Wednesday, October 24, 2012
PointRoll Confidential | Issue 10.24.12
55 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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Has Corporate installed a new CEO -- even on an interim basis -- without a public announcement? Anything happening with the COO post that's been held by Sandy Dondici?
ReplyDeleteOliver.
ReplyDeleteJim, even if someone did provide the anonymous info you seem to be seeking, your credibility here is down to zero. How many times have you cried wolf on issues like this? How many times have you allowed people to post that someone was fired?
ReplyDeleteNo one is going to believe you or whoever else comes in here to post some anonymous tidbit. You're down to providing wall scribbles.
Sandy is moving on to poptent a philadelphia based company.
ReplyDeleteSarah Ripmasters last day is Nov 3
ReplyDeleteCEO, CTO, SVP, COO 4 things pointroll does not have.
ReplyDeleteJim was correct about Gatto going to Aggregate Knowledge and he was correct that Ripmaster was pushed out also correct that Oliver is our temporary ceo
ReplyDeleteCEO, COO and Head of Sales all leave within 60 days of one another. Sure sounds like a ringing endorsement for Gannett Management. It's too bad, the lack of attention and investment by Gannett into PointRoll has killed this company.
ReplyDeleteJim was not correct about Ripmaster. All the management team members who have left have done so on their own terms none was pushed. In fact, all were offered more money to stay and chose not to. Gannett's lack of investment in the business is the reason for the departures and they are now scrambling to keep the ship afloat.
ReplyDeleteRipmaster was pushed out. The others may have been on own terms. The entire company was calling for her to leave for months.
ReplyDelete6:54 blames gannett but the PR leaders on the way out are responsible. Jason Tafler too.
ReplyDeleteDon't blame Jim or "haters" - the reality is that both Gatto and Ripmaster were pushed out. Look at employee retention, the privacy investigation, client turnover, poor reputation, dismal sales figures, etc.
ReplyDeleteSandy is a smart guy and is getting out before asked to leave.
Gannett has to do damage control unless they plan on selling to the highest bidder.
I'm glad someone finally pulled the executive team page off the web site, especially since the executive team doesn't exist.
ReplyDelete11:17 you are clueless. No one was pushed out and Ganett already had multiple opportunities to sell PR and choked on each chance. Now they are screwed there are no buyers because the business has deteriorated and the management team walked out in them. It only gets ugly from here .....
ReplyDeleteLike I said, crying wolf. No credibility, no sources, no solid info. Just people arguing back and forth anonymously.
ReplyDeleteJim, you need to give some serious thought to whether you want to continue this farce. Right now, no one is ever going to take anything here seriously.
Is anyone here disputing that PointRoll management is in turmoil -- regardless of whether the leading executives got pushed or jumped on their own terms?
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ReplyDeleteIf they were pushed or if they walked they still screwed pointroll with no regard for the employees
ReplyDeleteThe leadership that left is not the problem, it's the leadership that still remains. Yes the ones that left did screw up. They should have fired the jokers long ago instead of promoting them.
ReplyDeleteJim, are you disputing that you have lost all credibility because of responses like that one, plus all your repeated cryings of wolf and other failings?
ReplyDeleteThe response of "Well, it doesn't matter if they were fired or not!" (hands on hips, head cocked to one side) is just another example of why no one will take anything here seriously.
Oh stop whining! You are all bitter because with the Leadership gone your joy ride is over! Time to start working and stop making excuses.
ReplyDeleteah I don't care
ReplyDeleteJim is great, his blog is great, and you should send him a check for breaking news that you would otherwise have no clue about as a Gannett employee.
ReplyDeleteHe is 100% correct on all of the above and it will be announced in the days to come.
Why is management leaving a function of screwing employees ?? In this case the management team left because of lack of support and investment from Gannett. I am not sure how that translates into a conscious effort to screw employees.
ReplyDeleteJim I loved your comment "is PointRoll Management in turmoil" Jim there is no PointRoll Management team they are all gone or going !!!!
ReplyDeleteIt is a real shame what has become of Pointroll. This is a company that had an amazing culture, strong leadership, excellent clients and a bright future. That all changed in 2008 when Chris, Andy (and eventually Keith) left.
ReplyDeleteNow, Pointroll is the laughing stock of the industry. They lack innovation and have a management team that cares more about what is written on this blog, then their clients success. Pitiful.
Whether Rob, Sarah, Sandy, Cat, Tria, Julie, Dan or others were fired and left on their own does not matter. What matters is that this company is dead and that these leaders have all contributed to the decline.
If I were them, I would not be proud. Clearly, Rob Gatto's role at AK is much more diminished than the business he was running at Pointroll.
