# ============================================================================= # Cedric Ancellin - Early Career & the Road to UrVenue (late 1980s to 2008) # ============================================================================= # Core Purpose: # Cedric's origin story and pre-UrVenue career: from desktop publishing at a # college newspaper, to a technology-scouting role at a French desktop- # publishing pioneer (EasyDoc), to independent technical-advisory consulting, # to leading the CCHIT-certified EMR build, and finally to how UrVenue was # formed. It shows where his transatlantic network and referral-driven # reputation began, and that consulting is long-familiar territory, not new ground. # # Governed by ./LAWS. Recalled from memory; it was a long time ago, so dates # and details are approximate. # # Last updated: 2026-07-04 # ============================================================================= framing: > Consulting is not new ground for Cedric, though it has been a long time. His path ran from early desktop publishing, through a transatlantic technology-scouting role, into independent consulting where he told founders building on an idea how to do it technically and what it would cost. # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- # 1. THE ABSOLUTE BEGINNING (college newspaper) # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- absolute_beginning: where: "In college at SUNY Binghamton, working at the student newspaper." what: > He used QuarkXPress, an early desktop-publishing tool, to create PostScript film output and print the newspaper. This hands-on desktop-publishing skill, still avant-garde at the time, is what started everything. # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- # 2. EASYDOC (first job: desktop-publishing pioneer, transatlantic scout) # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- easy_doc: discovery: > Looking for a summer job in Paris, he found his desktop-publishing skill was pretty avant-garde there, and was hired by EasyDoc, a French company upgrading the French press to desktop publishing. the_licensing_errand: > As an American, they sent him back to the US to secure two things their customers needed: the license for an Apex-system software their customers still used, and the distribution rights for a monochrome swivel monitor that could be oriented vertically (portrait), which the press required. He brought back both, and was offered a job. the_role: summary: "A technology-scouting and liaison role between the US and the French press." activities: - "Travel to the leading desktop-publishing software companies (such as Quark and Adobe) to look for nascent technology." - "Visit customers in Paris to understand what they needed." - "Visit major media operations around the world to see how they did it." - "Organize and accompany French media executives to industry events such as Seybold." a_memorable_sight: > He watched large publications use desktop publishing to print films, which were then cut and glued back together by hand to preserve union jobs. He found it fascinating and loved the work. outcome: "EasyDoc went bankrupt (not, he jokes, because of all his travelling)." # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- # 3. BECOMING A CONSULTANT # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- becoming_a_consultant: > After EasyDoc, he became an independent consultant, drawing on the contacts he had made on both sides of the Atlantic. # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- # 3b. PATH TO LAS VEGAS # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- path_to_las_vegas: came_to_us: "During his consultant years, he came to the United States as captain of the French Ultimate Frisbee team for the world cup in Madison (see ./personal, the 1993 World Ultimate Club Championships)." buffalo: "He then visited a friend who was doing an MBA in Buffalo, and did some pre-press work there and in New York." las_vegas: "From there he moved to Las Vegas, where his later hospitality-technology career would take root." client_geography: "Over his consultant career, his client base tracked the same westward path: from France, to the US East Coast (his father lived in New York), then to Las Vegas, and on to Los Angeles." # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- # 4. FIRST CONSULTING WORK IN THE PRESS # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- first_consulting_in_the_press: context: "He started with the press, where he already had contacts and expertise." first_project: > An early system that let the press purchase and receive images over the nascent internet, connecting image providers in France with media consumers in New York. pre_press_production: - "Pre-press and layout." - "Photoshop for CMYK images, direct to film and then to plate." - "Translating media into other languages within pre-made templates." - "Print brokering: he received the files, prepared them, selected the printer, and earned a commission, sometimes from both ends (client and printer)." # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- # 5. AS THE INTERNET GREW (a run of projects, recalled from memory) # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- projects: note: "As the internet grew, so did his reputation and references, leading to a range of projects. Recalled from memory; it was a long time ago." list: - "A print-to-order online store." - "A celebrity fan-zone community." - "An extreme-sport video website." - "A queuing system." - "A medical EMR platform (this one grew into a major engagement; see 'The EMR system' below)." - "An online casino in