Management Team
Val Katayev
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner
In 2001, Val founded Poise Media, a multi-dimensional internet company that specializes in performance marketing. Poise Media was a marketer for over 800 brands and the top third-party sales producer for a number of major companies. Some of those clients included eBay's Half.com, Real Networks, Rhapsody and Guthy Renker for whom Poise generated well over $100 million in sales. In 2003, Val received the "Greatness" award from Commission Junction, and in 2007, he sat on Yahoo!'s Affiliate Advisory Board, helping Yahoo! shape its paid search policies.
Val's expertise is wide-ranging, which includes marketing, media buying, search optimization, domain name investing, technology, and finance, allowing him to envision ideas and transform them into viable businesses.
Prior to Poise Media, at the age of 17 Val started PSX Extreme, a video game publication that today attracts over one million unique visitors per month.
Kenneth M. Harlan
Co-Founder and President
Ken has diverse experience in all aspects of internet advertising, but is particularly an expert in lead generation and ad networks. Prior to serving as President of ToneFuse and MobileFuse, Ken was the President of Inuvo's Network division, which includes a click fraud protected cost-per-click network, an affiliate software company, and an affiliate network. Prior to that, Ken founded PrimaryAds, an affiliate network, at the end of 2003 and developed it into one of the leading performance marketing companies before selling it to a publicly traded Inuvo (then Think Partnership) in 2005.
Before founding PrimaryAds, Ken worked at EMC Corporation's New York sales office, Interequity Capital Partners, a venture capital firm and an SBIC, and as an auditor for Deloitte & Touche.
Ken received an MBA from Cornell University and a BS in Accounting from Rutgers University. Ken is a certified public accountant and guest lecturer at Cornell's Johnson School of Management.
David J. Harlan
Co-Founder and Vice President, RingtoneMatcher
Dave first took interest in Internet Advertising in the late 90's. His success began with running ads on his popular websites that enabled users to find free stuff and discounts on the Internet. This is when he knew he found his niche in online advertising.
In 2003 he played a large role in developing PrimaryAds, which quickly expanded into one of the leading pay for performance advertising networks. In 2005, PrimaryAds was sold to a publicly traded company. Dave continued to manage PrimaryAds until leaving in 2007 to pursue new ventures.
Before working in Internet Advertising, Dave worked for a software company specializing in cash management for banks and casinos.
Dave received a BA in Marketing from the University of West Virginia in 1997.
