My involvement with OTC companies

I wrote in my last entry that we got our Notice of Effectiveness from the SEC a couple of weeks ago, making Platinum Studios a publicly-trading company on the OTC Bulletin Board.  Platinum represents the 9th company I have been involved with since 2003 to go out to the public market via the OTCBB, although it's really the first company where I have taken a senior management position actively involved in the day-to-day operations.  I was interim CEO for the very first company, XsunX, Inc., back in 2003, until we brought in a full-time CEO and I moved up to the Board Chairman position.

I have taken Board seats for three public companies prior to Platinum: XsunX (XSNX), MachineTalker, Inc. (MTKN), and Cereplast, Inc. (CERP). I resigned from the Boards of Xsunx and Machine Talker in 2006, when I took on the role of President for Platinum and I resigned from the Board of Cereplast this past week, just after getting our notification from the SEC. I have heard mixed reactions to those resignations, although mostly the comments have been negative. My reasons for resigning are obviously personal. Mostly, though, Board positions, especially for early-stage companies, can be time-consuming. At least they are for me. I don't take those positions lightly and I tend to get somewhat immersed in the responsibilities. As my workload has increased at Platinum, my ability to serve these other companies (at least at the level I demand of myself) has diminished proportionately. I am still a major shareholder in all three of the aforementioned companies, holding over 1,000,000 shares in each, so obviously I am a supporter of their efforts. You could say I'm "long" on them all - meaning I'm interested in the long-term stock performance.

All companies go through the same life-cycle: birth, growth, expansion, maturation, recession, and either rebirth or death. Boards often bring in CEOs who have an expertise in managing companies through these various stages. Back in the late 1990's, George Fisher was hired by Kodak to turn around that struggling behemoth after performing miracles at Motorola. He spent a few years spearheading cutbacks, layoffs and a corporate restructuring - because that was what he was an expert at. Most companies who can recognize that different leaders need to emerge during different stages of their company's life-cycle give themselves a better chance of adapting and surviving. Boards of Directors are no different. I consider myself to be well-versed in the early-stage efforts and I consider myself to be an entrepreneur.  I also have an investor base of several hundred people who have seen tremendous returns with almost every company I have been involved in.  

I feel I can add tremendous value to companies as they emerge from their early stages and launch themselves on the open market - and it almost doesn't matter what business the company is in because the needs at this time are basically the same. Once the companies start to hit their stride and begin to execute on their business plans, they need Board members who are experts in the field of interest and/or can bring specific growth strategies. At that point for the companies mentioned above, it was a good time for me to step down and put my efforts where they can best be utilized.

The exception with Platinum Studios is I have enough experience in the entertainment industry to want to stay around for quite some time to help drive the company forward. I want to see us produce feature films, television programs, bestselling graphic novels, establish an unprecedented online experience and basically become the next Disney. Do I need to mention that Disney has a $58 Billion market cap? That's Billion with a "B"!! Even if we're 1% of Disney, that puts us at a $580 Million market cap. I'll take that any day. Now that I've reduced my Board activities from all other companies, I am going to focus my efforts on making that happen. I think our investors will be pleased with that focus and that kind of return.

In a blink of an eye

Is it almost the end of January already? of 2008?  I was just writing about how fleeting time is and 6 months have passed by.  What a wild stretch of road its been over this time.  Our son, Blake Harrison Altounian, was born on July 20 and is growing like a weed.  Sitting up on his own, rolling over, teething - what an incredible run it's been already.  If only he'd sleep!  Up until a few days ago, he didn't sleep more than 2 hours at any given time. UGH!  Actually, although I complain, my wife has taken the brunt of the sleepless nights.

In addition to a newborn in the house, we filed our registration statement with the SEC for Platinum Studios in September and we became a public company by Notice of Effectiveness back on January 10.  It has been a whirlwind 4 months.  The process of going back and forth with the SEC, is exhausting at times - OK, it's thoroughly exhausting.  At the end of the day, going out to the public market will be rewarding for our investors and employees alike so the headaches will all be worth it.  In the meantime, between the birth of my son and the birth of this public company, I've been a little busy.  Maybe now I can start returning some phone calls.  Let me see, I have to go back to July 23, 2007.

On to the market!!!