The Trade Desk brings back co-founder Dave Pickles to guide its technology.
The Trade Desk has brought back co-founder Dave Pickles, its chief technology officer until 2023, to set up and lead a new CTO Council. The company says the council will guide its core technology and product roadmap, including agentic AI tools.
The announcement came on 3 November. According to the company, as reported by Adweek and PPC Land, the council will work alongside engineering and product teams on technical strategy, architecture and where engineering money goes, with AI agents a stated priority. Chief executive Jeff Green said he had missed working with Pickles and described "a pivotal crossroads for our company and the industry". Pickles said the foundation was strong and that he wanted to support the existing teams. He stepped down as CTO and left the board on 29 September 2023, staying on as an adviser.
The return comes at a hard time. In August the company reported second-quarter revenue of $715m, up 3% but about $37.6m below analysts' forecasts, according to Adweek, and guided to at least $650m for the third quarter, roughly 12% below a year earlier. That would be its first year-on-year revenue fall as a public company. Results are due on 9 November. Adweek reports the share price is 91% below its peak, and that some advertisers frustrated with its Kokai buying platform moved spend to Amazon. It has also been adding AI agents to Koa, its AI layer, including a conversational interface.
The company has not said whether Pickles is back full time, whether he will hold an officer title or board seat, who else sits on the council, or how much authority it has over current engineering and product leaders. Adweek says it declined to comment beyond its blog post.
Our read: agencies in Riyadh and Dubai that run programmatic campaigns through The Trade Desk should watch the 9 November results and any roadmap changes that follow. A co-founder returning to guide the roadmap usually means more change to the buying tools, not less.
Why it matters
Adweek calls this the worst stretch in The Trade Desk's history as a public company, and agencies want to know who now shapes its product.
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