PayPerPost Nabs MySpace Sales Exec
Randy Mountz leaves MySpace to lead sales for the controversial paid blogging start-up.
Randy Mountz leaves MySpace to lead sales for the controversial paid blogging start-up.
After only a year as VP of sales for MySpace’s Midwest region, Randy Mountz has left the company to take a position as VP of sales with PayPerPost.
PayPerPost offers advertisers a platform to pay bloggers hard cash in exchange for editorial mentions. It launched last summer amid considerable controversy, since which time a field of competitors have joined the fray.
At MySpace, Mountz sold advertising programs to marketers including Anheuser Busch, Daimler Chrysler, McDonalds, Nintendo, Target and Wendy’s. Earlier, he was director of sales at AOL Media Networks, as well as Tellme, Mvalue.com, Advertising Age and Gannett Corporation.
Almost as surprising as Mountz’s move is the manner in which PayPerPost courted him: After meeting with Mountz at a seminar, PayPerPost CEO Ted Murphy offered him the position and then asked his company’s users to help bring him onboard. The “Posties,” as PayPerPost users are called, created over 50 videos which were then sent to Mountz.
“I couldn’t believe it and they just kept coming and coming,” said Mountz. “My favorite one was the guy that actually changed the lyrics to ‘I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause.'”
He added, “[Murphy] used… user generated content and viral world of mouth to recruit me and it worked. But obviously I believe in the business model and we’re going to make some waves.”
Many of the videos also appeared on YouTube and ranged from the straightforward to the sublime.
“You can work with Fritz, Veroniqe, even the cute English guy,” said one Postie with the username Lauriepooh, who appears on camera wearing a large Star Spangled Banner hat. “You know you want to. Do it for America, do it for PayPerPost, do it for the people, do it for yourself. Do it for the Posties. We want you.”
In addition to his new position as VP of sales, Mountz will also be part of PayPerPost’s RockStartUp.com Web video show. Billed as a Web reality show, the program promises to track the company’s progress.
Mountz starts with PayPerPost today. Early plans include creating a sales strategy and hiring on new directors of sales for Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.
“Don’t be surprised if we do a similar recruiting project,” he said.
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