Over the recent Christmas holiday period, we sadly lost one of our very fine friends, John Danby. A founding member of the MiQ launch team back in 2011, John leaves a hole in the hearts of many within, not only MiQ, the wider advertising industry globally. With a professional legacy that spans more than two decades working in ad tech across all corners of the globe, John was indeed a true talisman when it came to digital advertising.

Starting from humble beginnings in Colchester, Essex, John’s first foray into sales involved door-to-door utilities selling. From there in 2001, he caught his first big break selling classified advertising across Trinity Mirror Group, before entering the world of ad networks a couple of years later in 2003. Forward to 2011, leveraging his experience and contacts from the previous decade, John made the decision to help launch MiQ, which would mark an important step forward for both him and the ambitions of MiQ to get off the ground. Put simply, we’re not sure MiQ would have made it without John in the early days. He was a brilliant seller. Smart as hell. And no-one, we mean no-one, cared as deeply and passionately about winning as him. We personally sold shoulder to shoulder with John when opening up new markets for MiQ in London, Manchester, Germany, UAE, Singapore, and Australia. He loved a challenge. An underdog in every sense, John grew in stature and confidence as MiQ scaled. Over recent years, John continued to be a passionate advocate for programmatic as an active seed investor in several start-ups within the sector.

He was a good man with a big heart. He was loved by many for his passion, authenticity, kindness and resilience. He’ll be sorely missed by many.

Gurman Hundal & Lee Puri, co-founders, MiQ

Lee and Gurman founded the company in 2010, but Danby helped found the life force of the business. Danby quickly became more than a friend and something of a brother figure. He taught me the meaning of passion, of fight, of hunger. He instilled humility in every one of us and kept us grounded. He loved the business more than anyone and loved winning. Whether it was a £1,000 test or a £1m+ 12 month partnership, to him it was all the same. He was obsessed with being in equal service to both types of these clients. Ultimately he embedded a deep sense of pride for whenever anyone opted to partner with MiQ. These values were deeply central to when some of us codified the values at MiQ. In fact, some were literally based on John. One we crafted which I will never forget:

Passion: Give a shit. It's a reason to get up in the morning. It is not a job. It is infectious, it creates momentum, it establishes trust and it is above all authentic. You can't fake passion.

This was John in a nutshell. Authentically himself. Authentically passionate. Authentically MiQ.

Paul Silver, MiQ

John was like an older brother, inspiring to be around, full of passion, super intelligent, and loyal. He was the driving force behind the early successes at MiQ, which set the foundation for where it is today. A great friend, an ally you could count on, and a really fun and kind person to be around. Everything he did was grounded in goodness. I'm going to miss him a lot for all these traits and more. RIP Danby! X

Joseph Worswick, OpenX (ex-MiQ)

I met John back in our Mirror days in 2001, John was 18 when he joined. Wow. Young and ambitious with that intense drive to succeed. John was brilliant, you could tell he had an edge and on the classified floor he over-achieved. Fiercely loyal too - if you needed someone to have your back, John was there. And I never forgot that. He had mine. He was a name that was always invited to my life’s milestones: stag do, weddings, and with our shared love of Liverpool, we always had a reason to stay in touch. Work defined him though. On a memorable visit to Liverpool versus Chelsea in 2011, he spent the whole game telling me how this start-up called Media IQ would change the advertising game. After 90 minutes I could recite the pitch! He was born again. I’ll miss him, I’ll miss our football catch ups and I’ve got to thank him for adding so much to my life too. RIP Danbers. YNWA

Rob Howgate - Equalize Entertainment (ex-Mirror Group)