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The official CEO.com podcast featuring unfiltered conversations with the leaders shaping our world.
Clint Betts: David, thank you so much for coming on the show. What an honor to have you. You’re the CEO of Branch. Tell us what Branch is and how you became the CEO.
David Karnstedt: Thanks, Clint.
Branch is a mobile measurement and deep-linking platform that’s been around for about 12 years.
The easiest way to explain it is with an example. Over the weekend, someone sent me a Wall Street Journal article. I clicked the link on my phone, and instead of taking me to the article, it dumped me on the homepage of the Wall Street Journal app. The article was gone.
If the Wall Street Journal had been using Branch deep links, the link would have been deferred and would have opened directly to the article.
That’s the linking side of our business.
On the measurement side, we help marketers understand which channels are actually driving results—whether those are paid channels or organic channels—so they can allocate their budgets more effectively.
As for me, I joined Branch about 18 months ago through a connection with NEA, one of our lead investors.
Clint Betts: What were you doing before Branch?
David Karnstedt: I was working with a number of founder-led companies that were looking to scale. I spent a lot of time advising CEOs and helping growth-stage businesses navigate expansion before deciding to take on a full-time operating role again.
Clint Betts: That’s awesome.
Tell me how marketing is changing in the age of AI.
David Karnstedt: Everything is changing.
Clint Betts: It’s wild. We’re talking right after the latest Gemini release, which suddenly feels better than everything else. Then in a month something else will leapfrog Gemini. It’s crazy.
David Karnstedt: It really is.
AI is transforming everything. I know that sounds cliché because everyone says it, but it’s true.
At Branch, we recently rewrote our entire interface and the underlying architecture. We estimated it would take 12 months. It took six.
Our designers are telling us they can do in a day what previously took two weeks.
The productivity gains are very real.
We’re also using AI throughout our platform to automate tasks that used to be manual and time-consuming. And because we have such a large repository of data, AI allows us to surface insights in real time through our AI agent, Ivy.
The entire experience for marketers is changing.
Clint Betts: Where do you think this is all headed?
David Karnstedt: I think we’re moving toward a world where personal AI agents will interface with brands on our behalf.
Those agents will help us filter through enormous amounts of information and identify what actually matters to us.
If that sounds far away, I don’t think it is.
I think it’s coming much faster than people realize.
Clint Betts: So you think everyone will have their own personal agent?
David Karnstedt: I do.
Maybe even multiple agents.
They’ll help us process information, discover products, evaluate options, and navigate large amounts of data.
If you think about how platforms like TikTok and Instagram have become discovery engines for brands, AI agents could become the next evolution of that.
Ten years ago, nobody would have predicted that social platforms would become primary channels for product discovery.
Things change quickly.
Clint Betts: What does social media even look like in that world?
I look at LinkedIn and half the posts seem AI-generated already.
David Karnstedt: Not only the posts.
Look at some of the profile photos.
I’ll see someone I know and think, “That has to be their high school yearbook picture because that’s definitely not what they look like today.”
The changes are happening right in front of us.
Clint Betts: It’s wild.
How many employees do you have?
David Karnstedt: About 300.
Clint Betts: That’s a sizable company.
Do you think AI means you’ll need fewer people in the future? Or does it simply make those 300 people dramatically more productive?
David Karnstedt: I think it’s mostly about empowerment.
Our employees can accomplish much more than they could before.
It’s not just engineering and product teams. We’re using AI to reduce support ticket volume by about 50%, which allows employees to focus on higher-value work.
That’s incredibly empowering.
I don’t view AI as replacing employees.
I view it as helping us deploy people into roles where they can create more impact.
We’ll continue hiring thoughtfully.
Clint Betts: How do you think about culture in the post-COVID world?
David Karnstedt: I think everyone is still figuring that out.
For us, it’s about identifying the moments that truly require people to be together.
Last week we brought our entire product and engineering organization into our Mountain View office to plan our 2026 roadmap.
You can’t do that as effectively over Zoom.
You need whiteboards.
You need hallway conversations.
You need people in the same room.
We’re doing something similar with our leadership team soon.
At the same time, we have remote employees all over the world, so we work hard to create connection points for them too.
For our 12th anniversary, we sent customers and employees vouchers they could use at restaurants operated by some of our clients so everyone could celebrate together while supporting our customers.
We’re constantly looking for ways to create connection.
I also believe culture comes from leadership.
You have to communicate clear values and create opportunities for people to rally around a shared mission.
Clint Betts: What does a typical day look like for you?
David Karnstedt: One of the reasons I love this job is that there isn’t a typical day.
We’re a global company.
We have employees in India, Dubai, and many other places, so sometimes it feels like I’m running a 7-Eleven because we’re always open.
My biggest challenge each day is deciding how to allocate my time.
The one constant is that I try to stay close to customers.
