From Unpaid Intern to Moloco: My Career Journey

By Clara Copeland

I met my now-husband during a trip to San Francisco in 2010 and after a year of long-distance and finishing up my Bachelor’s Degree, I agreed to find a way to temporarily move to the US. That meant leaving the traditional path of continuing with my Masters Degree and doing something very unconventional for a German: taking a risk.

An internship visa seemed to be the only viable option for a US-visa back then, so I paid to be placed in an unpaid internship position and while seemingly unreasonable at the time, it was the best decision I ever made and the first of many coincidences that led to where I am today.?

The concept art studio where I landed happened to be doing art for game developers and marked the beginning of my career. Mobile apps had just become a thing and the founder had this idea of developing his own app - Racoon Rub, a questionable title come to think of it now - and I was put in charge of figuring out the marketing strategy.?

I had no clue what I was doing and had never heard of mobile ad networks before but Tapjoy’s office was right around the corner from ours on 4th and Market, so I went on a mission to figure this out. The mobile industry was small and I quickly knew my way around the people, which by the time my visa was about to expire landed me my next internship at a tech-focused PR company - another field I had no expertise in but was committed to make work.

During my time there, I learned how to pitch, research an audience and discovered my negotiation skills. Moving forward, starting pay for new interns was double the offered rate and I finally was able to provide for myself.?

At the end of my 12-month stint in San Francisco, I took one last meeting with a potential PR client before I was meant to head back to Germany to finish my Masters and continue my laid out path.?

I did initially wonder why the client didn’t want me to bring my boss to the meeting and was surprised by all the questions about my background when we sat down for a coffee, but I had adopted the American client-first mentality and happily answered all their questions. At the end of the meeting, I had a job offer and H1B-sponsorship from a German-based ad tech company who was looking for a German native to join their three person SF-based team as an on-ground seller.?

To no one's surprise, I took the job. And I never looked back.?

Sales seemed to naturally align with all my strengths and with the mobile industry being so young, I quickly became a veteran in the field. Over the years, I went from being an individual contributor to running North American, European and Latin American sales teams, selling both SSP and SaaS products.

I had seen the business from both the supply and attribution side overseeing both gaming and consumer partnerships in nearly every market. So when the opportunity came up to lead the Americas New Business Sales team for Moloco - the leading demand side platform in the industry - it felt like the missing piece to complete my full 360 ad/mar tech experience and naturally, I said yes.?

Fast forward to today, it’s been almost six months since I joined the team. During these initial months, I witnessed how the blend of small start-up culture and big-tech leadership experience cross-department has created a distinct setting for the growth and execution of new concepts, all achieved with remarkable efficiency.

However, the true quality of Moloco’s workplace to me lies in the concept of extreme ownership, a principle wholeheartedly adopted by every team and individual as an integral part of their daily responsibilities. It shows in every individual taking accountability to deliver at their best, collaborate effectively and achieve the most impactful results.?

It’s those results that make this 500 person startup be way ahead of the curve in terms of achievements, and profitability and the reason why taking a risk no longer seems like a deviation from the natural path for me - even as a German.