In this conversation, John Morris shares what it actually takes to build high‑performing teams, innovate at scale, and lead through risk, growth, and uncertainty. From shaping early streaming and ad tech innovation to guiding teams through acquisitions and rapid expansion, John offers candid reflections on trust, decision‑making, culture, and why respect, not control, is at the heart of effective leadership.
If I can make my customer successful, I’ll be successful. – John Morris
Suzanne Hanifin: President at Acumen Executive Search. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannehanifin/
Tanis Morris: Director of Business Development at Acumen Executive Search. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanis-morris-75a113266/
John Morris: Chief Product Officer at SoundStack. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-w-morris-iv/
Acumen Executive Search Website: https://www.acumenexecutivesearch.com/
SoundStack Website: https://soundstack.com/
Hiring for Good Transcript
0:00 well thank you for being here at the Hiring for Good Podcast as usual I am Tanis Morris with me is my lovely
0:07 co-host Suzanne Hanifin thank you Tanis you’re welcome and uh we are leaders at
0:13 Acumen Executive Search we started hiring for good to discuss the leadership journey and learnings with amazing
0:21 executives from a variety of industries this morning we have a very special guest joining us um probably one of my
0:29 favorite executives in the world and I’ll speak a little more on that later but first let me introduce you to John
0:34 Morris who is a highly respected senior executive in the ad tech industry known for his visionary leadership and
0:41 expertise in digital advertising architecture with over 23 years of experience John spearheaded dozens of
0:47 innovative streaming and digital monetization strategies and is a named inventor on nearly a dozen patents his
0:54 core competencies lie in identifying architecting and delivering elegant solutions to solve complex pro..problems
1:01 as a leader, John is motivated by the challenges inherent to the distribution and monetization of digital content
1:08 while fostering a culture that values groundbreaking ideas diverse perspectives and delivering value early
1:14 and often with a deep understanding of technology and the market dynamics John has been instrumental in shaping
1:20 advanced ad tech solutions that drive impactful results and optimized performance for brands across the globe
1:26 his strategic approach to Innovation and his talent for building high performance teams have positioned him as a key
1:31 industry leader a dedicated architect of transformative advertising strategies
1:36 John is passionate about driving growth and setting new standards in the evolving ad techh landscape working with
1:42 and in quality assurance sales engineering and at the executive level across startups midsize and large public
1:48 companies has given John a unique perspective on what it takes to build and grow a business I will also add that
1:56 John is my husband and his…I’ve been bothering him to be a guest on our
2:01 podcast for um for many months and I’m thrilled that we had an opportunity for
2:07 him to join us uh on rather short notice so John thank you for being here you are
2:14 my personal favorite executive in the world my dream guest so I’m so glad you
2:19 could join us well thank you for having me yeah what an incredible background just hearing this so share with us John
2:28 your journey and how you got where you are today sure well I
2:33 feel like I sort of just stumbled into this journey um many years ago uh
2:40 2001 um I was putting myself through school I was a mechanical engineering major um I was selling real estate to
2:47 pay the bills and to put myself through school um never saw that as a long-term
2:53 um career path for me the real estate career um I uh switched majors to
3:00 computer science and uh I really wanted to go work at a startup company um I
3:06 wanted to learn things from the ground floor up uh so I went to work for a company in my hometown um of Washougal
3:14 Washington uh called Abacast which was a very early peer-to-peer streaming
3:21 company um that worked with with broadcasters primarily AM/FM broadcasters and help them deliver their
3:28 content um for less than they otherwise could because that was where the sort of peer-to-peer um bandwidth sharing um
3:35 technology came in uh it wasn’t long before um the you know the uh ad tech sort
3:44 of began to bloom and you know publishers need and desire to actually monetize their content so so shifting
3:51 from saving money to making money was a big deal um and uh at the company we
3:59 sort of you know began to pivot and started building ad tech solutions um which uh was was you know
4:08 um some of it was very new it was very exciting um but I did uh sort of held
4:14 probably every job that you could hold at a software company during that time I was hired as uh one of if not the very
4:22 first QA person so I was responsible for all the quality assurance um when I
4:28 joined the company we actually weren’t shipping a product yet so the you know
4:33 the entire C-Suite was was very anxious to get a product out the door um I helped
4:40 sort of assess where the software was at the time um and you know helped with
4:45 getting it launched uh Etc um I spent uh about 13 years there
4:55 um uh sort of culminating with the role of CTO and
5:00 co-president uh before we were acquired by a larger but still private software
