Alexander H. Williams

Thanks, SplashCast - On To Iterasi

I resigned from SplashCast last week. Yesterday was my last day. I started today with Iterasi, one of the coolest companies I have seen in a while. I will be talking a lot about Iterasi. I plan to live by the “Loic LeMeur” school of market conversation. Get out there and talk to people in as many ways as you possibly can. I will start with SXSW in Austin, where I am right now.

But first I want to recount my time at SplashCast.

I met Mike in the summer of 2006. At the time, he led QMind, an elearning company with a Flash-based application. By October, he had asked me to serve as director of community development. The company had a new direction. The team had developed a new application from its existing technology that provided people with the means to create their own channels with videos, photos, audio and text. Mike told me QMind had a new name. He called it SplashCast and its focus centered on the consumer market.

We started fast. By November, we had recruited my good friend Marshall Kirkpatrick to join us. We launched at DEMO 2007. IN May, 2007, we launched on the Facebook platform.

And that is when SplashCast took a turn that I believe will guarantee its success for a long time to come. It became apparent that the SplashCast platform could serve as a framework for developing any number of Facebook applications. We could take a micro-approach, to create fan networks for artists and brands, customized with skin and easy to use methods for people to embed on their own profile pages. I asked Andrew Baron if we could develop a Rocketboom application. He agreed. The application launched and our future in developing branded channels looked like it really had a life to it. Zomba Label Group contacted us. I talked with Dave Bell, the director of digital marketing at Zomba. He agreed to launch a number of channels using SplashCast. Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown and a handful of other artists had their own branded channels wtih their own skins and embed code that could be used on Facebook, MySpace or any other web page.

The branded channel approach had all kinds of affects. We added new features like chat and mobile capabilities for fans to send pictures and videos from their mobile phones. Comments proved a big hit.

By the end of the summer, all four major labels had launched applications. We did channels for The Beastie Boys, Alicia Keys, Britney Spears and dozens of other artists.

By this time, Tom Turnbull had a few months under his belt as vice president of business development. Charlie Baker, a former Nike and Starbucks executive had joined us to serve on our board and make introductions to any number of high-ranking people at agencies and major brands.

The next four to six months kicked into gear and to the day of our one-year anniversary date, SplashCast reached 200 million page views. SplashCast had hit its mark.

Over the past several months, I worked almost exclusively on business development, working with the labels, artists and wide scope of companies in the music, publishing and entertainment industries. I enjoyed the experience and learned a lot from Tom, one of the smartest start up executives you will find in the business.

During this time. I watched Mike turn on the after burners and go on a funding tear.

Kim Ramage, a co-founder, managed the entire branded channel development prcoess with tremendous skills, always smiling, adding capital to the innovation process in every new client project.

One thing I value most about this time is is how I came to really know the entire team. I will miss them greatly. Co-Founder Brock Henderson proved over and over that he is a wizard in developing and managing a complex content management system and its integration with third party API’s. Tony Prissberg joined us last spring and brought fresh perspective and talent to the ever evolving branded channel interface. Mark Richmond proved over and over that he is on the cutting edge of player development. Matt Dabrowiak continued to impress with his eye for developing world-class skins for the players that blend art and an advertising in a new way.

All smart people. I hope they will get some more individual and industry credit for their work. Look for their new tumblrs on the Splashcast blog.

But in the end, I jumped at the chance to work with another start-up. I am impressed with Pete Grillo, the founder, who has guided two companies to acquisition. Londa Quisling is already impressing me with her skills. I have just started to meet the rest of the team.

Thanks, Mike. Thanks, SplashCast folks. I will see you soon. Man, what a ride. :-)