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
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!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Vacating
See what happens? We start trading on the OTC market and my free time all goes out the window. I have to go on vacation just to catch up on blogging. I think that goes against the whole "blogging" concept, doesn't it? Oh well, now is good a time as any to get caught up.
Since we hit the market on February 1, the market has taken a considerable hit. Then this weekend, Bear Stearns goes under, getting scooped up by JP Morgan at a fraction of its value, sending global markets into a wild tailspin. I've been talking to financial professionals for a couple of weeks and they all say that this is worse than the dot-com bust and fallout. Between the housing market debacle, the financial markets failing, then the WGA writer's strike, hard times are hitting Southern California and the entertainment industry. Hopefully, this will create a shakeout throughout all 3 industries that will create a more solid base across the board. It could take quite a bit of time, though.
What does this mean for the OTC market and our stock price specifically? Over the last 45 days, trading volume has all but dried up on stocks I track on the OTC. I would gather that if there WERE any institutions invested in OTC companies (highly unlikely), they've either curtailed their trading activity or have pulled out entirely. But here is where the opportunity is being missed. While one would assume that "smart money" has moved out of the riskier, wilder OTC frontier and into safe investments, what is a safe investment today? My dad used to say that safe money was in municipal bonds and zero-coupon t-bills but that isn't true anymore. The Fed can't bail out everyone! So where do you invest? banks? financial institutions? Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac? Pharmaceuticals? Commodities?
During all economic conditions, I still stick to the idea that the smartest investments are in companies that you know. If you know computers, invest in Apple or some other computer company. If you watch the green technology companies, that's where you should put your money. If you know entertainment, invest in entertainment companies. At the end of the day, the best investments are ones that make you money. The way to do that: get a good value for your investment. You don't want to overpay for anything. Microsoft's bid for Yahoo! is following the same path - MS isn't raising their target price for Yahoo! and the marriage is on track to complete soon.
When investors ask me about the prospect of Platinum's stock during these rocky economic times, I have a standard answer to that question. We're not running our company specifically to drive the share price or in direct response to market activity - rather, we are trying to build a growing, scalable, profitable company. If we focus on that end game, the fundamentals and the stock price should be reflective of that success. That's what we're focusing on. At the very least, the entertainment industry as a whole is recession-proof and that should attract some attention and our business case success should point to great value.
$2/share for Bear Stearns? Wow! Even in these insane economic times, there are great investment/money-making opportunities. So much for vacating......
Since we hit the market on February 1, the market has taken a considerable hit. Then this weekend, Bear Stearns goes under, getting scooped up by JP Morgan at a fraction of its value, sending global markets into a wild tailspin. I've been talking to financial professionals for a couple of weeks and they all say that this is worse than the dot-com bust and fallout. Between the housing market debacle, the financial markets failing, then the WGA writer's strike, hard times are hitting Southern California and the entertainment industry. Hopefully, this will create a shakeout throughout all 3 industries that will create a more solid base across the board. It could take quite a bit of time, though.
What does this mean for the OTC market and our stock price specifically? Over the last 45 days, trading volume has all but dried up on stocks I track on the OTC. I would gather that if there WERE any institutions invested in OTC companies (highly unlikely), they've either curtailed their trading activity or have pulled out entirely. But here is where the opportunity is being missed. While one would assume that "smart money" has moved out of the riskier, wilder OTC frontier and into safe investments, what is a safe investment today? My dad used to say that safe money was in municipal bonds and zero-coupon t-bills but that isn't true anymore. The Fed can't bail out everyone! So where do you invest? banks? financial institutions? Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac? Pharmaceuticals? Commodities?
During all economic conditions, I still stick to the idea that the smartest investments are in companies that you know. If you know computers, invest in Apple or some other computer company. If you watch the green technology companies, that's where you should put your money. If you know entertainment, invest in entertainment companies. At the end of the day, the best investments are ones that make you money. The way to do that: get a good value for your investment. You don't want to overpay for anything. Microsoft's bid for Yahoo! is following the same path - MS isn't raising their target price for Yahoo! and the marriage is on track to complete soon.
When investors ask me about the prospect of Platinum's stock during these rocky economic times, I have a standard answer to that question. We're not running our company specifically to drive the share price or in direct response to market activity - rather, we are trying to build a growing, scalable, profitable company. If we focus on that end game, the fundamentals and the stock price should be reflective of that success. That's what we're focusing on. At the very least, the entertainment industry as a whole is recession-proof and that should attract some attention and our business case success should point to great value.
$2/share for Bear Stearns? Wow! Even in these insane economic times, there are great investment/money-making opportunities. So much for vacating......
Monday, February 11, 2008
Purple Cow in everyday life
I'm reading a fantastic book on marketing called "Purple Cow" by Seth Godin. It was recommended to me by Jason Leon, our new head of Digital Publishing and it has one simple message that is targeted towards marketing, but I think it applies across the board: "Be Remarkable!" Godin has become a guru in marketing circles and he has put out a number of books but he is also a prolific blogger. His site is http://www.sethgodin.com and his books are short, sweet, poignant and right on the mark. I thought I was going to learn something about marketing but, again, I feel that his message can be applied to every area of our company. If we had cubicles, I can see "Be Remarkable!" pinned up on everyone's walls - it should be a mantra for all businesses and for everyone individually as well.
In Purple Cow, the anecdote that he leads with is about his family traveling the countryside of France when they spot an absolutely gorgeous cow in a pasture near the road. Shortly, they come upon another truly beautiful cow and then another and another, until they find that the large number of cows by the side of the road begin to blend in with the countryside and don't seem as incredible as the first one they viewed. To stand out in this now vast sea of cows, one would have to be purple to catch the attention of the family. The analogy is that in this mass media world we live in, the only way to have your marketing message heard above the cacophony is to be a Purple Cow.
I tend to hold onto pieces of gold when I come across them in books or articles I read, especially when they can apply to a variety of disciplines - I tend to make them my own wallboard pin-ups and I use them in staff meetings and in conversations about our business. This has become my mantra of the week: Be remarkable! I challenge you to embrace that mantra for one week - implement that in your powerpoint presentations and your emails and your blog entries and your phone conversations. If we all entered a conversation with the intention of being remarkable, amazing results will be produced! Imagine our world if every service provider, small business owner, corporation and government worked with that mandate. Holy Cow! er, Holy Purple Cow!
-Brian
In Purple Cow, the anecdote that he leads with is about his family traveling the countryside of France when they spot an absolutely gorgeous cow in a pasture near the road. Shortly, they come upon another truly beautiful cow and then another and another, until they find that the large number of cows by the side of the road begin to blend in with the countryside and don't seem as incredible as the first one they viewed. To stand out in this now vast sea of cows, one would have to be purple to catch the attention of the family. The analogy is that in this mass media world we live in, the only way to have your marketing message heard above the cacophony is to be a Purple Cow.
I tend to hold onto pieces of gold when I come across them in books or articles I read, especially when they can apply to a variety of disciplines - I tend to make them my own wallboard pin-ups and I use them in staff meetings and in conversations about our business. This has become my mantra of the week: Be remarkable! I challenge you to embrace that mantra for one week - implement that in your powerpoint presentations and your emails and your blog entries and your phone conversations. If we all entered a conversation with the intention of being remarkable, amazing results will be produced! Imagine our world if every service provider, small business owner, corporation and government worked with that mandate. Holy Cow! er, Holy Purple Cow!
-Brian
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
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