Last week, I did a segment on MoneyTV, a weekly syndicated cable and online show that highlights public companies and updates on their story. Click on the title of this article to get to the link! The segment that I did was a 15-minute overview on all of the things we currently have going on at Platinum Studios. A little about Cowboys & Aliens, a little about our production of Dead of Night, currently shooting in New Orleans, a bit about Wowio and a perspective on why I think Platinum is a good value for interested investors. Take a look and leave me a comment - I'd like to hear some feedback other than I have no upper lip and I could stand losing a few pounds. :).
-Brian
Showing posts with label Platinum Studios. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Platinum Studios. Show all posts
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
REBOOT
Man, it's been a long time since I last blogged on. Lots of reasons. None really any more important than any other - I was curtailing my activity after we went public last year to just limit my public comments. I have realized however, that between Twitter and Facebook, my life has become a pretty open book anyway so I might as well try to communicate in sentences longer than 140 characters. I do laugh when I think about my parents' generation shying away from any kind of electronic identification device (my mother still doesn't use an ATM machine), yet our generation and the young interatti put everything up online for the entire world to see: "Follow me on Twitter" "Add me as a friend!" "Watch me party like an animal." There is SOME limit to the information one should share with the world, i.e. potential college admissions officers, potential bosses, etc. but every generation has had its share of "Stupid things I did when I was 19" things. Remember Bill Clinton saying he never inhaled?
I have been perusing the social network space and I've been amazed at all of the publicity around the phenomenon of Twitter. It's been all the rage recently, mentioned in every major news and media outlet as if it were the greatest invention since the internet. In reality, Twitter has been around for 3 years and has been used as a means to communicate short SMS-type messages to groups of friends. Some use it to throw out a net to a group in order to meet up somewhere in person. Others use it as an alternate to emailing out interesting news pieces. The difference between Twitter and Facebook or MySpace, though, is you don't have to be part of the inner "Friend" circle in order to follow someone on Twitter. You can just follow them because you want to see what they have to say. I have found it fascinating to follow those out on the bleeding edge to see what THEY are reading, watching and attending. These folks that we consider to be thought leaders. For example, I follow Jason Calacanis (www.twitter.com/jasoncalacanis). Jason founded Weblogs, Inc., which he successfully sold to AOL before anyone knew what a blog was. He also founded TechCrunch50 and, most recently, a user-generated and -turbocharged search engine called Mahalo. I love following his areas of focus because I like this expansive digital world we live in and he is definitely at the forefront. Apparently, though, I'm not alone. To date, Jason has over 64,000 followers. That's a lot of people reading about him playing cards with World Series of Poker Champion Phil Hellmuth in Vegas this weekend, but he's also in tune with what's going on in the Los Angeles digital community, the venture capital world, Arnold in Sacramento and other things that are interesting to me.
We're using Twitter at Platinum to expand our communities - I use it to talk about things that are of interest to me as well as to our employees, friends, investors, etc. I have my Blackberry set to easily update Twitter and because of a special plug-in tool, updates on Twitter automatically update my Facebook status. I have been amazed at the responses I've been getting and I only have a handful of followers. I can't imagine what it would be like to have 64,000 followers. If you haven't done it yet, try it. Follow someone you are interested in. John McCain Twitters. So do Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, Dane Cook, Joe Biden, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lance Armstrong, my brother David, many other friends. Follow who they are following and you will be hooked. Don't be surprised when you are searching the web and see on almost every web page you explore: "Follow me on Twitter" You can find me at www.twitter.com/brianaltounian. TWEET!