5:06 company um I joined that company sort of led the engineering
5:12 team um spent another seven years at that company just continuing to grow
5:18 both personally professionally um and build the product built the customer base uh built the team so probably
5:25 roughly doubled the team um over that time uh before we were spun out and acquired again so this is just going
5:33 back to 2021 um and uh uh I you know went from
5:39 that sort of larger private software company to uh a billion dollar public
5:45 company um I spent uh about two and a half years there um continuing to grow
5:51 the team so again probably tripled the team probably four or 5x revenue did a
5:57 lot of really fun a lot of exciting things um and uh um you know basically exited
6:05 that position in you know June of this year um and uh now I’m trying to figure
6:10 out what I want to do when I grow up well and you’ve had again not very many
6:16 people start up to through growth then acquiring being acquired more growth
6:23 than a fortune you know 500 company and each one is so different mmmhmm and there’s
6:31 plus and minuses for both right for sure yeah where do you see like especially
6:37 with software being innovative where’s the sweet spot that you think real innovation comes from um it’s
6:46 a it’s a really good question uh when I think back to the earliest days we were
6:53 doing things that just had never been done before so um you know uh one of my
7:00 patents is around uh dynamic serers side ad Insertion I don’t know if that will mean anything to any of our absolutely
7:07 nothing um but we you know figured out how to stitch ads into live content and
7:15 real time and at scale so delivering you know tens or hundreds of thousands of
7:20 concurrent streams for events like FIFA World Cup and Major League Baseball World Series and um you know like you
7:27 name it right large scale events back in the early like 2010s which is sort of a long time ago
7:35 in some respects and sort of not um but um you know there was a lot of just
7:41 really raw pure inovation where a very small team of talented people were just
7:49 heads down really thinking through like what’s the next big thing that we need to accomplish and why uh the why was
7:57 always to serve our customers we were always trying to figure out you know my sort of stance has always been if I can
8:02 make my customer successful I’ll be successful um but there’s a lot of you
8:09 know there’s a lot of trials and tribulations right like there’s a lot of you know I say I signed you know towards
8:15 the end of my tenure at the at the startup you know I signed everyone’s paychecks right and so you know there
8:22 were a lot of times where you know we questioned whether or not we were going to make payroll and right that can be
8:28 pretty stressful going you know sort of leveling up then to the next larger companies like payroll is not a concern
8:36 anymore um and there’s still Innovation that’s happening but it’s happening at a
8:41 different scale and it’s happening uh at a different pace I would say so you know
8:48 over the following you know 10 years or so there was a lot of innovation we did
8:54 a lot of really interesting things I would say um but sort of at a much slower and
9:00 more deliberate pace so more resources but a little more cautious um and that’s
9:06 okay again there’s a lot of really amazing things that we built um like you
9:13 know some really interest I think interesting holistic yield optimizations for delivering advertisements you know
9:19 um into that same live content and podcasting content um but it’s not quite as raw
9:27 yeah so I’m curious to hear in your opinion you know you’ve had a lot of
9:35 experience in a lot of different lanes what have been the most formative leadership experiences for you or can
9:42 you pick maybe just a couple to to touch on
9:47 um so you know a lot of um that’s the right way to say this
9:55 uh you know a lot of people I think are sort of forged by
10:00 fire um you learn a lot when you’re under pressure about yourself and about
10:07 those who are surrounding you uh and so I think some of the sort of experiences
10:15 I look back on were were during those times when um the team really was coming
10:23 together to you know all working on a on a common goal where um the stakes were
10:32 um and everyone just had you know so much sort of um ownership of the
10:39 problem there’s never anyone saying that’s not my problem the conversations are more like how can I help
10:47 um you know leading a team and being part of a team that’s in that cycle
10:53 super rewarding um you you know you learn a lot uh I think about s and about
11:00 others you learn how to push boundaries um you learn how to ask for things that can be sometimes
11:06 uncomfortable like those conversations like look I really don’t want to work all weekend or ask you guys to work all
11:13 weekend but we’re going to have to work all weekend we’re going to have to get this figured out we’re going to have to
11:18 get this done like you know those my personality it’s not exactly my
11:24 personality I’m you know I’m I’m a little
11:29 um you know softer probably um but I but
11:35 you know those experiences where you get to sort of you know lead um by respect
11:42 it it becomes easier you know yeah no I
11:48 I understand and again having these three really different cultures and
11:53 environments mmhm you said I and I like that you said you learn under
12:00 pressure what’s important to you and the values that you show up with what did
