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Based on photo by Norman Jean Roy
🟢 The Return of Kevin Krim: More Personal, More Powerful
Let’s just say it: I couldn’t finish editing this episode in one sitting.
Not because of a tech meltdown.
Not because I had to fix the lighting or cut out another five-minute tangent about the word “omnichannel.”
No—this one nearly knocked me flat.
I was crying.
Then smiling.
Then crying while smiling.
It was emotional whiplash in the best, most necessary way.
Kevin Krim came back to The ADOTAT Show, and this time, he didn’t just come to talk about metrics, dashboards, or media efficiency. He came back as a human being first.
Not just the CEO of EDO. Not the data evangelist with a fanbase of nerdy CMOs. Just… Kevin.
And what unfolded in our conversation was, frankly, something I’ll never forget.
The moment the cameras started rolling, I asked him what I always ask—“How are you doing?” Not the LinkedIn version. Not the “Busy! Crushing Q3!” nonsense. The real version. The one where you stop pretending you're fine just because the lighting is good. And Kevin, true to form, didn’t dodge. He didn’t pivot to product updates or say something canned about momentum. Instead, he gave me an answer so raw and unfiltered that I had to pause the tape just to catch my breath.
He told me the Knicks being in the Eastern Conference Finals helps. And then, he said what most founders and execs would never dare admit on a mic: he’s just happy to be sitting in his living room with his kids. That’s it. That’s what’s keeping him sane right now.
No grindset. No VC platitudes. No pretending that success is measured in LinkedIn likes or being onstage at Cannes. Just Kevin, embracing stillness, family, and presence.
And that was the moment I knew: this is not just a season premiere. This is a reset.
For those of you who remember Kevin’s first time on the show, you’ll recall we kept it mostly industry-focused. CTV outcomes. Viewer attention. What EDO was building. All smart stuff, and he handled it with his usual clarity and wit. But there was something guarded back then. A polite boundary. Understandable, of course—this is the media business, and no one wants to show the full blueprint.
But this time? That guard was down. Completely.
We talked about the unimaginable. The tragic loss of his two kids. The foundation he and his wife built in their memory. The way grief doesn’t go away—it just becomes part of who you are. And how even in the middle of running a company and showing up as a public figure, you can also carry heartbreak.
Not as weakness.
But as something that deepens your capacity to lead, to love, and to keep showing up.
Kevin’s voice didn’t crack—but mine did.
Multiple times. And if you listen closely, you’ll hear it.
Because behind every polished industry leader is a person trying to make sense of things they never planned for.
Trying to keep it together while everyone expects brilliance.
Kevin showed up for this episode not just to talk shop—but to talk life.
And yes, it’s still funny. Kevin’s dry, self-aware humor still hits exactly right. The kind of humor that only comes from someone who’s done the inner work. There are moments that’ll make you laugh right after you wipe your eyes. The kind of emotional left turns that no media training can prepare you for.
But let’s be honest—this is the kind of episode our industry needs right now.
We are drowning in press releases dressed up as interviews.
In buzzwords masquerading as insights.
We needed something real to kick off Season Five.
And Kevin Krim delivered.
So why open the season like this? Because we’re not doing safe this year. We’re not chasing clickbait or trying to win the SEO lottery.
This show has always been about cutting through the fog, and this episode? It’s a clearing.
It’s a reminder that the humans building ad tech are just that—humans.
Next week, Anthony Katsur is back—for the third time. (Yes, third. Even he asked if we were sure we wanted him again. We are.) But for now, I want you to sit with this episode.
Not in your AirPods while answering emails.
Not as background noise while folding laundry.
Actually listen.
This one’s not about reach. It’s about resonance.
And yeah—I cried. You might too.
Stay Bold. Stay Curious. And Know More Than You Did Yesterday.
And to our incredible sponsors—Troutman Amin LLP and Incremental.com—thank you for letting this kind of episode exist. Thank you for backing real stories, not just market share slogans.
You’ve made it possible for us to create space for honesty, even when it hurts.
The Rabbi of ROAS
There are interviews you prepare for—and then there are conversations that change you. This one did both.
