I’m writing this before the holiday — it’s Sukkos, the Festival of Booths.

So yeah, I’m getting this out early, because during the holiday I’ll be offline — or at least more “sparse publication” than usual. Consider this my pre-Sukkos brain dump: part reflection, part editorial, part “I really should be cutting schach instead of writing about adtech.”

Here’s what’s been on my mind.

I’ve been maybe too zealous lately about exposing what’s broken in our industry. Digging through the nonsense, pointing out the contradictions, pulling masks off the usual suspects — it’s fun, sure, but it also misses something. There are actually a lot of people trying to get it right.

And honestly? I’m not cynical about this space. I love it — the chaos, the ambition, the endless rebrands pretending to be revolutions. I question things because that’s my work. It’s how I vet potential partners, and it’s how I stay sane in an industry that’s allergic to introspection.

The IAB under David Cohen, for example, has made real progress. Big strides. He’s leading through a completely different ad world — one where rules are rewritten in code and compliance comes in JSON. And he’s not shy about it.

So before I disappear into the sukkah with a lulav, an esrog, I’ll just say this: the industry isn’t broken — it’s just complicated. And some people are actually fixing it while the rest of us are arguing about it on LinkedIn.

Stay bold, stay curious, and maybe build yourself a booth once in a while. It’s humbling.