12:06 you learn about yourself and then what did you learn as a leader managing
12:11 people during again these different stages um I I learned I think that I
12:21 work well under pressure um I think that when I’m
12:28 pressure for me can sort of be a a calming experience um I I sort of um just
12:37 naturally hunker down and focus
12:43 um as a leader um I think I’ve learned to trust
12:49 my gut I think earlier in my career I really second guessed myself all the
12:57 time like every decision um often spending more time thinking
13:02 about the decision I had made after the fact than before uh and so I’ve I’ve learned you
13:10 know things have worked out relatively well you know not just in my career but
13:15 I think looking back at those decisions so I’ve learned you know like trust your
13:21 gut um trust your gut like you know still verify like you still want to look
13:27 back and say did I make the the right decision um if not why because I think
13:35 like we’re learning every single day I think as I think as humans right and and
13:40 I think about I think about my life like that I think about my job like that
13:45 every single day is a learning experience and so it’s it is important to sort of look back but not dwell yeah
13:52 okay I think also I would I I obviously know you very well and I know um many of
13:58 the folks who have worked with you and for you over the years and I think that um most of them would speak to
14:08 uh you’re you’re unique as a leader because even if you ask them to do hard
14:14 things I think that you’re you’re like right there with them or do you want to how how when Suzanne asks you like how
14:20 you’ve grown as a leader do you want to describe your leadership style and maybe how it has metamorphosized yeah and evolved
14:28 over overtime so first of all I tried to lead from a position
14:36 of respect and understanding I think is how I would how I would phrase it and
14:43 it’s a respect both for my team and
14:49 hopefully it’s it’s reciprocal hopefully it’s a respect from them for me and for
14:55 what we’re trying to accomplish um and the understanding piece pie is that we’re humans sometimes
15:01 we make mistakes um uh it’s important I think to like really
15:10 evaluate sometimes if things don’t go well I’m not the person who’s going to fly off the handle I’m going to attempt
15:17 to evaluate like why didn’t this work the way that we wanted it to or why was this mistake made and then let’s come
15:23 together figure it out and learn from it that’s the general approach that I
15:30 take um I’m also never going to ask someone to do something that I wouldn’t
15:35 do myself and so I I think I mentioned a minute ago like there’s some of those
15:40 you know all nighters or weekend polls if we’re if we’re doing those things if
15:46 I’m asking somebody or a team to put in long hours I’m there with them I’m I
15:53 might not always have um ownership of you know um of you know key tasks but
16:02 I’m going to be there um you know to help wherever I can help to stay sort of
16:09 plugged into the team so that if you know I have senior leadership who says hey John what’s going on um I can
16:17 provide a timely and accurate report without having to go take cycles away
16:22 from the team to say hey what’s going on tell me what’s going on I need you know CTO wants to know what’s happening um uh
16:32 so uh that’s that’s how I try to lead yeah and so here you have this inherent
16:39 um values so when you look at hiring a team what are some characteristics or
16:47 values that you place heavily when making those decisions um culture is super important
16:55 to me uh there are so many talented people
17:01 um that you know I want to hire you know the most talented person
17:08 that I can find for the role who’s going to care deeply about delivering value to our
17:14 customers um who is um you know I try to always think about hiring people who are
17:20 smarter than I am you know which is maybe maybe not that challenging but I want to be surrounded by the most
17:27 intelligent people right I want to be the dumbest guy in the room uh because I again I think that’s how we learn quite
17:34 often um and you know that person needs
17:40 to really fit in with the team with the rest of the team and with the culture that that we’re building I think culture
17:47 you know sort of evolves um but you know we spend so much time in the workplace
17:54 we spend sometimes more time in the workplace than we do with our families so it’s important that you know you have
18:03 someone you know the person you’re hiring on the team or for the team for whatever role it is is is going to be
18:10 you know um a a really not not just a key team player but that they’re it’s
18:18 going to help drive the team um and not tear it down yeah absolutely and you’ve
18:23 had such an an interesting progression because a lot of times you talk about
18:29 this culture and what draws somebody to a startup that’s the environment they like
18:35 and again here you went to midsize organization and a huge organization all
18:40 very different culturally what are some of your successes or Lessons Learned
18:46 taking those these values into such different
18:51 cultures themselves yeah um so I think I’ve been lucky to an extent
18:59 that the culture that you know I helped to
19:05 create um um really it didn’t just
19:10 survive um but I think expanded into the other
19:15 organizations so the so um you know our
19:21 culture um I wouldn’t say like took over or replaced I think I think the other
