–500 employees·$30–75M ARR·Growth · Enterprise

    Selective surge engagements only — board-deck pressure-testing, regional GM model, M&A or pricing reset. Not a full operating-system rebuild.

See all five tiers + the not-core stages → Take the readiness scorecard →
Find the right engagement

Three ways to work together.

A 30-second router across the three commercial shapes. Audit when you need a read. Sprint when you need execution. Retainer when you need an operator in the room.

  1. 01 Market Entry Audit When you need a sharp 90-day GTM read, not a strategy deck. 2–3 weeks · diagnostic Scope the audit →
  2. 02 GTM & BD Sprint When strategy is set but pipeline, partners, and decisions aren't firing. 6–8 weeks · execution Scope a sprint →
  3. 03 Advisory Retainer When the CEO / CRO / CMO needs an operator in the room weekly. 3 / 6 / 12 months · partnership Scope a retainer →

Not sure which one? Take the readiness scorecard — 6 minutes, no email, browser-stored.

Start here

Where do you fit?

The site is organized around six questions. Pick the one that sounds most like the conversation you're already having.

  1. Not sure where you fit? Take the readiness scorecard →
  2. Entering or scaling in the US? Market Entry Audit →
  3. Need market-specific GTM? Vertical playbooks →
  4. Need the company system fixed? Operating playbooks →
  5. Want proof I build? Building →
  6. Want the thinking? Writing →
Where the work lands

Three problem
types.

Engagements above are how you buy. These are what you'd buy them for. Most companies don't have one problem — they have a system of problems across market-specific GTM, the operating model behind growth, and the build/proof layer that turns advisory into infrastructure. Best fit: Series B Scaleup (75–200 employees · $10–30M ARR) where founder-led GTM is starting to break.

  1. 01
    Market-specific GTM
    Vertical playbooks for Travel, Audio, Gaming, Performance & Native, Attention, and Mobile App Growth.
    See vertical playbooks →
  2. 02
    Operating systems for growth
    Growth Operating System · Org Design for scale-ups · Enterprise Data Collaboration · Retention & Expansion.
    See operating playbooks →
  3. 03
    Live build proof
    Where advisory becomes infrastructure — AdCP Signals Adaptor (open-standard reference) and Signal-Stack (pre-call intelligence).
    See what's built →

All services →

Building

Operator first.
Advisor second.

Two projects worth flagging — one industry-level standards contribution, one production B2B platform. Both shipped, both running.

Standards · AdCP Signals & Measurement WG
AdCP Signals Adaptor
Spec-conformant open-source signals provider for the Ad Context Protocol. MIT-licensed reference code on GitHub, live demo at adcp.signal-stack.io.
Founder · Operator
Signal-Stack
AI-powered pre-call sales briefs synthesized from Gong, Gmail, LinkedIn, and CRM. Plus a LinkedIn network analyzer. Built on Cloudflare's edge.
Frontier work: Agentic Transformation
From AI pilots to governed decision systems
The operating model for moving from AI pilots to governed agentic workflows — decision rights, tool access, evaluation, and measurable business outcomes.

All projects →

Standards Prebid & Header Bidding the publisher execution layer, vendor-neutral Retail Media Measurement IAB/MRC guidelines, in-store, incrementality All standards →
Writing

Thought leadership,
not thought leadership.

10+ years of essays on programmatic, privacy, contextual, AI, agentic advertising and the boring-but-essential operations beneath it all. Some are technical. Some are personal. None are filler.

AdTech

The Great Repackaging

Curation went from an SSP side product to the organizing fight of programmatic in under two years: every exchange has a named platform, the data specialists got absorbed by credit bureaus and holdcos, retail media and CTV fused into curated marketplaces, and now the agencies are building marketplaces of their own — Stagwell's, announced this week, assembles bespoke supply with AI agents fed by The Trade Desk's own quality data. This is the audience economy reorganizing itself on the supply side. The question is not whether the packaging adds value. It is who signs the package — and what happens to a shelf of pre-cut deals when buyers gain an agent that can assemble supply per brief.

July 16, 2026 Read essay →
Also recent
Browse all 160 entries →
In their words

Names,
not numbers.

The five below are publicly verifiable on LinkedIn — not a vanity count, not anonymized blurbs. Senior operators who've actually built and run things, quoted on record.

  • Evgeny brings great passion and energy, combined with deep Ad/Mar tech expertise. He has demonstrated the ability to provide both strategic guidance and to build teams that deliver data and analytics services for the continually evolving marketing ecosystem.
    Slavi SamardzijaGlobal Chair, Media and Commerce · StagwellWorked together across multiple organizations
  • Evgeny is a rare find. Both thinker and doer, Ev has the ability to develop the vision, architect the solution and then see it through to implementation. He navigates the increasingly complex waters of marketing technology in the post-cookie world with confidence and ease.
    Loren GrossmanGlobal Chief Strategy Officer · Publicis GroupeWorked together at Omnicom
  • Ev is the total package. He uniquely blends a high analytics and technology IQ with a philosophical and spiritual EQ. He's also a builder and motivator of teams.
    Scott HagedornChief Solutions Architect · PublicisWorked together at Omnicom
  • A gifted strategic thinker with both broad and deep industry knowledge. Strong recommendation to any org looking for a leader who can see around corners.
    Ben HovanessBoard of Directors · Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM)Worked together at Omnicom
Get in touch

Working on
something where
the obvious answer
feels wrong?

Reach out on LinkedIn — that's where the real conversations happen.

Get in touch →