00:01:31 · Michael Provenzano, Ian Dallimore
[00:01:31] S1: That's crazy. [00:01:32] S0: Yeah. So I'm gonna give just like a a step back, and I I encourage our listeners to go back, listen to season one episode two, that podcast, you know, you really dive deep into. But I'm gonna give just like a very quick summary high level, but some of the things we touched on is just how you've always built something ahead of its time. Invite Media, which you went on to sell to Google, then Vistar, where your vision kind of led to the development for the out of home channel. And one of the things that I I truly am passionate, you know, you really are a good friend of mine personally, and it was fun in the very beginning to watch you from afar because in my role, especially back then, there were so many... And still today, there were so many technology companies coming in. And for a lack of better phrase, most of them were like, you guys are all idiots in the space. We know how to do it better. We're technology. But one of the things that I was intrigued by you was is you truly, like, took a step back, and you took a human element to it. And it was the respect that you gave to the industry because you realize there's a lot of nuances. Like, people come in and think tech is so easy and can just kind of fix. So, you know, engineering that approach to solve problems by kind of building software, gathering feedback, iteration after iteration, like I said, challenges, accumulation of success, built on strong culture, which I want to go deep into because, again, you as a human, I'm gonna do a lot of, like, bragging about you.
00:02:56 · Michael Provenzano, Ian Dallimore
[00:02:56] S1: To to max the whole podcast out. [00:02:58] S0: Let's just do the whole thing. But again, you know, the team at Vistar and just driven by passion and discipline, it's kind of the summary that I have and what you've built, and that's what we talked about. So, you know, let's start there. [00:03:09] S1: Yeah. Look, I think in terms of the how we approach the industry, it's pretty aligned with how we run the business. I can't remember if [00:03:18] S0: I said this in
00:03:18 · Ian Dallimore, Michael Provenzano
[00:03:18] S0: I said this in [00:03:18] S1: the last podcast, I should review the last podcast, but, know, we have this very basic phrase internally, product revenue in that order. And people smirk at that when I say it or they've heard me say it too many times and make fun of me at the company. But we are very serious about that. We believe you hire and bring on the right people, you'll be able to build a great product and you'll be able to generate revenue as a business. And I think that's how we approach most of our clients as well, right? First part is you're interacting with another person. You know this all too well, the ad industry is extremely, human oriented. Very. As much as we like to talk about computers and AI and all the the future of how media is going to be bought and all the data being used in it, it's still an extremely human oriented company and business. The thing if you if you realize that early on, you realize you can't just say this product's going to take over everything, just you have to use it or I'm gonna be mad at you. Like, you take that approach, not gonna be as successful as making relationships and friends and actually building a rapport before you go in and deliver that product and ask for revenue. [00:04:26] S0: Right. And and also on top of it, like, your point, like, what's the fun of just building something and not having that human human element?
00:04:26 · Ian Dallimore, Michael Provenzano
[00:04:26] S0: Right. And and also on top of it, like, your point, like, what's the fun of just building something and not having that human human element? [00:04:34] S1: Well, some people like that, you know, I'll be honest, like, there's a lot of folks on the tech sector that, you know, are are a bit less into Sure. Spending time with other people and partying and all that good stuff. And, fortunately I'm on that boat, so I do enjoy hanging out with folks and getting to know people. I've built some great friendships and partnerships over the years with folks. I'm excited to take those into, you know, the next phases of my life. Like a lot of my people I work with know my family, they know my wife. It's, it's really exciting to have that kind of mixed together. [00:05:02] S0: Yeah, I agree. So let's, I'm gonna read the headline, and it's why we're all here. I'm I'm beyond excited, you know, again, we've never had a repeat guest, but this one's [00:05:12] S1: just On Earth. [00:05:13] S0: Yeah, of course. You you were kind of fitting for that. Right? Hopefully, paint... The plane flight was worth it. [00:05:18] S1: I love it.
00:05:18 · Michael Provenzano, Ian Dallimore
[00:05:18] S1: I love it. [00:05:19] S0: But, you know, the the biggest thing before I read this headline is the human side of it. And, you know, everyone that knows the name Michael Provenzano and knows the name Vistar, there's a handful of faces that they see. And, you know, it's just part of business, being a CEO running a tech startup in the in the early days, like, you had to, to your point, like, just get it done. Right? And, you know, what I want to accomplish here today is just really dive into a lot of the chatter that's happening out in the industry within the out of home space, and now it's bleeding into the tech side. I I enjoyed so much whenever this headline I'm about to read happened and saw all throughout LinkedIn, people that aren't even in our space were making comments. And so hopefully today, we'll we'll kind of share that and and really kind of dive into the human side of of who you are. Not that you're like a cyborg or anything. Wish sometimes. Do. It'd be [00:06:10] S1: lot easier. [00:06:11] S0: Right. Alright. So this is why we're here. T Mobile to acquire Vistar Media fueling better ad experiences for customers and more effective products for advertisers. True. True. So that's that's from T Mobile. So Vistar Media purchased by by T Mobile, everything's a go. Congratulations.
00:06:11 · Ian Dallimore, Michael Provenzano
[00:06:11] S0: Right. Alright. So this is why we're here. T Mobile to acquire Vistar Media fueling better ad experiences for customers and more effective products for advertisers. True. True. So that's that's from T Mobile. So Vistar Media purchased by by T Mobile, everything's a go. Congratulations. [00:06:34] S1: Yeah. We're all go right now. Yeah. Depending on when this podcast gets announced, are we're driving toward close. Some people don't realize like you sign a deal and between signing and close, you can even announce a deal as we have done here. And then you actually have to close the deal, which is a bunch of fun legal work and a lot of money spent on lawyers. [00:06:55] S0: Yeah. But but I would imagine, and I don't want to go too deep into it so that we don't have to edit the podcast and have legal involved, but, you know, that it's got to make you proud too. We kind of talked about it driving over here, knowing the business that you've run. You know, you talked about people, talked about product. You have to feel good about where you are, where some companies, some startups are like, oh, god, we made some... Not saying you probably didn't make some hiccup decisions along the way, but you feel great about the product and the company, it's just like, let's go, here's the books, here's the here's the family. Talk to anybody.