I have been perusing the social network space and I've been amazed at all of the publicity around the phenomenon of Twitter. It's been all the rage recently, mentioned in every major news and media outlet as if it were the greatest invention since the internet. In reality, Twitter has been around for 3 years and has been used as a means to communicate short SMS-type messages to groups of friends. Some use it to throw out a net to a group in order to meet up somewhere in person. Others use it as an alternate to emailing out interesting news pieces. The difference between Twitter and Facebook or MySpace, though, is you don't have to be part of the inner "Friend" circle in order to follow someone on Twitter. You can just follow them because you want to see what they have to say. I have found it fascinating to follow those out on the bleeding edge to see what THEY are reading, watching and attending. These folks that we consider to be thought leaders. For example, I follow Jason Calacanis (www.twitter.com/jasoncalacanis). Jason founded Weblogs, Inc., which he successfully sold to AOL before anyone knew what a blog was. He also founded TechCrunch50 and, most recently, a user-generated and -turbocharged search engine called Mahalo. I love following his areas of focus because I like this expansive digital world we live in and he is definitely at the forefront. Apparently, though, I'm not alone. To date, Jason has over 64,000 followers. That's a lot of people reading about him playing cards with World Series of Poker Champion Phil Hellmuth in Vegas this weekend, but he's also in tune with what's going on in the Los Angeles digital community, the venture capital world, Arnold in Sacramento and other things that are interesting to me.
We're using Twitter at Platinum to expand our communities - I use it to talk about things that are of interest to me as well as to our employees, friends, investors, etc. I have my Blackberry set to easily update Twitter and because of a special plug-in tool, updates on Twitter automatically update my Facebook status. I have been amazed at the responses I've been getting and I only have a handful of followers. I can't imagine what it would be like to have 64,000 followers. If you haven't done it yet, try it. Follow someone you are interested in. John McCain Twitters. So do Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, Dane Cook, Joe Biden, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lance Armstrong, my brother David, many other friends. Follow who they are following and you will be hooked. Don't be surprised when you are searching the web and see on almost every web page you explore: "Follow me on Twitter" You can find me at www.twitter.com/brianaltounian. TWEET!
Friday, February 01, 2008
Platinum begins trading under symbol PDOS
We begin a new era at Platinum Studios today: we received our stock ticker symbol from FINRA and start trading under PDOS on the OTC board today. This has been an exciting and exhausting process and the fun is just about to start. Dan Forcey, our VP of Content Development, has suggested that all of the execs in the company write entries for the Platinum Press pages in the back of our comic books - they're kind of like Letters FROM the Editor. Every month, a new Press page is inserted in all of the books released that month. Scott has been writing these for over a year and we are spreading the duties out, under the guise that he needs to be sequestered during this going-public process. Here is my entry (NOTE: this hasn't been edited by the content folks so you're seeing it in its raw form....):
"OK, so while we have Scott sequestered behind his 9-monitor computer system that resembles the main console at NASA’s headquarters, it’s my turn to wax poetic on the amazing place we’ve created here at Platinum Studios. I have wanted folks to know that Platinum was made up of a bunch of amazing, dedicated, creative and fun people but I think it was Dan’s idea to have us guest-write these press pages so our remarks will live on forever in print. Geez, now I have to sound eloquent. Hopefully, just using the word “eloquent” fulfilled that obligation….
To be honest, and I know this is going to come off as blasphemous but I was never a comic book fan. I grew up reading Archie comics, Richie Rich, Wendy, Casper and those hokey comics at Bob’s Big Boy restaurants that used to be all over Southern California. And that was about it. (OK, I also dug Adam West’s Batman.) I wasn’t even familiar with Malibu Comics and, yes, I told that to Scott when we first met and he still spoke to me. But during that very first conversation back in 2005, when I learned the story behind Platinum Studios, I was hooked. I was amazed by Scott’s creativity, his passion for this industry, his quirkiness, his drive to NEVER accept the status quo (about anything!), his 24/7 engine (that still exhausts all of us), and his love for outside-the-box thinking. I joined Platinum Studios because I love building businesses with creative geniuses. Our styles are as diametrically opposed as two styles could be but we share one thing: a driving passion to generate success and to share that success with as many people as possible!