As a CEO, it’s easy to drift away from customer conversations, and I never want that to happen.
So customer impact is always my starting point.
Clint Betts: What do you read?
David Karnstedt: I’m fairly traditional.
I read The Wall Street Journal, The Information, and a variety of industry sources.
I also use Google as a filter for topics I care about.
One thing I do is track news related to our largest customers through my investment watchlists. That helps me stay informed about anything that could impact their businesses.
And I listen to a lot of podcasts.
Clint Betts: What podcasts do you like?
David Karnstedt: Lately I’ve been focused on health and wellness.
I listen to Peter Attia and Andrew Huberman quite a bit.
According to them, if I do everything correctly, I should live to be 120.
We’ll see.
Clint Betts: Attia’s book was fantastic.
Tell us about funding the company and how you think about growth.
David Karnstedt: One thing that’s changed dramatically is that the era of free capital is over.
The days of growth at all costs are gone.
Companies have either adapted to that reality or they’re struggling.
For us, the goal is profitable growth.
We want to maintain optionality.
If we ever choose to raise additional capital, we want it to be because we want to, not because we have to.
We’ve been around for 12 years. We’re growing. We’re reinvesting in the business. And we’re trying to be very disciplined about where we invest, whether that’s people, products, or technology.
Clint Betts: How are you feeling about the macroeconomic environment heading into 2026?
David Karnstedt: Uncertainty is never good for business.
Nobody is immune from it.
For us, uncertainty often shows up as slower decision-making. Customers may delay large commitments, procurement cycles become longer, and deals take more time.
The way we combat that is by focusing on value.
I’d much rather have a conversation about how Branch can generate two, three, or four times the value of the investment than have a conversation purely about contract size.
If customers clearly understand the return, those conversations become much easier.
Clint Betts: Privacy is obviously a major issue in marketing. How do you think about it?
David Karnstedt: It’s front and center in everything we do.
And because we’re a global business, we’re dealing with privacy requirements across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere.
If there’s a privacy line, we intentionally stay well behind it.
We always want to be on the right side of those issues.
Clint Betts: What about cybersecurity and fraud?
David Karnstedt: Fraud is becoming a huge issue.
We already offer fraud-prevention products that identify things like invalid app installs, but we think this problem gets even bigger in an agent-driven world.
We’re investing heavily in R&D around fraud prevention because we see it as both a customer need and a growth opportunity.
Even with our own modest advertising budget, we’ve seen significant click fraud.
If you can eliminate 5% or 10% of fraudulent traffic, the performance gains are substantial.
Clint Betts: What’s the best paid marketing channel right now?
David Karnstedt: It really depends on the business.
If you’re targeting younger audiences, social platforms are often the answer.
If you’re in financial services, the answer may be very different than if you’re in media or consumer products.
But TikTok is absolutely front and center in most conversations today.
The other trend we’re seeing is a huge increase in interest around influencers and content creators.
Brands increasingly want help understanding how to engage with those communities effectively.
That’s becoming a major area of focus.
Clint Betts: It’s amazing what TikTok has become.
David Karnstedt: It really is.
I have a college student at home who is actually an influencer and represents a brand.
Her compensation is directly tied to engagement and performance.
That’s an entirely new model.
And it’s fascinating to watch from a front-row seat.
Clint Betts: What makes a great leader?
David Karnstedt: One of the best leaders I’ve ever worked with was Jeff Weiner, who later became CEO of LinkedIn.
What impressed me most was his clarity.
He would identify three or four priorities—never more—and those priorities became the focus of every meeting, every all-hands session, every conversation.
Everyone knew exactly what mattered.
If people were executing against those priorities, leadership’s job was simply to remove obstacles.
So for me, great leadership is about focus, clarity, reducing friction, and putting great people in positions where they can succeed.
Clint Betts: Finally, we end every interview the same way.
At CEO.com, we believe the chances one gives are just as important as the chances one takes.
Who gave you a chance that helped get you where you are today?
David Karnstedt: That’s a great question.
Looking back, there were many people who gave me opportunities that pushed me outside my comfort zone.
But one stands out.
At Yahoo, several businesses were being combined into one organization, and I was asked to lead that effort.
It was an incredibly complex project involving thousands of employees, billions of dollars in business, and intense public scrutiny.
That opportunity became a major turning point in my career.
It eventually led to my first CEO role, then an executive role at Adobe, and ultimately to where I am today.
Being trusted with something that large fundamentally changed the trajectory of my career.
Clint Betts: David, thank you so much for coming on the show. What an honor to have you. Congratulations on everything you’re building, and Happy Thanksgiving.
David Karnstedt: Thank you, Clint. Happy Thanksgiving to you as well. I appreciate it.
Clint Betts: Thanks, my friend.
David Karnstedt: Take care.