Employee Spotlight: Tobias Rast

Oops – September was such a crazy month with the tradeshows and last summer holidays, we even missed out on our employee spotlight. But we’re back in full force now and have chosen to shine the employee spotlight this time on our Senior Pre and Post Sales Manager, Tobias Rast!

Tobias is no stranger to the world of online marketing. Born and raised in Berlin, he began his career in Dublin for a particular search engine provider, before moving back to Berlin and joining a performance network company for several years. He then took time off to travel the world and worked freelance as a consultant and blogger before joining Ingenious in the Operations team. Here’s another fun fact: He’s such a fan of the French language (having learnt it and spending time in France), he speaks to our French clients in their preferred language! His expertise both in online marketing and in travel is greatly appreciated by the team.

In our chat with Tobias, we learn what his role entails, what he thinks of the online marketing industry and more of his world travels!

Meet Tobias!

 

Hi Tobias! Your official title is a mouthful: Senior Pre and Post Sales Manager. What do you do exactly?

Hi! That simply means I work on some of the most interesting client projects of the company. I integrate all those individual needs and client-specific ideas and wishes in their as well as Ingenious’ existing landscape of technology and processes.

Presales refers to discussing a project and its feasibility at an early stage before agreeing to a contract, whereas post sales refers to actually designing a solution and setting it up.

By the way, the most surprising discovery in my job is that in many cases, the solution does not lie in the technology itself. Instead, it lies in the way we combine existing pieces of a system, the way the technology is used and how a process is designed.

What are some of your greatest joys at work?

Finding a way to do something that was thought to be difficult or even impossible makes me happy. It is like discovering and implementing solutions that portray the beauty of tracking and technology.

Also, I really enjoy working with this great team and with the real pros here at Ingenious. Such a density of senior experts can only be found in very few companies.

 

You’re not at all new to the online marketing industry. What are some new trends you’ve noticed in the last few years?

Still today, working with attribution is something not only highly complex but also highly political within many companies. Thinking of it as a whole and working with it properly to not only get results but also intelligence out of it is only done in very few companies.

Also, I noticed in the start up world that literally most companies go through the same phases: from bootstrapping and quick decisions for the sake of speed to more stable and long-lasting solutions later. This last step, in particular, is a point that seems quite difficult.

And really, the trend of all trends is the effect of the widespread usage of mobile devices. This really changes the way we all use online media. Even though this is not new, this field is still evolving at high speed.

 

Prior to Ingenious, you spent 8 months being a „world traveller“ – where did you go and what did you learn?

When travelling through Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and China, I gained tons of rich experiences: I got to know great places, cultures, stories and people, as well as got to shoot thousands of pictures!

Also, travelling pushed me outside my comfort zone. I was forced to make moral decisions like: Should I buy from children in Asia? (Maybe in certain cases.) Should I ride an elephant? (No, never.) I also saw things I found disturbing like what wealth as well as poverty does to people and places.

The most surprising thing was: I learned how little I needed. I carried all my belongings with me and that was more than enough.

 

As one of the few original Berliners, you probably know more hidden treasures in this city. Tell us – Where is your favourite spot in Berlin?

There are a lot of publicly accessible hidden places, like the treetop walk in the abandoned hospital Beelitz Heilstätten, the old NSA station on Teufelsberg, the Schwerbelatungskörper at Südkreuz (where Albert Speer tested how large the size of buildings could be in 3rd Reich) or even the brand new not yet opened BER airport – yes, you can do guided tours there by bike in summer! It’s impressive to be on the runway of a brand new airport.

 

What are your goals for the next years?

I want to be a discoverer – I’d like to try all the different food and street food in Berlin, discover street art and murals, or do road trips to new places – they don’t even need to be far away.