Austin Hay

Head of Marketing Technology at Ramp

One of the smartest people in MarTech, currently Head of Marketing Technology at Ramp; has advised Notion, Airbnb, Walmart, Robinhood on MarTech strategy; previously VP of Growth at mParticle and fourth employee at Branch Metrics.

The Growth Scientist The Scientist

Dimension Profile

Strategic Vision 50%

Execution & Craft 70%

Data & Experimentation 90%

Growth & Distribution 80%

Team & Leadership 40%

User Empathy & Research 30%

Key Themes

marketing technology strategy probabilistic vs deterministic data post-IDFA marketing MarTech hiring and org design growth infrastructure attribution in privacy era

Episode Summary

Austin Hay demystifies MarTech (Marketing Technology) and explains why it's a critical but overlooked function in growth organizations. He discusses the seismic shift from deterministic to probabilistic marketing data after IDFA changes, how to build models from partial data to make informed marketing decisions, and when and how to hire your first MarTech person, drawing from advising companies like Airbnb, Notion, and Walmart.

Leadership Principles

→ In the post-IDFA world, marketers must learn to make decisions with probabilistic data, not deterministic data
→ Build models from 30% of the population and extrapolate to 100% when you can't track individuals
→ MarTech is the infrastructure layer that makes all growth work possible — hire for it early

Notable Quotes

"From 2010 to 2020, we had the golden years of deterministic matching. You can't do that anymore. How can marketers make decisions with probabilistic data?"
— On the fundamental shift in marketing attribution after privacy changes

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