Results-driven technologist with a strong research, development and management background.
Experienced hiring and leading engineering, network operations, quality assurance and customer support
teams as well as setting product and technology strategies in both B2B and B2C environments. Extensive
knowledge of Internet technologies, mobile applications, eCommerce, Internet telephony, media streaming,
enterprise software, systems integration and product design.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
9/06-now
Owner,
Game du Jour, Palo Alto, CA.
Game du Jour is the first "One Deal a Day" website dedicated to downloadable indie and casual games.
- Customized the open source blogging engine WordPress (PHP/MySQL) to power the back-end.
- Integrated AWeber RSS-to-Email service, Google Analytics, Feedburner and various plug-ins.
- Established an efficient process allowing the negotiation of over 200 game distribution deals.
- Designed and managed Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Google AdWords Pay Per Click campaigns.
- Outsourced the graphics design and PR functions.
7/05-7/06
VP Online Distribution,
Filao (previously InfraWorlds),
Campbell, CA and Paris, France.
4/02-6/05
Founder and CEO,
995 SOFT, Palo Alto, CA and Miami, FL.
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Founded 995 SOFT and bootstrapped the company to become a leading developer and publisher of games,
utilities and reference applications for Palm OS and Windows Mobile devices.
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Established relationships with key software developers and outsourced applications porting and
(later on) development to Eastern Europe. Added 10 products to the catalog in less than a year.
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Secured online and offline distribution deals and negotiated advantageous advertising rates, both
allowing the company to quickly establish its products as best sellers.
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Orchestrated the sale of 995 SOFT to Filao, a Paris-based game developer and publisher. Joined the
company as Vice President of Online Distribution. Responsibilities included bringing all of Filao's
assets under a unified storefront and expanding its online distribution reach.
4/01-3/02
CTO and VP Engineering,
Bertelsmann BeMusic, Redwood City, CA.
Bertelsmann acquired Myplay, a B2B provider of digital music subscription and private label Locker
services, in Q3 '01 and consolidated its online holdings into a separate company dubbed BeMusic.
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Led the Software Engineering, Network Operations and Customer Care departments. Hired, mentored
and retained employees (100% retention), reorganized the Engineering department into three functional
teams (Core Technologies, Web Applications and Media Technologies.) Staff: 20. Annual budget: $7.5M.
- Supported Bertelsmann's acquisition of Myplay from due diligence to deal closure.
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Improved the music Locker service (Java, Weblogic, Oracle, C, Perl, Apache, Linux), resulting
in the reduction of downtime (240 to 20 min/month), fraud (70%), bandwidth consumption (150 to 80Mbs),
EMC storage (40 to 20TB) and operating expenses (25%.)
- Established procedures for development, release management, monitoring and escalation.
- Delivered a pilot for a digital music subscription service integrated with eTailer CDnow (SOAP.)
- Conducted technical due diligences for build vs. buy decisions and potential acquisitions.
6/99-1/01
VP Product Development,
Pagoo Communications, San Francisco, CA.
Responsible for the design, implementation, customization and delivery of Pagoo's Voice Over IP products and
services. Pagoo is now part of RingCentral.
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Built the Product Development organization from scratch and established four groups:
Web Development, Client Software, Quality Assurance and Web Design. Hired key personnel and
grew team to 20 engineers.
- Successfully supported B2C, Application Service Provider and technology licensing business models.
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Released Call Catcher 4.3 and 5.0 (an Internet Call Waiting client application for PC and Mac) on
time and on budget, along with redesigned website featuring new sign-up, eCommerce and support sections.
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Shipped the web site (IIS, ASP, COM, MS SQL Server), client software (H323, MFC, C++) and reporting
tools for the Internet Phone Number product (IPN), a PC-based residential phone service.
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Evolved the IPN service into a customizable XML-based VOIP platform and implemented billing
(Portal Infranet.) Customized this solution and delivered it to the Italian ISP Tiscali for its Voispring
service.
2/98-6/99
Founder and CTO,
Zowie Intertainment, San Mateo, CA.
Spun-off the R&D project I was managing at Interval into a separate company.
Zowie shipped its line of interactive toys
to all major retailers Q3 '99. The company was later acquired by
Lego.
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Key member of the executive team and contributor in competitive analysis, market definition, product design,
engineering processes, strategic partnerships and fund raising.
- Spearheaded the business development effort and the transition into a separate company.
- Established the road-map for future technologies and interactive products.
- Architected and implemented release 1.0 of the Zowie Software Development Kit.
- Supported the hardware, software and manufacturing efforts. Wrote tools in Java.
- Responsible for the intellectual property of the company and inventors relations.
5/95-1/98
Project Manager,
Interval Research, Palo Alto, CA.
Interval was Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's think tank/start-up incubator.
Reported directly to the company's CEO, David Liddle.
- Hired and managed a 10 person team of engineers, designers and business consultants.
- Developed an
input technology
that provided new ways for users to interact with a PC and then led the design of children's applications
based on that new technology.
- Organized and supervised usability tests and market research studies.
- Worked with Interval legal team to file and negotiate a total of five patents.
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Participated in other Interval projects: implemented an early Internet push publishing client and
developed the user interface for an interactive broadband video browsing
system.
1/93-4/95
Research Scholar,
Knowledge Systems Laboratory,
Stanford University, CA.
- Successfully completed Ph.D. research topic: Programming by Demonstration.
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Co-designed the HTML user interface for a large
scale multi-user Internet application.
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Award winner in the Apple Interface Design Competition '94. Created usage scenarios,
built multimedia prototypes and conducted usability tests for a
children's Internet-enabled PDA.
Won awards for "Best Hardware/Software Integration and User Involvement" and
"Best Presentation."
EDUCATION
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
- Languages: Java/JSP, PHP, C/C++, ASP/VB, SQL, Flash, Director, Smalltalk, Lisp.
- Internet standards: XML/SOAP, HTTP/SSL, XHTML/CSS, SMTP, H323, TCP/IP, MIME, CGI.
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Servers: BEA Weblogic, Apache, MS Internet Information Server, Netscape Enterprise Server,
Apache, Oracle, MySQL, MS SQL Server, Hummingbird Search Server, Portal Infranet.
- Operating systems: Sun Solaris, Linux, MS Windows, Mac OS.
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A list of my patents publications is available at http://www.piernot.com.
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