"Whether Rob, Sarah, Sandy, Cat, Tria, Julie, Dan or others were fired and left on their own does not matter."
ReplyDeleteOnly to the failures who post here does it not matter. You are the laughingstock of anyone with active thoughts.
5:09, let us know when that big announcement comes. In the past, when people here have made those proclamations, they have been unusually quiet later, when nothing is announced. You should send ME a check for that piece of advice. I expect no less than four figures, and I want it in the mail ASAP.
Sandy announced he was leaving today you idiot!
ReplyDeleteJim's post reads
"Has Corporate installed a new CEO -- even on an interim basis -- without a public announcement? Anything happening with the COO post that's been held by Sandy Dondici?"
Jim is correct on both fronts.
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ReplyDeletei do still have employment, I work at pointroll.
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ReplyDelete7:40 PointRoll was always a niche business and it was when Chris and company sold it to Gannett. The problem is the series of strategic mistakes made over the past 5 years all of which stemmed from Gannett's insistence on sucking cash out of PointRol and being clueless on how to run a technology company.
ReplyDeleteFirst mistake was passing on building a full ad server to compete with Doubleclick and Atlas. That decision was made by Chris and team. Painted Pointroll into a niche (high end Rich Media) that was extremely profitable at the time, but had limited growth prospects. As media CPM's declined that business was in trouble, it has been for 4 years and will continue to be. Gannett applauded the decision because drove PROFITS and the exec teams were happy because they were paid on profits handsomely.
Then Gannett refused to invest further in the business as it showed signes of weakness and passed up acquisition opportunities in the mobile, video, attribution, and social. Until finally buying and not even adding it into PointRoll.
Gannett then realized their investment mistakes and finally looked to sell the PointRoll asset only to find out that their strategy of EBITDA EBITDA EBITDA had forced so much deterioration it was worthless. No one will buy PointRoll because any sensible finance person running models on a company declining this quickly will go anywhere near it.
PointRoll was once a great company and a fabulous business school story for future generations on HOW NOT TO RUN a technology company. Don't mistake who the real villain is here, its Gannett not any of the managers over the past 4+ years. Every management team since PointRoll was acquired has pushed the same strategies to Gannett all of them received the same response. Shut up, increase profit margins and drive EBITDA for the mothership and we will pay you extremely well to do it. So each team stayed, produced what corporate wanted took the cash and then ran for something better.
I heard Ford finally told PointRoll they are pulling the business and moving to Doubleclick. Wow largest client leaving in business already declining. Gracia are you listening yet ????? Not likely, but if you finally are its only 3 years too late
ReplyDelete12:13 We've been hearing that Ford rumor here for months now.
ReplyDeleteJim, you sound like Gracia. Let's bury our heads in the sand and just believe it will all be ok ... and people wonder why this company is crumbling. Ford will be leaving and PR will not be prepared with a backup plan.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of very smart people at this company pushing a lot of great information and strategy up to corporate. The problem is no one at corporate believes them or listens both past and present. Sad, because soon all the good ones will be gone.
12:08's post is spot on, it's 100% correct.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you expect the leadership to do when Gannett is paying them boat loads of cash to produce EBIDTA EBIDTA EBIDTA. Yes the leadership under Gatto and Ripmaster was troublesome but the bigger picture is Gannett not listening. For those of you still at pointroll look for new employment an fast! Gannet will introduce layoffs with the loss of ford and merger with rovion.
PointRoll has been through this before and come out stronger in the past. Lets face it, the original founding fathers have been gone for almost 6 years now. That is half the life of the company and we are making many times the annual revenue we were when these original founders left.
ReplyDeleteOur upcoming new product line is amazing and opens up many opportunities for new business while strengthening our existing tool-set. The naysayers on here can complain and speculate all they want, but the fact of the matter is that PR will be bigger than ever in the future - but don't take my word for it. Just sit back and watch.
Our entire executive team is gone and we had an all hands call today spinning this as a positive, are you kidding me!
ReplyDeleteHey 6:17 PM: This IS a positive change. Brian from Rovion has a great head on his shoulders and we need a dedicated CTO of his caliber to move forward with our new product line. The PR of the future is going to be strong - I know it. I'll agree with you, it is troubling that the entire Exec. Management team left in the last 30 days. However this change is going to be great for the company. We need new key players and I firmly believe we have that in Brian and Oliver.
ReplyDeleteThe upcoming new product line ?? What are you kidding me, what new products. Rovion and self service ? Come on that product will help with cost cutting, but they got bought for peanuts because they didn't have any revenue !! Where is the mobile strategy, the video strategy and I don't see social and a Blink integration anytime soon. Everyone in the industry knows the PointRoll technology is way behind the competition.