19:26 organizations were pretty well aligned already there it was a good fit it was pretty easy to plug in to those other
19:34 businesses um but in both cases I feel like there were probably more more parts
19:41 of the culture that I’d helped create that sort of seeped into those other organizations than vice
19:48 versa um and so that sort of you know
19:53 leading by respect I didn’t mention this but I also like to have fun um and so
19:59 when you can I think there’s a certain amount of fun and light-heartedness
20:04 that’s really helps um you know I think I think there are a lot of really positive aspects
20:10 that that sort of bled into those other cultures yeah and what a huge success
20:16 because I do believe culture is tone at the top and that if you’ve created such
20:21 a strong environment that could go you know to continue with different ownership and
20:29 different perspectives that says a lot about you so great job and so looking
20:34 back in leadership what are some of your biggest successes that you are really
20:40 proud of um I am I am really just so proud
20:46 of the the growth I’ve seen um in the
20:51 team so just the personal and professional growth and you know uh some
20:58 of the these folks I worked with for 20 years um you know so uh it’s you know a
21:06 lot of aspects of being a team like being a team you really need to be able to count on each other and all sorts of
21:12 those other things but there’s also a little bit of family that sort of seeps in you know over time I would say big
21:20 especially with that long of time you know you’re kids know each other you know right it you can’t help but become
21:27 personally attached yeah absolutely yep uh Y and some I mean my best friends are
21:32 some of those folks that we you know spent 20 years together right um just being honest uh um I’m really proud of
21:42 the product that we’ve built so the success that we’ve helped you know our
21:49 customers achieve is something I’m really proud of um you know I think
21:55 that uh in the early days especially we help you know myself in a in a small like a
22:01 very small handful of people helped really shape an industry um and and I’m I’m proud of
22:08 that it’s it’s yeah something I think fondly of yeah so John
22:14 um this is particularly fun for me to ask you but if you are to look back over
22:22 you know all of the lessons learned and all the experiences that you’ve had what advice would you give to to your younger
22:29 self um that’s a good question uh I I might have um I might
22:37 have mentioned or I might have said something about this but I think a big piece of advice is trust your
22:42 gut so you know make a decision um and sort of go for
22:49 it you know look back and maybe take some measurements over time but don’t dwell on the decision you
22:56 made uh uh um and you know maybe just um maybe just
23:06 believe that you can do it believe that what you’re working on is going to be
23:12 bigger and more important than you think um and uh and don’t forget to have
23:19 fun yeah you know it’s funny you that advice I don’t know what made me think
23:24 about it but it’s also like parenting too that we sit there and go would have should
23:30 have could have a lot not just with work but again in our personal lives and I
23:38 everything you said made me think of parenting we forget to have fun sometimes and we forget to take risks mmhm
23:46 and um so whether it’s kids or business so a mentor like if you were a mentor of
23:53 a 20-year- oldish today mmhmm would that be the same advice you would give them
23:59 that you would give your 20-year-old self yeah I I think so okay
24:06 um you know uh every situation I think is a little bit different mm um you know
24:12 I think that it looking back if I were going to change anything
24:19 um um you know I I don’t know I don’t even know if I want to say I want to
24:25 change anything because it’s been it because it’s been great I think I think if I were going to change anything I
24:31 might have wanted to sort of take more ownership so maybe not have spent the
24:38 last 10 years um working for others but to build
24:44 my own company you know after some of this some of this you know sort of early success but um I wouldn’t but I wouldn’t
24:52 take away because I’ve learned so much right like I’ve learned so much that um
24:58 I I would I don’t want to trade that yeah and and so highlight those
25:05 learnings like what do you what was so pivotable in your life that you kind of
25:10 go now looking back wow that was so
25:16 impactful uh the you know so learning learning or just experiencing some level
25:22 of success and failure I think is really important like being there and living through that the good times and the bad
25:29 and and then sort of like you know having confirmation that you’ll make it through the other side you know you’ll
25:36 live to fight another day is really valuable and sometimes those are those can be really tough
25:42 lessons um but I’ve also learned a lot
25:47 about just what it means to to build a team to be you know a functional member
25:55 of a team um you know how to sort of communicate to a lot of there’s a lot of
26:03 different types of people right and so um you know having a conversation
26:09 with uh a CEO or pitching a CEO you know on an idea that you have
26:17 that you’re sure in your gut is the right idea um that changes from company
26:23 to company and so having some experience with that and understanding
26:29 that you know different people different you there’s different types of people who um really respond differently to
