Flanigan signs on with Rise Vision as VP Marketing

May 9, 2011 by Dave Haynes

Pleased to crack open the email this morning and see that Paul Flanigan has signed on with Rise Vision as their Vice President of Marketing and Business Development.

Flanigan worked with Pat Hellberg and I to start The Preset Group a couple of years ago but we very amicably parted ways last fall, as Paul wanted to develop his speaking business and got very interested in social media and brand engagement.

The consulting and speaking gig can be a feast and famine thing, as just about anyone who does it will confirm, so its great to see Paul, who has a couple of young kids, signed on with a full-time role. And if you know Paul, he’s passionate about the space and great ambassador for it.

This is a nice move by Rise Vision, which has largely reinvented its business over the past couple of years under the guidance of founder and president Byron Darlison.

They had been building up business based on a low-cost SaaS model that demanded selling a LOT of licenses quickly, and have shifted to a web-based, open-source platform for digital media. They are doing some of the more interesting work in the sector and are the antithesis of the walled garden some software companies have built up.

There are several people from Rise at this week’s Google I/O developer event, something I doubt many DS software companies are attending or even paying attention to. I know Darlison was there last year, as well.

Paul lives in Sacramento and therefore is on the outskirts of Silicon Valley, the heart of web, mobile and social development (and investment) … so he is certainly well-placed to “develop partnerships with manufacturers and suppliers to fortify the organization’s place as the premiere open-source platform for digital signage users.”

“Paul’s background in branding, marketing, digital and social media, and digital signage makes him the ideal executive to shape the evolution of Rise Vision,” said Darlison in the release. “We are confident in both the platform and Paul’s abilities to grow the product and the brand.”

“I am elated to join Rise Vision and the talented team that creates this remarkable platform,” said Flanigan. “This is a tremendous opportunity to bring together different markets and users through a common, open-source platform that fosters user engagement.”