Where, how, and why: Q&A with Christian Peratsakis, new Senior Director, TAM
By: Elijah Zarlin
Christian Peratsakis recently joined Mapbox as Senior Director of Technical Account Management in the DC office. Christian’s path in the location space mirrors Mapbox’s in many ways. He started out building maps for international development projects more than a decade ago, and moved into broader datasets and tools, first at (Mapbox customer) Socrata, then at CARTO. Along the way, he spent time with early Mapbox and Development Seed, and frequented the old DC garage. We asked Christian to share his thoughts on technical account management, the good old days, and the future of location.
How did you get started in location and mapping?
My background has always been at the intersection of technology and international development. I started out working on issues like aid effectiveness, building a database of more accurate, real-time information on foreign aid flows and other forms of international assistance. I then started working on issues related to climate change, and how we think about and define the impacts on communities. I had the opportunity to work closely with local governments and communities, and that’s how I got more entrenched in the geospatial and location space.
What made location tools relevant in that context?
As we were working on these challenges facing communities, it was clear that the information that existed at the time was at a macro level. We knew, for example, money was flowing from one country to another country, but that was about it. We might have the name of a location, but nobody knew whether or not the money was actually going to that location, being effective, or having longterm benefits. We didn’t understand enough of the local context. To the extent this localized information did exist, it was captured in reports or internal documents and systems, not in an accessible way to derive insights. We needed to give people the ability to bridge the macro information with a localized lens. We worked with local governments and communities to develop solutions to address this gap.
How did you get to Mapbox?
My story with Mapbox started in the Garage in the very early Development Seed days, meeting with folks like Eric [Gundersen] and Alex [Barth]. We were talking about similar types of projects and were all operating in the same space around open data, and coming to similar realizations along the way. It was exciting to watch (from early State of the Map conferences in D.C. or at the UN) what would become Mapbox start within the context of DevSeed, and grow to not just disrupt an existing space, but define a new one entirely.
That’s enabled what we now call our flywheel: working to consume and enhance open data, and make it even more useable and accessible by organizations and other users. All of this is done in a way that helps enrich the data, and give it back to the community in meaningful ways.
The tools have obviously evolved since then. How do you think we’re defining the space now in the era of live-location?
Today, this happens behind the scenes. Mapbox’s focus on SDKs and APIs enables any organization to leverage the power of location information within their own solution. That means everything is getting smarter for the end-user. People and applications are contributing to a better map, and they don’t have to think about it. It’s not an extra step. (And we’re able to do that while taking industry-leading privacy protection measures.) All of this adds up to a more personalized and more focused experience.
What makes a good TAM?
First and foremost, helping organizations and individuals think differently about how they solve their problem. That’s what defines where we can be successful, and further move the space.
It’s one thing to just rip and replace technology, and continue to do the same thing that you’ve always been doing. It’s another to think about how you initially approach the problem, and then implement the processes and technologies to adapt to a new way. The most difficult, but most impactful, aspect of TAM is to help organizations re-structure the question, and partner with them to think about how they are going to solve it differently than they previously did. It boils down to being a good partner and ultimately good strategist with our organizations. We have to build trust with them and show them this trust by enacting meaningful change.
What are you excited about on the horizon?
New hardware and software are making location-aware experiences more common and natural. However, location-aware doesn’t necessarily mean location-driven experiences. We haven’t fully tapped into the ways we can benefit individuals by starting with an assumption of where, and tailor experiences based on how and why. What I’m most excited about is continuing to see the bridge between where, how, and why coming together, and exploring where we can go deeper in that intersection.
Maps feature data from Mapbox and OpenStreetMap and their data partners.