Australia." # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- # 6. THE LATE-1990s CONSULTING MODEL # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- consulting_model: era: "Toward the end of the 1990s, an idea could attract investment largely on its own." his_role: "He was hired for about $20k to define HOW to build the idea technically and to estimate what it would cost: the technical plan." the_pairing: "Separately, a business-plan writer was hired for about $50k, who would multiply his numbers; on that basis, the founders raised money." economics: "He was happy with $20k, but it was a lot of work, up to roughly three months per engagement." life_at_the_time: "Until 1998 he was single and on a motorcycle; it was plenty of money and he loved the work." how_work_came: "Entirely by recommendation: investors across multiple products, lawyers, and friends." # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- # 7. THE EMR SYSTEM (first development leadership; CCHIT; the numerical UUID) # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- emr_system: context: > When the internet bubble crashed, investment into internet projects with no immediate revenue attached to them stopped. That hit the medical EMR: the surgeon whose idea it was discovered the firm funding it had closed without notice. He decided to fund it himself and asked Cedric to architect it and lead a team to build it. a_first_in_his_career: > This was Cedric's first time actually overseeing development, going beyond architecture or coding proofs-of-concept himself, and his first time directing a remote team, in this case in India. It marks the end of his consulting years: taking the EMR on as its CTO to build it moved him from advising how to build things to building and leading the build. Everything from here (EMR CTO, then UrVenue) is the builder era. what_the_system_did: - "Stored patient data, used by doctors during consultation." - "Doctors entered ICD-9 codes (diagnoses); the system output CPT codes (procedures)." - "Pulled patient records from the hospital via an HL7 feed, and radiology from a system called MARS." the_environment: > Much of the hospital network and systems were outdated, running on Telnet without encryption. It was the beginning of the digital revolution for hospitals. where_it_ran: > The system eventually ran in the surgery rooms of Cedars-Sinai and Providence Saint Joseph, and was the first online EMR to be CCHIT certified. the_numerical_uuid: > During this work Cedric designed his numerical UUID scheme, so patient records could move freely from server to server without having to reindex. This is the origin of the coordination-free distributed ID system that remains one of his signature strengths today (see ./profile, distributed_id_system_inventor). personal_timeline: > He became a dad in 1998 and separated in 2000, moving to Burbank for this project and driving back to Vegas every weekend to see his daughter. In 2003 he returned to Vegas to become a full-time single dad, working fully remote, and left the project in 2005. see_also: "This is the EMR role recorded in ./resume (CCHIT-certified web-based EMR)." # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- # 8. THE ROAD TO URVENUE (from a favor to founding) # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- road_to_urvenue: the_favor: > Back in Vegas, a friend who ran a restaurant called Drai's (which became a nightclub after hours) asked Cedric to build a simple reservation system, so he could see who was sending bookings to the nightclub and the chef could see who was coming to the restaurant to staff and stock properly. Cedric had just built a simple booking system for patients at the doctor's, so he did it for him as a favor. scaling_up: > In 2005, that friend partnered with a major Las Vegas casino resort to open its flagship nightclub, which became the highest-grossing nightclub in the world at the time, and wanted a similar booking system at a much larger scale. Cedric left the medical system to focus on it. cto_roles: > At the same time he became CTO of Nightclubs.com and Travelnice, which were also going to distribute the system he was building. Travelnice was an OTA doing rooms, shows, tours, everything; Nightclubs.com was a highly specialized nightlife site. the_crash_and_founding: > They went bankrupt in 2008 with the crash. One of the owners, Amy Van Hook, co-founded UrVenue with Cedric to commercialize the product he had built for the casino resort's flagship nightclub. Their head designer, Alex Hume, came with them. That is how UrVenue was formed. see_also: "Amy Van Hook and Alex Hume both appear in ./recommendations; the pre-UrVenue OTA + nightlife distribution platform is in ./resume. The UrVenue growth story that follows is in ./urvenue_years." # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- # 9. RELEVANCE # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- relevance: - "Technical-advisory consulting (how to build it, what it will cost, for decision-makers) is long-familiar territory for Cedric; returning to it now brings three more decades of operating depth behind it." - "His work has always come by referral, which is consistent with the volume of peer recommendations he carries today (see ./recommendations)." # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- # 10. IMPLICIT # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- implicit: - "Recalled from memory; dates and specifics are approximate, and the list of projects is as he remembers it." - "This is his early, pre-2000s history and first consulting era; his later full-time roles are in ./resume."