A conversation with Oz Etzioni, CEO of Clinch, to talk about something a lot of brands and agencies are wrestling with right now: the widening gap between media and creative — and how AI is rapidly changing what’s possible in that space.

Clinch has been focused for years on the connective layer between creative and media. The idea is simple to say, but hard to execute: unify the creative strategy with the media plan so that the right message can be delivered to the right audience in real time, across every channel. And now, with the acceleration of AI, that “missing middle” is becoming the most important part of the stack.

Major market shifts are happening such as creative is no longer a static asset — it’s dynamic, personalized, and constantly adapting and media buying is automating faster than most organizations are structurally prepared for.

A great discussion of where the industry is heading. Not someday. Now.

Joe and Corey are joined by Erica Chriss and we dug into a question that’s coming up everywhere: what happens to the open web as more consumer activity moves into AI-driven interfaces?

There’s no doubt the landscape is shifting — from checkout happening inside chat to new tools that shape how brands appear in LLM environments. But that doesn’t mean the open web is disappearing. It means publishers, advertisers, agencies, and platforms have to rethink how they show up. The advantage will go to those who adapt their business models, not just their tech stacks. Flexibility and experimentation matter more right now than certainty or scale.

The open web isn’t dead — it’s evolving, and there’s a lot of opportunity for those willing to move with it. Full episode coming soon.

In this episode of the Aperiam Podcast, Joe Zawadzki and Corey Ferengul talked about the hardest step — turning a great idea into a repeatable business. You can’t outsource that early work. The founder (and early team) have to be with customers, hearing what works, what doesn’t, and adjusting without losing sight of the bigger vision.

The mistake we see most often? Hiring a senior “head of sales” too early. The better move is to find a player-coach — someone who can sell alongside the founder and start building process without losing momentum.

Whether you’re a startup or a big company launching a new line of business, the same lesson applies: stay close to your customers, keep learning, and scale only when the pattern is real.