CEO at Viant Technology
Tim Vanderhook is known for co-founding Viant Technology and championing people-based, cookieless programmatic advertising through Viant's proprietary identity graph and DSP platform.
Last updated Mar 28, 2026 by AI Enrichment
Tim Vanderhook is best known as the co-founder and CEO of Viant Technology, a publicly traded programmatic advertising software company (Nasdaq: DSP) that he has helped build into a leading people-based demand-side platform. Under his leadership, Viant has distinguished itself in the AdTech ecosystem through its identity graph technology and cookieless advertising solutions, positioning the company as a forward-thinking alternative to cookie-dependent programmatic infrastructure at a time when the industry faces significant identity disruption. Tim co-founded Viant alongside his brother Chris Vanderhook in 1999, making the company one of the earliest players in digital advertising technology. Over more than two decades, he guided Viant through multiple industry cycles, including the company's acquisition by Time Inc. in 2016 and its subsequent management buyout and return to independence before its Nasdaq IPO in February 2021. This trajectory reflects both his entrepreneurial resilience and his ability to navigate complex corporate and capital markets environments. Vanderhook has been a consistent advocate for people-based advertising — the practice of targeting real, authenticated individuals rather than anonymous cookies or device IDs. Viant's Household ID and its integration with authenticated data sources represent his strategic bet on a privacy-conscious, identity-resolved future for programmatic advertising. He is a frequent voice in industry discussions around the deprecation of third-party cookies and the evolution of addressable media.
Viant Technology (1999-2016)
Time Inc. (2016-2018)
Viant Technology (2018-2021)