Matt O’Neill co-founded AdMonsters and later launched Teemo, an international growth consultancy. He brings over 25 years of experience in adtech and digital media. Most recently, he led Medal.tv’s commercial expansion in the UK and Europe.
Who is your digital hero?
Andrew Fawcett-Wolf, Global Media & Creative Lead, Dentsu Global Services and Co-founder Paragon.
What has he done to win hero status in your eyes?
I first met Andrew nearly 25 years ago when I was running AdMonsters in London and he was building TrafficMac (now Operative). He struck me immediately as whip-smart, humble, and someone who always had time for people on their way up.
Here’s the thing: I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. When would he ask something of me?
Twenty-five years later, that day still hasn’t come. Andrew is that rare breed, as generous with his network as he is brilliant as an operator. He built Paragon into a 2,500-person powerhouse, sold it to Dentsu, and kept building.
But what makes him a hero isn’t just the business success, it’s that he’s lifted countless people along the way without ever expecting anything in return.
How has his heroism helped drive digital?
For someone with Andrew’s personality and track record, he’s been remarkably behind-the-scenes. He and Ramesh had a brilliant, if simple, idea with Paragon: high-quality, scaled offshore operations for digital advertising.
No flash, just execution. Over two decades, he quietly built it into a powerhouse serving major media organisations and – critically – agencies who needed reliable, 24/7 ad ops.
The model was simple. The results consistently positive. What I’ve always admired most is his genuine love for his team in India. He didn’t just offshore labour; he built capability, invested in people, and created real careers.
That approach helped legitimise and elevate offshore operations across the industry. Andrew proved you could scale with quality and humanity.
What’s the biggest challenge in digital we need another hero to solve?
We’re at yet another monumental inflection point in digital. I’ve seen a few over the years, the explosive growth of the web itself, mobile, programmatic trading. But AI is different. I believe it’ll be more significant than all of those combined, and it comes with considerably more risk that extends well beyond the narrow purview of digital advertising.
Entire new economic models will need to be developed to support the shift to AI-driven creativity, operations, and development. Our industry will need strong, visionary leaders who aren’t afraid to experiment, not just with the technology, but with the underlying economics of what it means for those displaced by it.
How do we value human creativity when AI can generate it? How do we compensate people whose expertise is being automated?
It’s a fascinating, if not a bit scary, time. We need heroes willing to tackle the hard questions and the economic realities to come, not just chase the shiny tech.
What is your most heroic personal achievement so far in digital?
I’m incredibly proud of the global network of senior ad and martech leaders I’ve built and maintained over 25+ years. I love seeing clients accelerate their international expansion goals and being part of growing those teams, there’s nothing quite like watching a US company crack the European market or vice versa.
But if I’m being immodest for a moment: helping elevate ad operations and technology from the back office to centre stage is something I’m genuinely proud of.
It wasn’t just me, of course, it was an entire community that actually did the work. But through AdMonsters and the relationships I’ve built, I like to think I played a meaningful role in getting the industry to recognise that the people managing the pipes and the platforms aren’t just service providers, they’re strategic operators who make this whole ecosystem function.
We turned the “ops” people into the “why and how it works” people. That matters.