I’ve known Kevin Krim for years now as the CEO of EDO, a data visionary, someone who could speak fluently about the chaos of CTV and make it feel understandable, even meaningful. But what unfolded in this episode wasn’t about media or marketing. It was about memory.
About rebuilding from devastation.
About what it means to survive—not just in a professional sense, but as a human being.
Because Kevin Krim isn’t just a CEO. He’s a father. A husband. A man who experienced the kind of grief most of us cannot imagine, and chose to turn that pain into something astonishingly generous.
On October 25, 2012, Kevin and Marina Krim lost two of their children, Lulu and Leo, in an act of violence that stunned New York City. The children, six and two years old, were murdered by their nanny in the family’s Upper West Side apartment while Marina was taking their younger sister Nessie to a swimming lesson. Kevin was returning from a business trip when police met him at the airport to deliver the news no parent should ever hear.
We didn’t rehash the crime in detail—it’s well documented and too horrific to retread here—but we talked about what happened after. The days when everything went silent. The nights filled with absence. And then—slowly, painfully—how Kevin and Marina began to create again.
“In the face of that kind of just terrible destruction,” Kevin told me, “we had a real natural impulse to create.” That impulse became Choose Creativity, a nonprofit rooted in ten principles—curiosity, resilience, courage, and others—that became the scaffolding not only for a curriculum, but for a life rebuilt.
What struck me wasn’t just what they built, but how. “It was the same creativity we’d been channeling into raising our kids,” he said. And after the tragedy, they redirected that into caring for Nessie, who had just turned three, and eventually welcoming two more sons—Felix and Linus—into their home.
The foundation didn’t start as a brand or an initiative. It started as survival. Marina, a former public school teacher, began responding to the question she kept hearing: “How are you doing this?” And instead of giving a soundbite, she built something she could have taught in a classroom.
Ten creative principles.
Ten ways forward.
Ten small lifelines for families, for schools, for anyone facing darkness.
“We wanted to keep Lulu and Leo’s spirits alive—not in stone, but in motion,” Kevin said.
Let that sit with you for a moment. Not in stone. In motion.
The data guy—the outcomes expert—wasn’t talking metrics. He was talking about what it means to live in the aftermath and still choose forward motion.
And this isn’t just about grief. It’s about grace. I asked him how he finds it now, and he paused before saying, “To be open to it… that’s one of the things I know to be true.” He wasn’t offering a prescription. He was offering a practice. Be present. Stay open. Let it find you.
The hardest part of the conversation came when I asked him what the tragedy taught him about control and letting go. “You’ve got to be patient with your partner,” he said, reflecting on how differently he and Marina grieved. “And not demand that everything happen on your own schedule, in your own style.” That same patience, he said, made him a better leader—less reactive, more open, more trusting of how people come to clarity in their own time.
So often we glorify resilience in this industry as if it’s a KPI. We wrap hardship in TED-style optimism. Kevin didn’t do that. He didn’t sugarcoat. He didn’t perform. He just shared.
And in doing so, he modeled a different kind of leadership. Not the kind that conquers, but the kind that continues. The kind that chooses creation over collapse. That doesn’t try to erase the grief, but lets it live alongside the joy.
“I was sort of a restless intellect for a lot of my first two-thirds of my career,” Kevin said. “But now? I’m excited for what happens when all that experience turns into real intuition. What ideas that kind of intuition will unlock.” He’s not chasing exits or applause. He’s seeking impact, legacy, meaning.
When I asked him the hardest question—what he wanted to be remembered for—his answer was immediate and honest:
“That I was helping good people get better.”
Not more famous. Not more powerful. Just better.
This is the Kevin Krim New Yorkers know. The one who showed up in the darkest moment of his life and kept showing up. For his wife. His children. His city. And now, for thousands of children across the country who benefit from a curriculum born in loss but powered by hope.
This wasn’t just a podcast episode. It was a love letter to what it means to be human in an industry that so often demands we be anything but.
You can also watch this on Spotify
Look, if you made it this far, you're not here for clickbait. You’re here because you're tired of the fluff, the LinkedIn humblebrags, and the dashboards that light up like Vegas but tell you nothing real.
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