The Pacvue team continues to grow fast and is expanding all over the globe. In this series, we will be spotlighting one of our newest employees, leading sales and strategy in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) territory. Pacvue’s new Head of APAC, Nate Shurilla, answered a series of fun questions about his professional background, why he decided to join Pacvue, what it’s like to work here, and more.
Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you based? What’s your professional background? What’s your position at Pacvue?
I’m a 6’5” redhead from Wisconsin living where he’d be the most out of place in the world—Tokyo, Japan. I’ve been loving my life here for over 11 years and have had an interesting career path working at a rural city hall, a programming company, a content marketing venture, as a global commerce leader at Dentsu, and, most recently, as Shiseido Group’s Global Head of eCommerce. Now, I’m the Head of APAC for Pacvue and couldn’t be more excited to build out further capabilities for the most advanced commerce platforms in the world and help our clients solve their complexities!
Tell us why you decided to join Pacvue, and why other Asian-Pacific brands and sellers should use our ad tech to scale their businesses.
I had worked with Pacvue as a partner during my time at Dentsu and also was a client at Shiseido. Pacvue has really impressed me with their ability to innovate, and quickly! I know of multiple features that have been developed directly from my requests. APAC is full of unique markets and eCom is always changing very rapidly. If you can’t keep up, you’ll quickly be left behind. Pacvue has all the right pieces to find success here. I can promise any current and potential clients that not only do we have a top product already, but we’ll vigorously adapt it for your specific needs and those of the market.
How would you describe your job to a 5-year-old?
You know when you can’t find what you want at the store or just don’t want to go out? I help make it easy for your parents to get your favorite things from the internet, delivered quickly in a box to your house. (Except in Japanese )
What has your experience been with our company culture? What’s the most unique part about working here?
I love how dynamic the environment is! There’s always something going on—a new retailer onboarded, a big event, a great new client. Everything is constantly firing in parallel which can be a bit chaotic, but everyone pulls together to find success.
What is working at Pacvue like?
It’s empowering. We’re not a massive conglomerate muddled in too many processes, but we’ve also got the resources to make incredible things happen. It’s a potent blend for self-starters to make the impossible happen which means every day is interesting.
What do you like most about your job?
I love the region. APAC is so dynamic and diverse! Every market has a different culture, business style, and mixture of consumer behaviors. But above all, APAC loves trying out new things and innovating. Expect to see a lot of new features coming out of this hotbed of commerce!
If you could switch your job with anyone else within Pacvue, whose job would you want and why?
Honestly, I like mine the best! It fits my background and strengths well and there is so much opportunity in this region that I’m thrilled to be able to capitalize on it.
What are 3 words to describe working at Pacvue?
Dynamic, fast, rewarding.
What motivates you to get up and go to work?
There is a ton of opportunity in APAC, but if I don’t get up and do it, nothing’s going to happen. It’s humbling and awesome to have that responsibility.
What’s your favorite part about working at Pacvue?
I used to be on the outside (as a partner and then as a client) looking in. I admired how fast they moved and how well they custom-tailored the features I’d requested. Now I am a part of that.
What’s the best advice to give anyone who wants to work at Pacvue?
Talk sports with Matt True (our Director of HR). And take pity that he’s a Bears/Bulls fan instead of a Packers/Bucks fan 😉
Is there something that has made you smile recently?
The yangnyeom chicken I made last night. Ooooohhhhh boy!!
What is one thing you can’t live without?
I’m pretty big on Stoicism, so honestly nothing. But for the sake of the question, I bought a Tensorbook, a laptop for deep learning, earlier this year. It’s been a blast creating and training my own neural networks and keeping a finger on the pulse of all the advances AI is making right now. It’s incredible some of the images I’ve made with Stable Diffusion and how LLMs (large language models) are enabling so much progress so quickly. What a time to be alive!
What’s one thing most people don’t know about you?
That I competed in the World Yo-yo Contest in 2006. Instead of plastic Duncan Butterflies and Yomega Raiders, I have machined titanium yo-yos that are perfectly balanced and spin forever.
Are you a seller, brand, or agency located in the Asia-Pacific?
See Pacvue in action and get a free demo today. We will walk you through Pacvue’s customizable dashboards, five levels of automation, competitive intelligence, Share of Voice reporting, and more.