ReplyDeleteThe naysayers don't need to speculate, PointRoll is bleeding people and revenue quickly. How exactly are you going to replace double digit millions in Ford revenue the company just lost and "be bigger than ever in the future". Payback is here for all the years of neglect.
What are Brian's and Oliver's full names? Where'd they come from?
ReplyDeleteOliver Knowlton. He is David Payne's "friend"
ReplyDeleteBrian came with Rovion
6:40PM - No actually I am not kidding you. I am talking about the upcoming OnPoint product line including the Rovion composer interface which likely will be called "OnPoint Composer"
ReplyDeleteCurrently PR can not create HTML5 executions through our existing AdPortal system without manually writing the HTML5 by hand which is a time consuming process and shakey at best. With "OnPoint Composer" we can spit out HTML5 ads in minutes, not days. Not to mention that self service clients can also compose HTML5 and Flash compatible ads with ease. That covers mobile and self service.
Meanwhile PR's full service shop can concentrate on new innovations and providing the amazing service they are known for while self service clients can generate idle revenue.
Video you say? Sorry maybe you haven't been to PointRoll in some time, but we are fully VAST/VPAID and MRAID compliant and We serve a SHIT-TON of video in both the display and mobile environments.
The only space I can't say we are dominating at the moment is social.
Regarding Ford and Doubleclick. Sure, Ford opted to move their business to DoubleClick. How long will that last? Ford is used to getting what they want when they want it. Can DoubleClick bend over backwards the way PointRoll has for them time and time again? I think not. Ford will be back, and if they are not, our self service and new lightning fast HTML5/Mobile business will account for that lost client.
You naysayers/speculators have been predicting the "ultimate demise" of PointRoll for years, yet we continue to beat revenue goals and increase our annual earnings. Looks like a bunch of disgruntled ex-employess that are bitter with their decision to leave for greener pastures but did not find said pastures greener.
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ReplyDelete9:52/11:26 I remove comments that attempt to identify anonymous posters by name.
ReplyDelete7:28 - You can't imagine how much greener the pastures are. You really can't. If you tried to, it might break your mind to envision the intensity of the green-ness.
ReplyDeleteI love Pointroll! I'd be a fool to leave. Easiest job I've ever had.
ReplyDeleteWhy has this been revived? So that 4:49 can claim something better -- of course without identifying it, which generally means it's B.S.?
ReplyDelete"You naysayers/speculators have been predicting the "ultimate demise" of PointRoll for years, yet we continue to beat revenue goals and increase our annual earnings. Looks like a bunch of disgruntled ex-employess that are bitter with their decision to leave for greener pastures but did not find said pastures greener."
ReplyDeleteI work at Pointroll and can confirm we are not increasing anything. We've seen huge revenue loss with top clients shifting to competitors and our margins are shrinking as we continue to reduce CPMs.
PointRoll is a joke and has been for years. Tafler was actually smart, and a genuine person. Gatto had good intentions but Gannett did refuse to provide adequate backing. Many swear Sandy is so smart etc., which is true to some degree, though I personally believe people say that because they're scared of him and his whole "no nonsense" image that he projects. In reality he's only about the bottom line and has no concept of intangibles like company culture etc. that were once big contributors to keeping people at PR.
ReplyDeleteNo one at the company knows WTF they're doing except for anyone doing any sort of technical work/programming or *some* people there from the Saridakis period. Accounts and Project Management is a joke ... they promote people without any relevant experience and give them higher positions without any process training so everything becomes a cluster**** internally.
On top of that, they promote internally based on nonsense factors, primarily on things like likeability, how long they've been at the company and how close of a relationship execs/supervisors have with that person (often based on what they feel, not actual tangible metrics). They're so set on promoting internally only that they oversee important factors like actual experience and skills.
They treat their employees like dogs and there's a massive divide between normal employees and those managing them. If you shut up, sit down, and drink the Kool-Aid and get others to get in line then you get promoted. If you don't want to operate by their screwed up employee management tactics then you get the run around.
Jim thank you for re-opening this ... these poor employees need somewhere to vent and know that there are others out there that share their sentiment that they're too afraid to express at work, and with good reason.
There are much greener pastures! They're out there. The rest of the world and industry is way ahead technologically so the longer you stay there, the more outdated your knowledge will become and the harder it will be to move on.
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ReplyDeletePointRoll employee here. Still here over a year since this initial post. Still beating revenue goals. Still Innovating. Still hiring new talent. See ya next year suckers!
ReplyDeleteHa. To summarize: Jim, crying wolf yet again.
DeleteWhere's 5:09 from 10/25/12? Come out, 5:09! You said Jim would be proved 100 percent correct. Come take your medicine.