Ibotta Innovation, Technology & Agility

What practices does your team employ to foster innovation, and how have these practices led to more creative, out-of-the-box thinking?

Fostering innovation is central to the culture at Ibotta and how my squad operates. We champion rapid experimentation and collaborative exploration, guided by an evolving, cyclical approach inspired by Basecamp’s Shape Up methodology. While we’re still iterating on this process, it generally involves distinct phases: time dedicated to collaboratively defining a problem space and scoping potential opportunities for solution paths into “Experiment Cards;” focused periods where small project teams build out solutions with autonomy; and dedicated time between projects for personal learning and other important tasks like addressing tech debt. 

We also hold weekly “Discovery Sessions” with product and design partners to explore new or existing problem spaces, often involving other business stakeholders. This rhythm — blending focused work with dedicated exploration and learning — empowers the team to transform novel ideas into tangible, impactful solutions for our users and the business.

How has a focus on innovation increased the quality of your team’s work?

We find that focusing on innovation directly lifts the quality of the software we produce because it pushes us to bring different ideas and technical perspectives together. Our process is built around this collaboration; engineers are deeply involved right from the start, working closely with product, design, analytics and other stakeholders throughout. This means we’re not just coding requirements — we’re collectively understanding the “why” and exploring the “how” together, ensuring diverse viewpoints strengthen the technical approach. 

Working in quick cycles, getting user feedback quickly — aiming for data on day one — and using “Experiment Cards” for clarity keeps everyone aligned. This rhythm gives ideas space to evolve. Often, the best solutions emerge from connecting insights across disciplines. It lets us build on existing foundations in creative, technically sound ways. For example, our most recent new feature release was born from a hackathon project where members of my team worked with a few ML engineers on a new search solution proof of concept, and it evolved through our process, becoming a high-impact solution that meaningfully advanced search in our direct-to-consumer apps.

How has a focus on innovation bolstered your team’s culture?

Our focus on innovation absolutely shapes our team’s culture for the better, creating an environment built on close collaboration, shared ownership and continuous learning. We prioritize giving people space to recharge and explore new ideas, ensuring things stay fresh and skills keep growing. There’s a strong sense of support and open communication, where sharing learnings and discussing ideas is just a part of our regular rhythm.

Beyond the structures, tackling interesting problems together is inherently fun. Discussing challenges, testing solutions and learning new tech builds energy. Seeing that work become cool, impactful features deepens our connection to the work and each other. Even though our team’s focus has shifted recently to a specific product area, sticking with this way of working is really important. It keeps people genuinely engaged and excited to dig into challenges creatively, making it a more supportive and, yes, fun place to work, which really reflects the overall culture we strive for at Ibotta.

Tell us about your tech stack. What tools do you use to gather and organize data? Which tools do you rely on most in your daily work?

Our sales team utilizes a robust tech stack that provides deep insights into the retail landscape for our clients, from both the Ibotta and the total national perspective. This intel is accessible in Looker, a business intelligence tool, in order to get a clear picture of market performance. Our Looker interface allows us to quickly identify and analyze a brand, manufacturer or category. We also leverage our proprietary Ibotta Portal, a homegrown tool that gives our team and our clients historical and near-real-time insights into campaign performance. Lastly, we partner with industry data providers to round out our understanding of consumer purchasing trends and behaviors across the entire United States. Collectively, these tools give us a comprehensive view of the market, allowing us to be highly consultative with our clients.

How has data helped you close a deal?

Data is fundamental to our sales process and has been instrumental in closing deals. A recent example from the beverage team illustrates this perfectly. By leveraging data from an industry provider, we identified a year-over-year decline in market share for a particular brand. We then cross-referenced this with our own internal data and discovered that a change in their campaign activity led to consumers buying fewer items on a single shopping trip. We used this insight to propose a new, data-backed campaign designed to incentivize consumers to purchase more than one item per trip. This recommendation directly addressed their business challenge, leading to a new campaign for Ibotta and a positive business outcome for our client. Using data to identify and solve specific client problems is how we move beyond transactional relationships and build true partnerships.

How does sales and customer data enhance your company’s sales organization? What data do you find most important in the sales process?

The most critical data for us is anything that provides a robust understanding of our clients’ business performance. To be truly consultative and client-centric, we need to know exactly how they’re performing in the market. This includes understanding their category, their brand’s performance and their competitive landscape. We use these insights to advise clients on the most impactful actions they can take to grow their business. By using data to identify and solve client challenges, we create win-win scenarios that forge lasting partnerships.