Happy new year and welcome back to our Inside INCRMNTAL series. This time we spoke to Sivan Beck, our very own product and data lead who has a love for riddles and a serious green thumb. She is a computer science and finance professional with almost 10 years of experience in the mobile advertising industry who is now shaping INCRMNTAL’s product development. 

Q: Tell us a little about yourself and your journey to your current role. 

Funnily enough I met both of the founders, Moti & Maor, almost 10 years ago when I first started in adtech. At the time,I  was a recent computer science graduate and was looking for a role that did not involve day-to-day programming and writing code. I started as an integration manager and since then my career has developed a lot. I have held roles in technical account management, product management and even product marketing working both in the supply and demand side. As my career developed, I found that I brought the most value when I was able to liaise between the client and the product, really understanding the needs of the end user and bringing great products and features to life with the engineering team. In an attempt to take a break from my career  I embarked on a Masters in Financial Economics but then by chance I met up with Moti once he returned to Israel and realized there a lot of the things I was learning in my course, such as causal theory that were actually being applied to the algorithms that build INCRMNTAL. And that’s when we both knew it was a match - I have been with the team now for over one year as Product and Data Manager. 

Q: What is your day to day like? 

My focus is on product while at the same time I work closely with the data science team. I am able to share my knowledge of the industry and the client’s feedback with the team and explain how these need to be incorporated in the models ensuring to focus on what’s important and what is not. Therefore, I spend a lot of time talking to the clients, sharing new features with them, asking for feedback and showing them how they can get the most out of the platform. 

In general I would say that over a period of time I have specific priorities.For example now the focus is on improving all the basic features of the platform and prioritizing the immediate features for the future.  I would say it's a balancing act between working internally with the engineering team or directly with the platform ensuring that all elements are designed correctly or looking externally to the clients and understanding how they are getting on with the platform and latest features.   

Q: What makes you excited about working at INCRMNTAL?

I think it's two things: on the one hand we are trying to solve a very hard problem and I love challenges and riddles. I like that we are tackling real-world problems, advertisers are spending so much resources and not knowing what is bringing real value. Beyond just addressing the issue we are doing so in a way that has not been done before and this is really exciting. It’s also nice to be the company that can bring true value to a major pain point for many companies in the space. It has also been very interesting to see how some of our clients are very sophisticated when it comes to using their data, what KPIs are set around them and the insights that they are able to gather. 

Secondly, it’s the environment. I really like it here! The team comes together to create and build and this is really inspiring to me. For me it's important to work as a team that has a clear vision and is dedicated to the growth of the company and that's exactly what we have here. Having been here since the beginning it has been impressive to see how we have grown from purely imaging concepts in wireframes to seeing where the platform is today with multiple sophisticated algorithms and onboarding new clients weekly! 

Q: What could someone joining your team expect from their first days at INCRMNTAL?

If I was hiring I would say that the individual should be quite independent because we all have a lot to do and they would need to get by with as little guidance as possible. I want to give individuals the space to be curious and grow. But of course if they need any support, myself or anyone in the team is always there to lend a hand. We have a lot of very strong team members with many years of experience and combined with our open work culture it's a space to learn from others and ask any questions you may have. 

Q: Many of us are still combining a hybrid working model - do you have any tips for working from home? 

It is so important to have a dedicated workspace where you have everything you need to get the job done. This will make you feel both comfortable and motivated to tackle your day. It sounds simple but we have built a small office in our home and it makes working from the home so much better.   
 

Q: What is the one app you can not live without? 

Whatsapp! It is my lifeline to many groups. I am in several of them and it just makes staying connected that much easier. 

Q: Do you have any recommendations for anything new to watch or read? 

I am big into fantasy and I have recently finished watching season 2 of the  Witcher, which I must say is better than season 1.  I also just finished Wheel of time, which was surprisingly good and I loved it! 

Q: Lastly, tell me a little bit about what you do on the weekends? 

One of the most recent things that has been keeping us busy has been the small urban garden plot that we have purchased. Since I live in a city we don't really have much of an opportunity to garden so this has been very relaxing and enjoyable to spend some time with our hands in the soil planting different fruit and vegetables.