Ali Manning on Co-Founding Chalice and Putting the Advertiser First in Ad Tech

Ali Manning didn't set out to start a company. When COVID hit and her job imploded, she got pulled into Chalice gradually: drafting models, workshopping pitches, listing herself as COO before she'd fully committed. What finally pushed her over the edge was watching her husband testify before the Senate against Google in an antitrust hearing and realizing she belonged on that side of the table.

The early years ran on COBRA, a shared nanny, and milestone deadlines that kept moving. When Peloton pulled back post-pandemic, Chalice nearly ran out of money. The Series A collapsed when their lead investor's committee banned investing in ad tech. What came next changed everything.

Chalice built a name in custom bid algorithms, then had to defend the category as competitors moved in and eventually decided to move past the label entirely. Ali gets into the discipline of firing the wrong clients, and the moment that finally made the company profitable, and a cold email that landed in the right inbox at the right time. The lesson wasn't the announcement. It was the follow-through.

Want more from Ali? She's now a contributor at The Current. Read the latest.

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