Getting Started

What is ATDb?

The AdTech Database (ATDb) is a comprehensive directory of the advertising technology ecosystem — think of it as "IMDb for AdTech." ATDb catalogs companies, people, deals, and news across the industry, making it easy to research the landscape, track competitors, and stay informed.

What You'll Find

• Companies — detailed profiles of AdTech companies with business models, funding, features, and competitive positioning
• People — industry professionals and their roles across companies
• Deals & Moves — acquisitions, funding rounds, partnerships, IPOs, and leadership changes
• News — curated articles from across the industry
• Insights — AI-generated weekly analysis of trends and notable developments
• Ecosystem Graph — visual map of how companies and people are connected

Creating an Account

1. Visit the registration page at /register
2. Enter your email address and choose a password
3. Complete the CAPTCHA verification
4. Check your email for a confirmation link
5. Click the link to verify your account

Beta Access

ATDb is currently in private beta. To unlock contribution features (editing, watchlists, entity submission), you'll need a beta invite code:

1. Get an invite code from an existing member or the ATDb team
2. Visit /join and enter your code (format: ATDB-XXXX)
3. Beta features unlock immediately

Without beta access, you can still browse and search the entire database freely. You can also join the waitlist on the Beta page to be notified when more spots open.

Guided Tour

When you first log in with beta access, a short guided tour highlights ATDb's key features — company profiles, search, Ask ATDb, Compare, Graph, Insights, and contributing. The tour runs once automatically; it won't appear again after you dismiss or complete it.

Beta Badges

• Founding Contributor — permanent badge for Wave 1 beta members. Displayed on your contributor profile and in the Founders page.
• Early Adopter — permanent badge for Wave 2 beta members.

Sharing Invite Codes

Wave 1 (Founding Contributor) members receive 3 invite codes to share with colleagues. Find your codes in Settings under "Your Invite Codes." Each code is single-use and opens a Wave 2 (Early Adopter) spot.

Navigation

Global Header

The header appears on every page with:

• ATDb logo — click to return to the homepage
• Search bar — search across all entity types
• Categories — browse companies by industry category
• Ask — natural language Q&A powered by AI
• Sign in / User menu — account access and settings

Homepage

The homepage provides a curated overview of the AdTech ecosystem:

• Search bar with AI-powered Ask feature
• Trending in AdTech — most-mentioned companies in the last 30 days
• This Week in AdTech — AI-generated insights
• Featured Companies — top-tier curated profiles
• Recently Updated — latest entity changes
• Recent Deals & Moves alongside Latest News
• Browse by Category — quick links to industry segments

Directory Pages

Browse entities from the main directories:

• /companies — all companies with search, category filters, and grid/list views
• /people — industry professionals
• /events — deals, acquisitions, funding, and moves
• /news — curated industry articles

Each directory supports pagination (24 items per page), search, and sorting (alphabetical, most recent, last updated).

Other Pages

• /insights — weekly AI analysis and category spotlights
• /graph — interactive ecosystem visualization
• /contributors — community leaderboard
• /activity — recent platform activity feed
• /categories — browse all industry categories

Search

Quick Search

Use the search bar in the header to find any entity by name. Results appear across all types (companies, people, events, news).

Full Search

The dedicated search page (/search) offers advanced filtering:

• Type filter — narrow results to companies, people, events, or news
• Category filter — limit to specific industry segments
• Activity filter — show only entities updated in the last 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days

Search uses full-text matching with fuzzy results, so partial names and slight misspellings still return relevant results.

Ask ATDb

The Ask feature (/ask) lets you ask natural-language questions about the AdTech ecosystem:

• "Which DSPs are growing fastest?"
• "Who are the major players in retail media?"
• "What acquisitions happened in programmatic this year?"

Answers are grounded in ATDb data with citations linking to specific entity profiles.