Episode 6: From Consumer App to Location Data company with Josh Anton, CSO of DigitalEnvoy

Welcome to the Location Insights Podcast. Guest: Josh Anton (Chief Strategy Officer, DigitalEnvoy) Host: Kevin (Global Marketing Manager, unerry Inc.) DigitalEnvoy: https://www.digitalenvoy.com Outlogic: https://outlogic.io Have feedback or like to be a guest on the show drop us a mail: [email protected]  In this episode I speak with Josh Anton about his entrepreneurial career and experience growing a startup, to extreme business challenges, leading sale of his company. An accidental start in location data: A college safety app called Drunk Mode grew to nearly two million users and unexpectedly launched Josh Anton’s career in location data. A failed SDK partnership sparked a new company: Poor experience as a client pushed the team to build its own location technology, laying the groundwork for X-Mode. Publishers powered the growth: X-Mode scaled by giving app developers a stronger way to monetize their apps without compromising technical performance. Hypergrowth came with hard lessons: Expanding from a small startup to more than 50 employees exposed the need for experienced leaders, tighter processes, and faster decision-making. The company nearly collapsed overnight: Platform restrictions, public controversy, lost investment, and mounting financial pressure put X-Mode’s future at risk. Relationships became the lifeline: Loyal employees, committed publishers, and a resilient technical team helped preserve the business through its toughest period. Digital Envoy becomes parent company: The acquisition gave X-Mode’s technology, team, and publisher network a path forward within a broader data-intelligence company. Privacy is reshaping the industry: Josh sees the future in explicit consent, first-party relationships, stronger regulation, and analytics that avoid moving precise location data. Have questions or like to be a guest on the show? Drop us a mail: [email protected]