26:36 like different types of like what data do you need to present a solution to get
26:42 traction what’s the sort of form factor of that presentation is it a presentation is it slides is it a short
26:48 narrative um you know do folks you know learning lessons about you know the
26:55 person that you’re trying to convince of you know what whatever argument you’re making how do they preser…how how do
27:01 they how do they prefer to receive information I guess is what I’m trying to say and so you know now it’s much
27:12 easier for me to sort of um to to sort of spot or figure out like how best you
27:20 know how can I present this argument or data or whatever it is um in you know a
27:28 form that’s going to you know ultimately you know lead to success then I was able
27:35 to um you know in my my younger years absolutely I think there’s another
27:41 interesting thing I was thinking about this when you’re talking you know transitioning from being an engineering
27:46 leader to a business leader is a is a really big jump and um I know that you
27:53 know certain people don’t desire to ever do it do you want to speak a littleit about your experience I think that if I
28:00 recall when you were kind of being presented with that track it was scary and um you know kind of what compelled
28:08 you to make make the jump into a space where now you’re not just responsible for engineering but responsible for the
28:14 p&l of you know a part of an or or whatever you know it’s a it’s quite a big jump yeah um that it it was a big
28:24 jump or at least it felt like a big jump at the time um and you know I went from
28:29 being the man behind the curtain uh which was very comfortable
28:35 for me um to you know being the guy out
28:40 front who still sometimes was the man behind the curtain but to the outside
28:46 world was was the person um who was sort of the face right uh and so when when
28:53 that um you know when we were Acquired and
28:58 2014 it was about a year later that uh the gentleman who was my my boss’s boss
29:04 tapped me on the shoulder and said hey John you know I think you could be an
29:10 engineering leader here at this company for as long as you want you’re amazing uh but I think that you’d be
29:17 selling yourself short I I I think that you should pursue you know more of a um
29:24 you know a leadership track you know in you know over the whole business um you
29:31 know not you know not only with engineering and I don’t mean I don’t mean not only with engineering as if
29:37 that’s a little thing it’s not it’s just a a change right um and I was terrified
29:45 I thought I I can’t do what my boss does my boss can walk into a room and talk to
29:52 anyone um he can go you know sit on a panel in front of a th000 people and
29:58 have a conversation about you know streaming and ad techh and all these things that we’re doing right um and he
30:05 has a rolodex he has people he can call outside of the company when he has you
30:12 know business questions or whatever the case might be I don’t have that business Rolodex I have plenty of like Tech folks
30:18 I know that I can call um and uh it was
30:24 really this individual and the CEO of the company both who had a number of conversations with
30:31 me and they said John you you can do this we know you can do this uh and so I
30:37 I agreed to take the leap and it was like it it was a little terrifying at
30:44 first um uh and I think again what I learned I’m I’m a I’m I’m sort of a I’m
30:52 sort of a weirdo I’m sort of like a weirdo you know engineering nerd
30:58 uh who also can be extremely social um probably prefer to not always be as
31:05 social uh and I uh you know I think I I
31:11 did learn like okay you you can do this John you can um you know build these really
31:19 strong bonds and relationships like outside of the engineering world you can take on and sort of be the face for um
31:28 not just you know the development team but for the organization uh and had a I’ve I had a
31:36 ton of had a ton of fun doing that is that funny every time in life I’ve
31:41 leapt how scary it is but in hindsight you go what a better person I am and
31:49 that growth so John this podcast is called hiring for good so we always
31:54 finish up with what does hiring for good mean to you for me hiring for good
32:03 means um finding the right person the person who is going
32:09 to um help level up the whole team the
32:14 person is going to help us deliver value to our customers um you know early and
32:22 often uh and the person who who culturally is going to
32:28 maybe not just not just fit in it’s not just about fitting in but it’s about
32:34 looking at the various aspects personality traits or whatever that’s
32:39 going to help us grow it’s going to help grow the culture um you know really be
32:46 that that important that important part of of of the team that’s awesome thank you wow yes
32:55 thank you proud of you but again my biggest
33:01 fan the cheerleader yep absolutely but well deserved thank you truly thank you
33:08 so much yeah thank you this was really a treat I’d love having you here thanks it’s been fun thanks appreciate it
33:15 thanks for joining us today at hiring for good if you were inspired by our conversation don’t forget to like follow
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33:33 Executive Search thanks so much and don’t forget to join us next time for another in-depth conversation about
33:38 transformational leadership until then have fun