Michael Cerda
Co-Founder and CEO
Before conceiving of Jangl, Michael Cerda founded consumer VOIP service and device startup, Ooma, and served as the company’s original CEO. Prior to Ooma, Cerda directed business development efforts for Trapeze Networks, specializing in early customer engagement and forging key alliances with infrastructure, security, and VoIP companies. Prior senior business development and sales positions include Procket Networks, Redback Networks, and pre sales management roles at Lucent Technologies and Netopia. Michael earned his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology/Management from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo.
Ben Dean
Co-Founder and CTO
Ben Dean co-founded Jangl after more than a decade of designing and building creative technologies designed for consumers. At MusiKube, Dean helped architect, build, and deploy 411-Song, designing the infrastructure and working with partners to launch and integrate the 411-Song solution on U.S. wireless carriers. Also at MusiKube, Ben helped architect and build the 411-Tone service, one of the first voice-enabled ringtone search and ordering services. At Referral Networks, Ben developed an employee referral solution to help Fortune 500 companies find qualified candidates via their employees' social networks and, while a consultant at GlobalWorks, designed and built an XML-based content management solution that helps clients manage their consumer-facing web content in any language and any region. Earlier in his career, Ben was an early executive at BuyerWeb, leading the development and management of the reverse-auction service and, before that, designed consumer electronics hardware and software applications used by Denon Electronics' worldwide customer base. Ben holds a Bachelor's Degree in Audio Engineering from the University of Miami in Florida.
Brian Longest
Chief Operating Officer
Brian Longest is a hands-on operations and finance executives with experience in operations, marketing, fundraising and intellectual property law. Before joining Jangl, Longest was SVP of Operations and Interactive Marketing at PodShow, joining the company prior to funding and subsequently assisting with two capital raises. His role at PodShow also included acting as the VP of Engineering through the initial PodShow launch in July 2006, opening the San Francisco corporate headquarters, and managing human resources, facilities, legal, IT, finance, customer support and more. Prior to PodShow, Longest founded Mesia Corp., growing a million+ member viral consumer shopping and rewards site monetized by both shopping and permission-based email. As CEO, Brian raised venture capital, set the strategic direction for the company, and guided product vision, marketing, sales and business development. Early in his career, Brian practiced intellectual property law, and he remains licensed to practice before the U.S. Patent Office. Brian holds a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from George Mason University, and a JD in Intellectual Property and Patents from George Mason University School of Law.
Aaron Burcell
Vice President, Marketing
Aaron Burcell gives the Jangl team a rich background in consumer marketing and bench strength in start-up operations, business development and fund raising. A veteran of consumer technology startups that converge on digital media and personal communications, Burcell most recently headed marketing and communications at PodShow, where he was one of the first five employees, helping PodShow vault from early podcasting leader in 2005 to the world’s fastest growing media company in 2007. At PodShow, Burcell successfully created media and ad industry awareness that supported the company’s programming acquisition and ad industry partnerships, and in turn helped generate revenue from a global audience of tens of millions. Prior to PodShow, Burcell led all outbound and product marketing efforts at Stata Labs, which was acquired in 2004 by Yahoo!. One of the first five to join Stata Labs, Burcell drove marketing efforts for Bloomba 2.0, a critically-acclaimed search-based email program later licensed to Corel Corporation. Earlier in his career, Burcell was a co-founder and partner at Alterlayer, an innovative sweat equity firm that consulted and invested in a broad array of Silicon Valley-based startups. Early in his career, Burcell worked at Microsoft, having joined the company following its acquisition of WebTV, where he was an early employee, focused on developing and marketing the online and interactive services. Burcell is a graduate of Stanford University, majoring in Political Science.