I have spent many years of my career putting structure in place to support creative brilliance. I learned a valuable lesson that I have applied to a number of ventures: the height of a building is directly proportional to the depth of its foundation. To me, the success of a company is limited by the organizational depth and, vice versa, it is enhanced when that depth is made up of brilliant leaders. Scott has given me a lot of leeway to build the structure to make Platinum a huge success and we have assembled a group of all-stars. His vision, our execution. We’re not a huge team in terms of numbers, but every person on our team plays multiple positions so it seems like we have a bunch of Doc Ocks working for us (hey look, I made a comic-book reference!!) I always wanted to surround myself with people I’d want to hang out with, not just at a party on a Friday night, but also at brunch on Sunday morning – people who love to laugh, play, work hard, and have the drive to make everyone else around them better people.
I am passionate about the creative process and the contagious enthusiasm that creators bring to that process. I love our position at the nexus of an entertainment industry that distributes content in every form of media to every corner of the world. I have never been more challenged nor felt so rewarded in my professional life and I doubt I ever would anywhere else. I hope you agree that our hard work and dedication is coming through in our product and know that we are deeply committed to having an impact in this industry. I thank each of you for picking up this book, sharing it with your friends and joining us on this journey. We’re having a blast and we hope you are, too!"
I'm off to watch the opening bell on this first day of trading..... -Brian
"OK, so while we have Scott sequestered behind his 9-monitor computer system that resembles the main console at NASA’s headquarters, it’s my turn to wax poetic on the amazing place we’ve created here at Platinum Studios. I have wanted folks to know that Platinum was made up of a bunch of amazing, dedicated, creative and fun people but I think it was Dan’s idea to have us guest-write these press pages so our remarks will live on forever in print. Geez, now I have to sound eloquent. Hopefully, just using the word “eloquent” fulfilled that obligation….
To be honest, and I know this is going to come off as blasphemous but I was never a comic book fan. I grew up reading Archie comics, Richie Rich, Wendy, Casper and those hokey comics at Bob’s Big Boy restaurants that used to be all over Southern California. And that was about it. (OK, I also dug Adam West’s Batman.) I wasn’t even familiar with Malibu Comics and, yes, I told that to Scott when we first met and he still spoke to me. But during that very first conversation back in 2005, when I learned the story behind Platinum Studios, I was hooked. I was amazed by Scott’s creativity, his passion for this industry, his quirkiness, his drive to NEVER accept the status quo (about anything!), his 24/7 engine (that still exhausts all of us), and his love for outside-the-box thinking. I joined Platinum Studios because I love building businesses with creative geniuses. Our styles are as diametrically opposed as two styles could be but we share one thing: a driving passion to generate success and to share that success with as many people as possible!
I have spent many years of my career putting structure in place to support creative brilliance. I learned a valuable lesson that I have applied to a number of ventures: the height of a building is directly proportional to the depth of its foundation. To me, the success of a company is limited by the organizational depth and, vice versa, it is enhanced when that depth is made up of brilliant leaders. Scott has given me a lot of leeway to build the structure to make Platinum a huge success and we have assembled a group of all-stars. His vision, our execution. We’re not a huge team in terms of numbers, but every person on our team plays multiple positions so it seems like we have a bunch of Doc Ocks working for us (hey look, I made a comic-book reference!!) I always wanted to surround myself with people I’d want to hang out with, not just at a party on a Friday night, but also at brunch on Sunday morning – people who love to laugh, play, work hard, and have the drive to make everyone else around them better people.
I am passionate about the creative process and the contagious enthusiasm that creators bring to that process. I love our position at the nexus of an entertainment industry that distributes content in every form of media to every corner of the world. I have never been more challenged nor felt so rewarded in my professional life and I doubt I ever would anywhere else. I hope you agree that our hard work and dedication is coming through in our product and know that we are deeply committed to having an impact in this industry. I thank each of you for picking up this book, sharing it with your friends and joining us on this journey. We’re having a blast and we hope you are, too!"
I'm off to watch the opening bell on this first day of trading..... -Brian
Saturday, January 26, 2008
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 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.
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.
Friday, January 25, 2008
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!!!
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