Contact: jefhild@brandnet.com
Professionally, my career has been relatively classic, though a bit diverse. 2Paragraphs says it better than I do. The mysteries of the market(s) have always intrigued me and whether trading for myself today turns out to be a sabbatical or a career change, only time will tell. In any case, I’m enjoying the challenge. I concentrate on options and index futures; sharing this experience is my objective on Brandnet. Obviously, nothing here should be considered investment advice…
Personally, I’ve a lovely daughter who has picked-up on her father’s passion for technology. This young lady is, and has been, my priority for over a decade, and I’ve never had a more rewarding challenge.
Intellectually, I have a natural tendance to “dabble“: psychology, art, software and hardware development, management, and Neuroscience. I cut my losses quickly in medical school after having assassinated, tortured, and observed, more genetically modified rats than I was comfortable with. Here’s an example… I published though some interesting material on neurotransmitters and hypothisized on fascinating subjects from Tourettes syndrome to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Solving (and helping others solve) life’s little problems has always been fundamentally rewarding.
My most amusing professional experiences:
- Amateur Private Detective: I worked secretly for Fergies ex-lover famous for his toe sucking escapades in the 90′s
- He had some major financial issues…
- Naive Entrepreneur: I started an Independent Writers Magasine in the UK.
- All these writers, all of these publications and nowhere to share “quality”. The demand seemed obvious. An outlet for a skill often prostituted…
- Inventor: I invented Scentblaster (remember Soundblaster?) and can fairly take credit for sharing the worst marketing faux pas during the internet bubble.
- An irresistable time to poke fun at start-up funding.
- An irresistable time for people to steal even your bad ideas…
- And to quote PCWorld one of the ”25 Worst Tech Products of All Time”
- Funny how things come full circle…
- Geek: An early dating site (wouldyoudateme.com)
- I launched this site to learn PHP and MySQL in the mid 90′s. I innocently copied a site called amihot.com, not thinking anyone would find it. It was overtaken by escort girls who had discovered the web and were much better at product marketing and placement than I could have imagined.
- This took a bad turn unexpectedly. Don’t forget that before Google, sex sold…
- Plastic Surgery (Perfectyourself.com)
- A good experience, we learned a lot about web intermediation, funding, law suits, and Google integration (world domination).
- We funded, built, and eventually sold a very successful franchise .
- Software Development
- This is a long story, but I started developing on Macintosh software and C++ in the early 90′s, Java soon after, Lotus Notes along the way, and anything related to the web on the Windows platform as time went on.
- I’ve worked on Listed Company Systems at the NYSE, Advertising Platforms for Ogilvy & Mather, and Management Solutions for Philip Morris.
- Consulting
- During the internet bubble, I worked in NY with some wonderfully creative startups, my favorites innovated with ‘new media’ and entertainment streaming solutions.
- Baby Press Conference, LL Cool J, and Yo Yo Ma, Clearchannel communications were some of my best clients.
- I spent most of my time, designing technical architectures / application models, and evangelising web technology during this period of venture capital euphoria.
- Management
- I’ve managed dozens of technical project teams both large and small.
- My most challenging (and recent) was as DSI (CIO/CTO) with Acadomia in Paris.