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Andre Swanston is one of the few black men to sell a technology company for nine figures.
According to Forbes, Swanston founded True Optic in 2013. According to Forbes, he came to the United States from St. Kitts and Nevis and was instilled with a strong work ethic by his father, who held several jobs to support his family.
The younger Swanston earned a degree in finance from La Salle University and a business administration degree from the University of Connecticut from 1999 to 2004. He then secured a job as a financial advisor at Ameriprise Financial, followed by a position at JPMorgan Chase. According to his LinkedIn, from 2010 to 2012 he served as vice president of investments.
In the early 2000s, he owned nightclubs and restaurants, he said in a Q&A with TransUnion. He also invested in local advertising to increase exposure for his own business. That’s when Swanston made a discovery that led him to pivot full-time to the technology industry as the founder of Tru Optik. The system is a “unified data management, campaign activation, audience measurement, and marketing attribution platform” for over-the-top (OTT) media services and connected TV. According to his LinkedIn, it is designed to support media companies, advertisers, and publishers.
“Over the past few years, we have seen the effectiveness of advertising budgets shift almost entirely to new channels such as streaming radio and digital,” Swanston told TransUnion. “This was before the era of connected TV, but we realized that this was a larger trend towards IP TV and streaming TV. I knew that startups had the power to attract venture capital. I also knew that this was what I wanted to do. This was the most important piece of the puzzle, because founders have the ability to Because there’s a certain level of insanity where you have to believe in yourself and your idea so much that you’re willing to take the risks necessary to make it happen. For me, that meant dropping everything and starting Tru Optik. .”
Keeping the company afloat required many sacrifices. Sometimes they will accept a minimum return from a venture to keep the company afloat. Additionally, attracting the attention of venture capitalists at a company’s early stages can lead to a lot of closed doors.
“My fear of embarrassment helped me endure constant rejection from top venture capital funds as a young, black CEO who didn’t attend an Ivy League college or work for a major technology company. Most VC funds wouldn’t even meet with me,” he said, according to Fortune. “Rather than defeat these failures, I used them as fuel to prove VC money wrong. I have invested in angel investors, small venture capital funds, national investment vehicles, strategic companies We have secured an investor.”
Skydeo reports that Tru Optik will be the first company to create a patented household graph that helps advertisers target individuals within households. The press release states that Tru Optik’s household graph includes more than 80 million homes in the United States and is used by thousands of brands.
Additionally, its data management platform is growing by more than 600% annually.
In 2020, Tru Optik was acquired by TransUnion. According to Adweek, the company previously participated in Tru Optik’s $10 million seed round. Sales were in the nine figures, Swanston said.
“We were putting billions of dollars into advertising across streaming. And during that time, we built relationships and after we sold the company, we gained trust. Because this person They build something out of nothing and turn it into something,” Swanston said on WFSB-3 in Bridgeport, Conn.
He is now focused on new ventures, serving as chairman and CEO of the Swanston Institute and as the first black majority owner of a professional sports team in Bridgeport. The paper reports.
Swanston is currently leading the MLS Next Pro franchise, Connecticut United. He also plans to juggle additional projects, including building a stadium, hotel, affordable housing and a free youth academy.
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