Appcast’s humble beginnings can be traced to the Upper Valley of New Hampshire, in an unassuming small town that doesn’t have the same name recognition as Silicon Valley. But, around a borrowed picnic table in an old warehouse, founder and CEO Chris Forman found himself surrounded by the same level of talent and passion that you can normally find in the tech capital. This dedicated team wasn’t afraid to roll up their sleeves to drive the company forward – and drive it forward they did.
As Appcast’s reputation as a trailblazer in programmatic technology grew, our team did as well, and offices were established across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Now the proud employer of over 550 employees, Appcast has transformed from a small group of passionate, nerdy, hard workers to a leading innovator in the recruitment marketing space.
We’ve asked members of the founding team to reflect on their accomplishments and memorable moments from the early days of uncertainty to today, where their contributions continue to power Appcast’s success.
Nancy Cochran was ready to bring the small Appcast community together from the very first day in the Lebanon office. She is currently the Vice President of Strategic Accounts. Nancy feels fortunate to have been a part of developing Appcast into the leader in programmatic technology that it is today!
Here’s what Nancy had to say about her history at Appcast:
How do you remember feeling on your first day at Appcast?
I was very excited to start at Appcast, having already worked with Chris Forman for 17 years. He told me about his thesis that employers would like to promote their job ads and move farther down funnel in their job ad promotion. The thesis was a new ad unit, PFP (pay for a completed application) rather than a click or duration-based post. On my first day I was energized, optimistic and enthusiastic. The mom in me told me to make cookies and bring them to the office on day one – this should set a friendly tone with my small group of coworkers, and it did! When I walked in, there was a 4H table (picnic table) and I was told I could have any seat around the table as mine – no cube farm here, just a few people trying to improve job advertising.
What’s the most enduring lesson you’ve learned over the past 10 years?
Don’t compromise your beliefs. In a startup, it is crucial to overcommunicate, which means that every thought, observation and consideration has value. It was important to verbalize them and engage with my colleagues to ensure we were always putting our best foot forward and talking to our first clients openly and candidly. When I think of this in terms of our current core values I think it straddles “stand on your number” and “speak truth to power.”
What does Appcast mean to you?
Appcast deeply values our team, family, and helping folks get their dream job. Our solutions have given applicants hope and many times a new job – how cool is that? In addition, we’ve been able to grow our organization to provide careers and opportunities to over 500+ people. This was accomplished through hard work, amazing technology, and integrity. We provided visibility (still do) to everything that runs through Appcast. I feel lucky and proud to be part of Appcast. In one of our first recruiting videos, I said I had won the job lottery – I still feel like that today.
Read more of our founder profiles on our 10-year anniversary page and join us in the year ahead as we continue to celebrate ten years of Appcast.
